Monthly Archives: January 2011

Witness: Pico Rivera mayor abused free movie passses

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From reporter Ruby Gonzales who notes that a judge could determine Pico Rivera’s Weinerschnitzel king Ron Beilke’s fate today:

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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.

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Former Muir High teacher pleads no contest in 2008 murder case

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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.

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Mexican drug war rages on: 15 bodies, 14 of them decapitated, found in Acapulco

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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.

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Gunman robs gas station in Baldwin Park

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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.

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Fatal crash reported in Monterey Park

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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.

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Suspect in computer theft jailed with help of tipster in West Covina

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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.
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Man dies in three-vehicle crash in Pico Rivera

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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.
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3 women suspected of funeral donation scam in Covina

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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.
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Duarte man suspected in series of bulldog robberies

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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
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