John Sweeney, Glynn Johnson's defense attorney, confirmed in a phone interview today that a preliminary hearing will go forward as scheduled Tuesday morning in Johnson's animal-abuse case.

Johnson, a Los Angeles County fire chief who supervised stations in Pomona and other cities in the San Gabriel Valley, is accused of beating his neighbor's puppy with a rock. The puppy was euthanized.

will.bigham@inlandnewspapers.com

Edward Lamar Scott, 20, was among 15 people charged with murder following the February 2006 shooting deaths of two men in Banning.

A Riverside Superior Court jury acquitted Scott of murder on Jan. 16, 2009, but found him guilty of a felony street-gang charge.

Scott was jailed awaiting trial after his arrest on suspicion of murder in February 2006, and was released from custody when he was acquitted of murder. His sentencing in the case is pending.

About three months after his release, Scott and five other people were arrested in connection with a recent string of residential burglaries in Rancho Cucamonga and other affluent communities along the 210 Freeway.

Scott and 16-year-old Anthony Hicks were arrested April 14 in the area of Candlewood Street and Lockhaven Avenue after a neighbor called sheriff's deputies to report suspicious activity.

When deputies arrived, they saw three men loading a TV into a parked car. Deputies arrested Scott and Hicks at the scene.

The third man -- 20-year-old Craisean Ryan Evans -- allegedly ran from the scene and was arrested April 17.

Prosecutors have accused the men of burglarizing a home earlier in the day on April 14 in the 7500 block of Center Avenue in Rancho Cucamonga.

Arshak and Vartan Kouladjian, two Los Angeles-area businessmen, are charged with attempting to give Fifth District Supervisor Josie Gonzales' chief of staff Bob Page $15,000 for help with a Bloomington project at a Jan. 3, 2008 meeting.

Defense lawyers have said there is a lack of evidence to support charges against the Kouladjians.

Check back to see what happened at the preliminary hearing.

On Monday, a sheriff's Specialized Enforcement Division arrested seven members - including the leader - of a white racist street gang named Inland Empire Skinhead. Lead investigator Deputy Eric Ogaz said he chose to serve the search warrants on that day because it was Adolf Hitler's birthday.

Charged are brothers Thomas Mason Jr., 24, and Joseph Mason, 20, both of Hesperia; Mark Goslyn, 33, of Hesperia; Carrie Goodwin, 24, of Hesperia; Jeremy Brower, 32, of Winchester; leader Raymond Williams, 33, and his wife, Megan Williams, 24, of Perris; and Joshua Butler, 27.

Authorities said there about 30 members in the gang, which uses MySpace in an attempt to recruit high school students.

The women arrested, Williams and Goodwin, were taken into custody at hospitals because they induced labor so they could give birth on Hitler's birthday.

A criminal complaint filed in Victorville Superior Court provides details on two of the skinheads' crimes.

Goslyn apparently sold a gun to a man, who had not yet paid him in full by early March. He allegedly paid the Mason brothers to help him assault the man, who was later seen with lacerations to his forehead and two black eyes.

Butler and Goslyn were recently stopped after sheriff's deputies found a shotgun and a handgun in their truck. After discussing why they were not arrested, Goslyn told a friend "he would get more guns and shoot police officers if they entered his house to arrest him on a warrant," according to the complaint.

stacia.glenn@inlandnewspapers.com

Winningham, 53, was sentenced April 10 but a judge allowed him an extra week to visit a doctor and get his affairs in order. His attorney has argued in court that Winningham is plagued with several health issues that make him ill-fitted to serve time behind bars. A judge denied his request to carry out his two-year sentence under home arrest.

Winningham pleaded guilty last week to using a computer to arrange a hotel meeting with a man, which violated a probation order not to use computers or get on the Internet.

In January 2007, the former councilman pleaded guilty to 13 counts of possession and intent to distribute child pornography.

stacia.glenn@inlandnewspapers.com

will.bigham@inlandnewspapers.com

Clinton Tyrone Walker, 28, and Anthony Dwight Scott, 19, face two counts of murder and one count of first degree residential robbery for Monday's shootings at a house in the 700 block of W. Olive Street.

They were also charged with several special allegations, including committing multiple murders and the using a handgun, according to a criminal complaint filed in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Two out-of-town visitors - 40-year-old Samuel Langston of Bellflower and 33-year-old Lashanne Doureau of Rialto - were fatally shot inside the house during the drug-related robbery, police said.

A mother and daughter who lived in the home were forced into a closet during the slayings but were unharmed.

The District Attorney's Office declined to file charges against a third suspect, 46-year-old Terrence Smith, whom police said was not inside the home but was an accessory to the slayings. No details on his alleged involvement were released.

stacia.glenn@inlandnewspapers.com

Lawyer Dale K. Galipowho represents Terrell Lewis Markham said that prosecutors' addition of a new felony count of street terrorism against Markham is baseless and unfounded.
Prosecutors had alleged from the start that Markham's conduct benefitted a street gang, and Galipo said in an interview Wednesday that he wanted to keep any mention of gangs from being heard by a jury.

However, prosecutors recently amended the list of charges against Markham to add a fourth count of street terrorism instead of the lesser special allegations of benefitting a street gang.

Click here to read past stories on the case.

will.bigham@inlandnewspapers.com