April 2009 Archives

Two West Covina teens were arrested in connection with a plot to possibly shoot up an assembly at Covina High School Thursday afternoon, officials said. 

This from the LAPD

 

Los Angeles:  Los Angeles Police Department Robbery Homicide Detectives have announced the arrest of a 72-year-old man who has been positively linked to two LAPD Cold Case homicides.  The suspect, John Floyd Thomas Jr., is also linked by DNA evidence to murders being investigated by the Inglewood Police Department and Los County Sheriff's Department. Additionally, he is suspected in as many as thirty murders and scores of rapes occurring in the Southland during the 1970's and 1980's.

 

During November 2001, under the guidance of Robbery-Homicide Division the Los Angeles Police Department created a Cold Case Homicide Unit.  Over the years, detectives assigned to this unit have been responsible for reviewing unsolved murder cases, assessing evidence from those cases, and identifying the potential for application of new forensic techniques, which includes, but is not limited to DNA testing. 

 

As part of the review process, detectives screened the unsolved murder of Ethel Sokoloff.  At the time of her tragic death in 1972, Sokoloff was 68 years old.  She was found in her home, beaten and strangled.  The apparent motive of the murder appeared to have been of a sexual nature.  The cold case detectives' review of this case revealed that there was biological evidence within the victim's Sexual Assault Evidence Kit, and that this evidence had never been analyzed for the presence of foreign DNA.  Subsequently, a request was made to Scientific Investigation Division.

 

Detectives also identified the unsolved murder of Elizabeth McKeown who was killed in 1976.  At the time of her death, McKeown was 67 years old.  A review of the investigative materials revealed that McKeown was attacked after parking her vehicle at her home.  She too had been brutally beaten and strangled.  Again, the apparent motive of this murder appeared to be of a sexual nature.  Similar to the Sokoloff case, it was believed that by using DNA analysis on the biological evidence obtained from within McKeown's Sexual Assault Evidence Kit, it would potentially provide a direct lead to the suspect responsible for committing this senseless crime.  Detectives requested that Scientific Investigation Division examine the evidence for the presence of DNA.

 

A male DNA profile was developed in each of these independent cases and was uploaded into the California CODIS databank.  During 2004, a case-to-case DNA match was made linking the male DNA profile from the Sokoloff case to the male DNA profile identified in the McKeown murder.  Although the DNA profiles matched one another, the name of the offender was not identified in the database.

 

Between 2004 and 2009, cold case detectives worked diligently in an effort to identify this potential murder suspect.  While continuing their investigation, detectives frequently compared a potential suspects DNA profile to that recovered from the Sokoloff and McKeown sexual assault evidence kits.  Approximately 14 DNA profiles were compared and eliminated, they were not connected.

 

In September 2004, detectives were notified that DNA case-to-case matches had been made to three unsolved murders that occurred between 1976 and 1986 in the City of Inglewood and Los Angeles County. 

 

On March 27, 2009, the California Department of Justice notified the Los Angeles Police Department that a CODIS DNA match had been made and the killer identified in the murders of Ethel Sokoloff and Elizabeth McKeown, and the victims in the cases being investigated by the Inglewood Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

 

The offender has been identified as John Floyd Thomas.  He is now 72 years old and a resident of Los Angeles.  A review of Thomas's criminal history revealed that he was arrested a number of times between 1955 and 1978.  His criminal convictions consist of multiple burglaries, many of which involved sexual assaults of his victims.  Other than an arrest for prostitution in 1993, Thomas has not had any other known law enforcement contact during recent years.

 

On March 31, 2009, detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department arrested John Floyd Thomas for the murders of Ethel Sokoloff and Elizabeth McKeown, and his bail was set at one million dollars.

 

Cold Case detectives will focus on connecting Thomas to additional cases during those years when he was not in custody for other crimes.  Detectives will begin in the mid-1950s when his criminal history began in the Los Angeles area.  The review will likely include cases occurring through the decade of the 1980s.  During that approximate 35-year span, Thomas was in custody for a total of roughly twelve years.      

 

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The Pasadena PD is examining the possibility that John Floyd Thomas, Jr. may be responsible for homicides there in the late 1970s, officials said Thursday.

Thomas, a onetime resident of Pasadena, was arrested there in the late 70s, officials said.

Thomas, the suspected "Westside Rapist" may be responsible for the deaths of as many as 25 elderly women in Los Angeles County in the 70s and 80s. An LAPD homicide detective dubbed him "prolific."

We'll have a story up later today. We're also looking at Thomas' connections in Pomona and Chino where he worked and lived, and his connection to at least on homicide in Claremont in 1986.

 

From the Associated Press:

LOS ANGELES - Police believe a 72-year-old man charged with two cold-case murders is tied to two decades-old waves of Southern California serial killings and as many as 25 victims.

DNA matching former insurance adjuster John Floyd Thomas Jr. was found at five crime scenes spanning the killing-and-rape rampages in west Los Angeles in the 1970s and Claremont in the 1980s, said LAPD Robbery-Homicide Cold Case Detective Richard Bengston.

"When all is said and done, Mr. Thomas stands to be Los Angeles' most prolific serial killer," Bengston told the Los Angeles Times.

Police planned to reveal details of the case at a Thursday news conference.

In the first wave of killings in Los Angeles in the mid-1970s, a man police dubbed "The Westside Rapist" entered the homes of elderly women who lived alone, raped them and choked them until they passed out or died. The 17 who were killed were found with pillows or blankets over their faces.

A decade later and 40 miles to the east, five elderly women in Claremont were found raped and killed, also with blankets or pillows over their faces.

Despite some 20 survivors of similar attacks, detectives said they didn't solve either set of cases nor connect the two. They blamed conflicting descriptions from victims, lack of communication between agencies and a past absence of DNA technology.

LA Times map of Westside crime spree.

*LAPD press release on the jump

LA PUENTE -- Someone yelled out a gang name and opened fire on a man taking out the trash in front of his home Wednesday, hitting the man twice in leg.
The drive-by shooting occurred about 1:50 p.m. in front of a house at Amar Road and Melham Avenue in an unincorporated county area near La Puente.
The wounded 20-year-old man was shot twice in the leg, said his uncle, who asked that his name not be published for fear of retaliation.
The nephew and two of his friends were doing some cleaning at the home prior to the attack, the uncle said.
"They were taking out some trash... and there were like five shots," he said.
At least one man in the car yelled out the name of a Bassett street gang during the incident, he added.
Two or more attackers fled southbound on Melham Avenue in a dark-colored compact car, Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Rico Sandoval said.
The wounds did not appear to be life-threatening, he added.
A minivan parked in front of the home had two bullet holes in it. The home's wall also had one bullet hole.
"The other two are in my nephew's leg," the uncle said.
The uncle said his nephew was not involved with gangs.
"I don't know what happened," he said. "Why in broad daylight?"
The uncle said the shooting in the normally quiet neighborhood had him worried about the safety of his family. One of the bullets struck a wall only feet from his elderly mother's room.
"I'll keep an eye out," he said. "That's all I can do."
Wednesday's attack occurred about a mile away from a fatal shooting on March 28 in which attackers yelled the name of a Bassett street gang.
Oscar Reyes, a 33-year-old father and local resident, was gunned down as he stood in front of an apartment building on Cadwell Street, just west of Aileron Avenue, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said.
Family members said Reyes was not involved with gangs.
Gang violence often comes in surges, Sandoval said.
"Like any gang out there, sometimes their activity level rises and then drops," Sandoval said. "It often depends on which members are currently in jail."

 

Police released photos of an armed robbery Wednesday in hopes of tracking down the culprit.
The robbery occurred shortly after 8 p.m. Friday at Ted's Quality Market, 2514 Durfee Ave., El Monte police Detective Ralph Batres said.
The brandished a handgun during the crime and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash, the detective said.
"The photos we've obtained are of good quality, and we need the public's assistance," Batres said. "Somebody's going to recognize him."
Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Batres at (626) 705-1981, or (626) 580-2100.

*Photo courtesy of the El Monte Police Department

I'm on assignment, and wont' be able to post much on the blog for the next couple of days.

Here's the latest swine flu news:

First U.S. death recorded in Texas

WHO says only seven deaths in Mexico

US Marine possibly infected

Closer to pandemic

Once the Pontiac motto said it all: "We build excitement."

Sadly, if there's anything left to be said about the once proud brand it's this: "We build nothing."

It's funny to watch Pontiac commercials from the 1960s on YouTube. There's a great pseudo psychedelic ad with Paul Revere and the Raiders extolling the features of a rust-colored fastback roaring down a test track somewhere in the desert.

Judge! The special great one from Pontiac, GTO!!

Hurst gear shifter,

three speed or four

Pontiac Ram Air, 366 horse

Mag-type wheels, 60-inch spoiler, airfoil

The Judge will rule!!

My brother had a 1970 455-HO 4-speed GTO he bought from a cousin in Claremont who bought it from a guy in Omaha.

"You can't even get one like this in California because of all the smog crap they have to put inside," my cousin claimed as he handed my brother Steve the keys.

The car was loaded and fast. I remember a trip down Baseline from Claremont to Cucamonga that probably took all of three minutes.

But I also remember Steve working for hours on the clutch, the carb, the belts, the electrical system, and a million other minor problems.

Ultimately that was the problem with the Detroit iron. For all the marketing and the hype, it wasn't reliable.

Lay the blame at the doorsteps of GM, Ford, Chrysler and UAW.

On Monday, after GM announced it would no longer make Pontiacs, I got in my Saturn and cruised my little corner of the San Gabriel Valley looking for one. I saw an unremarkable G6 and an old Firebird.

Needless to say there were plenty of Lexus, Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Kias.

It's interesting to note that the Pontiac brand was named for an American Indian war lord who led a 1763 rebellion against the British at Fort Detroit. Chief Pontiac's success perhaps emboldened the colonists who successfully tossed Brittish rule less than 20 years later.

Pontiac as a symbol of a young free nation had to be a powerful -- if subliminal -- marketing tool.

Pontiac's rebellion began on April 27, 1763. The Pontiac brand died April 27, 2009 -- 246 years to the day.

My brother ended up selling the rusted-out hulk of his GTO to a guy in Spokane, who fixed it up and cruised on Friday nights along Sprague Avenue.

Forty years after it was built, the car is probably in a junk heap somewhere -- just like Detroit, a symbol of an America that no longer exists.

Octomom's "krazy" life

Octomom must have needed a reminder she has 14 kids.

Nadya Suleman, the La Habra woman who gave birth to the longest surviving set of octuplets, decided to get a tramp stamp in Hollywood.

She got a tat of an angel surrounded by 14 stars -- one for each kid.

That she choose a place called Kustom Kulture and got inked by a guy named Dik, probably says more about her and the true demise of our culture than I ever could.

Shockingly, (as the tablods like to say in all caps) Octomom chose to get inked in the wee hours of the morning. Who was watching the kids is anyone's guess.

I wonder if the good-hearted people of middle America who reached into their pockets to help this woman and her brood with gifts of diapers, cash and toys realize their donations are going to frivolous pursuits, while the kids are attended to at midnight by hired help?

It amazes me that the county's child protective services hasn't stepped in and put an end to this farce.

Then again perhaps Nadya is doing her part to help the local economy by keeping freakish unkempt paparazzi and tattoo artists named Dik employed during tough times.

Wesley Pruden of the Washington Times criticizes the media, WHO and a host of others he blames for a "Pandemic of Panic."

Here's a sample:

We haven't seen a panic quite like this one since the last one. SARS was once thought to be the ultimate panic, though the longest running panic was the AIDS scare, when big media set out to convince us that "now we are all at risk." SARS was never a threat in the United States, and worth the P-word only in China and even there a risk confined mostly to people who sleep with their chickens. You can step in all manner of unpleasant things in a chicken house.

It's likely a bioterrorism dry run, according a poster named jeepndesert. Heres' the lede and a few folo up grafs:

The latest bioterrorism attack by the New World Order is likely a beta test. Yes, it is a bioterrorism attack. It was a hybrid strain created from human, swine, and bird flu from North America, Europe, and Asia. It was created in a laboratory. This doesn't happen in nature.

Baxter was caught shipping a weaponized avian bird flu mixed strain in their vaccines last month in Europe. Again, this is proof that this deadly virus was created in a laboratory because they did exactly that last month. Bayer was caught shipping HIV in their drugs in the 80s. Both of these events are published in mainstream newspapers. You can use Google like everyone else to find them.

I predicted this event last month in my documented and linked article when Baxter was caught. If Baxter was trying to do this, they weren't going to stop trying, especially when Baxter wasn't even prosecuted for the crime, and the television news was completely silent about it.

It seems someone wasn't caught this time before they were able to make delivery of the virus. Not that anyone would be prosecuted for bioterrorism. They weren't prosecuted the previous numerous times where they were caught.

The virus was ruled out as a cause in the death of a 45-year-old La Mirada man, said Craig Harvey of the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner. The death of a 33-year-old Long Beach man was still being investigated.

Harvey declined to release the names of the two men.

Coroner's Capt. John Kades earlier Tuesday said tests were being run on two bodies to see if swine flu was a factor in their deaths.

"People also need to know that if they get colds and flu, that's OK. They should probably not panic," Garner said. "Go see your local doctor. You don't need to go running to the emergency room."

Here's some ways your tax dollars are being wasted by Sacramento bureaucrats, this from the Bureau of state Audits:

State employees and agencies engaged in improper activities, including the following:

• Wasted $580,000 by leasing office space left vacant for more than four years.
• Incurred $71,747 in improper commute, lodging, and meal expenses.
• Failed to report 427 hours of missed work, for which the employee was paid $8,314.
• Circumvented state civil service rules by arranging for the selection of a subordinate employee to a vacant position and paying the employee $6,444 for duties that she did not perform.
• Paid at least $1,253 more than necessary on a $4,987 purchase without obtaining competitive price quotes.
• Wasted $3,000 by paying for private consultant services that another state agency could have provided at no cost.
• Paid an employee $1,145 for unearned compensation and travel expenses not incurred.
• Sent inappropriate e-mail messages to other state employees. Management then failed to take corrective action despite noting similar behavior in the past.
• Circumvented state law by protecting a vacant position and preventing it from being abolished.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown will unveil the findings of a 16-month probe into the Maywood Police Department this afternoon. Here's the AP's version of the story:

LOS ANGELES--A small police department that patrols two gritty cities engaged in widespread use of unlawful force and routinely lacked probable cause to justify arrests and searches, the state attorney general said Tuesday.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown released a lengthy report detailing the findings of a 16-month investigation of the Maywood Police Department.

The report slammed the department on several fronts, criticizing its hiring of officers with misdemeanor convictions and its fostering of what it called an endemic attitude of discourtesy, sexism and racial insensitivity.

"The Maywood Police Department engaged in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprived persons of rights, privileges or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution," the report states.

Maywood Police Chief Frank Hauptmann's executive assistant Evelyn Ruedas said the chief was declining comment on the report.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting this morning that two deaths (one in Bellflower and one in La Mirada) may be the result of swine flu. The Los Angeles County Department of COroner is conducting an investigation. Here's the meat from the Times story on LA Now:

The Los Angeles County coroner's office is investigating two recent deaths that officials say could be related to the recent global swine flu outbreak. However, no tests have come back positive for the swine flu, and medical examiners have not officially determined what caused the deaths.

This from the U.S. Dept of Justice:

      SANTA ANA, Calif. - Michael S. Carona, the former sheriff of Orange County, was sentenced today to 66 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a fine of $125,000 after being convicted of witness tampering for attempting to convince a former assistant to lie to and withhold testimony from a federal grand jury that was investigating allegations of corruption in Carona's campaign for sheriff and his activities after taking office.                     
        Carona, 54, was sentenced by United States District Judge Andrew J. Guilford on the witness tampering count, but in doing so took into account evidence presented at trial of a more wide-ranging corruption scheme in which Carona used illegal contributions during his campaign and personally accepted cash bribes.
        At today's sentencing hearing, Judge Guilford called the witness tampering count "a very serious offense" and stated: "Lying will not be tolerated in this courtroom, especially by law enforcement, especially by the highest-ranking law enforcement official in the county."
        A federal jury that heard evidence for approximately eight weeks convicted Carona of witness tampering in January. The guilty verdict stemmed from a secretly recorded meeting in August 2007, when Carona attempted to convince former Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl to lie to a federal grand jury that Carona thought had issued a subpoena to Haidl.
        "Mr. Carona violated his sworn duty and utterly ignored his responsibilities to the citizens of Orange County by engaging in the conduct that led to his conviction and sentence, conduct that culminated in an agreement to obstruct justice by concocting a story to cover up his corrupt behavior," said United States Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien. "Today's sentencing shows what will happen to elected officals who place their own interests above those of the constituents they are sworn to serve."
        In papers filed with the court in anticipation of today's sentencing, federal prosecutors argued that Carona either received or solicited cash and other things of value worth at least $432,144.

PASADENA PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT URGES HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS AND GENERAL PUBLIC TO BE ON WATCH FOR SWINE FLU
 
The Pasadena Public Health Department is issuing an alert to physicians to be on the watch for the A/H1N1 (swine flu) virus in humans.
 
While no individual cases have been identified in the Pasadena area at this time, as of today there are 40 confirmed cases of swine flu in the United States, with seven of those cases in California according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  The illness in the U.S. currently is not severe.
 
"While this situation is fluid and changing, the Pasadena Public Health Department is implementing a response plan, and we are working with our community partners and providers to ramp up local surveillance," said Dr. Takashi Wada, director and health officer with the Pasadena Public Health Department.  "Since the flu season is waning, we are asking doctors to please take note if they see patients with high fevers, coughs and sore throats, who have recently traveled to affected areas such as Mexico or who have been in contact with persons who had fevers and who have been in these affected areas." 
 
Health providers should contact the Pasadena Public Health Department for clinical guidance on testing and treatment. 
 
"We are working closely with our counterparts on the county, state and national levels to be as proactive as possible to minimize the potential impact of swine flu in the Pasadena community," Wada added. 
 
in addition, the Public Health Department urges the use of these prevention measures for the general public:
 
* As always, people with respiratory illnesses and fevers should stay home from work or school to avoid spreading infections, including influenza, to others in the community.
* Avoid close contact with people who are coughing or otherwise appear ill.
*Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
* Wash your hands frequently to lessen the spread of respiratory illness.

Here's the state's Emergency Management Agency's updates on swine flu in California:

• Swine Flu Outbreak:
  
  California Case Total (April 27, 2009): Eight.  Counties: Imperial 3; Sacramento 1; San Diego County 4

Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza that regularly cause outbreaks of influenza among pigs. Swine flu viruses do not normally infect people. However, sporadic human infections with swine flu do occasionally occur. Most commonly, human cases of swine influenza happen in people with direct exposure to pigs. While most instances of human infection with animal influenza viruses do not result in human to human transmission, each case should be fully investigated to be sure that such viruses are not spreading among humans and to limit further exposure of humans to infected animals, if infected animals are identified. Investigation into possible human to human transmission of recent swine influenza cases is ongoing.

04/27/2009 - Governor Holds Press Conference Regarding State Response to Swine Flu (Video)
04/24/2009 - Governor Schwarzenegger Directs State Swine Flu Response

From the Associated Press:

WHO says the phase 4 alert means sustained human to human transmission causing outbreaks in at least one country. It signals a significant increase in the risk of a global epidemic, but doesn't mean a pandemic is inevitable.

Many experts think it may be impossible to contain a flu virus already spreading in several countries.

WHO has confirmed human cases of swine flu in Mexico, the United States, Canada and Spain. Only Mexico has reported deaths from the new strain.

This from our friend Mike Alerich at the bank 211 blog:

Due to the Swine Flu concern and the proliferation of citizens wearing face masks Banks, Businesses and everyday people should be extra cautious and aware of their surroundings; Who-What is behind that mask?. Not paranoid just use common sense and never "Assume" anything.
Common street thugs by nature are cowards and hide their face behind ski-masks and ladies pantyhose while preying on innocent victims, now during this crisis they can blend in with the crowds for a 20 cent throw-away mask.

For addition photos of 'Medical Mask' bank robbers go to   www.scorpio-security.com, Mike's other site.

This from reporter Amanda Baumfeld:

Los Angeles County Health Services has a press conference scheduled for today at 3 p.m., Kissell added.
Meanwhile, Our Lady of the Assumption School, a Claremont private school notified County Health Services of a potential problem at the school.
"We have been in touch with the Department of Catholic Schools and the Department of Public health and they will advise us," Bernadette said.
The principal would not comment further.

Updates from the World Health Organization -- also available in RSS

Centers for Disease Control travel notices - also available in RSS

HealthMap -- Global disease alert map

Information from Pandemic Flu -- including more links to CDC, the department of Health and Human Services, WHO and the White House

 

View H1N1 Swine Flu in a larger map

WALNUT -- A vase of flowers marked the spot Sunday where a young woman was killed and three young man were badly injured in a solo-car crash early Saturday.

The crash occurred about 4:30 a.m. on westbound Amar Road between Braes River Drive and Creekside Drive.

Jennifer Marie Garcia, 21, of West Covina was pronounced dead at the scene.

A vase of flowers with a note reading, "May God be with you," stood in front of the tree where the car struck Sunday, amidst shards of shattered glass and plastic.

The cause of the crash remained under investigation Sunday, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said.

 Here's the original story.

The CDC's Swine Flu page

WHO's Swine Flu page

AlertNet's survey of worldwide reaction to outbreak

The story of a community spared in the 1919 world flu pandemic -- a study by the University of Michigan. (includes links to contemporary accounts from the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner)

Here's the latest from the Associated Press regarding the outbreak of Swine Flu and the possibility the virus could mutate into a more dangerous strain:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The world's governments raced to avoid both a pandemic and global hysteria Sunday as more possible swine flu cases surfaced from Canada to New Zealand and the United States declared a public health emergency. "It's not a time to panic," the White House said.

Mexico, the outbreak's epicenter with up to 86 suspected deaths, closed churches, markets and restaurants. Few people ventured onto the streets, and some wore face masks. Canada became the third country to confirm cases, in six people, including some students who -- like some New York City spring-breakers -- got mildly ill in Mexico. Countries across Asia promised to quarantine feverish travelers returning from flu-affected areas.

The U.S. declared the health emergency so it could ship roughly 12 million doses of flu-fighting medications from a federal stockpile to states in case they eventually need them -- although with 20 confirmed cases of people recovering easily, they don't appear to for now.

Make no mistake: There is not a global pandemic -- at least not yet. It's not clear how many people truly have this particular strain, or why all countries but Mexico are seeing mild disease. Nor is it clear if the new virus spreads easily, one milestone that distinguishes a bad flu from a global crisis. But waiting to take protective steps until after a pandemic is declared would be too late.

"We do think this will continue to spread but we are taking aggressive actions to minimize the impact on people's health," said Dr. Richard Besser, acting chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

President Barack Obama's administration sought to look both calm and in command, striking a balance between informing Americans without panicking them. Obama himself was playing golf while U.S. officials used a White House news conference to compare the emergency declaration with preparing for an approaching hurricane.

"Really that's what we're doing right now. We're preparing in an environment where we really don't know ultimately what the size or seriousness of this outbreak is going to be," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told reporters.

Earlier, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the outbreak was serious, but that the public should know "it's not a time to panic." He told NBC's "Meet the Press" that Obama was getting updates "every few hours" on the situation.

PICO RIVERA -- A woman was shot inside a Veterans of Foreign Wars post early Sunday when a gunman opened fire from an SUV, officials said.
The incident was reported about 1:10 a.m. at the VFW post at 4865 Durfee Ave., Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Juan Chavez said.
The woman, estimated to be in her 40s, was shot in the shoulder, he said.
The injury was not believed to be life threatening, he added.
The shooter was inside a passing dark-colored SUV, Chavez said.
A further description of the attacker or the vehicle was not available.
It was not clear Sunday whether the VFW post was targeted, or if the shooter may have been shooting at someone outside the building, the sergeant said.
No one answered the phone at the post Sunday.
Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's Pico Rivera Station at (562) 949-2421.

*UPDATED:

ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST -- A man suffered a glancing wound to the head Sunday when a piece of bullet ricochetted and struck him at a gun range in the Angeles National Forest north of San Dimas, authorities said.
The incident was reported about 1:15 p.m. at the Burro Canyon Shooting Park, 22100 East Fork Rd, Los Angeles County Fire Department Supervising Dispatcher Melanie Flores said.
"It was one of those shooting anomalies," Los Angeles County Fire Department Capt. Tim Bloom said.
The man, estimated to be in his 20s, suffered an apparently minor wound, however he was flown to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center by helicopter as a precaution, the captain said.

SAN DIMAS -- The "Gifts for Guns" collection in San Dimas was a success Saturday, authorities said, as 246 guns, including half a dozen assault weapons, were gathered, officials said.

The exchange, in which people trade firearms for gift cards good at local retailers, took place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., officials said.

The event, initially scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., started an hour early as people were already lining up, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Craig Boyett said.

More than $24,000 worth of gift cards from retailers such as Walmart, Target and grocery stores were handed out, he said.

Deputies paid $100 in gift cards for most working rifles and handguns, $50 worth for non-functioning guns and $200 worth for assault weapons, Boyett said.

For information on future Gifts for Guns exchanges, visit the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Web site at www.lasd.org.

ALHAMBRA -- Police sought the public's help Saturday in finding two young brothers who left for a tutoring session Thursday and never arrived, authorities said.
Tial Thawng, 14, and Hniang Nawl Thawng, 11, were last seen walking away from their home in the 100 block of South Olive Avenue, Alhambra police Sgt. Gabriel Ponce said in a written statement.
They were supposed to go to a tutoring session but never arrived and haven't been seen since, he said.
Both brothers speak Burmese and some English, Ponce said.
Tial Thawng is described as 5 feet, 4 inches tall and of thin build, the sergeant said. He was last seen wearing light-colored hooded sweat shirt, a black t-shirt, blue shorts and a black and white backpack.
Hniang Thawng is described as 4 feet tall and of thin build, officials said. He was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, tan shorts, a black jacket and a red backpack.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Alhambra Police Department.

Pictured: Hniang Thawng - top, Tial Thawng - bottom.

From the Associated Press:

FRESNO -- A Fresno man charged with tattooing a gang insignia on a 7-year-boy while the father held him has pleaded not guilty.
Travis Gorman entered his plea Friday in Fresno County Superior Court. He faces felony charges of aggravated mayhem and street terrorism.
Fresno police say the 20-year-old tattooed the boy's belly with a dog paw. It is the insignia of the Bulldogs, who are Fresno's largest criminal street gang.
A warrant has been issued for the father, identified as 26-year-old Enrique Gonzalez.
Investigators learned of the crime Tuesday when the boy's mother brought the child to the offices of a multi-agency gang task force.

UPDATED:

WALNUT -- A 21-year-old West Covina woman was killed and three other people were rushed to the hospital following a solo-car crash early Saturday, officials said.
Jennifer Marie Garcia was pronounced dead at the scene, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner Investigator Lydia Granado-Mata said.
The crash occurred about 4:30 a.m. on Amar Road near Braes River Drive, according to sheriff's and fire officials.
The three injured people were described only as men in their early 20s, Estrada said.
They were flown by helicopter to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center with serious injuries, he said.
At least one of the survivors was listed in critical condition when hospitalized, Los Angeles County Fire Department Supervising Dispatcher Clyde Taylor said.
Estrada described the four occupants of the car as friends.
A 2-door sedan was westbound on Amar Road when it struck a tree in the center median, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Ernie Vanderpoorten said.
Garcia was a passenger in the car, he added.
The cause remained under investigation.

SAN GABRIEL -- Sheriff's detectives staking out a robbery suspect Thursday stopped an alleged rape in progress and captured the suspect, authorities said.
Kenneth Parker, 18, of San Gabriel was booked on suspicion of kidnapping to commit rape, attempted rape, burglary and assault with a deadly weapon, police and sheriff's officials said.
Detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Major Crimes Bureau were conducting surveillance looking for a serial robbery suspect when they saw the crime and jumped into action, sheriff's officials said in a written statement.
"They did a great piece of police work," San Gabriel police Lt. John Tuosto said of the deputies. "My personal opinion is, not only did they save her from being raped, it could have been a lot worse."
The incident occurred about 7:30 p.m. in the 1700 block of Palm Avenue when the sheriff's detectives saw Parker grab and attempt to rape a woman, the sheriff's statement said.
The woman escaped before the detectives could intervene, but Parker grabbed a second woman moments later and dragged her into a business in the 100 block of East Valley Boulevard, sheriff's officials said.
Detectives followed Parker as he took the woman into a rear bathroom of the business and locked the door, San Gabriel police Sgt. Brian Kott said.
They then entered the room, rescued the woman and detained the suspect who was booked at the San Gabriel Police Department, according to the sheriff's statement.
In addition to punching and hitting the woman during the rape attempt, Kott said Parker may have grabbed an object inside the business and struck her with that.
According to court records, Parker is being held in lieu of $1 million bail and is due for arraignment at Alhambra Superior Court Monday.

SAN GABRIEL -- Sheriff's deputies arrested a local man Thursday suspected in 30 armed robberies in San Gabriel and Rosemead in the past 60 days, authorities said.
Mark Henry Cons, 47, of San Gabriel was booked on suspicion of robbery, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said in a written statement.
Known as the "Ski Mask Bandit," Cons carried out his alleged robberies primarily at area businesses, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Allan Smith said.
The arrest came at the end of a surveillance operation that was being conducted by detectives from the sheriff's Temple Station, sheriff's Major Crimes Bureau and the San Gabriel police department, the statement said.
Cons was taken into custody without incident at his San Gabriel home at 1702 S. Palm Avenue, officials added.
A search warrant was also carried out at the home, officials said.
No further information about the investigation or the robberies was available late Friday.
According to court records, Cons is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail and is due for arraignment in Pasadena Superior Court Monday.

The arraignment for twins charged with the abuse death of their invalid mother was continued until May 20, Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office officials said Today.

Justine Rosales and Jasmine Nicole were arrested by Covina police Wednesday for the death of the pair's mother Feb. 27, 2007. They were intitially scheduled to be arraigned Friday.

At the time of her death, Naomi Mendez, 43, weighed 78 pounds, suffered from diabetes and other medical problems, police said.
The District Attorney's office filed charges of one count elder abuse or dependent adult abuse resulting in death.

If convicted, the women could face up to 11 years in prison.

Here's the original story.

 

Pictured: Top - Justine Rosales, Bottom - Jasmine Rosales

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has activated the Joint Emergency Operations Center of the Department of Public Health to combat Swine flu outbreak in California.

There's a meeting between the CDC and public safety officials in Los Angeles taking place right now. Essentially an outbreak of deadly swine flu has claimed as many as 61 lives in Mexico and may be sweeping into Texas and California, officials said.

Homeland security site.

The CDC's investigation.

Case studies.

Swine Flu FAQ

*Twitter updates from Breaking News Online

*World Health Organization release on Swine Flu outbreak

*CDC Flu map

Police have arrested an booked a 52-year-old woman on suspicion of commiting lewd acts with a 14-year-old student at Monterey Highlands Elementary School in Monterey Park.

Apparently the woman wasn't a teacher, but a staff member at the school. The act apparently occurred off campus.

Mildred Luna is a staff member at the school, police said. The allegations, stemming from an incident that reportedly occurred after school Feb. 6 at a location away from the school, was not reported until mid-April, police said.
Luna was arrested April 14, officials said.

I'll try to post more details later in the day if they come in.

Bill Hetherman, a former SGV Tribune court reporter, stumbled across a civil case involving actress Sharon Stone. There was just one problem, court records make it appear as if the case doesn't exist.

Clearly this is anothe rexample of how celebrity in Los Angeles trumps the rights of the public and legal protocol. Alan Parachini, the court spokesman, and former ACLU flack, doesn't outright defend the secrecy, but he refused to say if other such cases were buried in court files somewhere.

Here's the story from this morning's Los Angeles Times.

And a snippet:

The case probably would have gone unnoticed into the archives had a reporter for City News Service not had a slow February day in the civil court. Bill Hetherman said that because his schedule was free, he decided to attend a relatively small-potatoes hearing -- the matter of attorneys' fees in a sex discrimination case against Costco -- in Duffy-Lewis' court. While he was waiting, the judge called another case.

"All of a sudden I heard the name Sharon Stone and paid closer attention," he said.

Hetherman said that after a whispered conversation with Jacobson's attorney at the bench, the judge set a date a month later for the hearing.

Hetherman said he tried to find information about the case in the court database and later from the attorneys and court officials, but repeatedly was told it was sealed. The reporter said the next hearing included a hushed discussion between the judge and a lawyer for the actress and then a statement on the record that suggested the case was over.

INDUSTRY -- The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control suspended the liquor license Thursday of a local restaurant where a 19-year-old boy was allegedly served alcohol before being involved in a fatal car crash last year, authorities said.
A notice indicating the suspension has been posted at Joe's Crab Shack, 1420 S. Azusa Avenue, ABC spokesman John Carr said in a written statement.
The restaurant allegedly served then-20-year-old Elias Munoz of La Mirada on March 2, 2008, before he became involved in an alleged street-racing crash that killed his passenger, 20-year-old Ondrea Alvarez of Bellflower on Pathfinder Road in Rowland Heights.
"The suspension means the restaurant cannot sell alcohol for the next 35 days," Carr said in the statement. "In addition, the alcohol beverage license could face a possibly revocation anytime in the next two years if a similar violation occurs."
Munoz has been charged with drunken driving and murder in connection with March 2, 2007 crash along with co-defendant Brian Galvez, 22, of Rowland Heights, whom Munoz was allegedly racing.
Galvez is also accused of drunken driving and leaving the scene of a crash, officials said.
A waiter at the restaurant, 22-year-old Theron Miles, has been accused of serving alcohol to minors, ABC officials said.

The case of Gregory Serrano, 34, of Monrovia, is due to go to trial Tuesday at Pasadena Superior Court, according to court officials.

Serrano is accused of using the Internet to lure, molest and take pornographic pictures of 10 underage girls.

His trial has been postponed several times already, so we'll see if this time it sticks.

Serrano has been charged with 20 counts of child molestation in the alleged crimes, which Los Angeles County District Attorney's officials say date back to June of 2006, United States Attorney Joey Blanch said.

In addition to the local charges, Serrano has been indicted on 23 federal charges including using the Internet to entice minors, producing and possessing child pornography and destroying evidence, United States Attorney's officials said.

Serrano was arrested March 12 after a 15-year-old girl reported the alleged molestation to her parents, officials said.

The alleged victims in the case range in age from 13 to 17, said Blanch.

If convicted on the federal charges alone, Serrano could face a sentence of life in prison, she added.

I got this in a message .... I assume it's on one wire service or another

LOS ANGELES -- Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich said he came to Los Angeles to promote a reality show because he wants to support the project even though a judge barred him from traveling abroad for it.

Blagojevich was filming promotional spots Thursday for NBC's "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!" in the Los Angeles Arboretum in Arcadia, a stand-in for the show's Costa Rica jungle setting.

"Perhaps I can play some other role in the show," he said, calling it "an exciting" concept.

He had hoped to be a contestant but a federal judge in Chicago this week refused to allow him to leave the country to do so.

Blagojevich, who was dressed in a suit and tie despite the outdoor setting, declined to say whether he was being paid for the promotional work. He's set to attend a news conference Friday at which the show's cast will be announced.

He's pleaded not guilty to racketeering, fraud and other charges that allege -- among other things -- that he schemed to sell President Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat.

Twin sisters Jasmine and Justine Rosales, both 20, were arrested
Wednesday on suspicion of killing their invalid 43-year-old mother,
Naomi Mendez, through neglect and abuse two years ago at the Covina
home they all shared.
(Courtesy of Covina Police Department)

DIAMOND BAR -- Two men fled with an undisclosed amount of money Thursday after one of them robbed a Radio Shack store at gunpoint, authorities said.
The incident occurred about 7:15 p.m. at the store located at 2785 S. Diamond Bar Blvd., Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Mike Browne said.
After using a semi-automatic handgun to hold up the store, the robber met up with a second suspect in the parking lot and the two fled northbound on foot, Browne said.
Witness accounts indicated the men may have gotten into a getaway car, he added.
The gunman was described as a Latino man, between 18 and 25 years old and standing about 5 feet, 8 inches tall, the lieutenant said. He wore a grey sweat shirt and blue jeans.
The second suspect was described as a Latino man between 25 and 30 years old, wearing a black jacket, a black hat and a backpack, Browne said.
The robbers may have stolen merchandise from the store in addition to cash from the register, he said.

ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST -- Rescuers hoisted a man by helicopter and took him to a local hospital Thursday after he apparently spent two days trapped in the Angeles National Forest north of La Canada Flintridge, authorities said.
The man, estimated to be 45 years old, appeared "emaciated" and possibly had an injured ankle, Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. John Caffrey said.
Sheriff's officials received a report through the forest rangers about 2:30 p.m. that a hiker was trapped in the forest, Caffrey said.
The man was pulled from the forest about half an hour later, he said.
He was found on the Bear Canyon Trail, about 15 miles north of La Canada Flintridge, Caffrey said.
The sergeant added that he was taken to Huntington Hospital in Pasadena in unknown condition.

Did you see this story?

Leaders of both parties in the state Assembly passed out raises to staff members in February and April. The raises could cost us taxpayers something like $500,000 over the next year.

Fortunately, they rescinded the raises late Wednesday afternoon.

Haven't they been telling us we need to implement tax hikes and spending cuts to keep the state budget in balance?

More than 10 percent of Californians are out of work. Yet the shiftless bureaucrats who have run this state into the ground handed out taxpayer money for a few weeks like it was candy that fell out of a piñata shaped like Joe Taxpayer's pockets.

Even worse, both Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and her Republican counterpart defended the pay raises with mumbo-jumbo about how it's somehow saving money.

The reason for pulling back seems even more cynical: the raises could taken out of context and used as ammunition in the fight against the May 19 ballot measures.

Something seriously smells in Sacramento. It's not the breeze wafting north from Coalinga either.

My guess is it's a foul combination of hubris and arrogance. And it's only getting worse.

"I see people out of work and the only jobs saved in this budget are the jobs of bureaucrats," former state Sen. Dick Mountjoy said Wednesday.

Mountjoy, 77, is so sick of the whole mess he's supporting the recall of Republican Assemblyman Anthony Adams. He said he will even throw his hat in the ring to replace Adams if the recall ever makes the ballot.

It was Adams' vote in favor of a state budget which raised taxes and fees that sealed the deal for Mountjoy, a Republican who represented the same district from 1980 until 1994.

Despite term limit legislation that prevented Mountjoy from serving in the state Senate beyond 2000, he still has a term to give in the state Assembly.

In Mountjoy's opinion, California is so broken the state needs to go broke before it can be fixed.

"We begged for the day this thing would run out of money," Mountjoy said.

Pointing to spending increases built into the state budget, he added, "It's stupidity."

Adams appeared at an Earth Day celebration in Glendora on Wednesday at the side of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. But he did not reply to a request for comment on the recall. It marked the second time in recent weeks that the two appeared side-by-side.

The last time the Taxinator showed up at an Adams event, the assemblyman got served with recall papers. Mountjoy dismissed Arnold as a lame duck without much political capital.

"I don't think too many people pay attention to him. He's not the most popular person in the world right now," Mountjoy said.

The only reason Adams and Musclehead became friends in the first place stems from Adams' support of Schwarzenegger's ridiculous tax-and-spend budget plan, Mountjoy said.

Giving up retirement to return to Sacramento would be tough for Mountjoy. And he admits it. But seeing friends in and around his hometown of Monrovia suffer because of higher taxes has made him fighting mad.

"I need the job like Custer needs another Indian," Mountjoy said.

As for the prospects of running one more time, Mountjoy was hopeful: "I think the recall has a good chance. It's doable."

COVINA -- Twin sisters were arrested Wednesday after allegedly causing the death of their invalid mother two years ago through neglect and abuse. Justine and Jasmine Rosales, both 20, were booked on suspicion of murder and dependent abuse, Covina police Sgt. Trevor Gaumer said. Their current cities of residency were not available.

 

As weird as it seems, Octomom Nayda Suleman is thinking about getting a pig to entertain her brood of 14. Needless to say lots of questions have popped up in the newsroom regarding this story. (Like how many kids can a pig suckle anyway?)

Here's the latest:

For a couple of years, the kids have been asking for a dog," Suleman said. "I've actually been looking into a pig, like a little one."

Suleman, 33, gained notoriety after giving birth to the world's longest-living octuplets on Jan. 26 at Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center. Suleman is single, unemployed and already had six other children younger than 8. She was supporting the family using food stamps, disability payments and student loans.

Since the news of her unusual family broke, Suleman has cashed in on her fame, selling interviews and photos for undisclosed sums.

She recently purchased a $564,000 house in La Habra and has been seen shopping for designer clothes in Los Angeles.

Suleman said if the family were to buy a pig, it would wear a diaper and live primarily outside because of the smell.

WEST COVINA -- Officials said they had no plans Wednesday to seek charges against a man who fatally stabbed his step-father in a fight while reportedly trying to defend his mother, a cancer patient.
Mark Vansimaeys, 30, of West Covina was believed to be acting in defense of either his mother or himself when he fatally stabbed his step-father, 48-year-old Dean Franklin Ybarra, West Covina police Lt. Ron Mitchell said.
"It was a horrible altercation," Mitchell said. Though the investigation remains ongoing, "At this point, we don't plan to arrest (Vansimaeys)," Mitchell said.
Another man, a brother to Vansimaeys and step-son to Ybarra, was present at the home Monday, Mitchell said. What role he may have played in the incident remained under investigation.
The dead man, who was listed with coroner's officials Wednesday as Dean Franklin, apparently died from "multiple stab wounds," Ed Winter, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner's Assistant Chief of Operations, said. An autopsy had not yet been performed.
The stabbing was reported shortly before 7 p.m. Monday when someone called police to report domestic violence at a home in the 700 block of East Merced shared by a husband, wife and step-son, West Covina police Cpl. Rudy Lopez said.
Both Vansimaeys and Ybarra were found injured inside the home, he said.

From the Boston Herald:

BOSTON -- A lawyer for a man who calls himself Clark Rockefeller argued Wednesday that his client's parental kidnapping trial should be moved from Boston to western Massachusetts because extensive media coverage has tainted the jury pool.
A survey done for the defense found that more than three-quarters of respondents in Suffolk County -- where potential jurors would be culled -- said they were aware of the case. Of those, roughly half said they believed he was guilty.
"That's a staggeringly high figure, even for a high-profile case," said Jeffrey Denner, an attorney for the man whose real name is Christian Karl Gerhartstreiter.

Rockefeller is the subject of a Los Angeles County Grand Jury probe into the disappearance of John and Linda Sohus, a San Marino couple, in 1985. 

This from the Boston Globe:

Police searching the Quincy apartment of Philip Markoff found underwear from two of the victims in the Craigslist attacks and a handgun hidden in a hollowed-out copy of the medical textbook Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body, according to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation.

The underpants were described as "mementos" from the crimes, according to another law enforcement official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity. It was not known from which victims the garments were taken, the officials said. Investigators are testing the gun to determine whether the semi-automatic weapon was used to fatally shoot a 26-year-old masseuse last week at the Boston Marriott Copley Place.

Markoff, 23, is a Boston University medical school student who pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges stemming from attacks against two women in posh Back Bay hotels. Police in Warwick, R.I., say a prostitute who also advertised on Craigslist was attacked in a hotel there last Thursday, but Markoff has not been charged with that crime. No new victims have come forward so far, one of the law enforcement officials said today.

Authorities have said that his alleged crimes may have been motivated by a gambling problem and a desire to dominate his victims.

A well-liked kid was apparently blown away after an argument over drugs at a party apparently celebrating the use of marijuana on 4-20. Here's another crime story from reporter Daniel Tedford:

GLENDORA - A party allegedly celebrating the use of marijuana Monday turned deadly when a well-known local man was shot to death following an argument, his friends said.
Ronson Edgerly, 20, of Glendora, died after suffering several gunshot wounds to his upper body, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner officials said.

Within minutes of the 9:20 p.m. shooting, police officers arrested Zachary Flanders, 19, of La Verne in connection with the incident.

He is being held in lieu of $1 million bail and will be arraigned in Citrus Court on Thursday, according to public records. In recent weeks, Flanders had been arrested on suspicion of brandishing a pellet pistol, according to those same public records.

The attorney for a man held on suspicion of killing his girlfriend by shooting her to death in Covina Monday night, said her client is innocent and has an alibi.

He is innocent," said Gutierrez's attorney Pamela DiBello. "He could have ran. He has family in Mexico. He could have ran, he could have hid. That is what guilty people do. He voluntarily came in because he said he didn't do this."

Police were searching for Gutierrez for much of the day Tuesday, calling him a "person of interest."

Since Monday night, Gutierrez had ever intention of turning himself into police, but knowing the nature of the situation wanted to be accompanied by a lawyer, said DiBello.

"He freaked out at what happened," said DiBello. "He was scared. He was crying. He cared for this girl very much."

"He contacted me first thing."

DiBello wouldn't comment on Gutierrez's story of what happened Monday night, when Hassan was shot in the head. Police have said Gutierrez's grandfather made the 911 call. The incident was first reported as a suicide at 2:30 p.m. Monday.

"My understanding is he was there, along with two other people, when the incident happened," DiBello said. "He wasn't alone in the home."

DiBello declined to comment further on Gutierrez's actions that night or what happened.

This comes from the San Jose Mercury News:

I spent much of the past four days driving around California.

It felt like I was living that old Hank Snow song:

I've been everywhere man
I've breathed the mountain air, man
Crossed the deserts bare
Travel ... I've had my share, man
I've been everywhere
I've been to:
San Jose, Saratoga, Santa Cruz, Sacramento, Los Gatos, Davenport, Buttonwillow, San Francisco, Bakersfield, Stockton, Lodi, Fresno.

Well, maybe not Fresno ...

If there was anything to take away from the trip, it was the feeling that we live in a beautiful state, which is a reason to be a proud.

The thought has occurred to me often, but most of those instances were during good economic times.

(Sigh).

Even though it's beautiful, California is also broken.

I think I saw some proof of that in the Central Valley Thursday. On the 5 Freeway just south of Los Banos what looked like thousands of campesinos marched alongside the California Aqueduct. Many held signs that said "Agua = Vida."

After stopping to watch from a vista point and then reading more about it in the Fresno Bee, I learned the marchers are angry that water deliveries from the Sacramento Delta will be cut off to tons of farms in the western San Joaquin Valley.

All because of a tiny fish known as the delta smelt. This little beast, that's apparently endangered, has already wrecked its share of havoc here in the Southland. Because of environmental protections, we will have to reduce our usage by 10percent and pay more for it this summer.

A federal judge ordered the protection. Californians are powerless to stop it.

In the Central Valley, protection of the smelt will result in thousands of acres going fallow and hundreds of layoffs. That means farms which provide food to much of the nation will be producing less fruits, nuts and vegetables.

Which in turn means we'll be paying higher prices at the grocery store or simply importing more from Mexico and South American countries, which probably don't care too much about endangered, tiny fish.

When is that same federal judge going to step in and order the state to protect endangered jobs and family farms?

If this judge was around 10,000 years ago he probably would have ordered the La Brea tar pits boarded up. Then, saber-toothed cats, dire wolves and wooly mammoths too stupid to take care of themselves would be saved from extinction.

Imagine living in that California!

Here's what the state Department of Fish and Game says about the smelt:

"Delta smelt are found only in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Estuary (the area where the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers flow into San Francisco Bay. ... The threats to the population are multiple and synergistic."

Whatever that means.

Here's what the state Department of Food and Agriculture says about protecting farms and jobs in California:

" "

Can you hear the nonendangered crickets?

A woman was killed in Covina. Police are now seeking her boyfriend.

Covina police called the coroner to the scene of what they believe to be a suicide Monday, officials said.

Dead is an unidentified woman, who apparently died from a gunshot wound.

Although there are indications that the woman committed suicide, police have neither recovered a gun nor a note, Covina police Sgt. Dave Foster said Monday.

* (This has been edited)

The shooting occurred at 136 S. Brightview Drive at 2:27 p.m, Foster said.

*Covina police aren't sure how the woman died. An autopsy is scheduled for this morning (Tuesday) They are seeking Joseph Anthony Gutierrez, 18, in connection.

 

 

 

From our wire services: 

LOS ANGELES - The owner of a Southern California grocery chain has been found guilty of racketeering, solicitation of murder and other crimes after a trial in which prosecutors said the markets were run like a criminal enterprise.
A Los Angeles federal court jury on Monday returned numerous convictions against George Torres, a resident of Arcadia who founded the Numero Uno markets that serve some of the region's poorest neighborhoods.
Charges against his older brother, Manuel Torres, were dropped when the judge ruled prosecutors didn't have enough evidence.
The brothers, along with two others, were indicted in 2007 after an 18-month federal investigation.

*Here's the DOJ press release:

The owner of the Los Angeles-based Numero Uno supermarket chain was convicted today of participating in a racketeering enterprise that was involved in a host of illegal activities, including solicitation of murder, bribery of a public official, harboring illegal aliens and tax violations.
        George Torres, 52, an Arcadia resident who has been in custody since he was arrested after being indicted two years ago, was found guilty of 55 felony counts, including racketeering, "honest services" mail fraud and wire fraud, conspiring to harbor illegal aliens, and a host of tax charges. The jury determined that Torres solicited the February 1994 murder of a gang member who demanded a "tax" from a Numero Uno Market. A federal court jury that deliberated for four days acquitted Torres of one count of wire fraud.
        Although United States District Judge Stephen V. Wilson has not yet scheduled a sentencing date, Torres faces a sentence of up to life in federal prison as a result of today's convictions.
        The evidence presented at trial showed that Torres operated his business, Numero Uno Markets, as a corrupt organization for nearly three decades, and that he used the assistance of a public officials to attempt to obtain valuable licenses and permits for Torres' businesses in return for a stream of benefits that included lavish gifts. Torres, whose empire included 11 supermarkets in the greater Los Angeles area, used the markets to facilitate fraud and tax violations.
        The United States Marshals Service has seized the Numero Uno supermarkets and other assets owned by Torres. The government is seeking to forfeit the assets.
        The case against Torres is the result of an investigation by HIDTA, the High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force. The investigation involved the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; IRS-Criminal Investigation; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Alcohol, Firearms and Explosives; the Los Angeles Police Department; the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department; the Baldwin Park Police Department; the Azusa Police Department; the Bell Police Department; the Bell Gardens Police Department; the United States Marshals Service; and the California Department of Justice's Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement.

SOUTH EL MONTE -- The body of an unidentified man was discovered Sunday in the San Gabriel riverbed Sunday, officials said.
The discovery was made about 12:30 p.m. in the riverbed near the 60 Freeway, Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Jeff Gordon said.
An approximate age or race of the body was not available, officials said,
The dead man appeared to be transient, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner Lt. Larry Dietz said.
The body showed signs of "blunt force trauma to the upper torso," Gordon said.
No further details were available Sunday.
Detectives ask that anyone with information call the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.

LA VERNE - Armed robbers tied up six McDonald's employees early Saturday morning and robbed the popular fast food franchise of an undisclosed amount of cash, officials said.
One of the employees was taken to a local hospital with minor injuries, police Lt. Gary Mason said.
The robbery occurred about 4:15 a.m. at the burger joint, 2269 Foothill Blvd., just as employees were preparing to open the business, Mason said.
Two assailants - described as adult black men in their mid-30s, wearing baggy clothes - entered the store armed with a handgun.
After tying the six employees up with duct tape, the robbers made off with an undisclosed amount of money, officials said.
Officers found the employees after responding to an incomplete 9-1-1 call at the location.
An investigation is ongoing.

AZUSA -- A fire blamed on an electrical space heater left running to close to a fuel source displaced 18 residents, including seven children, from an apartment building and caused about $300,000 worth of damage, authorities said.
The blaze was reported just after 9 p.m. at a four-unit apartment complex at 737 S. Lark Ellen Avenue, Los Angeles County Fire Department Capt. Richard Mejia said.
All the residents managed to get out of the burning building before firefighters arrived, the captain said, and no injuries were reported.
The fire started in a garage attached to one of the units, Mejia said.
A man who was living in the garage reported after turning on the heater, he awoke to a fire and tried to put it out himself before rushing to evacuate the others in the building, Mejia said.
The garage was completely destroyed, he said.
The apartment attached to the garage, which housed 11 people, sustained significant burn damage to a bedroom, the captain said. An adjacent apartment, which housed five people, sustained smoke damage.
Two unoccupied apartment in the complex were not damaged, he said, though officials red-tagged the entire building until it can be inspected and repaired
Mejia said about 30 firefighters extinguished the blaze in about 20 minutes.

LA PUENTE -- An 18-year-old woman was arrested early Sunday after she crashed a car into a house, authorities said.
Samantha Rodriguez of Whittier was booked on suspicion of drunken driving and hit-and-run, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Hiroshi Yokoyama said.
The incident occurred about 1:30 a.m. in the 400 block of Tamar Drive, the lieutenant said.
No injuries were reported to Rodriguez, her male passenger or the family living in the home when the car crashed into the living room wall, Yokoyama said.
The car smashed a hole about 5 feet wide and 5 feet tall in the home, he added. The crash caused an estimated $8,000 in damage.
Details of the incident were not available Sunday.
Both the charges are misdemeanors, Yokoyama said, and Rodriguez was expected to be released with a citation.

POMONA -- An off-duty El Monte police officer was injured Saturday when he crashed his motorcycle on the 10 Freeway, authorities said.
The officer, whose name was not available Saturday, suffered significant "road rash," however the injuries were not believed to be life-threatening, California Highway Patrol Sgt. Kurt Stormes said.
The crash was reported about 5:50 p.m. on the westbound 10 Freeway near White Avenue, according to CHP logs.
No other vehicles were involved in the crash, Stormes said.
The cause remained under investigation, he added.

This comes from the Associated Press:

LONG BEACH-- Police say a 29-year-old driver has been arrested in connection with a road rage fistfight that escalated into murder.
Long Beach police spokeswoman Nancy Pratt says Duy Tieu of Santa Ana was arrested
shortly before midnight Friday on suspicion of murdering 53-year-old George McCafferty of Long Beach.
Pratt says the two men were fighting on the Carson Street offramp of Interstate 605 when Tieu got back into his car and sped toward McCafferty, who was standing outside his Ford Escort. Tieu allegedly plowed into McCafferty and pinned him against his car, killing him.
Tieu is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.

Few details were available Saturday regarding the shooting death of a Diamond Bar man in Pomona. Here's the story so far:

A Diamond Bar man was shot to death late Friday after reportedly waving a handgun at people at a nearby party, authorities said.
Marquis Leblanc, 18, died at the scene of the shooting, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner Jerry McKibben said.
The incident occurred about 11:25 p.m. in the 2200 block of Virginia Avenue, Pomona police said in a written statement.
A motive in the shooting was not clear Saturday, police added, and no suspect description was available.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Pomona Police Department's tip line at (909) 620-2085.

UPDATED:

AZUSA -- A police officer shot and wounded a man early Saturday after the man tried to grab the officer's gun in a scuffle, authorities said.
Jesus Lopez, 19, of Azusa fled after being shot but was captured nearby following a three-hour manhunt, police and sheriff's officials said.
He was taken to a local hospital and is expected to survive, said Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Rich Pena.
Authorities did not release the identity of the police officer Saturday.
The shooting occurred just before 7 a.m. in the 800 block of West Foothill Boulevard after the officer tried to pull over a possibly stolen Toyota Camry Lopez was driving, Pena said.
Officials believe Lopez pulled to the side of the road, but then got out of the car and ran from the officer, who gave chase.
Shortly after, the officer caught up with Lopez and a struggle ensued, Pena said.
"There was a fight over the officer's gun," Pena said. "The officer got control of his weapon and shot the suspect once."
After being wounded, Lopez continued fleeing and ran into an industrial area north of Foothill Boulevard, Azusa police Lt. Frank Chavez said.
Several surrounding law enforcement agencies and a SWAT team were called to help search for the suspect, Chavez said.
"(A sniper team) saw him try to make a break for it," Chavez said, and authorities arrested Lopez without further incident.
He was immediately given medical treatment.
Lopez suffered a single gunshot wound to the buttocks, Los Angeles County Fire Department officials said.
He underwent surgery Saturday afternoon and was being housed in an intensive care unit, Chavez said.
The police officer was not injured, officials said.
Lopez was in custody at the hospital and was expected to be booked upon his release, Chavez said, however it was not clear Saturday what charges would be filed against him.
Prior to the shooting, Lopez was a suspect in a felony theft case, Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Diane Hecht said.
Detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Homicide Bureau are assisting in the investigation, as is customary in officer-involved shootings involving Los Angeles County police agencies.
More than a dozen police and sheriff's officials remained at the scene Saturday afternoon, and Chavez said the intensive investigation would likely continue well into the evening.
"These things go very slow," he said. "We really have to go methodically."

*PICTURED ABOVE: Police and sheriff's investigators gathered at a "command post" near the scene of the shooting.

Two search warrants carried out simultaneously Thursday resulted in five arrests and the seizure of 11 weapons, including an assault rifle, methamphetamine and about $20,000 in cash, police said.
Arrested were Steven Mercado, 28, Robert Mercado, 25, Christina Mercado, 26, Laura Robles, 22, and Guillermo Espinoza, 34, Whittier police said in a written statement.
All five suspects are Whittier residents and all were booked on suspicion of possession of methamphetamine for sales, Whittier police Lt. Bill Webster.
Steven Mercado was also booked on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm, and Espinoza was also booked on weapons charges, Webster said.
The searches were carried out at homes in the 10700 block of Bonavista Lane and the 13600 block of Lakeland Road, officials said.
According to court records, Steven Mercado was being held in lieu of $50,000 bail, Robert Mercado was being held in lieu of $136,000 bail, Christina Mercado was being held in lieu of $25,000 bail, Laura Robles was being held in lieu of $30,000 bail and Guillermo Espinoza was being held in lieu of $20,000 bail.
The arraignment date for the suspects was not available Friday.

Here's an excerpt from a story scheduled to run in Sunday's paper regarding services for Angel James Richards Flores, also known as Angel Guerrero, who was killed April 11 in a shooting at a Rosemead motel. Another man was killed in the shooting and and three other people were wounded. Here's the orginal story on the incident, and here's a more recent story which includes the arrest of the two suspects.

EXCERPT:

Viewings will begin today and continue Monday for a 15-year-old West Covina boy who was killed earlier this month in a shooting at a motel party in Rosemead, with a funeral service to follow Tuesday, friends and family members of the boy said.
Angel James Richards, also known as Angel Guerrero, was pronounced dead at the scene of the April 11 shooting along with 27-year-old Gustavo De La Torre of Temple City. Two local gang members have been arrested on suspicion of the killings.
Though Flores was listed with coroner's officials as a Palmdale resident, friends and family members said he's been living and attending school in West Covina in recent months.
A viewing be held at Rose Hills Memorial Park and Mortuary in Whittier, 3888 Workman Mill Road, Sunday from 2 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and on Monday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., said family friend Cassandra Dunning, who is helping make the arrangements.
The funeral service will be held at the memorial park Tuesday at 3 p.m., she added.
Flores' cousin, 18-year-old Sabrina Schell, said Flores was more like a brother to her than a cousin.
"We grew up together," she said. "He wasn't supposed to leave me so soon."
Schell described her cousin as funny and fun-loving boy who loved singing, dancing and music.
"He was always so happy," she said.

Sheriff's deputies responded to reports of a shooting Thursday, but the apparent target of the attack did not cooperate with investigators, authorities said.
The incident was reported shortly after 8:30 p.m. and is believed to have occurred near a Taco Bell restaurant at Whittier and Norwalk boulevards, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Hiroshi Yokoyama said.
The report came from a family member of the apparent victim in an unincorporated county area near Industry, he added.
Deputies found a 25-year-old man who had not been struck by the gunfire and refused to tell officials what happened, Yokoyama said.
"The victim is also possibly a gang member who was reluctant to provide information," he said.

ROSEMEAD -- Detectives specializing in Asian crime are investigating whether a drive-by shooting that left four people wounded at a Vietnamese restaurant earlier this week was related to Asian organized crime or to another area shooting that occurred in February, officials said.
"Were looking into that, but it hasn't been confirmed," Kim said of the possible connections.
Four male victims in their late teens and early 20s were having dinner at the My-Dung restaurant, near Garvey Avenue and San Gabriel Boulevard, shortly after 9 p.m. Tuesday when they decided to go out and have a cigarette, he said.
They were fired on by a group of attackers inside a black compact car, Kim added. A description of the suspects themselves was not available.
Three of the wounded had been released from the hospital Thursday, he said, and the fourth remained hospitalized in stable condition.
Kim said he did not know Thursday if the victims in Tuesday's attack had any ties to street gangs.
Though officials have not established a firm link, Tuesday's attack bears similarities to a brazen Feb. 5 shooting at crowded a San Gabriel coffee house in which one man was killed and five people were wounded.
Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's Temple Station.

Area residents are invited to trade in unwanted guns for gift certificates this month as part of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's "Gifts for Guns" program.
The event will be held 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 25, at the Los Angeles County flood control yard located at 118 Pony Express Court, behind the sheriff's San Dimas Station.
Participants will receive $100 gift certificates from area stores and supermarkets for most handguns, shotguns and rifles, officials said, while gift cards worth $200 are traded for assault weapons.
No questions are asked at the collection, and those turning in guns remain anonymous.
Supply of gift certificates is limited.
For more information, call the sheriff's San Dimas Station at (909) 450-2700.

I paid my taxes Wednesday.

It hurt.

The check I've sent to Washington isn't as large as other checks I've sent. But, like everyone else in these tough economic times, I see it as a big bite out of my wallet and an imposition on my ability to spend money for items that might actually help stimulate the economy.

As far as I'm concerned, the tax burden the middle class has been assaulted with is nothing more than a redistribution of wealth that seems right out of the Soviet Union's old playbook.

Fortunately, I'm not alone in my middle class rage.

Thousands of Americans got out Wednesday to hold tax day tea parties from West Covina to Fairbanks, Alaska and from Glendale to Sault Sainte Marie, Mich. The forums for their protests ranged from mall parking lots to city halls to the White House.

Patterico, a conservative blogger and Los Angeles County prosecutor who usually sticks to dissection of the liberal bias in mainstream media, summed up the thoughts of many Wednesday.

"Sarah Palin and Bobby Jindal, bless their hearts, aren't Ronald Reagan. And that's who we need," Patterico wrote. "I'm about ready to grab a shovel, drive up to Simi Valley, and start digging."

KFI's radio talk show hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou Wednesday gathered listeners together in Burbank to discuss the effects of taxes. Those they interviewed sounded angry too.

"These people must be fresh from the other tea parties today," Chiampou said at one point.

A chiropractor who identified himself only as Chris told the talk show hosts he was taking part in a noble effort by protesting taxes.

"Back in the 1770s the people said they'd had enough," Chris said. "It's the same today. We've had enough."

People I know told me Wednesday that the only folks attending the tea party rallies were old, white people making more than $300,000 a year.

I'm telling them, if that's the case, it's too bad. The truth is high taxes hurt everyone - and the working poor and middle classes bear the brunt more than those who can afford to subsidize government worker salaries, legislative per diems, and Octomom's 14 kids.

The government is out of control.

Here's my my proof as reported Wednesday by the Huffington Post:

"Tax protesters threw what appeared to be a box of tea bags toward the White House on Wednesday, prompting officials to lockdown the compound. The Secret Service also used a robot to inspect the package thrown in an apparent act of defiance meant to echo the rebellion of the Boston Tea Party."

Clearly the government is also out of touch.

So, since we can't dig up Ronnie, or Thomas Jefferson and get them to lead us out of this mess, we're going to have to do it ourselves.

Over at Patterico Pontificates, blogger (and assistant LA County DA) Patrick Frey takes issue with a defense of Pasadena police Chief Barney Melekian published in the LA Times. 

Bobb's piece repeatedly extols Melekian's virtues. Bobb says the chief "followed the rules of good policing" and gushes: "[Chief Melekian's] willingness to hold himself and his department accountable to the general public is admirable." Bobb's sermon of praise ends with a paean to "transparency."
How ironic that Bobb shows no "transparency" about his own relationship with Melekian.
Instead, the reader is led to assume that Bobb has no personal interest in defending Melekian:
Merrick J. Bobb is executive director of the nonprofit Police Assessment Resource Center and special counsel monitoring the Sheriff's Department for the L.A. County Board of Supervisors.
What Bobb fails to mention, and The Times does not disclose, is that Melekian is a paid employee of Bobb's consulting firm.* The web site for the aforementioned Police Assessment Resource Center lists Melekian as one of only two "senior advisors" to Bobb's firm:
Chief Bernard Melekian joined PARC as a senior advisor in June 2004. He is the Police Chief of Pasadena, California, and has occupied that position since 1996.
Melekian's presence at Bobb's consulting firm lends Bobb credibility in claiming an understanding of police procedures and tactics. Melekian's experience is critical, because Merrick Bobb has absolutely no police experience, whatsoever.

Reporter Will Bingham of the Daily Bulletin dug up the warrants in Pomona. Amanda Baumfeld put together a look inside the investigation of Bruce Pardo's rampage on Christmas Eve in Covina. Here's an excerpt:

COVINA - Just before midnight, the Christmas Eve party at the Ortega home hit full stride when a partygoer announced "Santa is here!"
Santa Claus, clad in a fake beard and wearing the kind of protective eyewear often used at a shooting range, produced a 9mm handgun and indiscriminately opened fire on the Christmas celebration, according to search warrants unsealed in Pomona Superior Court this week.
"I think there is probably a couple reasons (Pardo wore them)," Covina police Lt. Tim Doonan said. "Santa wears glasses ... on the other hand he may of been thinking of protecting his eyes."

Here's the warrants:  Link:Covina Christmas Massacre Search Warrants

Here's a press release from the US Department of Justice:

United Tow owner Shahram Shayesteh will be sentence tomorrow (04-16-09) at the Los Angeles County Criminal Court Building on 210 W. Temple Street, Los Angeles, RM 15-309, departments 132 (Judge Stephen Marcus (213) 974-5717) and faces three years in prison (case number BA329364-01). Shayesteh was convicted of terrorist threats against Bell Gardens City Council member Daniel Crespo. The threats stem from a private telephone call placed by former Councilmember Mario Beltran to Mr. Crespo (with Mr. Shayesteh on the telephone line without Crespo's knowledge) regarding length of tow services. Shayesteh threatened Mr. Crespo of great bodily injury.

 

In November 2006, the Bell Gardens Council awarded an exclusive contract to United Tow Company owner Shayesteh. Further investigation revealed Shayesteh had a business relationship with then Councilmember Mr. Beltran who failed to reveal the relationship when he voted to award the five-million-dollar exclusive contract to Shayesteh, a three time felon who at the time had a Federal Court case in the United States District Court for transportation of 600 pounds of heroin from Iran to the United States (case number 05-0892M).

Investigation revealed that Council member Mario Beltran, Priscilla Flores and Jennifer Rodriguez met with Shayesteh prior to the Council meeting and agreed to award him the five-million-dollar contract. This sparked an FBI, District Attorney and LAPD investigation against Mr. Beltran and others which resulted in a grand jury indictment against Mr. Beltran and conviction resulting in his resignation, in lieu of him being sent to prison (case number BA331866-01). FBI investigation is still pending against other Council members and staff. Mr. Beltran was convicted in 2006 for filing a false police report and was placed on Probation (case number 6DY07777-01).

The event is going to happen outside Applebee's and runs this afternoon betwen 4:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. according to organizers.

This from LA Now:

Anti-tax rallys are taking place across the USA today as folks deal with the heavy burden of taxes and the specter of more and more and more. If anyone ever needed proof that higher taxes don't necessarily stimulate the economy, look no further than Ryan Carter's story in today's newspaper. 

An Alhambra woman found herself in hot water with Claremont police Tuesday after she was arrested on suspicion of operating a house of ill fame. 

ROSEMEAD -- Two area gang members were jailed Monday in connection with an execution-style shooting that left a man and a 15-year-old boy dead and four other teenagers wounded at a Rosemead motel Saturday.

Here's our previous story on the incident.

In a nutshell, detectives believe the two suspects, Vincent Casio, 27, of El Monte and Sean Martinez, 18, of Perris, came by the motel party to drop of drugs for one of the partygoers.

The suspects became offended while at the party and one of them left the party and retrieved a gun before ordering all the male partygoers onto a balcony.

Then, one of the suspects opened fire on the group.

Martinez was arrested in Perris without incident, and Casio was arrested with the help of a police dog after a brief car chase and a search near the border of San Gabriel and Alhambra, said Lt. Dan Rosenberg of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Homicide Bureau.

The apparent victims in the attack did not have gang ties, he added, and appeared to be "good kids."

The lieutenant wanted to make clear that the drugs were ordered by one person at the party, not the group as a whole.

"Somebody ordered up drugs and trouble came," Rosenberg said. "It certainly didn't involve everybody."

Nonetheless, Rosenberg advised young people to be careful when attending parties.
"These kids have got to know, or realize, if they're at a party and they become aware someone's going to be delivering dope, it's urgent that they get out of there," he said. "The majority of the time, the people who are going to be delivering the drugs are going to be gang members."

 Check tommorrow's Tribune for more on the story.

EL MONTE -- Police are asking the public's help in finding a 69-year-old man who went missing in El Monte Monday.
Teruyuki Endo of Pomona disappeared after walking away from his friend's home at Portrero and Garvey avenues about 7 a.m., El Monte police Detective Rick George said.
He suffers from an undisclosed medical condition and is believed to be lost, the detective said. Endo is not familiar with the El Monte area.
Endo possibly boarded an MTA bus with an unknown destination, he added.
The missing man is described as Japanese, 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing 160 pounds, with gray hair and brown eyes, George said. Endo has a smaller beard and mustache then shown in a photo provided by police.
He was last seen wearing a blue hooded sweat shirt, blue jeans and blue sandals.
Endo was wearing a medical alert bracelet that bears his home phone number and was carrying identification, George said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the El Monte Police Department.

*Photo courtesy of the El Monte Police Department

This comes from a press release issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

Paul Horcher Monday had some advice for Anthony Adams: "Hire a good lawyer."

Adams, a Republican who represents the 59th state Assembly District is facing a recall that will probably end his political career.

Adams had better surround himself with only the most able advisors, Horcher said.

"I'd tell him, `you can defeat these things,"' Horcher said. "`Get a good campaign organizer who can do good polling."'

As for the opposition Adams will face: "They will get very serious. They mean business," Horcher added.

He should know.

A Republican who once represented Diamond Bar in the state Assembly, Horcher earned the distinction of being the first state legislator recalled by voters in 80 years. No one remembers who the other guy was.

Horcher's recall came on the heels of his vote to make San Francisco Democrat Willie Brown speaker of the California State Assembly.

The vote against the GOP and its leader Jim Brulte cast Horcher as a key figure in a battle of political ideology that reverberates through the state to this day.

Term limits, continued gerrymandering and total Democratic control of the state legislature since the late 1990s likely stemmed from that one vote.

"I was just a middle of the road individual," Horcher said. "Both sides try to run me over."

Nonetheless, the GOP mounted a recall that ended in Horcher being tossed from office by a conservative electorate ticked off over higher taxes and scared of the Bogeyman they saw in Brown.

Last week for voters in the San Gabriel Valley, it was deja vu all over again.

Voters in Adams' district (and around the state) got ticked off when the assemblyman broke ranks with his party and voted for a state budget that includes the most onerous tax increases ever imposed on Californians.

In the 1995 recall, the campaign to oust Horcher was led by a spurned Brulte and a Republican Party which marshalled money and the political might to throw their former colleague out of office.

After a lopsided loss, Horcher left Sacramento and took a job as Sanitation Commissioner under Willie Brown when he became mayor of San Francisco. Horcher's semi-retired now and splits time between the City and and a home in Diamond Bar.

A mere 14 years ago, the Internet, still powered by 56k modems and a loose collection of ham radio-type geeks, played a minor role in politics.

Talk radio pretty much stayed out of the fray.

How times have changed. Elected Republicans seem to be siding with their colleague Adams. They've poured no money into the recall effort and the GOP leadership has given no visible support to the groundswell of righteous anti-tax sentiment.

Instead, the call to recall is coming from the grassroots, stoked by anger over taxes, Internet bloggers and the powerful talk radio duo of John and Ken.

As Horcher sees it, Adams faces an uphill battle.

"Probably the only thing he can do at this point is find a good judge," Horcher said. "That's probably the only way he'll ever derail this thing."

The Well and the Redwood Inn, a pair of fine establishments in Covina have been targeted by Fullerton police during their investigation of the drunken driver suspected of killing Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart.

COVINA - The driver charged with three counts of murder, including the death of Los Angeles Angels 22-year-old pitcher Nick Adenhart, was "bar-hopping" in Covina hours before the accident, according to patrons and bartenders.

Andrew Thomas Gallo, 22, of San Gabriel, was scheduled to be arraigned on three counts of second-degree murder Monday. A judge increased bail to $2 million for Gallo who is also charged with felony drunken driving and other counts stemming from the fatal traffic collision.

But Orange County Superior Court Judge Roger B. Robbins continued the arraignment until June 8 at Monday's hearing. Gallo did not enter a plea.

Prior to the fatal collision, Gallo was apparently taking shots of hard

From a Mike Antonovich press release:

SAN GABRIEL VALLEY  - Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich announced that a newborn child was surrendered at a Glendora hospital - the second Safe Surrender in Los Angeles County in 2009.

The female infant was safely surrendered on April 13, 2009 and will be placed in the care of the Department of Children and Family Services.

"This is another example of how this vital County program saved a life that may have been abandoned," said Supervisor Antonovich.

A jury found music producer Phil Spector guilty of second degree murder for the killing of actress Lana Carkson.

The jury in the Phil Spector murder trial has reached a verdict in the case. It is expected to be read after lunch this afternoon:

As of this morning, the jury had spent about 29 hours discussing the case over eight days since March 26. 

Spector, 69, is charged with murder in the Feb. 3, 2003, shooting death of 40-year-old actress and House of Blues VIP hostess Lana Clarkson at his mansion in Alhambra. He claims she shot herself with his gun.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler has told jurors that they can consider convicting Spector of involuntary manslaughter instead of second-degree murder.

The option of involuntary manslaughter was not given in Spector's first trial. That jury deadlocked 10-2 in September 2007, with the majority voting in favor of convicting him of murder.

The El Monte Flores gang seems to have migrated north into Seattle suburbs, according to an article in the Seattle Times.

A Burien teen was apprehended near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Sunday, days after prosecutors issued a warrant for his arrest in connection with a gang-related drive-by shooting in February.

Jose Noe Cervantes, 17, was booked into the Regional Justice Center in Kent just before 5:30 p.m. Sunday and is being held on $200,000 bail, jail records show. He was arrested at South 188th Street and International Boulevard, just east of the airport, a jail spokesman said.

According to charging documents that were filed Thursday, Cervantes was one of three young, Hispanic males in a red Honda Civic that was heading south in the 13600 block of Ambaum Boulevard South around 8 p.m. on Feb. 28. Another group of young Hispanic males -- self-admitted members of the Sureño 13 El Monte Flores gang -- were standing outside an apartment complex when Cervantes allegedly fired a handgun from the car, hitting one in the left thigh, charging documents said.

The victim told King County sheriff's detectives that the occupants of Civic all wore blue hats and had blue bandannas concealing their faces. Before the shooting, the males in the Civic were flashing gang signs, indicating their membership in the Sureño 13 Varrio Loco street gang, charging documents say.

Looks like crime in the Valley soared over Easter Week. Shootings in La Puente, Rosemead and a guy in West Covina beat and sliced up his wife, according to the cops.

Nine people have been shot in the San Gabriel Valley this weekend, two of them fatally.

In Rosemead, a 15-year-old boy and a 27-year-old man were killed early Saturday when two attackers opened fire on a party at a hotel. Three other men were wounded in the shooting.

In La Puente, four men were wounded in a shooting by two self-proclaimed gang members early Sunday as they congregated with others outside a liquor store.

Our neighbor to the west also saw a shooting over the weekend, as a 27-year-old man was wounded by an armed assailant in Pasadena late Friday.

PASADENA - An 18-year-old Pasadena man was arrested Saturday along with his 12- and 14-year-old brothers as the three allegedly burglarized an elementary school, police said.
Following their arrest, the three reportedly admitted breaking into the school on two previous occasions, Pasadena police Lt. Chris Russ said.
A search of the suspects' home turned up two guitars and a violin stolen in previous burglaries, he said.
Oscar Diamond Comparan and his brothers, whose names were not released due to their age, were booked on suspicion of burglary, the lieutenant said.
A witness called police about 11 p.m. to report people breaking into Madison Elementary School, 515 E. Ashtabula Street, Russ said.
With the help of a helicopter, the three suspects were quickly found and soon confessed, he said.
According to court records, Comparan was being held in lieu of $20,000 bail. His arraignment date was not available Sunday.

AZUSA -- Two local men were arrested early Saturday after allegedly carjacking a vehicle, then robbing a convenience store, police said.
Juan Leonides, 21, and Alfred Agaton, 24, were booked on suspicion of carjacking, armed robbery and possession of narcotics, Azusa police Sgt. Andy Sutcliffe said.
The incident began about 1 a.m. in the 100 block of East First Street, the sergeant said.
A man was approached by two carjackers who told him they were armed and demanded his vehicle, said Sutcliffe. The man complied.
The carjackers then drove to an ampm market located about a block away at First Street and Azusa Avenue, the sergeant said, where they robbed the store of alcohol and cash.
"The two on-duty store clerks were subjected to both physical force and threats of violence," he said.
Three Azusa police officers confronted the two suspects as they walked out of the store.
One was shot with a Taser gun and arrested as he tried to climb a wall to escape, Sutcliffe said, and the other was shot with a Taser gun and arrested as he tried to get back into the allegedly stolen vehicle.
Leonides and Agaton were each being held in lieu of $1 million bail, Azusa police Lt. Mike Gurbada said.
According to court records, they are due for arraignment in West Covina Superior Court Tuesday.

PASADENA -- A local man was shot and wounded Friday by two attackers in a residential neighborhood, police said.
The incident occurred about 10:30 p.m. in the 300 block of North Chester Avenue, Pasadena police Lt. Chris Russ said.
A 27-year-old man was standing in front of a home when he heard gunshots and felt a pain, the lieutenant said.
He suffered a single gunshot wound to the buttocks, he said.
One of the attackers was described as a black man between 18 and 20 years old, wearing a black hooded sweat shirt, a red shirt and jeans, Russ said. The other suspect was described only as a black man.
A motive in the shooting was unknown, he added.

PASADENA -- A man captured and held an alleged burglar Saturday, who was was later found to be wearing stolen lingerie under his clothes, authorities said.
Luis Fernandez, 30, of Pasadena was booked on suspicion of burglary, Pasadena police Lt. Chris Russ said.
The bizarre incident was reported about 1:40 a.m. at an apartment in the 700 block of Garfield Avenue, Pasadena police Lt. Chris Russ said.
The resident, a 22-year-old woman, came home with a male friend, also in his early 20s, when they reportedly discovered Fernandez in the bedroom of the apartment, the lieutenant said.
The man chased the alleged burglar, caught him and held him until police arrived, Russ said.
After the Fernandez was taken into custody, officers discovered, "He was wearing the victim's lingerie under his clothes," he said.
While Russ said police generally don't advise citizens to confront criminals on their own, Saturday's incident ended well with an arrest and no injuries.
According to court records, Fernandez is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail. His arraignment date was not available Saturday.

NORWALK -- A 17-year-old local boy suffered significant injuries Friday when he was dragged about a block down the street by a car following a robbery, authorities said.
The incident occurred about 4:10 p.m. in the 11900 block of Molette Street, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. John Gannon said.
The boy was walking on the sidewalk when two suspects, described as male black robbers between 16 and 19 years old, asked the boy if they could see his cell phone, Gannon said.
After the boy refused, the men got out of their car and grabbed it from him, the lieutenant said.
The boy grabbed onto the car as it fled, and was dragged about a block, Gannon said. It wasn't clear if he became stuck to the vehicle or was simply holding on.
The teen suffered severe abrasions to much of his lower body, he said. The injuries appeared significant but not life-threatening.
The robbers' car was described as a black, 4-door American sedan from the late 1980s or early 1990s, Gannon said.
The lieutenant advised area youths to be careful with expensive cell phones, which are attractive targets for thieves and robbers.
"If you've got an expensive phone, keep it out of view in your pocket," Gannon said.

AZUSA -- Police have released surveillance video of a failed armed robbery in hopes of tracking down the crook.
The attempted heist occurred Monday at Benny's Liquor, 208 N. Azusa Ave., Azusa police Detective Brandon Bailey said.
The would-be robber approached the counter, pulled a handgun from his waistband, pointed it at the clerk and demanded cash, Bailey said.
"The suspect fled the location without obtaining cash when other customers arrived at the store," the detective said.
He was last seen running north through a nearby alley, Bailey added.
The gunman was described as a white or light-skinned Latino man about 30 years old, 6 feet 1 inch tall and weighing 220 pounds, police said.
He wore a black hat, a gray sweat shirt, black jeans and a black backpack.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Azusa Police Department.

To watch the video, CLICK HERE.

 

Reporter Daniel Tedford reports live from a press conference in Santa Ana on Thursday's crash in Fullerton that left three people, including an Angel's pitcher and a Diamond Bar woman, dead.

FULLERTON -- Officials charged a suspected drunken driver involved in a crash that killed Angels' pitcher Nick Adenhart and two other people with murder Friday.
Andrew Gallo, 22, of San Bernardino, was charged with three counts of murder, in addition to other charges including vehicular manslaughter, drunken driving and felony hit-and-run, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said.
The D.A. added that Gallo's blood-alcohol level was more than three times above the legal limit following the crash.
Because Gallo had a previous conviction for drunken driving, Rackauckas said Gallo's behavior showed "gross malice and disregard," and therefore warrants murder charges.
Adenhart and the others killed in the crash, Henry Pearson, 25, of Manhattan Beach Courtney Stewart, 20, of Diamond Bar, were believed to be headed toward an area nightclub in a Mitsubishi Eclipse when they were struck by a minivan being driven by Gallo, officials said.
Gallo allegedly ran a red light prior to the crash, officials added.
A fourth person inside the Eclipse, 24-year-old John Wilhite of Manhattan Beach, remained in critical condition and unable to speak Friday, though Rackauckas said his condition was improving.
Fullerton police Lt. Kevin Hamilton said the minivan Gallo was driving in was registered to his father and step-mother.
He added that during the hours of interrogation of Gallo police conducted Thursday, he did not appear to show any remorse.
"It was a matter of fact conversation," Hamilton said.

PASADENA -- A 17-year-old boy was arrested Thursday after allegedly beating up his ex-girlfriend as she arrived at work, authorities said.
The incident occurred shortly before 8 p.m. to the rear of Le Sex Shoppe, 45 E. Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena police Lt. Randell Taylor said.
The suspect, a Los Angeles resident, apparently waited at the Pasadena store until his ex-girlfriend, a 20-year-old Los Angeles resident, arrived, the lieutenant said.
The suspect, upset about a recent breakup, reportedly then beat her up, Taylor said.
The woman was punched, kicked, thrown to the ground and had her hair pulled, he said.
She refused medical treatment, he added.
During a search of the suspect's backpack, police found a fake gun and brass knuckles, neither of which were believed to have been used in Thursday's incident, Taylor said.
The teen suspect, whose name was not released due to his age, was booked on suspicion of assault and felony stalking and sent to Juvenile Hall, he said.

From the Associated Press:

PASADENA-- A man whose girlfriend was fatally shot by Pasadena police has been convicted of her murder.
Walter Villanueva faces up to life in prison after being convicted Thursday by a Superior Court
jury.
The 25-year-old was charged with the death of Erica Hindman, who was shot in the head on Sept. 3, 2006, when a rookie officer fired into a moving car driven by Villanueva. Prosecutors said the alleged gang member had appeared to be pointing a gun at the officer.
Villanueva was also convicted of assault with a firearm, shooting at an inhabited dwelling and
being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.
A lawsuit filed against police on behalf of Hindman's young daughter was declared a mistrial last year after an attorney showed autopsy photos while Hindman's mother was present.

INDUSTRY -- A man was flown to a trauma center in unknown condition Thursday after being run over by a truck, officials said.
The incident occurred shortly before 6 p.m. at a mobile home park in the 900 block of 6th Avenue, according to California Highway Patrol logs.
The man, estimated to be 70 years old, was alert but in a great deal of pain when taken to the hospital, Los Angeles County Fire Department Capt. Carlos Estrella said.
His chest had been run over by a truck, the captain said.
It was not clear late Thursday if someone was driving the truck, or if the injured man was working underneath it.
The cause of the crash, which was being investigated by the CHP, was not available.

COVINA -- A local woman was arrested Thursday after she allegedly left two young children locked in a car as she shopped, officials said.
Raquel Pearson, 35, was booked on suspicion of child endangerment, Covina police Lt. Scott Pierson said.
The incident was reported about 3:15 p.m. at a shopping center in the 1400 block of North Azusa Avenue, the lieutenant said.
Someone called police to report to young boys were locked alone in a black Acura, he said.
A short time later, a second similar call was made to police stating that the children were locked in a car and were drenched with sweat, Pierson said.
Officers arrived and summoned paramedics and a tow truck to break into the car as they searched the shopping center for the mother, he said.
As paramedics arrived, the mother emerged from the shopping center, Pierson said. She admitted she'd been shopping for about 15 minutes and was placed under arrest.
The boys, estimated to be 3 years old and under 2 years old, were evaluated by paramedics and appeared unharmed, Pierson said.
They were turned over to the care of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, he said.
According to court records, Pearson is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail and is due in West Covina Superior Court Monday for arraignment.

ARCADIA -- A robber escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash Tuesday after robbing a Bank of the West branch, police said.
The heist was reported about 2:20 p.m. at the bank located at 1155 W. Huntington Drive, Arcadia police officials said.
The robber used a demand note to rob a teller of cash and was last seen fleeing the area on foot, he said.
No further details were available late Wednesday.

From the Associated Press:

QUARTZ HILL-- The father and daughter killed when a runaway big rig crashed into their car have been laid to rest in Los Angeles County.
About 1,200 people packed into a church Wednesday in Quartz Hill to attend the funeral
of Angel Posca and his 12-year-old daughter Angelina. Both were killed April 1 in La Canada Flintridge when a truck transporting cars careened down Angeles Crest Highway, lost its breaks and struck five vehicles before crashing into a bookstore.
Investigators say the truck's driver, 43-year-old Marcos Costa, ignored posted weight restrictions that barred big rigs from the highway. He was charged with vehicular manslaughter.

WHITTIER -- A group of attackers stabbed a man several times Wednesday at a gas station, officials said.
The incident occurred about 1:40 a.m. in the 12900 block of Lambert Road, Whittier police Lt. Wyatt Powell said.
The wounded man, a 23-year-old Los Angeles resident, was taken to an area hospital where he was expected to survive, the lieutenant said.
A black, two-door, older-model Chevy Blazer approached and about six male attackers got out of the SUV and confronted the man, he said.
One or more of the attackers stabbed the man several times before fleeing, Powell said.
A motive in the stabbing and a further description of the attackers were not available.

POMONA -- A man was sentenced to 60 years to life in prison this month for the shooting death of a local woman last year.
Joseph Sanchez, 39, of El Monte was convicted of murder and immediately sentenced on April 1 in Pomona Superior Court, court officials said.
He fatally shot Elaine Garza, 41, in a parking lot in the 12000 block of Valley Boulevard, authorities said.
Sanchez was arrested soon after the shooting after witnesses pointed him out in a neaby motel.

Pictured right: Joseph Sanchez, 39, of El Monte. (Courtesy)

A pair of Mexican police officers linked to a drug case in Covina have been sent back across the border, a week after admitting to criminal charges.

Story link

From the AP:

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The jury in music producer Phil Spector's murder retrial has resumed deliberations.

PASADENA -- A La Puente woman was sentenced to 22-years to life in prison on Monday for causing a car crash that killed a 3-year-old boy.

Sara Olivia Bravo was in a stolen car with police chasing her on Dec. 11, 2005 when she ran a red light in Arcadia and smashed into the boy's car.

The collision occurred at Del Mar Boulevard and Altadena Drive.

A jury convicted her in January of second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter, evading police and auto theft, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. The jury also found true enhancements for causing the death of a child under 5.

Staff Writer Amanda Baumfeld reports that authorities have arrested a woman in Omaha in connection with the death of her roommate, who was found fatally bludgeoned in a closet in the South Hills home they shared.

Investigators found Julie McChristy Friday night and booked her at the Omaha Police Department.

She is accused in the March 28 slaying of Susan Molina.

The jury in music producer Phil Spector's murder trial resumed deliberations today.

The panel took a break last week after one of the juror's fell ill on Wednesday.

The 69-year-old Spector is accused of second-degree murder in the gunshot death of actress Lana Clarkson on Feb. 3, 2003. Clarkson was fatally wounded inside Spector's Alhambra mansion.

Since my two little guys are on Spring Break, I'll be out of the office this week on a sort of vacation. In any event, posting will be light for a while. In the meantime, Brian Day will be here from Wednesday through Sunday to keep up with the breaking crime news from around the valley.

See ya around.

--Frank

LA HABRA -- A woman was killed and two others, including a police officer, were injured Sunday after a police car crashed into another vehicle while responding to a call, authorities said.
The incident occurred about 5 p.m. on Euclid Street at La Habra Boulevard, La Habra police spokeswoman Cindy Knapp said in a written statement.
The dead woman was not identified pending notification of her family, Knapp said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
A man who was in the vehicle with the woman was hospitalized in critical condition, she said, and the officer was listed in stable condition. Their names were also not released late Sunday.
The officer was driving with emergency lights and sirens on when the crash occurred, she said.
The vehicles collided as the police car was northbound on Euclid Street, and the other vehicle was eastbound on La Habra Boulevard, said Knapp.
The officer was en route to help other police officers who were chasing a parolee who fled from them, she said.
Police tried to serve a warrant in the 200 block of Capella Avenue when they saw a parolee-at-large driving away, Knapp said.
Officers followed him and he got out of his vehicle and began running, she said.
The fleeing parolee was considered armed and dangerous, police said, prompting the officers to call for help.
As is customary in the La Habra Police Department when dealing with crashes involving police officers, Knapp said, the California Highway Patrol was summoned to investigate the incident.

 

Family members of Jason Guijarro, 19, of Baldwin Park provided these pictures of the man, who was fatally shot on Tuesday, March 31, 2009, as he sat in a van in West Covina with three other people.

For the full story, click here.

Jason Guijarro's sister, Stephanie Guijarro, said her brother was deeply dedicated to his 5-month-old son, Jayden.

"His number one thing was he loved spending time with his baby," she said. "That's all he wanted to do. He was very proud about being a father."

He's pictured below with his girlfriend and infant son.

ALHAMBRA -- An apartment complex was rendered uninhabitable Sunday after a blaze ignited in one of the units, officials said.
The incident occurred about 3:30 p.m. at a four-unit apartment building in the 200 block of South Curtis Avenue, Alhambra Fire Department Battalion Chief John Cermak said.
No one was injured in the fire, which caused $125,000 to $150,000 in damage, Cermak said.
The cause of the blaze remained under investigation.
The flames were kept largely isolated to a single upstairs apartment and an attic it shared with other units, the battalion chief said.
About 50 fire officials had the fire extinguished in about 45 minutes, he said.
All four apartment in the building sustained smoke damage, however, and the apartment directly under the burning one was damaged by water, Cermak said.
It was not clear Sunday when the residents would be able to move back in, he added.
Only the apartment building owners were present during the blaze, he said.

WHITTIER -- Friends of a 17-year-old Whittier High School student killed in a shooting are planning to gather today at the school for a memorial.
Paul Juarequi, a Whittier-area resident, was fatally shot during a robbery Friday at a house party in the 9800 block of Calmada Avenue.
Another 17-year-old boy was wounded in the shooting.
The memorial will be held at Whittier High School, 12417 Philadelphia Street, from 9 a.m. to noon, said 18-year-old Christina Milleman of Whittier, who described herself as a friend of Juarequi.
Following the memorial, friends will hold a car wash at the school to raise money to help the family with services, she said.
Milleman added that Juarequi was a senior at the school, very smart, a football player and well-liked student.
He wanted to join the Navy after graduating high school later this year, she said.

ARCADIA -- A local man was jailed Saturday after allegedly stealing a man's cell phone, then punching him when he tried to get it back, police said.
Kenny Chen, 18, was booked on suspicion of robbery and was released after promptly posting $50,000 bail, Arcadia police Lt. Larry Goodman said.
The incident occurred about 4:30 p.m. at the basketball courts of First Avenue School, 301 S. First Ave., the lieutenant said.
A 21-year-old Rosemead man placed his cell phone on a bench and watched as Chen allegedly took it, Goodman said.
The Rosemead resident chased after Chen and grabbed in an an effort to retrieve his phone when Chen allegedly punched him in the head, he said.
Based on a partial license plate number the victim remembered from the suspect's car, police tracked the Chen to his Arcadia home using an automated license plate scanning system.
He was arrested after the Rosemead man identified him as the thief.
According to court records, Chen is due to be arraigned in Pasadena Superior Court Wednesday.

PICO RIVERA -- A bicyclist was hospitalized in critical condition Sunday after a collision with a vehicle on Rosemead Boulevard, authorities said.
The crash occurred about 3:10 p.m. on the boulevard at Manzanar Avenue Drive, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Juan Chavez said.
The injured bicyclist, a 48-year-old Los Angeles man, was taken to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center for treatment, he said.
He suffered significant abrasions and complained he had back pain and could not feel his arms and legs, Chavez said.
The crash occurred as the bicyclist was trying to make a left turn from Manzanar Avenue onto Rosemead Boulevard, Chavez said.
A Nissan pickup truck being driven by a Montebello man in his late 60s clipped the rear tire of the bicycle, causing the bicyclist to fall, the lieutenant said.
The initial investigation indicated the bicyclist made an unsafe turn, and the truck driver was not cited, he said.

ROWLAND HEIGHTS - The Walnut/Diamond Bar sheriff's station's "Gifts for Guns" program this weekend was a success, officials reported, with more than 240 guns collected.

Included in the cache of exchanged weapons were several assault weapons and illegal guns, Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Mario Estrada said. "It was very successful," he added.

The collection took place Friday and Saturday at parking lot at 19725 Colima Road.

Those who turned in most weapons received $100 gift cards from local vendors, while assault weapons fetched a bounty of a $200 gift card.

Here's an excerpt from tommorrow's story on a fatal shooting at a birthday party in an unincorporated county area near Whittier:

WHITTIER -- A teenage boy was killed and another wounded Friday when an armed robber opened fire at a birthday party in an unincorporated county area near Whittier, authorities said.
Local resident Paul Juarequi, 17, died at an area hospital shortly after the shooting, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said.
A second 17-year-old boy was hospitalized with serious injuries but was listed in stable condition Saturday, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Deputy Byron Ward said.
The wounded teen is also a local resident, officials said.
"A person's life was lost here," said Jesse Ramirez of San Diego, whose mother owns the home where the shooting occurred. "It's hard to grasp."
Juarequi's family members could not be reached for comment Saturday.
The incident occurred about 10 p.m. at a home in the 9800 block of Calmada Avenue, Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Rick Pedroza said.
"The victims were at a birthday party with 200-300 teenagers and young adults in attendance, when the suspect... robbed Juarequi at gunpoint," Ward said.
The gunman then tried to rob the second 17-year-old when, for unknown reasons, he opened fire, Ward said.
Prior to the shooting, Juarequi tried to fend off the gunman, the lieutenant said.
"A gun was pointed at (Juarequi)," said Carrillo. "He pulled out a knife in order to defend himself and he was shot."
Ramirez said his his niece, a junior in high school, decided to throw a birthday party for one of her friends while her mother and grandmother, who she lives with, were out of town.
"It kind of exploded into a 200-man party," Ramirez said, as young people from throughout the area began showing up.
"It appears one kid was bullying other kids, saying give me your money, or give me what you've got," he said.
Deputies from the sheriff's Norwalk Station responded to a report of a shooting and found Juarequi in the backyard suffering from several gunshot wounds to his legs and body, Ward said. The other wounded teen was found with a single gunshot wound in the front yard, Ward said.
The shooter was described as a Latino man in his 20s, Lt. Gil Carrillo of the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau said. No vehicle was seen in connection with the shooting, and no further description was available, he added.

ROWLAND HEIGHTS -- The first day of the Walnut/Diamond Bar Sheriff's Station's "Gifts for Guns" programs was a success Friday, officials said, as more than 105 guns were collected.

The event was held from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. at a parking lot at 19725 Colima Road, near Fairway Drive.

Those who turn in handguns, rifles and shotguns received $100 gift cards from local vendors.

Assault weapons fetched $200 in gift cards.

The program will continue Saturday at the same location from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

People turning in guns remain anonymous, and no questions are asked.

The San Dimas Sheriff's Station plans to hold their own gifts for guns program on Saturday, April 25*.

 

WEST COVINA -- A man and woman were each charged with two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder Friday in connection with a shooting that left two teenagers dead, authorities said.
Gerardo Fonseca Jr., 20, of Arcadia and Melissa Ann Goree, 18, of Baldwin Park are due back at Pomona Superior Court May 6 for arraignment, Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Shiara Dávila-Morales said.
The two are also charged with making criminal threats and the special circumstances of multiple murder in Tuesday's shooting, she said.
Prosecutors will not determine whether to seek the death penalty against the two until a the case gets closer to trial, Dávila-Morales said.
Jason Guijarro, 19, of Baldwin Park and Isaac Alexis Parra, 17, also of Baldwin Park were killed in the attack.
Parra died immediately following the shooting, while Guijarro died late Wednesday at an area hospital.
The shooting occurred about 10:20 p.m. at Leland and Merced avenues, officials said.
Guijarro, Parra and two others who were not injured were sitting in a stopped van when the suspects allegedly sprayed the van with bullets.
Officials said the shooting was believed to have been motivated by a dispute between an ex-boyfriend and ex-girlfriend.

SOUTH EL MONTE -- A series of three small fires -- possibly started by big rig's brakes -- scorched brush along the 60 Freeway near the Whittier Narrows Recreation area at about 1:30 p.m. Friday.
The largest of the three blazes, which burned as much as half an acre, ignited on north side of the freeway near Rosemead Avenue, Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Frederic Stowers said.
Two smaller fires were reported just to the west near Peck Road, he added. One burned about 400 square feet just north of the freeway, while another scorched a very small area nearby.
"What we think happened is an 18-wheeler might have been throwing off heat sparks from its brakes," Los Angeles County Fire Department Captain Robert Rodriguez said.
No structures were threatened, the inspector said, and a quick reaction by fire Los Angeles County Fire Station 90 stopped the blaze before is spread to heavier brush.
An inmate fire crew based in Azusa assisted firefighters from several area fire stations in the effort. About 30 fire people handled the blazes.
The right lane of the westbound 60 Freeway was shut down during the firefight to make room for equipment.
Firefighters drove up and down the freeway looking for additional fires, Stowers said, but none were found.

MONTEREY PARK -- Police released the names Friday of three men suspected of robbing a man at gunpoint in his own home and firing on police.
Carlos Claros, 19, of Los Angeles, Johnathan Rodriguez, 19, of Los Angeles, and Abel Sanchez, 23, a transient, were booked on suspicion of attempted murder of a police officer, robbery, burglary, conspiracy and false imprisonment, Monterey Park police Detective Gabriel Escarsega said.
The suspects allegedly thought no one was home and pulled guns on the homeowner when he surprised them, the detective said.
"It was a burglary that turned into a home-invasion," he said.
The incident occurred shortly after 4 p.m. at a home in the 1100 block of South Lincoln Avenue, Monterey Park police Sgt. Paul Yniguez said.
Claros, Rodriguez and Sanchez allegedly held the man, estimated to be in his 30s, at gunpoint before police arrived, officials said.
A neighbor called police to report suspicious men walking into a neighboring backyard, Escarsega said, and police showed up just as the suspects were fleeing.
One of the men reportedly fired a single gunshot at a pursuing officer, Yniguez said. The officer was not injured and did not return fire.
Police then chased down and captured the three fleeing men, he said.
Though officials initially reported three handguns were recovered in the area, Escarsega said Friday that two guns were found.
According to court records, Claros, Rodriguez and Sanchez are being held in lieu of $1 million bail each and are due in Alhambra Superior Court Monday for arraignment.

This from pressconnects.com in Binghamton:

Here's a link to the investigator's narrative at the scene of the Bruce Pardo suicide.

Here's an excerpt from a story reporter Tania Chatila is working on for tommorrow:

WEST COVINA -- The second shooting victim in a Tuesday night gun attack on a van filled with people has died, authorities said Thursday.

Jason Guijarro, 19 of Baldwin Park, died at a local hospital after sustaining a gunshot wound to the head, said Lt. Joe Bale with the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner. He was fatally wounded in the same shooting spree that killed 17-year-old Isaac Alexis Parra, also of Baldwin Park, officials said.

The shooting occurred about 10:20 p.m. at the intersection of Leland and Merced avenues, and according to police may have been the result of a dispute between an ex-girlfriend and an ex-boyfriend.

Just before the shooting, Parra, Guijarro, another man and another woman were sitting in a van parked next to a stop sign on the wrong side of Leland Avenue, West Covina police Lt. Ron Mitchell said.

While they were stopped, authorities believe an attacker sprayed the van with several bullets, hitting Guijarro and Parra.

Parra died at the scene, Bale said.

West Covina police arrested Melissa Goree, 18, of Baldwin Park and Gerardo Fonseca Jr. 20, of Arcadia, in connection with the shooting. They were booked Wednesday on one count of murder and one count of attempted murder. No charges had been filed with the District Attorney's office Thursday afternoon.

Police are still looking for a third suspect seen running from the area in a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt. They are also looking for a second small, dark-colored car, though Mitchell said it was unclear how, or if, that second car was involved in the crime.

MONTBELLO -- The FBI is hunting a serial bandit they've given the title, "The Will Shoot Bandit."  Not surpirisingly, the robber threatens to open fire in the banks if his demands for cash are not met promptly.

So far, officials believed he's responsible for a failed robbery attempt at a Montebello Bank of American branch on Tuesday, as well as a successful hesit at the same bank in December of last year.

In between, FBI officicials believe he robbed an Irvine Bank of America branch in January.

For the full story, click here.

 

Here's what KFI's Eric Leonard has to say. he's got some docs on the Web as well:

Prosecutors have charged a wounded ex-LAPD officer with insurance fraud and arson for allegedly torching his luxury car and lying about a supposed ambush at his East Los Angeles home.

Anthony Razo, 49, had not been arrested late Wednesday, and was expected to appear in court this week.

KFI NEWS reported Tuesday Razo had quit the department after he was relieved of duty amidst the criminal investigation.

The charges allege Razo burned his 2005 BMW 745 IL sedan January 4, falsely reported it stolen, then made false insurance claims for the car and some expensive items inside, including golf clubs, a ring, a watch, and shoes.

Gordo is still missing (so is Moe, but that's another story.) Anyway Gordo's owner is now offering a reward for help in getting the Parrotback in the cage where he belongs. Here's the story:

BALDWIN PARK - The owner of a stolen Guatemalan parrot is setting up a reward fund in an effort to hasten the search for his beloved missing bird. Fred Mireles has already received pledges of more than $100 to help find his pet, Gordo - a 30-year-old green Malaysian parrot who was stolen from his cage on Mireles' front porch about a week ago.
Gordo is known throughout Baldwin Park as the skateboarding parrot, after the mini-skateboard Mireles made for him so they could take daily walks together.
"I've been talking to a lot of people, showing pictures," said Mireles, 37. "If this is what it takes to find Gordo, I don't care."
Mireles has been working with Baldwin Park police, but officials have said the search could be tough unless someone comes forward.
Since Gordo was stolen, Mireles' story has attracted national attention. He's gotten calls from news agencies throughout California and in New York, and he's even been on a radio morning show in Iowa.
Birdsandmore.com, an online store for bird enthusiasts, has listed Gordo under its directory of stolen pets.
And Find Toto, a nationwide pet finding service, has also extended assistance to Mireles.

From Deadline Hollywood:

I`m staring at a black and white photo taken inside the Citrus Courthouse in the early 1960s.

A defendant is sitting at the counsel table. His chin rests on clenched fists. Cameras are in his face.

In the photo, press photographers surround Dr. Raymond Bernard Finch. After three sensational trials, a jury has convicted the West Covina doctor and his mistress, Carole Tregoff, of killing Finch's wife, Barbara.

The verdict has just been read - the cameras and reporters are there to record everything, just as they had from Day One.

In July 1959, Barbara Finch turned up dead on Larkhill Drive. Someone found her body stuffed between shrubs lining the long driveway leading up to her split-level home above the South Hills Country Club. Finch had been shot to death.

Cameras in the courthouse were part of the scenery.

It's something you will never see in a local newspaper again.

Just last week, one of our photographers took a photo of attorneys having a discussion in the lobby of Pasadena Superior Court.

A terse letter from Alan Parachini, county court spokesman and onetime ACLU flak, followed. It noted that our photographer was in violation of local rule such and such.

This from a guy who represented the ACLU.

We took the photo off the Web. Times have changed.

It's been almost 50 years, but this week another woman turned up dead on Larkhill Drive. Her name was Susan Molina. The home

where she lived and died overlooks the back yard of the Finch split-level.

Investigators believe someone bludgeoned Molina to death then stuffed her body in a closet.

That's about all we know, obtaining that much information from police was a struggle.

It's interesting to compare media coverage and police techniques of 50 years ago. Especially fascinating is seeing in black and white the much closer and far more trusting relationship cops and reporters had in 1959.

In the Finch case, press photographers got a shot of the body with the help of a cop who illuminated the crime scene with a flashlight.

In the Molina case, cops faxed a dry, tersely worded four-paragraph press release several hours after they had wrapped up their investigation.

When Finch's husband was arrested, a photographer and reporter interviewed the doctor in his jail cell.

By contrast, West Covina police announced the arrest of two persons in connection with a homicide that occurred Wednesday night and tried to withhold the names.

Forget about a jailhouse interview. Times have changed.

Film has been replaced by microchips. Newspapers are rapidly dwindling in readers and stature.

Cops who once worked homicides because they had a passion for justice have been replaced by cops who are concerned about their clearance rates.

A cop who would have held a flashlight now has to worry about how evidence will withstand the scrutiny of a DAs office concerned about getting convictions. They dot I's and cross T's to appease appelate judges willing to put cold-blooded killers back on the street because of a technicality.

Times have changed - maybe for the better ...

They don't trust us. Why should we trust them?

There are rumors of an underground horse racing in the Whittier Narrows wash posted on a Bethania Palma story about a dead horse found in El Monte. Here's what sallysays wrote in the Topix Forum:

I have two horses at Whittier Equestrian Center and every once in awhile a group of about 75 to 100 people (mostly spectators) go out on the trail and race horses so hard their noses were bleeding, they bet on horses and drink beer. They throw their trash on the ground. They block the trails and ride aggressively towards you if you dare ride where they are racing. I did, they rode towards me and my horse threw me off. Once we got back to the stables we called the Whitter P.D., the County Police, Temple City Police, and El Monte. Every Police Dept. kept saying not our job. Finally, one call to Pico Rivera Sheriff's got at least 4 cars and a helicopter. All the bad guys left. They came back the next couple of weekends but so did Pico Rivera Sheriff's when we called. Finally, the bad quit showing up! Thank you Pico Rivera Sheriffs!

This strange tale of domestic disharmony comes from the Pasadena Star-News:

PASADENA - Pasadena police say a woman in her 70s was strangled in her home and her ex-husband has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

William Manson, 78, was listed in serious condition Thursday morning at an area hospital after injecting himself with an "unknown liquid" after allegedly choking his 74-year-old ex-wife, authorities said. He will be jailed after he is released from the hospital.

Lt. Randell Taylor said police received 9-1-1 calls about 10 p.m. Wednesday night and arrived at the home in eastern Pasadena to find Manson. Taylor said Manson "indicated that he had just killed his ex-wife."

Taylor said investigators believe the man used his bare hands to kill the woman.

Police say Manson entered the home of the ex-wife and the couple's 40-year-old daughter in the 100 block of South Virginia Avenue after becoming angry over the way the victim was treating the daughter.

The daughter called 9-1-1.

An autopsy of Bruce Pardo revealed he was high on cocaine when he shot and killed nine people on Christmas Eve.

Pardo tested positive for cocaine in toxicology reports of his blood and urine, according to a recently released autopsy report by the Los Angles County Department of Coroner.

"A lot would depend on the blood level (of cocaine)," said Police Chief Kim Raney. "It could've been something to drive him, to amp him up to get him through that."

On Christmas Eve, Pardo , dressed as Santa Claus, shot and killed his ex-wife Sylvia Pardo , her parents Joseph and Alicia Ortega and six other family members. He then torched the Knollcrest Drive home where the victims had gathered for an annual holiday celebration.

Pardo later shot himself to death inside his brother's home in Sylmar.

There are some other interesting details in the report