211 lost in the shuffle

This from reporter Ruby Gonzales in Whittier:

Two men suspected of robbing a Hacienda Heights bank were arrested Thursday after a sheriff’s helicopter pilot spotted the getaway car and followed them, according to officials.
The robbery occurred at 12:56 p.m.

A man entered the US Bank at 2040 Hacienda Blvd. and handed a teller a note demanding money, said sheriff’s Lt. John McBride.
The robber left with the loot and was seen getting into a green Honda Accord.

Witnesses gave a description of the robber, the car used and a partial license plate. A sheriff’s helicopter pilot nearby heard the police broadcast and saw the car.

Richard Cho, 53, of Hacienda Heights has been booked on one count of robbery. Jose Rivera, 35, of Los Angeles was also booked on one count of robbery. Both suspects are being held at the sheriff’s Industry Station jail. Bail for Cho has been set at $100,000.

 

Facebook Twitter Reddit Tumblr Linkedin Email

Appeals court orders new hearing for killer

 A state appellate court panel today ordered a new
sentencing hearing for a young woman convicted along with her boyfriend of the
slayings of four members of her adoptive family in Pico Rivera.

The three-judge panel from the 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled that a lower court judge should have granted a continuance to allow Monica Diaz’s attorney more time to prepare when she was re-sentenced in April 2007.

Here’s a bit about the case from Mayhem.net

August 12, 2000 – Monica Diaz & Michael Naranjo – Sixteen-year-old Monica Diaz and her 17-year-old boyfriend Michael Naranjo pleaded not guilty to the stabbing attack of her adoptive father and three siblings in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Pico Rivera. Diaz and Naranjo have been charged with four counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. During the hearing the patricidial teen never looked at her wheelchair-bound mother, Sylvia Flores, who was injured in the rampage. Flores adopted Diaz, her niece, as a toddler after her parents died in a car crash.

Facebook Twitter Reddit Tumblr Linkedin Email

Hard at work amid the muck

9522-5-23-08_ortega-thumb-300x229.jpg

As the mud continues to slide down a couple of Sierra Madre streets, reporter Fred Ortega gets busy reporting the news.

Photographer Leo Jarzomb shot this picture Friday May 23, amid the freak late spring rain storm that’s pelted the region.

Those guys cleaning the streets are inmates. Fred’s the guy with the umbrella.

Facebook Twitter Reddit Tumblr Linkedin Email

Waiting for the sun (Updated*)

We remain on storm watch this morning.

Here’s the National Weather Service forecast for the region.

Here’s the NWS hazardous weather outlook for Southern California.

The USGS has a flood/landslide watch page here.

 Bloggers Chris and Sonja recount their adventure.

Sierra Madre mudslide evacuations remain voluntary, officials said Friday morning.

Facebook Twitter Reddit Tumblr Linkedin Email
Posted in SGV

Predator in action

9441-predator-thumb-300x314.jpg

An unidentified man (left) confronts a man identified as Jaime Elvis Elizondo, 33, of San Gabriel in the children’s section of Border’s Bookstore at Santa Anita Mall last Saturday.

Elizondo, a registered sex offender, is accused of molesting a young girl inside the store.

A seven-minute video tape of the incident shows the man identifed as Elizondo approaching the girl several times.

Wearing a red shirt, the suspect walks by, walks away and walks by again before appearing to kneel down next to the girl.

The suspect goes unnoticed for several seconds before the onlooker confronts him and chases him from the bookstore.

Here’s a segment from today’s story on the incident:

Elizondo is suspected of “touching his exposed genitals up against a young female child” in a Borders bookstore at Westfield Santa Anita, 400 S. Baldwin Ave., on Saturday, according to Arcadia police Lt. Ron Buckholtz.

A 32-year-old Temple City man confronted the suspect and he fled, but the man was able to later identify the suspect from a Web site listing convicted predators, police said.

The man turned over the information to Arcadia police detectives, who were able to show it to other witnesses and confirm the suspect’s identity, Foley said.

“Kudos to the gentleman for taking the time not only to intervene, but to follow up on his own,” Foley said. “It led to a quick arrest.”

 

Facebook Twitter Reddit Tumblr Linkedin Email

Sierra Madre evacuations

At least three streets in Sierra Madre have been evacuated as a precaution against flash flooding and mudslides, officials report.

The streets are Skyland Drive, Woodland Drive and Lotus Lane, officials said. An Emergency Operations Center has been opened. Evacuees will be taken there.

Facebook Twitter Reddit Tumblr Linkedin Email

Storm Watch SGVN Doppler 9000

Thunderstorm!

We’re hearing reports Thursday afternoon of down power lines, trees scortched by lightning, and collapsed roofs causing massive indoor flooding. There have been several traffic accidents and stalled cars throughout the East San Gabriel Valley.

Additionally we’re checking into reports that sandbags were being passed out in the Sierra Madre burn area.

Even reporters got caught in the rain. 

Los Angeles county remains under a flash flood watch and severe thunderstorm advisory, according to the NWS.

There are reports of a possible mud slide in Sierra Madre just before 5 p.m.

 

Facebook Twitter Reddit Tumblr Linkedin Email
Posted in SGV