January 2011 Archives
ROWLAND HEIGHTS -- Authorities are investigating graffiti vandalism at a Jehovah's Witness church as a hate crime.
The damage was first reported shortly before 6 a.m. Saturday at the Jehovah's Witness: Rowland Heights Congregation at 19111 Killian Avenue, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said.
"Deputies were directed to graffiti that had been spray-painted on the exterior walls of the religious facility," Sgt. Angie Wilkinson said in a written statement. "The graffiti was based on religion."
Lt. Mike Brown described the graffiti as "offensive words, phrases and symbols," though specific details of what was written were not released.
The graffiti was believed to have been done overnight, Wilkinson added, between 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday morning.
In addition to being a felony vandalism, with damage estimated at about $500, authorities are also considering the incident to be a felony hate crime.
Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's Walnut-Diamond Bar Station.
From the Associated Press:
Police searched on Sunday for as many as three men who were involved in the late-night shooting of an anti-gang detective wounded as he drove in a squad car with another officer, authorities said.Some 60 to 70 officers spread out in the MacArthur Park area and looked for two, possibly three men, who fled in a car, spokesman Sgt. Rico Fernandez said.Two officers were driving at about 11 p.m. Saturday near Anaheim Street and Gundry Avenue when a gunman opened fire, hitting a detective in the upper body, Fernandez said.A patrol officer who happened to be nearby heard the shots and saw the suspects, Fernandez said. The officer fired at the suspects as they fled, he said, but it was unclear whether any was hit.The 30-year-old detective, who is a seven-year veteran, was hospitalized in stable condition, Fernandez said.The shooting comes less than three months after a Southern California police officer was fatally wounded. Riverside OfficerRyan Bonaminio was shot in an ambush Nov. 7. A suspect has been charged with murder in his death.
COVINA -- A fight erupted between tagging crews at a convenience store Sunday, leaving two young men hospitalized with stab wounds and four young suspects behind bars, authorities said.
Alyssa Mireles, 18, of Covina, as well as thee 16-year-old Covina boys, were booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, Covina police Sgt. Ray Marquez said.
"Officers responded to radio call of a fight at 7-Eleven (at Rowland Street and Barranca Avenue) and found a group of about 10 subjects fighting on Barranca," he said.
Police stopped one vehicle leaving the area and found it contained five West Covina men in their early 20s, two of whom were suffering from stab wounds to their upper bodies, the sergeant said.
Meanwhile, Marquez said, officers stopped another car that contained Mireles, a 42-year-old Covina man and the three teenage suspects.
The man was later released without charges as detectives were not convinced he was involved in the fight, police said.
The fight was believed to be between members of two rival tagging crews, Marquez said.
One of the stabbing victims suffered injuries that were initially considered life-threatening, however both were expected to survive Sunday afternoon, he said.
According to sheriff's booking records, Mireles was being held in lieu of $30,000 bail and was due for arraignment Tuesday in West Covina Superior Court.
The juvenile suspects were sent to Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey.
IRWINDALE -- An SUV overturned and rolled off the 210 Freeway late Saturday, injuring four children and two women, authorities said.
Two of the children, and 8-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy, were hospitalized with major injuries, California Highway Patrol Sgt. Steve Licon said. The 9-year-old boy was thrown from the car in the crash.
The driver of the 2006 Kia Sorento, Jessica Rosales, 20, suffered moderate injuries along with a 24-year-old woman, a a 2-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy were also passengers in the SUV, the sergeant said.
The crash took place about 9:30 p.m. as the Kia was eastbound on the 210 Freeway, just west of Irwindale Avenue, CHP officials said in a written statement.
"Rosales attempted to change lanes from the No. 3 lane to the No. 2 lane," the statement said. "For unknown reasons, Rosales lost control of the Kia. The Kia spun out, left the roadway, overturned twice and came to rest south of the freeway on top of a set of railroad tracks."
All those inside the Kia are San Bernardino residents, however the relationship between them was not clear, Licon said.
Neither of the two critically injured children were wearing seat belts, officials said.
While there were six passengers inside the Kia, the 2006 Kia Sorento is equipped with seating for only five.
The cause of the crash remained under investigation, Licon said, however driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol was not initially suspected.
The probe remained in it's early stages, he said, however officials would be looking into the possibility of child endangerment charges because of the lack of seat belts on the critically injured children.
"It's the driver's responsibility to make sure the kids are properly belted in," he said.
Pasadena man, girl suspected of striking security guard with car while shoplifting from Arcadia mall
RCADIA -- A man and teenage girl were arrested Saturday on suspicion if shoplifting from the Westfield Santa Anita shopping mall, then striking a security guard who tried to stop them with their car, police said.
Anthony Woodridge, 20, of Pasadena was booked on suspicion of burglary and assault with a deadly weapon, and a 16-year-old Pasadena girl was booked on suspicion of burglary, Arcadia police Sgt. Dan Crowther said.
Mall security guards noticed the pair stealing clothing from Zumiez, a clothing and skateboard shop, and followed them into the parking lot, the sergeant said.
The two got into a car, and a security guard on a bicycle began writing down the license plate number of the car, Crowther said.
Woodridge, who was driving, then struck the security guard with his car before both he and the teenage accomplice abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot, he said.
Police and security guards found Woodridge and the teen in the area and arrested them, Crowther said.
The security guard who was struck suffered only minor injuries in the incident, he added.
DUARTE -- A 33-year-old La Verne man died early Saturday on the 210 Freeway when his car rear-ended a pickup truck at high speed, authorities said.
Jerry Ruiz was pronounced dead at the scene of the 6:35 a.m. crash on the eastbound freeway, just east of Buena Vista Street, according to California Highway Patrol and Los Angeles County Department of Coroner officials.
Ruiz was driving his 2003 Mercedes-Benz SLK 500 sedan about 95 mph in the fast lane prior to the crash, CHP Sgt. Kurt Stormes said in a written statement.
A 2003 GMC utility truck driven by a 66-year-old Sierra Madre man was ahead of him in the fast lane, traveling at about 65 mph, the sergeant said.
"Due to traveling at an unsafe speed for the slower moving traffic ahead, the Mercedes rear-ended the GMC," Stormes said.
Ruiz died at the scene, he said, while the driver of the truck suffered minor injuries to his neck and back.
The cause of the crash was being investigated by the Baldwin Park office of the CHP.
Authorities jailed a Claremont man Friday on suspicion of sending poison-laced letters to county children's services offices and a children's courthouse throughout Los Angeles County.
FBI agents and federal postal inspectors arrested Martin Calvin Yarbrough Jr., 48, at his home without a struggle after being indicted Tuesday on suspicion of 13 counts of making threats and hoaxes, U.S. Attorney's officials said in a written statement.
He pleaded not guilty Friday afternoon in federal court in Los Angeles, U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Thom Mrozek said. He was released on a $25,000 bond.
The letters were sent to Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services offices in Santa Fe Springs, Covina, El Monte, Pomona, Chatsworth, Los Angeles and Lancaster, as well as the Edmund G. Edelman Children's Court in Monterey Park between November 2008 and May 2010, officials said.
"Each letter contained either a white powdery substance or a bluish granular substance that was later determined to be a chemical poison," according to statement.
The white powder that was tested was determined to be boric acid, a common insecticide, and the bluish grains were determined to be warfarin, a common ingredient in rat poison, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherilyn Peace Garnett said.
When the envelopes were opened at the facilities, they prompted evacuations and heavy responses from numerous local and federal authorities, officials said.
"Using threatening letters and hoax powders to convey discontent is a serious crime, and as evidenced with the arrest of Mr. Yarbrough, has significant consequences," said Steven Martinez, assistant director of the FBI in Los Angeles. "The major law enforcement response generated each time such a letter is received is time-consuming and accomplished at the expense of... taxpayers."
Garnett said it was not clear what Yarbrough's intentions were in sending the letters.
"I could only speculate on what the motive was at this time," she said.
She also declined to say what, if any, threatening text accompanied the powder-filled envelopes.
The Covina, Lancaster, El Monte, Chatsworth and Los Angeles DCFS offices received their letter on or around Nov. 17, 2008, Garnett said. The Santa Fe Springs office received its threatening delivery on Nov. 19, 2008.
Envelopes were sent to the Pomona DCFS office on or around Aug. 7, 2009, April 9, 2010, and May 19, 2010, Garnett said.
Two envelopes arrived at the Edmund G. Edelman Children's Court in Monterey Park around Aug. 25, 2009, she added, and the Lancaster office received an additional envelope around April 12, 2010.
If convicted as charged, Yarbrough faces up to 65 years in federal prison.
EL MONTE -- A former employee of an El Monte adult day care center pleaded no contest Thursday to sexually assaulting three mentally disabled women, authorities said.
Jose Fernando Flores, 43, of Los Angeles, faces up to eight years in prison when he returns to Pomona Superior Court for sentencing Feb. 17, police and court officials said.
He sexually assaulted three mentally disabled women between 24 and 54 years old after going to work as a cook and bus driver at the Health Start adult day care center in January of 2009, El Monte Police Detective Ralph Batres said.
"It was a very difficult case, because the victims were defenseless," the detective said.
Flores was arrested May 7 of 2010, and confessed to the crimes, police said.
Adult day care centers are regulated and licensed by the California Department of Social Services, officials said, and all employees are required to undergo background checks.
PHOTO of Juan Flores comes courtesy of the El Monte Police Department.
From our counterparts at the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin:
POMONA -- Two 13-year-old boys were arrested for allegedly shooting another teen outside an elementary school Thursday.
The boys, whose names were not released because of their age, were identified and arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon about six hours after a 15-year-old Pomona boy was shot in a park near Philadelphia Elementary School in the 600 block of E. Philadelphia Street.
One of the arrested teens was identified as the shooter, according to a Pomona police news release. A third person has been identified but not yet been arrested.
The three suspects are documented gang members or associates of gang members, police said.
About 3 p.m. Thursday, police found the 15-year-old boy on the sidewalk east of the school with a gunshot wound to his lower body, according to a written statement from police.
The school was placed on lock down for about 15 to 20 minutes following the shooting.
PASADENA -- A woman in an electric wheelchair died Thursday after she was struck and pinned against a wall by a car, authorities said.
The woman was believed to be a 52-year-old resident of a nearby convalescent home, police said.
The crash occurred about 6:30 p.m. on Fair Oaks Avenue, just north of Howard Street, Pasadena Fire Department spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said.
Officials responded to a report of a vehicle that had crashed into a wall and found an elderly woman in an electric wheelchair pinned between the car and a wall, Derderian said. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
"After hitting the pedestrian in the wheelchair, the vehicle took the pedestrian with the vehicle up a driveway and into a small retaining wall," Pasadena police Lt. Tom Delgado said.
Investigators determined the Jaguar that struck the woman swerved to avoid hitting a dark sedan that was backing out of a driveway, he said.
Officials wanted to speak with the driver of that car.
"Obviously, it's a vehicle of interest, so we are seeking information about the driver and vehicle," Delgado said.
A 28-year-old man who as driving the car, a Jaguar sedan, was not injured, officials added. Nothing criminal was initially suspected on his part.
The car came to rest on top of a gas meter, rupturing a gas line, officials said. Utility workers were summoned to handle the leak.
Rodney Alcala, a former Monterey Park resident who was sentenced to death in March for the murders of five women and girls in the 1970s, has been indicted in connection with two additional murders in New York, authorities said Thursday.
A cold-case unit established last year in the Manhattan district attorney's office built on the California case and other evidence collected over the years to obtain an indictment, officials said.
"Cold cases are never, ever forgotten cases," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said in a written statement. "Our prosecutors, investigators and partners in the NYPD do not give up."
Long after the slayings were relegated to cold-case files, Alcala, now 67, who had long been suspected in the New York cases has been indicted, prosecutors said.
The killings made headlines, spurred extensive investigations and frustrated authorities for decades: A 23-year-old flight attendant found raped and strangled with a pair of stockings in her Manhattan apartment in 1971. A Hollywood nightspot owner's 23-year-old daughter whose remains were found in the woods in 1978 after she disappeared in Manhattan the year before.
Though he remains on California's death row for now, Rodney Alcala is expected to be extradited to New York to face murder charges in the deaths of Cornelia Crilley and Ellen Hover. Alcala, 67, was convicted last year of strangling four women and a 12-year-old girl in California in the 1970s, in killings prosecutors said were laced with torture.
The indictment was the result of an "exhaustive re-examination" of the two unsolved murders last year, which included the interview of more than 100 witnesses, New York County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Erin Duggan said in a written statement.
"This re-focus on these cases, combined with information made available during the defendant's trial in California, finally gave prosecutors the evidence needed to secure today's indictment," she said.
Alcala represented himself in his California case, and it wasn't immediately clear whether he would have an attorney in New York.
Alcala was sentenced in March to death for five murders in the 1970s. His victims were Robin Samsoe, 12, of Huntington Beach; Jill Barcomb, 18, of New York; Georgia Wixted, 27, of Malibu; Charlotte Lamb, 32, of Santa Monica; and Jill Parenteau, 21, of Burbank.
Samsoe's body was discovered in the Angeles National Forest north of Sierra Madre.
After the verdict against Alcala last year, authorities released more than 100 photos of young women and girls found in the amateur photographer's storage locker, and prosecutors said authorities were exploring the possibility of tying Alcala to cases in other states including New York.
The database of photographs remains posted at the Orange County District Attorney's website, orangecountyda.com.
"As we often do in cold cases, detectives made connections and his victims piece by piece, year after year, including last April's public release toward that end of 226 images of women photographed by Alcala.
New York District Attorney's officials declined to discuss specific details of the case Thursday, saying it may jeopardize the prosecution.
He had been suspected in Hover's death since at least 1979, according to newspaper reports at the time; California prosecutors even sought unsuccessfully to mention her killing in the first of Alcala's several trials in the 12-year-old's death, in 1980.
In 2003, police detectives investigating the Crilley slaying went to California with a warrant to interview Alcala and get a dental impression from him.
The New York Police Department's cold-case squad also discovered while investigating the Crilley slaying that Alcala had used an alias, John Berger, while living in New York, and that name was also in the Hover case file, said Paul Browne, the NYPD's chief spokesman. A private detective working for Hover's family said at the time of her disappearance that she had a lunch date with a photographer with a similar name.
Alcala initially denied he ever visited New York, but after police showed him the warrant, he said, "What took you so long?" Browne said.
Alcala had been convicted and sentenced to death twice before in the California girl's 1979 murder, but the verdicts had been overturned on procedural grounds. Drawing on DNA samples and other evidence, prosecutors refiled charges in her death and added the four other murder charges in 2006.
Alcala was living with his mother on Abajo Drive in Monterey Park when he was first arrested for murder in July of 1979.
He grew up in a middle-class home in Monterey Park and claimed to have a near-genius IQ of 135. He went to Cantwell High School in Montebello and earned a bachelor's degree from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television in 1968.
His trial was both gruesome and bizarre. Prosecutors portrayed him as a killer with a penchant for torturing his victims, raping one with a claw-toothed hammer and posing several victims nude in sexual positions after their deaths.
Alcala, acting as his own attorney, offered a rambling defense that included questioning the mother of one of his victims, playing Arlo Guthrie's 1967 song "Alice's Restaurant" and showing a TV clip of himself on a 1978 episode of "The Dating Game."
- The Associated Press contributed to this story.
It turns out the "Grim Sleeper" serial killer suspect may not have taken a break from his alleged crimes during the 1990s, as previously thought by investigators. More recent revelations indicate he may have continued killing -- at least two other women -- during that time. The Associated Press has the story:
LOS ANGELES -- Perhaps the "Grim Sleeper" never took a break after all.Police on Thursday were investigating two additional homicides that could be tied to Lonnie Franklin Jr., a mechanic who already has been charged with killing 10 women from 1985 to 1988 and from 2002 to 2007.The 14-year pause led to the nickname "Grim Sleeper."Detective Dennis Kilcoyne said Franklin might also be responsible for the deaths of two women whose bodies were found in South Los Angeles in the 1990s. No charges have been filed in those cases. "I don't think there is a gap," Kilcoyne said. "He was here, he was active. I don't think you stop one day, take a 14-year vacation and then start up again."Kilcoyne released few details about the additional cases but said the bodies were found in the same general area as other victims. He would not say if there was DNA evidence tying Franklin to the two women, as was the case in several of the deaths that led to charges.Most of the victims linked to the "Grim Sleeper" were found in alleyways within a few miles of Franklin's mint-green stucco home a few miles south of downtown Los Angeles. Those victims were shot, strangled or both, usually after some kind of sexual contact. Several were prostitutes.Detectives were led to Franklin after his son was arrested on an unrelated matter and swabbed for DNA. Using a controversial technique known as a familial DNA search, the sample came back as similar to evidence in the serial killings, leading police to investigate relatives of the man who was arrested.Franklin has pleaded not guilty. A call to his attorney Louisa Pensanti was not immediately returned.After Franklin's arrest in July, detectives spent days searching his house and garage for evidence. They seized a stash of hundreds of photographs and hours of home videotape of women, many of whom were engaged in sexually explicit behavior.Learing there may be additional victims, detectives released images of dozens of the women and asked for the public's help identifying them.Kilcoyne said 72 women in the pictures have been identified and ruled out as victims, and four new missing person cases have been opened involving people in the photos. Women in 62 pictures have yet to be identified.The women in the two additional homicide cases were not depicted in the photos, Kilcoyne said.The initial killings occurred during a time of extreme violence in parts of Los Angeles, when many young women were falling prey to crack cocaine and other drug addictions.As many as 30 detectives investigated the slayings in the 1980s but exhausted leads within a few years.
PASADENA -- Police officials may have prevented a suicide Wednesday on the Colorado Street Bridge, authorities said.
A police officer driving on the 134 Freeway and a police park safety specialist noticed a Manhattan Beach man in his 30s climbing the fencing along the bridge, which hangs more than 100 feet above the Arroyo Seco, about 12:30 p.m., Pasadena police Lt. Tom Delgado said.
When the man saw officials approaching, he climbed back onto the bridge, Delgado said. He was taken for psychological evaluation.
LA PUENTE -- A fire scorched a tortilla-making factory Wednesday afternoon, authorities said.
The fire was first reported about 3:30 p.m. at Sope Ozzy's, 818 N. Hacienda Blvd, Unit A, Los Angeles County Fire Department Capt. Art Lopez said.
The blaze was mainly contained to a large oven at the business, the captain said.
About 25 people were evacuated from the factory and other nearby businesses during the fire.
Firefighters extinguished the fire in about 20 minutes, Lopez said. It caused an estimated $70,000 worth of damage to the oven and other kitchen equipment, as well as about $5,000 worth of structural damage.
The cause appeared to be a malfunction in the oven, he added. No injuries were reported.
From City News Service:
POMONA -- A former inspector with the Los Angeles County Department of Health was convicted today of a misdemeanor sexual battery count involving the female owner of a Pomona doughnut shop.Magdy Naiem Tawadros, 51, of Ontario, faces up to six months in jail when he is sentenced Feb. 3. Tawadros targeted the woman March 24, 2009, while conducting what was supposed to be a routine inspection of the shop on Temple Boulevard.The woman went to police five days later, Pomona police Sgt. Horace Blehr said. Videotape showed the man hugging the woman inside the store.Tawadros was fired by the Los Angeles County Department of Health on April 14, 2009, according to the agency.An earlier trial ended in a mistrial when jurors deadlocked on the charge.
NORWALK -- A group of robbers escaped with about $50,000 worth of jewelry Wednesday after a smash-and-grab robbery at the Norwalk Indoor Swap Meet, authorities said.
Four to five men, one of them armed with a handgun, entered the Goldtime store in the Swap Meet, 11600 Alondra Boulevard, about 12:45 p.m., Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Chris Mouat said.
The robbers ordered everyone to get away from some jewelry cases before they smashed them open and helped themselves to the gold, he said.
They were described as black men in their mid-20s, Mouat added, and they were last seen fleeing in an older-model, gold-colored, 4-door Nissan sedan, possibly an Altima or Maxima.
A group of about seven robbers carried out a similar robbery on Dec. 10 at a jewelry store inside the Pico Rivera Indoor Swap Meet, officials said.
The men fled in two getaway cars with stolen jewelry, but left one suspect behind who was arrested by deputies.
Officials were looking into the possibility that Wednesday's robbery in Norwalk was related to the Pico Rivera crime or any other recent smash-and-grab jewelry robberies.
BALDWIN PARK -- Two men used a screwdriver to to rob a pedestrian late Tuesday, police said.
The crime took place about 9:40 p.m. at Maine Avenue and Clark Street, Baldwin Park police Sgt. Doug Parnell said.
Two robbers described as apparent gang members wearing dark clothes approached a male victim, brandished a screwdriver and stole his wallet and keys, the sergeant said.
Police said the robbers were last seen leaving the area on foot following the crime.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Baldwin Park Police Department.
SAN GABRIEL -- Trial was postponed Wednesday for a San Gabriel man accused of killing his former girlfriend and stuffing her body into a trash can at a friend's house in Arcadia.
Isaac Campbell, 35, is charged with the 2007 murder of 31-year-old Liya "Jessie" Lu of San Gabriel.
Trial was scheduled to begin Wednesday in Alhambra Superior Court, however it was continued until Feb. 28, court officials said.
The two were both nursing students at Pasadena City College when Lu went missing after on Aug. 11, 2007, officials said.
Campbell allegedly stored a trash can containing Lu's body at a friend's house in the 1700 block of South Baldwin Avenue in Arcadia, where it was discovered just over a month later.
Investigators arrested Campbell in Minnesota just under two weeks after the body was found, and he was extradited back to California to face trial.
According to sheriff's booking records, Campbell is being held in lieu of $1.275 million bail at the Men's Central Jail in Los Angeles.
From City News Service:
POMONA - Two suspects in a dark-colored vehicle were being sought Wednesday in the gang-related shooting death of a 16-year-old boy, who had survived a similar attack about two months ago, police said.Family members identified the victim as Jose Angel Dominguez, a 10th-grader at Park West High School.The boy died at the scene of the shooting, which was reported about 9:40 p.m. Tuesday at North Huntington Street and West Laurel Avenue, Pomona police Lt. Ron McDonald said.The teen apparently was riding a bicycle in the area, and he may have been stopped when the shooting occurred, police said.gt. Jaime Gutierrez said detectives had determined the shooting was "not a random act of violence and that the victim was the intended target."The victim had local gang ties and was the victim of a drive by shooting in November of 2010," the sergeant said.Detectives urged anyone with information to call 909-620-2095.
SAN GABRIEL -- A fire destroyed a San Gabriel home Saturday, but caused no injuries, authorities said.
The blaze was reported about 12:20 p.m. at a house in the 400 block of West Norwood Place, San Gabriel police Lt. Ariel Duran said.
No one was home at the house when a fire broke out in an attached garage and spread to the main structure, the lieutenant said.
Firefighters from several agencies extinguished the fire, he said.
The exact cause remained under investigation, though the fire was initially believed to be accidental, Duran said.
Nearby homes were briefly evacuated as a precaution as the fire burned.
SAN GABRIEL -- A young woman is accused of being drunk when she crashed into a parked tour bus, killing one of her passengers, police said Sunday
Samuel Bendimez, 23, of Long Beach, died at the scene of the Friday's 6:57 a.m. crash on Valley Boulevard, just east of San Gabriel Boulevard, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner's Lt. Cheryl MacWillie said.
The name of the driver, a woman in her early 20s, was not available Sunday as she remained hospitalized with serious injuries, San Gabriel police Lt. Ariel Duran said.
"She was cited for vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence," the lieutenant said. Because of her medical condition, she had not been booked into police custody.
Another young woman who was also a passenger in the Ford F-150 pickup truck remained hospitalized in stable condition Sunday, officials said.
The pickup truck crashed into a casino-bound tour bus that was pulled to the side of the road to load passengers, police said.
"(The driver) rear-ended the tour bus at a high rate of speed," Duran said. The exact speed remained under investigation, however it was believed to be "above speed limit."
The two passengers in the pickup truck were both sleeping in the rear seat without seat belts, he added.
The three people inside the pickup truck were described by police as friends.
"Apparently, they'd been drinking all night," Duran said. "They went through several cities drinking."
About 25 people were on board the bus, Duran said. Several were treated for minor injuries.
AZUSA -- Police arrested two local men Sunday on suspicion of hurling potatoes at parked cars during a three-week vandalism spree, authorities said.
Charles Maciel and Michael Espinosa, both 20, were booked on suspicion of felony vandalism, Azusa police Sgt. Andy Sutcliffe said in a written statement.
Residents of the 1300 blocks of N. San Gabriel and Dalton avenues called police about 12:30 a.m. to report their cars had been damaged by vandals throwing potatoes, the sergeant said.
Officers found Maciel and Espinosa inside a white, 1993 Plymouth van parked near 11th Street and Holmar Avenue, Sutcliffe said.
"Both Maciel and Espinosa admitted to officers they had been throwing potatoes at parked vehicles in the north end of Azusa every Saturday night since January 1st," he said.
Both men work at the same San Dimas steakhouse, Lt. Mike Bertelsen said, and told police they had been taking leftover potatoes from the restaurant just to throw at cars.
About half a dozen other cars were hit in the vandalisms, and the damage was initially estimated to be worth more than $2,000. The damage included broken windows, broken mirrors and dented fenders.
At least one previous victim reported the potato vandals had been in an older-model white van.
Bertelsen said Maciel and Espinosa were cited out of jail as they await a court date.
PICO RIVERA -- A group of gang members stabbed a young man to death early Sunday while crashing a backyard birthday party, authorities said.
The name of the dead man was not released pending notification of family members, coroner's officials said.
The fatal attack was reported about 12:45 a.m. at a home in the 8700 block of Bradhurst Street, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said in a written statement.
A birthday party was going on for two teenage girls prior to the incident, according to neighbors and sheriff's officials.
"Ten to 15 uninvited gang members arrived and demanded entry to the party," Deputy Lillian Peck said. "When their entry was refused, a fight ensued between the gang members and party patrons."
A young man was stabbed in the melee and was taken to a hospital where he died a short time later, officials said.
"One gang member discharged a handgun several times into the crowd. No one was struck," Peck said.
Investigators said the gang members then fled the area in several directions.
Sundays slaying was the first reported homicide of the year handled by the sheriff's Pico Rivera Station.
According to sheriff's statistics, the station saw five homicides last year -- two within the Pico Rivera and three in the unincorporated county areas patrolled by the station.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500. Tips can also be left anonymously with Crime Stoppers by calling 800-222-8477.
ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST - A 14-year-girl suffered major injuries Saturday when she fell from a waterfall in Eaton Canyon, authorities said.
The incident was reported shortly after 3:30 p.m. at the first waterfall of Eaton Canyon, in the Angeles National Forest north of Altadena, Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Debra Herman said.
Officials flew the teen by helicopter to Huntington Hospital in Pasadena for treatment, Herman said.
Her condition was unknown late Saturday, she said, however the girl suffered head and other severe injuries.
The falling girl loosened the hillside as she plummeted 30 to 40 feet, Herman said, causing rocks and other debris to fall down on her.
The teen was with other hikers when the fall occurred, Herman said. No further details were available.
The incident was reported shortly after 3:30 p.m. at the first waterfall of Eaton Canyon, in the Angeles National Forest north of Altadena, Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Debra Herman said.
Officials flew the teen by helicopter to Huntington Hospital in Pasadena for treatment, Herman said.
Her condition was unknown late Saturday, she said, however the girl suffered head and other severe injuries.
The falling girl loosened the hillside as she plummeted 30 to 40 feet, Herman said, causing rocks and other debris to fall down on her.
The teen was with other hikers when the fall occurred, Herman said. No further details were available.
WHITTIER -- A motorcyclist suffered major injuries but was expected to survive following a crash Saturday on Painter Avenue, police said.
The crash took place shortly after 3 p.m. on Painter Avenue at Ramona Drive, Whittier police Lt. Wyatt Powell said.
The motorcyclist, a 59-year-old man, was northbound on Painter Avenue when another car made a turn in front of him from westbound Ramona Drive onto southbound Painter Avenue, the lieutenant said.
Powell said the motorcycle struck the side of the car, breaking the riders femur and causing several facial injuries.
Rescuers flew the injured motorcyclist by helicopter to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, Powell said. His condition late Saturday was not clear, however he was expected to survive.
The cause of the crash remained under investigation, Powell said. No citations or arrests were made Saturday.
The crash took place shortly after 3 p.m. on Painter Avenue at Ramona Drive, Whittier police Lt. Wyatt Powell said.
The motorcyclist, a 59-year-old man, was northbound on Painter Avenue when another car made a turn in front of him from westbound Ramona Drive onto southbound Painter Avenue, the lieutenant said.
Powell said the motorcycle struck the side of the car, breaking the riders femur and causing several facial injuries.
Rescuers flew the injured motorcyclist by helicopter to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, Powell said. His condition late Saturday was not clear, however he was expected to survive.
The cause of the crash remained under investigation, Powell said. No citations or arrests were made Saturday.
PASADENA -- Police chased down and arrested two men suspected of trying to steal a historic bronze light pole from a Pasadena neighborhood early Saturday with the help of some vigilant city workers, authorities said.
Frank Bise, 44, of Lancaster, and Steven Dickinson, 52, of Los Angeles were arrested in connected with the 5:45 a.m. theft attempt near Orange Grove Boulevard and Bellevue Drive, according to police and sheriff's booking records.
After a historic bronze light pole was discovered stolen Friday morning, a crew of Pasadena Public Works workers decided to start their day early to "take a look around" for anything suspicious, Pasadena police Lt. Chris Russ said.
"They probably didn't think they were actually going to witness the guys stealing the light poles," he said, but that's exactly what happened.
The workers spotted a white van being used to push over a light pole and used their radio to contact police.
Officer spotted the van in the area and chased it down the 110 Freeway before it exited at Avenue 50, continued fleeing and crashed into a garage at Aldama Street and Avenue 52 in Highland Park, Russ said.
The occupants of the car fled on foot, he added. Pasadena and Los Angeles police arrested Bise and Dickinson in the area. The van was determined to have been stolen from South Pasadena.
Police were working to link the suspects to Friday's pole theft as well, Russ said. Anyone who saw a white Chevrolet Astro van with a cargo rack on the top and nylon straps that appeared to be holding the back doors closed in the early morning hours Friday is asked to call Pasadena police.
The poles targeted Friday and Saturday weigh an estimated 300 to 400 pounds, officials said.
When stolen or damaged, the city replaces them with aluminum replicas at a cost of about $3,000, Russ said.
"The bronze ones can't be replaced," he added.
The value and historical significance of the posts grossly overshadows money crooks may be able to make by recycling their metal, he said.
It would be far too expensive to have bronze replicas of the 8-foot tall, 300-400 pound light posts made to ask it of taxpayers, Pasadena spokeswoman Ann Erdman said.
Installed in the late-1920s, "They're historic and irreplaceable," Erdman said.
Friday and Saturday's thefts were not the first time thieves have tried to make off with the antique light poles from the neighborhood.
"There have been about 15 stolen in the past two years," Erdman said.
The bronze pole that was knocked down early Saturday was put back in its place by Saturday afternoon, officials said.
Erdman said she was pleased that city workers and police, working together, were able to work together to prevent another light pole theft.
"We are not going to let people go unpunished for stealing Pasadena's historic heritage," she said. "The eyes of the City of Pasadena are watching."
Bise was booked on suspicion of grand theft, felony evading and a parole violation, while Dickinson was booked on suspicion of grand theft, felony evading and an outstanding warrant for driving on a suspended license, police said.
According to sheriff's booking records, Bise was being held without bail, and Dickinson was being held in lieu of $105,000 bail. Information regarding their initial court appearances was not available Saturday.
PHOTO of lightposts along Orange Grove Boulevard in Pasadena courtesy of Eric Reed, Staff Photographer
Officials blame drivers distracted by gadgets for two separate injury crashes late Friday in Industry and early Saturday in La Canada Flintridge.
A man suffered a broken ankle about 8:50 p.m. Friday when he crashed into a telephone pole at Baldwin Park Boulevard and Temple Avenue in Industry, Lt. Steve Katz said in a written statement.
The man told deputies he dropped his cell phone while driving and leaned over to retrieve it, the lieutenant said.
"In doing so, the vehicle veered toward the curb and struck a telephone pole," Katz said.
The crash brought live electrical wires down into the street, officials said, however electrical service and traffic signals were unaffected. A Southern California Edison crew was summoned to repair the damage.
About five hours later, a 22-year-old man was hospitalized with major injuries when he crashed his car while sending a text message on the westbound 210 Freeway near Foothill Boulevard, California Highway Patrol Officer Ed Jacobs said.
"He was texting while driving," he said. "His wife or girlfriend received the text a minute after the crash came out."
The car swerved across westbound lanes, hit the center divider and overturned, Jacobs said.
The driver was taken Huntington Hospital in Pasadena for treatement of injuries that were believed to be life-threatening, officials said.
A man suffered a broken ankle about 8:50 p.m. Friday when he crashed into a telephone pole at Baldwin Park Boulevard and Temple Avenue in Industry, Lt. Steve Katz said in a written statement.
The man told deputies he dropped his cell phone while driving and leaned over to retrieve it, the lieutenant said.
"In doing so, the vehicle veered toward the curb and struck a telephone pole," Katz said.
The crash brought live electrical wires down into the street, officials said, however electrical service and traffic signals were unaffected. A Southern California Edison crew was summoned to repair the damage.
About five hours later, a 22-year-old man was hospitalized with major injuries when he crashed his car while sending a text message on the westbound 210 Freeway near Foothill Boulevard, California Highway Patrol Officer Ed Jacobs said.
"He was texting while driving," he said. "His wife or girlfriend received the text a minute after the crash came out."
The car swerved across westbound lanes, hit the center divider and overturned, Jacobs said.
The driver was taken Huntington Hospital in Pasadena for treatement of injuries that were believed to be life-threatening, officials said.
WEST VALINDA -- Two men were behind bars Tuesday, and investigators sought two more, on suspicion of a violent robbery at a home in which medical marijuana was being legally grown, authorities said.
Srun "Sean" Ly, 38, of Fontana, and Chanthoern Chhuon, 31, of Stockton, are accused of home-invasion robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and making criminal threats in connection with the Jan. 4 crime in the 1300 block of Edanruth Avenue, Sgt. Steve Kim of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Asian Gang Team said.
"All four suspects forced their way in," the sergeant said. "They started beating up the victim. At one point, one of the suspects pistol-whipped the victim in the head."
The robbers then bound the hands and feet of the victim with tape before fleeing with about $2,000 in cash and several pounds of marijuana, Kim said.
The victim, a man in his 20s, was knocked unconscious in the 1:30 p.m. attack, he said. After waking up early the next morning, he was able to free himself and call for help.
The victim recognized two of the robbers and knew them by a first name and a nickname, Kim said. Both had assisted the victim in the marijuana growing operation, which was being done in compliance with state law in partnership with a medical marijuana dispensary.
Investigators identified Ly -- alleged member of the Wah Ching street gang in Los Angeles -- as a suspect and arrested him without a struggle in the early morning hours of Jan. 6, according to sheriff's officials and booking records.
Kim said Chhuon -- an alleged member of the Original Bloods street gang in Stockton -- was also arrested without incident at his Stockton home on Jan. 13 by a local police SWAT team.
The two robbers who remained at large Tuesday were described only as a Latino man and a man of unknown race.
According to sheriff's booking records, Chhuon was being held without bail, while Ly was being held in lieu of $1.23 million bail.
Both suspects were due for arraignment Wednesday in El Monte Superior Court.
ROWLAND HEIGHTS -- A woman was fatally struck by a car Sunday on Colima Road, authorities said.
The incident was reported at 5:25 p.m. on Colima Road, just east of Azusa Avenue, California Highway Patrol Officer Krystal Carter said.
The pedestrian, a woman estimated to be in her early 50s, was struck by a blue van, Carter said. She died from her injuries.
The cause of the crash was being investigated by the Santa Fe Springs office of the CHP.
The incident was reported at 5:25 p.m. on Colima Road, just east of Azusa Avenue, California Highway Patrol Officer Krystal Carter said.
The pedestrian, a woman estimated to be in her early 50s, was struck by a blue van, Carter said. She died from her injuries.
The cause of the crash was being investigated by the Santa Fe Springs office of the CHP.
EATON CANYON -- Authorities pulled two injured young men from Eaton Canyon Saturday in unrelated rescues, officials said.The first incident was reported just after 1 p.m. between the second and third waterfalls of the canyon, Los Angeles County sheriff's Capt. Mike Parker said in a written statement.
Sheriff's deputies, search and rescue team members and a sheriff's helicopter found the 26-year-old man, who had fallen about 200 feet, and hospitalized him with injuries initially described as moderate, officials said.
Officials received a second report of an injured hiker in Eaton Canyon about 2:25 p.m., Pasadena Fire Department spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said in a written statement.
Rescuers were notified that a 23-year-old man had fallen down into the canyon under some power lines near the Eaton Canyon Nature Center, Derderian said.
Pasadena fire and sheriff's officials located the man, she said, and flew him by helicopter to a hospital with "moderate to severe" injuries.
PHOTO of Sunday's second Eaton Canyon rescue courtesy of the Pasadena Fire Department.
WEST COVINA -- Three suspects were in custody Saturday on suspicion of a double stabbing, along with the brother of one of the suspects, who is accused of trying to intimidate a witness, authorities said.
Guillermo Rangel, 21, of West Covina, John Cerda, 19, of Covina and a 14-year-old Covina boy were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, West Covina police Lt. Marty Sevilla said. Cerda was hospitalized due to bite wounds he received from a police dog during his arrest.
The stabbing took place shortly after 9 p.m. Friday in a commercial area in the 300 block of South Glendora Avenue, the lieutenant said.
Rangel, Cerda and the teenage suspect confronted two young men in their late teens and asked them what gang they were affiliated with, Sevilla said.
A fight ensued, and one of the victims suffered, "multiple stab wounds on various parts of the body," he said. He was hospitalized in guarded condition but expected to survive.
The other victim was stabbed in the arm, police said, and the wound was not believed to be life-threatening.
Due to "excellent teamwork and cooperation" on the part of responding officers, all three suspects were captured shortly after the stabbing, the lieutenant said.
Officers spotted a white van speeding away from the area and pulled it over when the three suspects allegedly jumped from the van and ran, Sevilla said.
Rangel surrendered quickly after he was spotted by a police helicopter, officials said.
Cerda was found hiding under a car and was arrested with the help of a police K-9.
He suffered significant bites to his ankle and was expected to undergo surgery at a hospital, police added.
During the investigation, Rangel's brother, Michael Rangel, 24, of West Covina, showed up at the scene and tried to discourage witnesses from cooperating with investigators by making threats, Sevilla said. He was arrested on suspicion of witness intimidation.
A 16-year-old boy who matched the description of one of the suspects was detained following the stabbing, Sevilla said, though police released him after determining he was not involved.
According to sheriff's booking records, the Rangel brothers -- both parolees -- were being held without bail. Cerda had not been booked into police custody late Saturday due to his medical condition.
The teenage suspect was sent to Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey, police said.
Guillermo Rangel, 21, of West Covina, John Cerda, 19, of Covina and a 14-year-old Covina boy were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, West Covina police Lt. Marty Sevilla said. Cerda was hospitalized due to bite wounds he received from a police dog during his arrest.
The stabbing took place shortly after 9 p.m. Friday in a commercial area in the 300 block of South Glendora Avenue, the lieutenant said.
Rangel, Cerda and the teenage suspect confronted two young men in their late teens and asked them what gang they were affiliated with, Sevilla said.
A fight ensued, and one of the victims suffered, "multiple stab wounds on various parts of the body," he said. He was hospitalized in guarded condition but expected to survive.
The other victim was stabbed in the arm, police said, and the wound was not believed to be life-threatening.
Due to "excellent teamwork and cooperation" on the part of responding officers, all three suspects were captured shortly after the stabbing, the lieutenant said.
Officers spotted a white van speeding away from the area and pulled it over when the three suspects allegedly jumped from the van and ran, Sevilla said.
Rangel surrendered quickly after he was spotted by a police helicopter, officials said.
Cerda was found hiding under a car and was arrested with the help of a police K-9.
He suffered significant bites to his ankle and was expected to undergo surgery at a hospital, police added.
During the investigation, Rangel's brother, Michael Rangel, 24, of West Covina, showed up at the scene and tried to discourage witnesses from cooperating with investigators by making threats, Sevilla said. He was arrested on suspicion of witness intimidation.
A 16-year-old boy who matched the description of one of the suspects was detained following the stabbing, Sevilla said, though police released him after determining he was not involved.
According to sheriff's booking records, the Rangel brothers -- both parolees -- were being held without bail. Cerda had not been booked into police custody late Saturday due to his medical condition.
The teenage suspect was sent to Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey, police said.
MONTEBELLO -- A massive investigation into a fight between sheriff's deputies during a holiday party at a Montebello country club may be completed next month, sheriff's officials said Saturday.
Seven deputies were suspended from duty following the Dec. 10 fight at the Quiet Cannon, 901 Via San Clemente, Montebello police and Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said.
"Due to the complexity and critical nature of this case it is imperative for the department to utilize all investigative options to ensure a complete, thorough, factually unbiased investigation is presented," Parker said.
The probe was expected to be completed in February, he added.
About 100 people attended the gathering, which was a holiday party for deputies assigned to Men's Central Jail in Los Angeles, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said shortly after the incident.
Two deputies reported to police the following day that they were victims of assaults at the party, officials said. They were treated for minor to moderate injuries but were not hospitalized.
"(The sheriff's Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau) has dedicated five investigative teams which includes eight investigator sergeants, one deputy and one crime analyst to the investigation," sheriff's Capt. Mike Parker said in a written statement. "To date over 150 interviews have been conducted."
Additionally, Parker said, a team of six sergeants from the sheriff's Internal Affairs Bureau is also investigating the fight, as well as the county Office of Independent Review.
Seven deputies were suspended from duty following the Dec. 10 fight at the Quiet Cannon, 901 Via San Clemente, Montebello police and Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said.
"Due to the complexity and critical nature of this case it is imperative for the department to utilize all investigative options to ensure a complete, thorough, factually unbiased investigation is presented," Parker said.
The probe was expected to be completed in February, he added.
About 100 people attended the gathering, which was a holiday party for deputies assigned to Men's Central Jail in Los Angeles, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said shortly after the incident.
Two deputies reported to police the following day that they were victims of assaults at the party, officials said. They were treated for minor to moderate injuries but were not hospitalized.
"(The sheriff's Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau) has dedicated five investigative teams which includes eight investigator sergeants, one deputy and one crime analyst to the investigation," sheriff's Capt. Mike Parker said in a written statement. "To date over 150 interviews have been conducted."
Additionally, Parker said, a team of six sergeants from the sheriff's Internal Affairs Bureau is also investigating the fight, as well as the county Office of Independent Review.
ALHAMBRA -- Police arrested an Alhambra woman Saturday on suspicion of keying another woman's car during an argument at a gas station, authorities said.
Laura Knowles, 26, was booked on suspicion of felony vandalism, according to Alhambra police and sheriff's booking records.
The alleged vandalism took place about 2 p.m. Friday at a Chevron station at Valley Boulevard and Fremont Avenue, Lt. Jennifer Wiese said.
Knowles asked another woman at the gas station to move her car, and the two became involved in an argument, Wiese said.
Knowles then used her keys to scrape the paint on the other woman's 2009 Mazda sedan before driving off in her own 1999 Hyundai sedan, police said. The alleged victim wrote down the suspect's license plate number, and the vandalism itself was captured on tape by a surveillance camera.
Police arrested Knowles at her home in Alhambra just after 9 a.m. Saturday, officials said.
The damage to the car was estimated at $1,300, police added.
According to sheriff's booking records, Knowles was being held in lieu of $20,000 bail and was due for arraignment Wednesday in Alhambra Superior Court.
Laura Knowles, 26, was booked on suspicion of felony vandalism, according to Alhambra police and sheriff's booking records.
The alleged vandalism took place about 2 p.m. Friday at a Chevron station at Valley Boulevard and Fremont Avenue, Lt. Jennifer Wiese said.
Knowles asked another woman at the gas station to move her car, and the two became involved in an argument, Wiese said.
Knowles then used her keys to scrape the paint on the other woman's 2009 Mazda sedan before driving off in her own 1999 Hyundai sedan, police said. The alleged victim wrote down the suspect's license plate number, and the vandalism itself was captured on tape by a surveillance camera.
Police arrested Knowles at her home in Alhambra just after 9 a.m. Saturday, officials said.
The damage to the car was estimated at $1,300, police added.
According to sheriff's booking records, Knowles was being held in lieu of $20,000 bail and was due for arraignment Wednesday in Alhambra Superior Court.
From the Associated Press:
LOS ANGELES -- A second alleged victim has come forward in the investigation into videotaped sexual assaults of severely disabled women, authorities said.
The 27-year-old woman recognized one of the suspects, Ernie Lloyd, in news coverage, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said in a statement Friday.
The woman said another suspect, Bert Hicks, sexually assaulted her multiple times between 2007 and 2009 when she lived in a housing facility he operated.
Sheriff's officials also said Friday that they served search warrants at three residences as part of the ongoing investigation, it was reported.
Details of the warrants were not released.
Another woman came forward Monday and said she was assaulted by Lloyd a few years ago at a residential care facility in Los Angeles where they both previously lived.
Sheriff's officials say she has physical disabilities that leave her defenseless.
Lloyd was arrested Jan. 8 after surrendering to police.
At least 10 victims appeared in more than 100 hours of video that a man anonymously delivered to sheriff's headquarters in Monterey Park last March.
But prosecutors said the videos alone are not sufficient evidence, telling Sheriff's Department detectives that they need to provide more facts about the women's medical histories, level of disabilities and other information.
"In order to effect a filing, we would either have to prove that the victim did not consent to the sexual acts or she was unable to consent to the sexual acts," the district attorney's office reportedly wrote in a memo. "There is insufficient evidence to prove either of these theories beyond a reasonable doubt."
The woman who came forward Monday also claimed that Hicks married her and took her back to a care facility where she was sexually assaulted by him and Lloyd, investigators said. Hicks, 42, is serving a sentence at Tehachapi State Prison on two felony sex counts and two abuse counts. He is scheduled to be released next year.
The videos, received in the mail, show men sexually assaulting physically and mentally disabled women, some of them in diapers. Officials said it took months for investigators to digitally enhance the grainy footage and produce pictures and artist sketches of the suspects.
Authorities are still seeking two other men seen on the tapes.
ARCADIA - A 23-year-old man was in custody Friday after he entered Foothills Middle School, was asked to leave by school officials and then left what appeared to be a "homemade explosive device" near a Foothill Boulevard bank, school district and police officials said.
Joshua Parradavis, 23, of Arcadia was booked on suspicion of possession of an explosive device, Arcadia police Lt. Paul Foley said.
The Bank of America, the McDonald's and a strip mall parking lot on Foothill Avenue were among the areas evacuated for a few hours until the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Bomb Squad successfully detonated the device in the early afternoon. Traffic was also blocked with police cars between First and Second Avenues during this time.
"We were checking the backpack, found a suspicious item and called the bomb squad on it," Police Sgt. Vaughn Whalen said at the scene. "They have since done whatever the bomb squad does back there."
The suspect, later identified as Parradavis, was at the middle school's campus trying to open up classroom doors before he was asked to leave and school officials called the police about 10 a.m.
He told someone at the school he was a former student, though it was not clear late Friday if that was true.
The suspect left the school and was seen dropping a backpack in bushes near the Bank of America and then ran through the parking lot where officers detained him, police officials said.
After the police found the suspicious device, the school was directed to go into lockdown while officers searched the school for anything out of the ordinary, said Arcadia Unified School District Superintendent Joel Shawn.
The suspicious device was described by police as having the appearance of a metal pipe bomb.
Nothing was found and the school was released from lockdown at about 1:30 p.m. after the object was detonated, he said.
"We have no idea why (the suspect) was on campus," Shawn said. "He was not supposed to be on campus."
There was no immediate danger to students or staff and procedures were implemented "flawlessly," he said, adding that he was thankful for Arcadia police, fire and county sheriff's departments that cooperated to resolve the incident.
About 16 McDonald's employees were sitting outside a nearby KFC restaurant eating their lunch, waiting to be allowed back inside early Friday afternoon.
"They just told us to get outside and here we are," said one employee, who declined to give his name, shortly before he and other employees were allowed back inside around 1:15 p.m.
According to sheriff's booking records, Parradavis was being held in lieu of $500,521 bail and was due for arraignment Tuesday in Pasadena Superior Court.
The incident is being investigated by Arcadia police, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Arson-Explosives Detail and the FBI.
WHITTIER -- A Whittier woman is among more than 20 people accused of staging car crashes throughout the greater Los Angeles area in order to commit insurance fraud, officials announced Friday.
Nancy Carrera, 33, was arrested Jan. 6 on suspicion of insurance fraud and conspiracy and released the following day after posting $25,000 bail, according to Los Angeles County sheriff's booking records.
She is suspected of taking part in an auto insurance ring that staged, and in many cases fabricated, car crashed to bilk insurers out of money, California Department of Insurance officials said in a written statement.
The alleged ring, which officials said was led by Norberto De Jesus Rivas, 38, of Stevenson Ranch, is estimated to have defrauded insurance companies out of more than $1 million, official said.
Rivas, who is already jailed on an unrelated charge, is accused of conspiring with Albert Lee Ingram, 62, of Valencia, who owns two Los Angeles-area clinics.
Ingram is accused of providing false medical reports to bolster false insurance claims.
In addition to the 22 people already in custody in connection with the alleged fraud ring, three others are being sought, officials said.
"Fake collision claims or claims that have been inflated drives up the cost of insurance for all consumers," CDI Commissioner Dave Jones said. "Individuals who collaborate in conspiracies to commit fraud and other criminal offenses will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
INDUSTRY -- A man was rushed to a hospital with severe injuries Thursday after he was struck by a car while crossing the street, authorities said.
The crash was reported about 4 p.m. at Fullerton Road and San Jose Avenue, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Raymond Enriquez said.
The pedestrian, a 55-year-old Hacienda Heights man, was crossing eastbound across Fullerton Road when he was struck, the lieutenant said.
A Toyota Prius being driven by a woman in her 30s was making a left turn from San Jose Avenue onto Fullerton Road when it struck the man, Enriquez said.
The injuries were severe, he said, though the man's condition at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center was not clear late Thursday.
The cause of the crash remained under investigation, though deputies initially found "no signs of any criminal activity," Enriquez said.
BALDWIN PARK -- Law enforcement officials arrested seven parolees Thursday during an early-morning parole sweep in Baldwin Park and La Puente, authorities said.
Law enforcement agencies from throughout the San Gabriel Valley joined Baldwin Park police, who spearheaded the effort, Baldwin Park police Lt. Joseph Bartolotti said.
Six of the men were arrested at their homes in Baldwin Park, while the seventh was arrested at his home in La Puente, the lieutenant said. The operation targeted 30 locations in San Gabriel Valley, primarily in the areas in and around Baldwin Park.
At the request of parole officials, he said, police declined to release the names of those arrested Thursday.
Three of the men were arrested due to open weapons and narcotics charges, police said, while four were jailed on suspicion of violating parole.
The sweep targeted parolees in general, and not any specific gang, group or crime trend, Bartolotti said.
From staff and wire reports --
Officials have released the names of two men who died in unrelated car crashes in Pico Rivera and Norwalk over the past week:
PICO RIVERA -- A man who was killed in a three-crash on Paramount Boulevard last week has been identified as a 34-year-old El Monte resident, officials said Thursday.ary Paul Gomez died at a hospital after the crash, which occurred shortly after 5 p.m. Friday at Paramount Boulevard and Dunlap Crossing Road, Los Angeles County sheriff's and coroner's officials said.omez was driving a Mitsubishi Montero SUV when, according to prelminary investigation, he tried to make a left turn without yielding to oncoming traffic, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Robert Smith said the day of the crash.he driver of one of the two other cars involved in the crash was hospitalized with minor injuries, Smith said, and a man and woman inside the third car were unhurt.NORWALK -- Authorities have identified a man who was killed in a collision between the car he was driving and a big rig in Norwalk.harles Ford, 60, of Whittier was killed, Assistant Chief Ed Winter of the coroner's office said.he crash occurred about 8 p.m. Monday at the intersection of Carmenita Road and Excelsior Drive, Sgt. Joseph Fleischmann of the sheriff's Norwalk Station said.
I shot this video on Wednesday at an event sponsored by Parents of Murdered Children. The photos are of murder victims who were remembered at the unveiling of a billboard on North Peck Road in El Monte. Here's a link to Bethania Palma's story on the event.
From reporter Ruby Gonzales who notes that a judge could determine Pico Rivera's Weinerschnitzel king Ron Beilke's fate today:
LOS ANGELES - A Krikorian Premiere Theatres executive testified at Ron Beilke's corruption trial Wednesday that the theater monitored the former Pico Rivera mayor and several other council members over their alleged misuse of free movie passes.
Michael Cummings, vice president of operations with Krikorian, said at one point the company sent a letter with the passes "to help curb what we deemed was misuse of the passes." It listed their rules and restrictions.
Council members and city staff members were given the passes starting in 2005 while the Pico Rivera theater project was under way, Cummings said.
"The passes were issued so they could check out what they will have in Pico Rivera," he said, but they were never intended for unlimited use.
Beilke has been charged with one felony count of perjury, one felony count of conflict of interest and three misdemeanor counts of conflict of interest. He has pleaded not guilty to all.
Prosecutors accuse Beilke of lying when he reported on his 2008 economic-interest form that he received $240 worth of movie passes from Krikorian Premiere Theatres. The real value was $3,464, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors also allege Beilke had a conflict of interest when he approved contracts related to the theater and to a street-improvement project on Rosemead Boulevard. His Wienerschnitzel restaurant is near the projects.
If convicted of all charges and sentenced consecutively, Beilke faces six years and two months in prison, according to Deputy District Attorney Sandi Roth.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works probably didn't plan on this going the way it did. But it did and now protesters have taken to the trees and await the arrival of actress Darryl Hannah. Here's the latest story.
View Old oak trees threatened in Arcadia in a larger map
This from the District Attorney's Office:
PASADENA - A former high school history teacher today pleaded no contest to first-degree murder in the 2008 slaying of an Arcadia man, the District Attorney's Office announced.Deputy District Attorney Russell Moore of the Pasadena Branch Office said Brandon Michael Landreth, 33, also admitted using a handgun to carry out the killing.
Pasadena Superior Court Judge Dorothy Shubin said Landreth would be sentenced on Feb. 22. He is expected to be sentenced to 35 years to life in state prison, under the terms of a negotiated settlement.
Landreth, a former teacher and chess coach at John Muir High School in Pasadena, was alleged to have fatally shot Justo Cesar Morales, 25, on March 30, 2008 at the victim's Arcadia home.
According to evidence presented at a 2009 preliminary hearing, Landreth's ex-wife had been in a relationship with Morales during the year after she separated from Landreth.
Arcadia police arrested Landreth on April 2, 2008. The defendant has remained in custody since.
From the Associated Press:
ACAPULCO, Mexico - Police found the bodies of 15 slain men, 14 of them headless, on a street outside a shopping center in the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco on Saturday.
The victims, all of whom appeared to be in their 20s, were discovered in an area not frequented by tourists.
Handwritten signs left with the bodies were signed by "El Chapo's People"--a reference to the Sinaloa cartel, headed by drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman--said Fernando Monreal Leyva, director of investigative police for Guerrero state, where Acapulco is located.
The narco-messages indicated the Sinaloa cartel killed them for trying to intrude on the gang's turf and extort residents.
Mexico's drug cartels have increasingly taken to beheading their victims in a grisly show of force, but Saturday's discovery was the largest single group of decapitation victims found in recent years.
In 2008, a group of 12 decapitated bodies were piled outside the Yucatan state capital of Merida. The same year, 9 headless men were discovered in the Guerrero state capital of Chilpancingo.
Acapulco has been the site of fierce battles between drug gangs, and this weekend got off to a bloody start with 27 people killed there from Friday evening to early Saturday, Leyva said.
The dead included two police officers cut down on a main bayside avenue in front of tourists and locals; six people who were shot dead and stuffed in a taxi, their hands and feet bound; and four others elsewhere in the city.
"We are coordinating with federal forces and local police to reinforce security in Acapulco and investigating to try to establish the motive and perpetrators of these incidents," Monreal said.
At least 30,196 people have died in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against cartels in late 2006.
Also Saturday, authorities said a small-town mayor was found dead in northern Mexico.
Saul Vara Rivera, mayor of the municipality of Zaragoza, was reported missing by family members Wednesday, Coahuila state prosecutors said in a statement. His bullet-ridden body was discovered Friday in neighboring Nuevo Leon state.
There were no immediate arrests.
At least a dozen mayors were killed nationwide last year in acts of intimidation attributed to drug gangs.
BALDWIN PARK -- A man used a handgun to rob a gas station early Friday, police said.
The crime was reported about 9:15 a.m. at an Arco station at Francisquito Avenue and Ramona Boulevard, Baldwin Park police Sgt. Doug Parnell said.
A black man in his early 20s, wearing blue jeans and a gray hooded sweat shirt, entered the store and acted as if he was going to make a purchase, the sergeant said.
The robber then pulled a large-caliber, semi-automatic handgun and demanded cash from the clerk, Parnell said.
A delivery man inside the store was ordered at gun point to lie down, he added.
After obtaining an unknown amount of cash, the robber was last seen leaving the store.
Police were working to obtain surveillance footage of the crime in hopes it would yield clues.
The crime was reported about 9:15 a.m. at an Arco station at Francisquito Avenue and Ramona Boulevard, Baldwin Park police Sgt. Doug Parnell said.
A black man in his early 20s, wearing blue jeans and a gray hooded sweat shirt, entered the store and acted as if he was going to make a purchase, the sergeant said.
The robber then pulled a large-caliber, semi-automatic handgun and demanded cash from the clerk, Parnell said.
A delivery man inside the store was ordered at gun point to lie down, he added.
After obtaining an unknown amount of cash, the robber was last seen leaving the store.
Police were working to obtain surveillance footage of the crime in hopes it would yield clues.
MONTEREY PARK -- A 40-year-old Los Angeles man died late Friday in a crash on the 60 Freeway, authorities said.
Francisco Renteria in the the 9:40 p.m. crash on freeway at the Markland Drive onramp, California Highway Patrol officials said in a written statement.
Renteria was entering the freeway in a 2005 Nissan Frontier pickup truck at the same time as a 22-year-old Rosemead woman driving a 1996 Acura Integra, officials said.
"For unknown reasons, (the Nissan) sideswiped (the Acura) as they were entering the freeway," according to the CHP statement.
The Nissan spun out and overturned several times, ultimately coming to a rest on it's wheels in the right lane of the freeway.
Paramedics pronounced Renteria dead at the scene, the statement said, and the Rosemead woman was taken to a hospital after complaining of neck pain.
The cause of the crash is being investigated by the East Los Angeles office of the CHP.
Francisco Renteria in the the 9:40 p.m. crash on freeway at the Markland Drive onramp, California Highway Patrol officials said in a written statement.
Renteria was entering the freeway in a 2005 Nissan Frontier pickup truck at the same time as a 22-year-old Rosemead woman driving a 1996 Acura Integra, officials said.
"For unknown reasons, (the Nissan) sideswiped (the Acura) as they were entering the freeway," according to the CHP statement.
The Nissan spun out and overturned several times, ultimately coming to a rest on it's wheels in the right lane of the freeway.
Paramedics pronounced Renteria dead at the scene, the statement said, and the Rosemead woman was taken to a hospital after complaining of neck pain.
The cause of the crash is being investigated by the East Los Angeles office of the CHP.
WEST COVINA -- A tipster led police to arrest a man suspected of stealing a laptop computer from a yoga studio last week, officials said.
Gregorio Mejia, 40, of West Covina was booked on suspicion of burglary, West Covina police Lt. Marty Sevilla said.
Police distributed his picture following the Jan. 4 crime at a yoga studio in the 2300 block of South Azusa Avenue in hopes someone in the public would recognize him.
That's exactly what happened Friday, Sevilla said. "A tipster told us at 4:11 this afternoon that the suspect wanted in connection with that theft was currently at the Jack in the Box Restaurant in the 2500 block of South Azusa Avenue."
The restaurant is about two blocks away from where the laptop was stolen.
Officers found him sitting at a table in the restaurant and arrested him without incident, Sevilla said. Police then discovered he also had a grand theft warrant for his arrest issued by the Los Angeles County sheriff's Industry Station.
The stolen computer, which police described as a champagne-colored Hewlett Packard laptop, was not recovered, Sevilla said.
Because of irreplaceable data stored on the machine, the computer's owner has offered a reward of up to $1,000 for its return, police said.
Someone may still potentially be able to claim that reward by turning the computer in, Sevilla said.
On the contrary, he added, anyone caught with the computer could be prosecuted for possession of stolen property.
PICO RIVERA - A man was killed Friday in a three-car crash on Paramount Boulevard, officials said.
The crash was reported just after 5 p.m. at Paramount Boulevard in Dunlap Crossing Road, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Robert Smith said.
A man estimated to be in his late 30s made a left turn in his Mitsubishi Montero SUV from southbound Paramount Boulevard onto Dunlap Crossing Road and was struck by a Ford F-350 box truck, the lieutenant said.
The crash pushed the Mitsubishi into another northbound vehicle, an Acura sedan, he said.
The driver of the Mitsubishi was flown to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where he died from his injuries a short time later, officials said.
The driver of the truck, a man, was hospitalized with minor injuries, Smith said. A man and woman in the Acura were not hurt.
The cause of the crash was initially believed to be an unsafe left turn on the part of the Mitsubishi driver, he said.
COVINA - Police arrested three Arizona women Friday on suspicion of tricking drivers into donating money by falsely telling them they were collecting for the funeral of a young boy, authorities said.Patricia Quihuis, 53, of Bianca Price, 20, and Esther Munguia, 36, were booked on suspicion of conspiracy and fraudulently collecting charitable donations, Covina police Sgt. Trevor Gaumer said.
The women stood at the corner of Azusa Avenue and Arrow Highway about 4 p.m., each holding signs with pictures of a smiling boy of about five years old, he said. The signs read, "Funeral donations. Please help. God bless. Thank you."
"I think it's despicable that people would pray on human emotions in order to steal," Gaumer said.
A passer-by reported the women to police, the sergeant added.
"He thought it was suspicious because they had been seen at that location a few weeks prior," he said.
The women initially told police that they were raising money for a young boy who was killed two days prior in a car crash in Anaheim, Gaumer said. Police quickly determined that no such crash had taken place.
The women had collected nearly $1,000, police added.
Friday's arrests were the second time in recent history that San Gabriel Valley residents have been arrested for trying to defraud generous strangers out of donations through this type of scam.
Raymond Johnston, 54, of Azusa was arrested Sept. 15 on Citrus Avenue near the 210 Freeway in Azusa on suspicion of soliciting for a false charity for holding up a sign asking for donations to help pay for his 11-year-old son's funeral, Azusa police said at the time.
Upon police questioning, officials said, he admitted he made up the story to make money.
DUARTE -- A Duarte man who authorities said has a penchant for pilfering pooches was behind bars Friday on suspicion of robbing a woman of her $3,000 French bulldog as detectives investigated him in connection with other dog thefts.
Darryl Jerome Cole, 20, was arrested Thursday and was being held in lieu of $50,000 at the Central Men's Jail in Orange County, according to Orange County sheriff's booking records.
Officials discovered a male French bulldog at his home in the 100 block of 1st street in Duarte that was stolen from a woman in a Dec. 14 robbery in Santa Ana, as well as a female dog that was stolen in a similar robbery in Chino in September, Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said.
In the Santa Ana crime, Cole responded to an advertisement for a dog for sale and met with the woman who was selling the dog.
"He talked to her for about 10 minutes, knocked her to the ground and stole the dog," Amormino said.
The male dog that was stolen was not for sale, but rather the woman's pet, he added.
Detectives believed Cole wanted a male dog to breed with the female he stole in Chino.
Further details on the Chino robbery were not available Friday.
Cole, who was already on probation for previous dog theft conviction, is also being investigated in connection with a similar robbery in Costa Mesa, and a failed robbery in Temecula, both reported in September, Amormino said.
All four incidents involved French bulldogs, similar tactics and similar suspect descriptions, Amormino said, though detectives were yet to establish a concrete link between Cole and the Temecula and Costa Mesa crimes Friday. The dogs stolen from Costa Mesa had not been recovered.
According to sheriff's officials and Los Angeles County Court records, Cole was convicted of grand theft of a dog in September of 2009 in Whittier Superior Court. Further details regarding that case were not available Friday.
The bulldogs found at Cole's home in Duarte appeared to be in good physical condition Amormino said, aside from some bite marks on the female dog's ear that appeared to have come from playing with the other dog.
PHOTO of Darryl Cole comes courtesy of the Orange County Sheriff's Department
ALHAMBRA -- A Pomona man accused of killing a young female rapper and injuring five others in a drunken driving crash on the 10 Freeway is due in court Monday for arraignment, officials said.
Jacob Garcia, 47, is expected to enter a plea to charges of murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, drunken driving causing injury and driving with a .08 percent blood-alcohol level causing injury, Los Angeles County District Attorney's officials said in a written statement.
Maria Solomon, 21, of Los Angeles was killed in the crash, which occurred about 12:45 a.m. Dec. 16 on the westbound 10 Freeway, just east of Fremont Avenue, in Alhambra, coroner's officials said.
Garcia, an event promoter, was driving with Solomon and five other passengers after Solomon had performed a rap concert in Hesperia, California Highway Patrol Sgt. Connie Guzman said shortly after the crash.
He lost control of the Mercedes-Benz C250 sedan he was driving and struck a sound wall before crashing into a backhoe parked on the right shoulder, she said.
Solomon was rushed to a hospital where she died from her injuries, officials said.
The five other passengers suffered injuries ranging from minor to serious, Guzman said, and a construction worker who was sitting on the backhoe also suffered minor injuries.
According to sheriff's booking records, Garcia is being held in lieu of $1.325 million bail at the Men's Central Jail in Los Angeles.
If convicted as charged, District Attorney's officials said, he faces a maximum sentence of 50 years to life in prison.
From City News Service: One of the men suspected of sexually assaulting at least 10 severely disabled women depicted on a videotape sent anonymously to authorities is in custody, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
ABC says another suspect has been identified.
COVINA -- Police jailed four people Thursday, including a husband and wife, on suspicion of trying to cash fraudulent checks at a Wal-Mart store.
Keleni Soliai, 49, his wife Sarah Soliai, 48, Sally Gray, 48, and Tyeasha Washington, 28, were booked on suspicion of burglary and forgery, Covina police Sgt. Trevor Gaumer said. All are Riverside residents.
The married couple got in different lines at the store, 1275 N. Azusa Avenue, shortly before 6 p.m. and tried to cash checks with the same account and routing numbers, the sergeant said.
After police arrived and detained the couple, he said, they told police they were put up to the incident by others.
The couple's statements led police to arrest Washington, who was found next-door at a Toys "R" Us store, Gaumer said. Wal-Mart employees recognized her as having cashed a fraudulent check at the store about 5 p.m.
Also based on the statements of the Soliai's, police also arrested Gray, who was in a nearby vehicle, in connection with the alleged fraud, Gaumer said.
All three checks cashed or attempted to be cashed by the suspects listed the account number of a valid account belonging to the State of California, the sergeant added.
Police were working to see if Thursday's incidents were related to others reported Wednesday in Glendora, in which six people were arrested on suspicion of trying to cash fraudulent checks at a Wal-Mart store in that city.
MONTEREY PARK -- Sheriff's officials Thursday asked for the public's help in identifying at least eight man captured on video sexually assaulting 10 "severely disabled" women at what appears to be residential care facilities.
More than 100 hours of disturbing video footage was dropped off anonymously, along with a note, at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau in March, Sgt. Dan Scott of the Sheriff's Special Victims Bureau said. After months of enhancing and examining the grainy video, detectives decided to go public in hopes of developing leads.
It was unclear when or where the assaults took place, Detective Ron Anderson said, however at least one suspect was believed to be a residential care facility employee, and another appeared to be a patient. The victims appeared "severely disabled" to the point they appeared unable to give consent, let alone fend off the attacks.
"These suspects and their activity is so heinous that it shocks the conscience," Anderson said.
Even after years investigating sex crimes, "When this (footage) came to me, it was really shocking," the detective added. "We're supposed to protect the helpless, and these people are truly helpless."
Investigators have been able to extract images of the faces of four of the suspects and have created composite drawings from them.
The footage contained no time stamps and nothing to indicate where specifically the crimes took place.
"Detectives from the Special Victims Bureau are concerned that these sexual assaults might still be occurring," Scott said.
An anonymous tipster left 11 DVDs containing the footage at Sheriff's Headquarters before vanishing, investigators said.
A note left with the DVDs said that the tipster was approached by a man in Los Angeles who asked if he could erase a computer hard drive, Scott said.
Before deleting the data and returning the hard drive, he said, the tipster discovered the disturbing and criminal nature of the files and copied them onto DVDs.
The victims in the assaults appear to be between 20 and 40 years old, Scott said.
"These victims are severely disabled," he said, adding that many of them were unable to move and wearing diapers.
Though the assaults could have taken place virtually anywhere, Scott said, "We're assuming it's local because it was turned in to the sheriff here."
Decor and items seen in the videos led detectives to believe that the assaults took place within that past three years or so, investigators said.
Some of the images appear to be taken from surveillance cameras, Scott said, while others appear to have been shot with a handheld camera by accomplices to the assaults.
The videos are believed to be related, and not merely a collection of unrelated scenes, because three of the suspects were seen in the same room, assaulting the same patient, Anderson said.
In one video, he said, one of the suspects can be seen letting another one of the suspects into a patients room, giving detectives the impression he is an employee of the facility where the woman was.
In another video, man in a wheelchair and wearing a diaper is seen entering a room and raping a defenseless patient in her bed.
In some of the videos, the women were treated with force and violence in addition to the sexual assaults. One clip, Anderson said, shows suspects throwing a woman back into her wheelchair after assaulting her.
Detectives want to speak with anyone who can identify the suspects or the facilities shown in the videos, and especially the tipster who dropped off the tapes.
"You have already been a great help by giving us the videos, but we need more help to be able to find the victims," sheriff's officials said in a written statement targeted at the tipster. The information can be left anonymously through L.A. Crimestoppers.
"We are concerned (the victims) are still being abused and want to find them and ensure they are safe."
The Sheriff's Special Victims Bureau can be reached at 866-247-5877, or tips can be left anonymously through Crimestoppers at 800-222-8477.
LA PUENTE -- Deputies arrested a man and a teenager and sought two more suspects in the attack and robbery of a man Thursday, authorities said.
Andre Woodberry, 25, of West Valinda and a 15-year-old East Valinda boy were booked on suspicion of robbery, according to booking records and Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Raymond Enriquez said.
The crime rook place just after 1 p.m. on Ardilla Avenue at Homeward Street, the lieutenant said.
Four suspects approached a man and demanded money, Enriquez said. One of them was brandishing a handgun.
One of the robbers punched the victim in the face before another reached into his pocket and removed about $1,000 in cash, officials said.
Woodberry and the teenage suspect were found in the area and arrested in connection with the robbery.
The two robbery suspects who remained at large were described as Latino man, about 5 feet 8 inches tall and 160 to 180 pounds.
According to sheriff's booking records, Woodberry was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail and was due for arraignment Monday in Rio Hondo Superior Court.
Sheriff's officials are planning a press conference tomorrow to seek the public's help in a large sexual assault case.
Little was released about the case ahead of Thursday's 1 p.m. news conference, but the case involves at least four suspects, as well as 10 victims who "appear to be severely disabled," according to a brief sheriff's media advisory. Somehow, the crimes were apparently caught on video, and images of the suspects' faces are expected to be released.
Officials Wednesday said it was unclear who the suspects are or where the crimes took place -- that's why they say they're reaching out to the public.
More details will be made available as they come.
NORWALK -- A hearing was continued Wednesday for three men accused of slashing a woman's throat and leaving her for dead in along Turnbull Canyon Road in Whittier.
El Monte residents Jose Ayala, 28, Vincent Mendoza, 22, and Edward Meraz, 25, were ordered to return to Norwalk Superior Court Jan. 24 for a pretrial hearing, court officials said.
Each is charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, aggravated mayhem and assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the Aug. 4, 2009 attack on their friend -- a then-20-year-old Bellflower woman.
The suspects are accused of telling the woman they were going to the beach before they tied her up and drove her to an isolated spot along Turnbull Canyon Road in Whittier, investigators said.
The men then beat her, slit her throat and dumped her over the side of Turnbull Canyon Road.
The injured woman was able to climb a steep grade and get help from a house in the 6000 block of Altmark Avenue.
The suspects were arrested after a police officer pulled them over in a car and discovered a shovel and rope inside.
Investigators have not disclosed a motive in the crime, or said whether the suspects are believed to have gang ties.
According to sheriff's booking records, Ayala was being held in lieu of $3.22 million bail, Mendoza was being held in lieu of $2.15 million bail and Meraz was being held in lieu of $2.13 million bail. All three were held at Men's Central Jail in Los Angeles.
ALHAMBRA -- A Monterey Park man accused of kidnapping a young woman, slitting her throat, leaving her for dead in the desert and attempting to extort ransom money from her father appeared in court Wednesday.
DeQiang Song, 25, is due back in Alhambra Superior Court Feb. 1 for a preliminary hearing, court officials said.
He is charged with the Sept. 8, 2010, kidnapping and attempted murder of a 21-year-old San Gabriel Valley woman, whom he met a couple weeks prior at a karaoke club.
Song, who told the woman his name was Xia-Yu, took her on a shopping trip at the Westfield Santa Anita shopping mall in Arcadia, Los Angeles County sheriff's Major Crimes Bureau Lead Detective Michael Soop said.
From there, Song then allegedly took the woman to a remote section of the desert in San Bernardino County where he strangled her, slit her throat and left her for dead, officials said.
The badly wounded woman managed to walk about a half a mile to seek help from a house, Soop said.
After abandoning the woman, whom Song believed was dead, Soop said the suspect then used her cell phone to call her father and demand ransom money.
The father cooperated with officials, he added, and deputies arrested Song as he tried to pick up ransom money at a pre-arranged drop spot in San Gabriel.
Officials said Song immigrated to Chicago from the Shen-Yang Province of China with a student visa in 2008. He moved to an apartment in Monterey Park in late July, where he has been staying since.
According to sheriff's booking records, Song was being held in lieu of $2.15 million bail at the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic.
ARCADIA - A serial child molester convicted of assaulting a 5-year-old girl inside an Arcadia bookstore in 2008 and sent to prison in September for 30 years was beaten to death by his cellmate, prison officials said Wednesday.
Jaime Elizondo, 30, of San Gabriel was killed by cellmate Steven Cisneros, said Lt. Charlie Hahn, spokesman for the High Desert State Prison. Elizondo was convicted of exposing himself to the victim inside a Borders bookstore at an Arcadia mall in 2008. The assault was captured on the store's video system.
A witness confronted Elizondo and later found his photo on a Web site listing registered sex offenders and gave police the information. Here's our original post on the story with a photo of the molestation.
WEST COVINA -- A West Covina man suspected of shooting and wounding another man last week turned himself in Tuesday, police said.
Ramon Rios, 34, was being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the West Covina Police Department's jail, according to Los Angeles County sheriff's booking records. He was booked on suspicion of attempted murder.
He showed up at the police station with his attorney about 1 p.m. and surrendered to investigators, who had been seeking him since the shooting, West Covina police Cpl. Rudy Lopez said.
The alleged attack took place just after noon Dec. 26 on Temple Avenue, just north of Amar Road, police said.
Rios is accused of getting into a fight with a 40-year-old West Covina man before pulling a gun and shooting him several times, Lopez said.
The wounded man was flown to a trauma center for treatment, police added.
Police said Rios fled the scene in a Cadillac Escalade, which was found abandoned near the scene of the shooting.
It was not clear Tuesday what the men were arguing about prior to the shooting.
According to booking records, Rios was due for arraignment Thursday in West Covina Superior Court.
PHOTO of Ramois Rios courtesy of the West Covina Police Department.
PASADENA -- A soaring gold prices are tempting many to sell off jewelry and other gold items, police are working to keep thieves from taking advantage of the trend by making it difficult to sell stolen gold.
With gold selling for more than $1,400 per ounce, officials remind the public that there are laws governing the buying and selling of gold, Pasadena police said in a written statement.
"The Pasadena Police Department would like to inform the public that buying gold is against the law unless you are licensed by the California Department of Justice," the statement said.
In addition, police added, "Gold buyers are required by law to ask for identification from whoever they buy from and maintain a description of the items they are buying. This information is then reported to law enforcement."
"We want to caution people that care should be taken to buy from and sell to only licensed second-hand dealer," Police Chief Phillip Sanchez said. "This helps to prevent crime and will prevent people from buying stolen property unknowingly."
When not complying with the law, according to the police statement, "Some businesses may knowingly or unknowingly take in stolen property that belongs to the victim of a crime."
Business operators that buy or sell gold without a license are subject to arrest, a $1,500 fines and accusations of dealing in stolen property, police added.
The license required to sell gold is the same as that of other "second-hand dealers" who deal in items with serial numbers such as computers, cell phones, iPods and video game systems.
"By using reputable, licensed businesses, the average citizen can curb the buying and selling of stolen goods," Sanchez said. "When we make it harder for thieves to sell their ill-gotten gains, there is more of a chance to stem property crimes related to burglary."
Lt. Chris Russ said his department hopes to make strides this year against theft, as well as all other types of crime, by encouraging residents to make neighborhood security a New Year's resolution.
"In the new year, everyone should be committed to fight crime in their own neighborhoods through prevention," he said.
"I'm looking forward to this year being a tougher year for criminals," the lieutenant said.
With gold selling for more than $1,400 per ounce, officials remind the public that there are laws governing the buying and selling of gold, Pasadena police said in a written statement.
"The Pasadena Police Department would like to inform the public that buying gold is against the law unless you are licensed by the California Department of Justice," the statement said.
In addition, police added, "Gold buyers are required by law to ask for identification from whoever they buy from and maintain a description of the items they are buying. This information is then reported to law enforcement."
"We want to caution people that care should be taken to buy from and sell to only licensed second-hand dealer," Police Chief Phillip Sanchez said. "This helps to prevent crime and will prevent people from buying stolen property unknowingly."
When not complying with the law, according to the police statement, "Some businesses may knowingly or unknowingly take in stolen property that belongs to the victim of a crime."
Business operators that buy or sell gold without a license are subject to arrest, a $1,500 fines and accusations of dealing in stolen property, police added.
The license required to sell gold is the same as that of other "second-hand dealers" who deal in items with serial numbers such as computers, cell phones, iPods and video game systems.
"By using reputable, licensed businesses, the average citizen can curb the buying and selling of stolen goods," Sanchez said. "When we make it harder for thieves to sell their ill-gotten gains, there is more of a chance to stem property crimes related to burglary."
Lt. Chris Russ said his department hopes to make strides this year against theft, as well as all other types of crime, by encouraging residents to make neighborhood security a New Year's resolution.
"In the new year, everyone should be committed to fight crime in their own neighborhoods through prevention," he said.
"I'm looking forward to this year being a tougher year for criminals," the lieutenant said.
PASADENA -- A pickup truck crashed through a Head Start office in Pasadena Saturday, badly damaging the building but causing no serious injuries, officials said.Leovardo Palmeros, 58, of Pasadena was booked on suspicion of a misdemeanor count of driving without a license and released following the crash, Pasadena police Lt. Chris Russ said.
The crash occurred about 10:15 a.m. at the children's services office at Fair Oaks Avenue and Montana Street, the lieutenant said.
Palmeros lost control of his pickup truck and crashed it directly into the double doors of the head start office, wedging it in the door frame, police said.
Palmeros suffered minor injuries but declined to be taken to a hospital, Pasadena Fire Department spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said.
The office was closed for business, and no one was inside.
The building suffered significant damage, but remained structurally sound, she said.
*PHOTO comes courtesy of the Pasadena Fire Department.
PASADENA -- Police arrested a would-be burglar Friday after he nearly forced his way into a woman's home, officials said.
Douglas Huel, 48, of Pomona was booked on suspicion of attempted burglary, Pasadena police Lt. Chris Russ said.
A woman living in the 2300 block of Monte Vista Street called police about 7:45 p.m. after a security light in her back yard alerted her to an intruder, the lieutenant said.
A police helicopter was overhead in minutes, Russ said, and a helicopter observer was able to spot Huel and direct officers on the ground to his position in another nearby yard.
Police then discovered that, "a screwdriver was wedged in the door of the victim's residence," he said.
Officers found Huel's car, a green 1991 BMW 850i with license plate number 5KWT946, and discovered items inside they suspected may be stolen, Russ said.
Any residents who believe they've seen Huel or his car loitering in their neighborhoods are asked to contact the Pasadena Police Department at 626-744-4241.
According to sheriff's booking records, Huel was being held in lieu of $50,000 bail. Information was not available Saturday regarding his initial court appearance.
Douglas Huel, 48, of Pomona was booked on suspicion of attempted burglary, Pasadena police Lt. Chris Russ said.
A woman living in the 2300 block of Monte Vista Street called police about 7:45 p.m. after a security light in her back yard alerted her to an intruder, the lieutenant said.
A police helicopter was overhead in minutes, Russ said, and a helicopter observer was able to spot Huel and direct officers on the ground to his position in another nearby yard.
Police then discovered that, "a screwdriver was wedged in the door of the victim's residence," he said.
Officers found Huel's car, a green 1991 BMW 850i with license plate number 5KWT946, and discovered items inside they suspected may be stolen, Russ said.
Any residents who believe they've seen Huel or his car loitering in their neighborhoods are asked to contact the Pasadena Police Department at 626-744-4241.
According to sheriff's booking records, Huel was being held in lieu of $50,000 bail. Information was not available Saturday regarding his initial court appearance.
PASADENA -- A Pasadena man is suspected of drunken driving and hit-and-run after crashing into electrical equipment and parked cars early New Year's Day, police said.
Martin Placencia, 29, was turned over to the California Highway Patrol for booking, Pasadena police Lt. Chris Russ said.
He exited the westbound 210 Freeway at Lincoln Avenue about 9:45 a.m. when he struck a Caltrans electrical box, Russ said, then continued and struck a traffic signal control box.
The crash disabled the lights at Lincoln Avenue and Howard Street for about five hours, during which time citizen volunteers controlled traffic at the intersection.
Placencia continued driving his car until he crashed into a parked car at Idaho Street and Newport Avenue, forcing the vehicle into another parked car, the lieutenant said.
He then abandoned the car and ran, but Russ said witnesses pointed out which direction he had fled in, and officers captured him at Fair Oaks Avenue and Claremont Street.
Martin Placencia, 29, was turned over to the California Highway Patrol for booking, Pasadena police Lt. Chris Russ said.
He exited the westbound 210 Freeway at Lincoln Avenue about 9:45 a.m. when he struck a Caltrans electrical box, Russ said, then continued and struck a traffic signal control box.
The crash disabled the lights at Lincoln Avenue and Howard Street for about five hours, during which time citizen volunteers controlled traffic at the intersection.
Placencia continued driving his car until he crashed into a parked car at Idaho Street and Newport Avenue, forcing the vehicle into another parked car, the lieutenant said.
He then abandoned the car and ran, but Russ said witnesses pointed out which direction he had fled in, and officers captured him at Fair Oaks Avenue and Claremont Street.
SOUTH EL MONTE -- An man armed with a gun stole cash from the register of a restaurant late Friday, authorities said.
The robbery took place about 8:35 p.m. at a restaurant in the 9300 block of Garvey Avenue, near Rosemead Boulevard, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Kerry Carter said.
A man brandished a handgun as he entered the store and demanded money from the cash register, the lieutenant said.
He was described only as a male robber with his face covered, wearing a black jacket. He was last seen fleeing the area on foot.
The robbery took place about 8:35 p.m. at a restaurant in the 9300 block of Garvey Avenue, near Rosemead Boulevard, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Kerry Carter said.
A man brandished a handgun as he entered the store and demanded money from the cash register, the lieutenant said.
He was described only as a male robber with his face covered, wearing a black jacket. He was last seen fleeing the area on foot.
Police arrested 45 people along the 122 Tournament of Roses Parade route late Friday and early Saturday, officials said.
The 45 people arrested between 5 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Saturday were all adults, Pasadena police spokeswoman Janet Pope Givens said. The number of arrests was three higher than last year.
Thirty-nine of the arrests were for public intoxications, three were for driving without a license, one was for interfering with a police officer, one was for battery and one was for municipal code violation, Givens said.
"Overall, given the number of people, the length of time and the typical revelry that is associated with New Year's celebrations, we are pleased that the numbers are so low.
In order to suppress crime along the route, she added, police recruited mobile home and recreational vehicle operators who set up "temporary neighborhoods" along the parade route to participate in a sort of temporary neighborhood watch program.
"We believe that the community's willingness to be involved is a contributing factor in keeping arrest numbers low," Givens said.
The 45 people arrested between 5 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Saturday were all adults, Pasadena police spokeswoman Janet Pope Givens said. The number of arrests was three higher than last year.
Thirty-nine of the arrests were for public intoxications, three were for driving without a license, one was for interfering with a police officer, one was for battery and one was for municipal code violation, Givens said.
"Overall, given the number of people, the length of time and the typical revelry that is associated with New Year's celebrations, we are pleased that the numbers are so low.
In order to suppress crime along the route, she added, police recruited mobile home and recreational vehicle operators who set up "temporary neighborhoods" along the parade route to participate in a sort of temporary neighborhood watch program.
"We believe that the community's willingness to be involved is a contributing factor in keeping arrest numbers low," Givens said.
CONTRIBUTORS
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| Frank Girardot, Metro Editor for the San Gabriel Valley Newspapers, brings you behind the yellow tape with takes on true crime, cold cases and more. This is also your forum to discuss crime, its impact on your neighborhood and how we cover it. Have any questions or tips? You can leave a comment here or e-mail Frank. |
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Brian Day is the crime reporter for the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper group. E-mail Brian. |
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