August 2011 Archives

BALDWIN PARK -- Officials are investigating allegations of a county special education teacher assaulting a students last week at Sierra Vista High School, authorities said.
The incident was reported shortly before 1 p.m. Friday at the campus, 3600 N. Frazier Street, Baldwin Park School Police Capt. Jill Poe said.
"The allegation thus far is that an assault took place, teacher against student," the captain said.
The class involved was a Los Angeles County-run special education class, officials said, and the student involved was a teenage boy estimated to be about 15 years old.
The investigation remained in it's early stages Wednesday, as investigators had not yet spoken with the teacher, Poe said. It was too early to say whether an arrest was likely, she added, and investigators hoped to speak with him sometime this week.
Both the student and teacher had left the campus Friday when police arrived to investigate, authorities said.
The teacher had left due to an injury suffered in the incident, Poe said, while the student, who also suffered minor injuries, was picked up by a parent.
Poe said police were cautiously investigating and gathering evidence.
"Obviously, I want to do what's best in the interest of all parties involved," Poe said.
More information will be released as it becomes available, she said.

PICO RIVERA -- Deputies are seeking a 20-year-old man accused of assaulting his mother and robbing her at knifepoint earlier this week.
Manuel Ortiz, 20, is a transient known to frequent the Pico Rivera area, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Robert Smith said.
He was spotted early Wednesday, prompting a brief manhunt in the 5400 block of Lindsey Avenue, though he was ultimately not captured and the search called off, the lieutenant said.
Ortiz was arguing with his mother at her home about 9:30 a.m. Monday, in the same neighborhood where he was spotted Wednesday, when he went into the home and began taking valuables, Smith said.
"When she confronted him, he pulled a knife on her (and) pushed her to the floor," he said. She was no injured.
After receiving information that he may be in the area, deputies spotted Ortiz about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday sleeping on the roof of a home in the 5400 block of Lindsey Avenue, but he ran when he spotted deputies.
Officials searched the area but did not find Ortiz, and the search was called off about 8:30 a.m.
Ortiz is described a Latino man, about 5 feet 10 inches tall, 175 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, Smith said.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call the sheriff's Pico Rivera Station at 562-949-2421.

COVINA -- California Highway Patrol officers are planning a sobriety and driver's license checkpoint Saturday, authorities said.
The checkpoint will be held from 8 p.m. Saturday to 2 a.m. Sunday at an undisclosed place within the unincorporated community of Covina, CHP officials said in a written statement.
If traffic volume permits, all cars will be checked, officials said. If traffic volume becomes too heavy to check all vehicles, cars will be screened on a pre-arranged standard, such as every third car or every fifth car.

LA HABRA -- A woman who died after being found on fire in the backyard of he La Habra home has been identified, authorities said.
Edith Thrapp, 82, died Monday at the University of California, Irvine, Medical Center just before 4:30 a.m. Monday, according to Orange County coroner's officials.
Firefighters responded to reports of a fire about 5 p.m. Sunday in the 500 block of North Kinley Street, Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Don Kunitomi said.
"When they arrived, they found her on fire," Kunitomi said. She suffered severe burns and was hospitalized.
The cause of the fire remained unclear Wednesday, police and fire officials said. The home itself was not damaged by the fire.
Nothing criminal was initially suspected, La Habra police said.

From the Associated Press:

PASADENA -- A California man has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison
for stabbing two people during a brawl outside the Rose Bowl before last year's USC-UCLA football game.
Prosecutors say 23-year-old Anthony Richard Cisneros pleaded no contest to two counts of attempted murder. He was reportedly sentenced Monday in a Pasadena courtroom.
Cisneros is one of three family members arrested and charged in connection with the Dec. 4 fight triggered when an errant football hit a parked Mercedes-Benz. During the melee, one man was stabbed in the cheek and another was stabbed in the back.
Brother Arthur Cisneros pleaded no contest earlier to assault and he was sentenced to a year in jail. Sister Akira Cisneros pleaded no contest to battery and was placed on probation.

SAN DIMAS -- Rescuers launched an intensive search late Tuesday for a man reported to have become stuck in a prickly predicament in Bonelli Park, only to learn three hours later that the man had freed himself and sought his own medical attention, authorities said.
Officials at the sheriff's San Dimas Station received a call about 10 p.m. from a person reporting that a friend had called him and said he was stuck in a cactus near Cataract Falls in Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park, Los Angeles County sheriff's Capt. Mike Parker said.
Sheriff's officials immediately sent the San Dimas Search & Rescue Team, along with deputies and a helicopter, to search the area for the man, Parker said.
Rescuers were able to reach the man via his cell phone, the captain said. He reported he was trapped in the cactus and he could see one of the rides at the Raging Waters water park from where he was.
As the search continued, he said, officials were no longer able to reach either the stranded man nor the original caller via telephone.
By tracking the ownership information of the cell phone, officials found the victim's girlfriend, who informed them he had freed himself from the cactus and gone to see a doctor, Parker said. The man did not inform officials that the massive rescue effort was no longer needed.
No further details were available.

BALDWIN PARK -- A man was shot and wounded Saturday afternoon in a residential neighborhood, police said.
A 25-year-old man was walking at Los Angeles and Center streets about 2 p.m. when a car approached, Baldwin Park police Sgt. Darryl Kosaka said.
A gunman inside the car, whose description was not available, asked the victim where he was from -- a common gang challenge -- before opening fire, police said.
The victim was struck in the upper back and was hospitalized with what was believed to be a minor gunshot wound, Kosaka said.
A description of the car used in the shooting was not available, the sergeant added. The victim was not cooperating with investigators.

ALHAMBRA -- Police arrested two men Friday on suspicion of breaking into a house dressed as employees of a cable television company, officials said.
Perre Michael Chang, 30, of Laguna Nigel and Daniel Wardming Quon, 26, of Pasadena were booked on suspicion of burglary and being held in lieu of $50,000 bail, Alhambra police Lt. Jennifer Wiese said.
A resident of the 2000 block of Stoneman Avenue called police just before 4 p.m. to report a possible break-in at a neighboring home, the lieutenant said.
"Officers arrived and immediately apprehended two subjects fleeing from the scene," she said.
Both suspects, later identified as Chang and Quon, were wearing Time Warner uniform shirts, Wiese added.
Police searched the neighborhood but found no additional suspects.

An 11-month-old girl died in a fiery car crash Friday on the 110 Freeway, as bystanders tried unsuccessfully to save the infant from burning car, authorities and witnesses said.
Leiana Ramirez of Los Angeles died in the crash, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner's Lt. Larry Dietz said.
The CHP received reports of a car crash involving a person trapped inside a burning vehicle about 5:25 p.m. on the freeway just north of York Boulevard, on the border between South Pasadena and Highland Park, CHP officials said in a written statement.
A 2002 Nissan containing the infant and being driven by a 30-year-old Los Angeles woman -- reportedly the infant's mother -- had stopped in the No. 3 lane of the southbound freeway due to a possibly flat tire, officials said.
A 1999 GMC SUV occupied by two 22-year-old Los Angeles men then struck the rear of the stopped Nissan, according to the CHP statement.
"This caused (the Nissan) to catch on fire and eventually become fully engulfed," the statement said. "(Ramirez) became trapped in her car seat as a result of the collision."
"Attempts were made by the involved parties and witnesses to remove the child from the vehicle, but they were overcome by the fire and unsuccessful in their attempts," the statement said.
The badly burned baby was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. The woman driving the Nissan was hospitalized with second-degree burns to both her arms, the driver of the GMC suffered third-degree burns to both his arms, and the passenger in the GMC complained of pain to his left shoulder.
Alcohol or drugs played no role in the crash, investigators said.
Jair Aguirre, 26, lives next to the freeway and rushed out to help following the crash.
He said he tried to fight the flames with a garden hose as three other men from the neighborhood ran to the car with buckets and a fire extinguisher.
Aguirre said they tried to reach the girl by breaking open a window with a baseball bat. The men reached into the back seat repeatedly but were driven back and burned by the growing fire.
"You just felt helpless looking at that car in flames," he said.
-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.

IRWINDALE -- Police arrested a man with more than 500 pounds of marijuana Thursday after a high-speed chase, officials said.
George Farias, 40, of San Bernardino was booked on suspicion of felony evasion of police, possession of marijuana for sales and transportation of marijuana for sales, Irwindale police Lt. Mario Camacho said.
An officer tried to pull over a Toyota Tundra pickup truck about 11:30 a.m. on Vincent Avenue near the 10 Freeway after it nearly struck a postal carrier on foot, the lieutenant said.
The truck initially pulled over at Vincent and Rowland avenues, Camacho said, but sped off once the officer got out of his patrol car and approached.
The Tundra led police on a chase onto the 10 Freeway, driving erratically and reaching speeds of around 100 mph, Camacho said. Officers backed off and saw the truck exit at Citrus Street.
Witnesses pointed police toward the truck at Citrus Street and Norma Avenue in West Covina, police said. The driver had jumped out, allowing the truck to continue rolling into a small brick wall and a parked SUV.
Inside the truck, officials found more than 500 pounds of marijuana packaged in 26 bundles, Camacho said.
The Foothill Special Enforcement Team, a SWAT team servicing several cities in the San Gabriel Valley, happened to be training in Irwindale and went to the scene to perform a yard-to-yard search, Camacho said.
Farias was found hiding in a garage not far from where the truck was ditched and arrested without a struggle, officials said.
According to sheriff's booking records, Farias was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail and was due for arraignment Monday in West Covina Superior Court.

PASADENA - An observant witness helped police arrest three men and a 16-year-old boy after a residential burglary Thursday.

Gerald Rogers, 20, James Brittenum, 18, John Adams, 18, and a 16-year-old boy, all of Monrovia, were booked on suspicion of burglary, Pasadena police Lt. Diego Torres said.

Pasadena Lt. Pete Hettema said shortly after 12 p.m., a witness saw two people come out of a backyard in the 500 block of Mercedes Avenue and get into a car with two occupants.

He said the witness described the vehicle as a Ford Crown Victoria. Officers stopped the car on Foothill Boulevard and Sierra Madre Villa Avenue and found what they believed were stolen items inside, according to Hettema. Three men and a teen were arrested on suspicion of burglary.

 - From Staff Writer Ruby Gonzales

LA HABRA -- Police shot and wounded a suspect in a mobile home park late Thursday, though few details regarding the circumstances of the shooting were released.
Officers responded to a 911 call reporting a restraining order violation 10:34 p.m. at a the mobile home park, 1731 W. Lambert Road, La Habra police officials said in a written statement.
"While officers were en route, a male subject made entry into the residence and the call was disconnected," the statement said.
"The first officer arrived on scene at approximately 10:37 p.m. and shortly thereafter, the officer advised that he had been involved in a shooting."
Manuel Galvan, 46, of La Habra was hospitalized in unknown condition, police said. He remained hospitalized Friday.
He was expected to be booked on suspicion of battery on a spouse, violating a restraining order, damaging a wireless communication device, preventing a person from reporting a crime and resisting or obstructing a police officer, authorities added.
Police declined to comment on the circumstances of the shooting itself, including whether Galvan was armed or what prompted the officer to open fire.
The name or experience level of the officer was also not released.
District Attorney's spokeswoman Farrah Emami said based on a memorandum of understanding with the La Habra Police Department, the office does not release any information about officer-involved shootings until the investigation is complete.
"The originating agency has the authority to put out information or not," she said.

HACIENDA HEIGHTS -- Community members and businesses are working to assist a Hacienda Heights family that lost two members in a fatal fire earlier this week.
Virginia Gonzalez, 49, and her adopted 3-year-old son died in the fire, which broke out late Sunday at a home in the 1700 block of Piermont Drive, coroner's and sheriff's officials said.
The boy's name was not released pending positive identification, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner Chief of Operations Craig Harvey said.
Both the woman and child died as a result of "smoke inhalation and thermal burns," he said, and the deaths were ruled to be accidental.
The fire was sparked by a candle left unattended in the home, sheriff's investigators said.
Gonzalez was trying to rescue the toddler when she died, officials said.
Her husband was seriously injured rescuing the couple's 9-year-old daughter from the home. The girl's injuries were not major.
The father tried unsuccessfully to rescue his wife and son from the burning home as well before he was overcome by the smoke and flames, officials said.
Roundtable Pizza, 17170 Colima Road, will donate a portion of proceeds to the family Friday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., family friends said.
The Hacienda Heights Pizza Co., 15239 Gale Ave. in Industry, will also donate a portion of Tuesday's profits to the Gonzalez family on Tuesday.
Members of a softball team that plays with Gonzalez's daughter are planning a car wash to benefit the family Sept. 4 at Pit Stop LLC, 980 Turnbull Canyon Road in Industry.
Additionally, a bank account has been set up to help the family.
Those interested in contributing can donate to the Gonzalez Memorial Account, Wells Fargo account 8965800637.

EL MONTE -- A man who claims he was beaten by El Monte police so badly he lost most of his eyesight has filed a claim against the department, his attorney said Thursday.
Cornelio Chavez, 35, suffered the beating June 24 while officers were arresting him on an outstanding warrant, attorney Brad Gage said.
About half a dozen police officers confronted Chavez in a small bedroom of his mother's apartment in the 11100 block of Bonwood Road, the attorney said.
The officers began beating Chavez, while another officer ordered his family members to remain in the apartment's kitchen, Gage said.
"According to witnesses, this beating lasted from 20 minutes to an hour," he said. "Our client was pleading for help."
"Basically, most of the bones in the face were broken," Gage said. Chavez also suffered bleeding from his brain and lost about 85 percent of his eyesight, which he is not expected to regain.
He spent weeks in a hospital, Gage added.
"There's no way you could justify beating this long or this severely," he said.
El Monte Police Chief Steve Schuster said his department was looking into the claim.
"We're taking the accusation very seriously," he said. "We've assigned out internal affairs investigators to conduct a complete and thorough investigation."
Schuster said the arrest did not go on for more than 20 minutes, as alleged by Gage, but rather lasted only a few minutes.
When El Monte police internal affairs investigators tried to speak with Chavez and his family at the hospital, Schuster said, they declined to speak with officials and referred all questions to their attorney.
Chavez was an active parolee at the time of the incident, and police had received word from parole officials that Chavez may have been under the influence of drugs at the apartment complex, the chief said.
Authorities checked his criminal history before going to the home and found Chavez was had a warrant for his arrest due to pending charges of weapons violations and assault on a peace officer, Schuster said.
Arriving officers found Chavez hiding in a closet in the apartment, he said.
"He came out of the closet and engaged the officers in a physical confrontation," Schuster said. One officer suffered a minor injury.
Officers fought to get Chavez into custody, the chief said.
At one point, an officer believed Chavez was reaching for his gun, so the officer struck Chavez in the head, Schuster said. It was not clear if he was struck with a fist, baton or other object.
The involved officers remained on duty, "because there's no initial indication that they did anything wrong," Schuster said.
Because of his injuries, Chavez was not immediately arrested, Schuster said. Charges of felony resisting arrest, misdemeanor resisting arrest and misdemeanor assault on a peace officer have since been filed.
The city had not accepted or denied the claim as of Thursday, Gage said. If the city denies the claim or does not respond to it within 45 days of filing, Gage said he plans to move forward with a lawsuit.

From the Associated Press:

The allegations against Sonia Hermosillo of La Habra might seem incomprehensible to most parents.
Prosecutors say the mother of three drove her infant son to the fourth story of a parking garage, removed a special helmet he wore for a medical condition and tossed him over the edge. She then validated her parking ticket and drove away, they say.
The 7-month-old boy with deep brown eyes died Wednesday, the same day his 31-year-old mother was charged with murder and felony child abuse. Her arraignment Thursday was rescheduled to Monday.
Hermosillo's husband says that she suffered from severe postpartum depression and couldn't accept that her only son had two unusual disabilities, one of which required him to wear a special helmet to reshape his head.
"There is no grudge against my wife. Don't judge her poorly. She was truly ill," Noe Medina said tearfully in his native Spanish on Wednesday. "Understand the pain that I am in ... I lost my son and now I don't want to lose my wife. I have to keep going on for my two little girls."
Postpartum depression affects up to 20 percent of new mothers and can be triggered or worsened by stresses such as a traumatic childbirth experience, disabilities in the infant or an unsupportive home situation, experts said.
Most of these women have the "baby blues," a bout of depression that goes away within a few weeks, but a tiny fraction -- about .01 percent -- develop postpartum psychosis, said Stephanie Morales, a licensed marriage and family therapist who specializes in perinatal mood disorders.
By all accounts, Hermosillo was a wonderful mother until the birth of Noe Medina Jr. this year.
The native of Mexico had two older daughters, ages 7 and 10, and she doted on them as a stay-at-home mother while her husband worked in construction, according to neighbors who knew her before she gave birth to her third child.
They said she was involved in her daughters' schooling and walked them to class in the family's working class La Habra neighborhood every day, although she spoke little English.
When she learned she was expecting a son, she was excited, said Sonia Herrera, an upstairs neighbor whose daughter played with Hermosillo's children and attended the same school.
After the boy's birth, Hermosillo became withdrawn and serious, she said. Herrera wondered if she might have postpartum depression.
Medina said his wife was hospitalized for postpartum depression in June after she said she didn't want the boy. The baby had been diagnosed with congenital muscular torticollis -- a twisting of the neck to one side -- and wore a helmet to help correct his plagiocephaly, also known as flat-head syndrome, The Orange County Register reported.
The day before Hermosillo was arrested, Herrera saw her taking out the trash.
"She was different. She was serious," Herrera said. "I asked her many questions, and she just said 'Yes' or 'No.'"
Hermosillo's husband said his wife took medication after her hospitalization and had seen a therapist for the first time on Monday. Later that day, she scooped up the baby while her husband was watching their daughters, and left their second-story apartment.
A panicked Medina called 911 to report his wife and son missing. La Habra police officials have declined to release that call, citing the pending investigation.
Authorities say she threw the baby from a parking garage at Children's Hospital of Orange County, where the boy had been undergoing physical therapy twice a week. The boy didn't have an appointment that day.
A witness saw the baby falling through the air, and several people, including a doctor, called 911, said Sgt. Dan Adams, an Orange police spokesman. One witness thought a child had dropped a doll when he saw the baby falling through the air, said Scott Simmons, who is prosecuting the case.
Surveillance video showed Hermosillo's sport utility vehicle with an empty child seat leaving the parking structure a short time later, Adams said. The license plate was traced to the Hermosillo home, the sergeant said.
A police officer driving past Children's Hospital about four hours later spotted Hermosillo driving on a street about 100 yards from the crime scene and arrested her, Adams said. Hermosillo remained held without bail at the request of immigration officials, who say she's in the country illegally.

EAST VALINDA -- Two men suffered serious burns Wednesday when they lit a barbecue next to the gas tank of a car they were repairing, officials said.
The accident was reported about 10:50 a.m. in the 17400 block of Salais Street, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Raymond Enriquez said.
A 28-year-old man and his 56-year-old father, both local residents, were working on the gas tank of a 1992 Honda Accord prior to the accident, the lieutenant said.
"While they were working on the gas tank, they decided to grill some carne asada," Enriquez said.
The flame from the barbecue in close proximity to the gas caused a "flash burn," he said, which was reported by passersy-by.
Deputies initially found nothing when they checked the area, Enriquez said. About 20 minutes later, a woman called from a nearby home asking for help.
Officials found the father and son sitting on the sofa in the home, both badly burned.
The son suffered burns over about 70 percent of his body, Enriquez said. He was initially taken to Citrus Valley Medical Center -- Queen of the Valley Campus, but then flown by helicopter to a burn center.
The father suffered burns over 30 to 40 percent of his body and was hospitalized at Queen of the Valley. 

MONTEBELLO -- Police asked the public's help Thursday in finding a 14-year-old Montebello girl who ran away with a male companion.
Rosemary Sandoval was last seen walking in the 300 block of Poplar Avenue between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. Monday, Montebello police Sgt. Mike Flores said in a written statement.
She suffers from a medical condition that requires her to take prescription medication, police added.
Police believe Sandoval may be with a friend identified as "Jose Sandoval," though that may not be his true name, Flores said.
"In the past few days, Rosemary has been in contact with her family via 'Facebook' and cell phone, indicating that she is well and does not wish to come home," the sergeant said.
"At this time, there is no indication of foul play, however, because of her medical condition and age, her family is concerned for her welfare."
Sandoval is described as Latina, 5 feet 5 inches tall, 190 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. She has tattoos reading "Perfect" and "FML" on her left forearm.
Anyone with information is asked to call Montebello police at 323-887-1313, or 911.

PHOTO of Rosemary Sandoval courtesy of the Montebello Police Department.

A 7-month-old La Habra boy allegedly thrown from a fourth-floor parking structure by his mother earlier this week died Wednesday, officials.
Noe Medina Jr. died at the the University of California, Irvine, Medical Center, where he was being treated for major injuries he suffered in Monday's incident at Children's Hospital of Orange County in Orange, Orange police Sgt. Dan Adams said.
His mother, 31-year-old Sonia Hermosillo of La Habra, had been charged earlier in the day in Orange County Superior Court with attempted murder and child abuse causing great bodily injury, Deputy District Attorney Scott Simmons said.
Following news of the baby's death, prosecutors amended the charges against Hermosillo.
"We'll allege murder, of course," he said, along with a charge of child abuse resulting in death.
Hermosillo was charged Wednesday in the Central Jail court, and was ordered to return to court Thursday for arraignment, officials said.
Hermosillo is accused of driving with her infant son to the fourth floor of a parking structure at CHOC about 6:20 p.m. Monday, Orange police and Orange County District Attorney's officials said.
The infant suffered from medical conditions that required him to be treated at CHOC on a regular basis, though he was not scheduled for an appointment that day.
"Hermosillo is accused of removing the victim's helmet and pushing her baby from the parking structure with the intention of murdering him with the four-story fall," District Attorney's officials said in a written statement.
Immediately after, "Hermosillo is accused of walking inside the hospital, validating her parking and fleeing the scene."
The baby was rushed to a trauma center at UC Irvine Medical Center, where he remained in critical condition until Wednesday, when he succumbed to his injuries, Orange police Sgt. Dan Adams said.
Orange police arrested Hermosillo about four hours after the incident when she was spotted by police, who were still investigating the scene, driving past the hospital. Her car was captured on surveillance cameras at the parking structure around the time of the incident.
Meanwhile, the woman's husband and father to the infant, Noe Medina, had called La Habra police to report them missing, officials said.
Medina told the Orange County Register that his wife had been treated for postpartum depression in June, and that his son suffered from plagiocephaly, commonly known as flat-head syndrome, as well as congenital muscular torticollis, which causes his head to twist to one side.
"She didn't look at our son as normal," he told the newspaper. "She didn't accept him. She didn't accept that he was like this."
Through physical therapy, the baby had been showing improvement, Medina said. Hermosillo, too, also seemed to be doing better in recent weeks, and he, "began to trust her."
Hermosillo and Medina have two other children, though their ages were not available.
Hermosillo was being held without bail due to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold, officials said. Such holds are generally placed on suspects who are not in the country legally.
-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.

EL MONTE -- Police arrested a man Tuesday on suspicion of threatening to bomb an El Monte social services office because his benefits had been cut off, authorities said.
Jose Guillermo Zepeda Parra, 32, of Harbor City was booked on suspicion of making criminal threats and bomb threats, El Monte police Detective George Fierro said in a written statement.
The threat was made Aug 12. against the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services office 3400 Aerojet Ave., police said.
"Parra allegedly made criminal threats of bombing the DPSS building via telephone after being upset that his benefits were terminated," Fierro said.
He made similar threats to DPSS employees on March, however that incident, "didn't rise to the level to constitute a criminal act," he added.
According to county booking records, Parra was being held in lieu of $50,000 at the El Monte Police Department's jail. He was due for arraignment Thursday in El Monte Superior Court.

HACIENDA HEIGHTS -- A woman was trying to rescue her 3-year-old adopted son from a house fire Sunday when both were killed, officials said.
An unattended candle in the living room started the accidental house fire shortly before 11 p.m. in the 1700 block of Piermont Drive, Lt. Eduardo Hernandez of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Homicide Bureau.
The names of the woman and child were not released Tuesday pending notification of family members, Los Angeles County Coroner's Assistant Chief of Operations Ed Winter said.
The 48-year-old woman's husband and 9-year-old daughter were injured but survived the fire in the 1700 block of Piermont Drive, officials said.
"The cause of the fire was determined to be an unattended candle in the living room, which ignited and quickly engulfed the house," Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Michael Thomas said in a written statement.
No crime is suspected, and investigators ruled out arson, Hernandez said.
After the flames erupted, "The woman's husband saved their daughter from the flames and carried her outside," Thomas said.
Thomas said the man, 48, returned to the house to find his wife and the toddler. The wife had also returned to the home in search of the boy.
"She realized her son was back in there and went for her son," Deputy Tony Moore said. But both the woman and the boy "were unable to be rescued until firefighters arrived," Thomas said.
The woman and boy were taken to a hospital where they were pronounced dead, officials said.
The man and his daughter were taken to hospitals and treated for smoke inhalation, as well as for injuries the father suffered during the rescue attempt.
The father remained hospitalized in serious condition Tuesday, Hernandez said, while the girl had been released from the hospital.
There were no working smoke detectors in the home, Hernandez said.
He added that sounds which some nearby residents reported as gunshots during the fire were believed to be the sounds of the father breaking windows as he tried to rescue his children.
A memorial of flowers, stuffed animals, balloons, photographs and candles continued to grow in front of the remains of the burned home Tuesday.
A sign left by neighbors thanked others for their support, but asked that the candles at the memorial not be left burning unattended.
Neighbor Omar Aguilar said he was shocked and deeply saddened to learn of the fire.
"They're going to be missed," he said. "This block's never going to be the same again."

ALHAMBRA -- A man pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of stabbing his wife to death and wounding her sister earlier this month at a home the sisters shared in an unincorporated county area near San Gabriel.
Sherman Dion Dorsey, 40, of Los Angeles entered his plea in Alhambra Superior Court, court officials said. He was ordered to return Sept. 20 for a preliminary hearing setting.
He's accused in the Aug. 3 killing of his wife, 45-year-old Gina Reano, and wounding her sister when she tried to intervene, investigators said.
The surviving sister ran from the home and sought help the morning of the attack in the 5500 block of Walnut Grove Avenue, Lt. Mike Rosson of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Homicide Bureau said.
Dorsey was found in front of the home suffering from self-inflicted stab wounds, he said.
He was arrested two days later on suspicion of the killing and assault.
Dorsey and his wife were estranged at the time of the killing, though they were in the process of trying to reconcile, investigators said.
According to county booking records, Dorsey was being held in lieu of $2.07 million bail.

WHITTIER -- A 20-year-old man was expected to survive Tuesday after he was stabbed more than a dozen times when a fight broke out at a weekend house party, officials said.
The stabbing took place about 12:45 a.m. Sunday at a house in the 10100 block of Kentucky Avenue, Whittier police said in a written statement.
"A fight between several male subjects erupted at the party, resulting in the victim being stabbed," the statement said.
It was not clear Tuesday what the fight was about.
The victim, a Paramount man, was stabbed at least a dozen times in the torso, Lt. Randy Inman said. He was hospitalized in an intensive care unit and listed in stable condition.
Two young men who were at the home when police arrived were initially arrested in connection with the stabbing, but then released due to a lack of evidence, Officer Bradley White said.

PASADENA -- Officials have released the name of an 18-year-old Alhambra man shot to death in Pasadena late Monday.
Marvin Laguan died at Huntington Hospital shortly after the 10:17 p.m. shooting in the 400 block of Mar Vista Avenue, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner Assistant Chief of Operations Ed Winter said.
Laguan was talking to his girlfriend when another man approached and said something to to him before pulling a handgun on opening fire, Pasadena police Lt. Pete Hettema said.
Two men who were seen running from the area were described as black men in their early-20s, between 5 feet 8 inches and 6 feet tall and wearing baggy clothing, police said.

ORANGE -- A La Habra woman was behind bars Tuesday on suspicion of trying to kill her 7-month-old son by throwing him from the fourth floor of a parking structure at Children's Hospital of Orange County.
Sonia Hermosillo, 31, was being held without bail, according to Orange County booking records.
Her son, whose name was not released, was fighting for his life at a hospital where he was listed in critical condition, Orange police Sgt. Dan Adams said.
Witnesses called 9-1-1 about 6:20 p.m. to report seeing the baby fall from the parking structure at the hospital, 455 S. Main St., the sergeant said.
"During the investigation, we learned from the La Habra Police Department that a man from La Habra had reported his wife, Sonia Hermosillo, and their 7-month-old son missing," Adams said.
While reviewing surveillance footage from the parking structure, investigators noticed a small SUV that had left the structure just after the incident, he said.
The license plate indicated the SUV was registered to the same home where the La Habra woman and child had been reported missing, and it was being driven by a lone woman, Adams said.
As officials continued their investigation at Children's Hospital of Orange County shortly after 10 p.m., an Orange police officer spotted the wanted SUV pass by the hospital, police said.
Officers pulled over the SUV and arrested Hermosillo without a struggle, Adams said. An empty child safety seat was still in the SUV.
Detectives questioned Hermosillo before ultimately arresting her on suspicion of attempted murder of her infant son, Adams said.
According to booking records, she was due for arraignment Wednesday in the Orange County Central Jail Court.

PHOTO of Sonia Hermosillo courtesy of the Orange Police Department

George and Jennifer Dejongh, 34, are shown in video below shortly after their capture in Mexico nearly two weeks ago. Jennifer is accused of taking her children to Mexico after temporary custody was awarded to their grandfather Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea.
She claims the children were abused by their father, Miller's son Brian.
An attorney for the Millers denied the accusations last week.

GLENDORA -- Firefighters made quick work of a two-acre brush fire near the 210 and 57 freeways Friday, officials said.
The blaze was first reported about 2:15 p.m. on the right shoulder of the westbound 210 Freeway, near the 57 Freeway, Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Quvondo Johnson said.
Firefighters had the flames out in just over 20 minutes, though they remained at the scene Thursday afternoon building a containment line to prevent the fire from re-igniting and spreading, the inspector said.
No injuries were reported, and the cause of the fire remained under investigation.

MONTEREY PARK -- A trash dumpster sheared a natural gas line Thursday, forcing the evacuation of nearby business as workers repaired the damage, officials said.
Firefighters responded about 8 a.m. to reports of a broken high-pressure  natural has line to the rear of the 100 block of Lincoln Avenue, Monterey Park fire officials said in a written statement.
"The break was caused when a trash dumpster was being moved from the rear of the facility to the parking lot for trash removal and struck the gas line," the statement said.
Surrounding businesses and a home to the north of the lead were evacuated as Southern California Gas Company officials made repairs, official said.

SOUTH PASADENA -- Police are seeking a man who followed a woman off a Metro Gold Line train, then sexually assaulted her late Thursday.
The incident was reported just after 11 p.m. on Meridian Avenue at El Centro Street, South Pasadena police Officer Juan Salcido said.
A woman in her late 30s got off a train at the Mission Station and a man who was travelling with a bicycle followed her off, the officer said.
The man came up behind the woman on the bicycle and groped the woman's lower body, police said. She pushed him off, and the attacker rode away.
The woman was not injured.
Police described the attacker as a Latino man in his early- to mid-20s, with black hair. He wore a white tank top and black pants.
Anyone with information is asked to call South Pasadena police at 626-403-7270.

LA HABRA HEIGHTS -- Authorities have identified a man found dead in a truck on Vista Road from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound as the president of the Don Steves Autoplex in La Habra.
Donald Thomas Steves, Jr., 70, of La Habra, was pronounced dead shorty after his body was discovered about 5 p.m. Thursday inside a Chevrolet pickup truck parked in the 2300 block of Vista Road in La Habra Heights, according to Los Angeles County coroner's and sheriff's officials.
A passerby noticed a truck that hadn't moved in about an hour, went for a closer look and found the body, sheriff's Sgt. Dwight Miley said.
An autopsy had not been carried out Friday, coroner's Chief of Operations Craig Harvey said. It was expected to be performed Saturday at the earliest.
Steves was the president of the Don Steves Autoplex in La Habra, previously known as Don Steves Chevrolet. The family business was started by his father six decades ago.
A representative at the business did not wish to comment Friday.

SOUTH PASADENA -- A woman had a terrifying ride on Fair Oaks Avenue late Thursday after someone shot out her windshield with what was later determined to be a BB gun, authorities said.
The woman, a 56-year-old Los Angeles resident, was driving her Honda Accord in the 400 block of Fair Oaks when she heard what she thought was a gunshot and her windshield shattered, South Pasadena police Sgt. Brian Solinsky said.
She pulled over and called the police, the sergeant said. "She thought she'd been shot. She was terrified."
Investigating officers discovered a BB mixed in with the shattered glass of the windshield, Solinsky said, and also noted that a nearby street sign also showed dents from being shot with a BB gun.
Officials believed the BB was fired from a nearby apartment complex, he said. The investigation was ongoing.

SAN MARINO -- Police investigating a break-in at a Mesa Road home discovered three grenades Thursday, which were ultimately found to be inert training grenades.
A gardener called police around 3 p.m. to report a window had been smashed at a home in the 1200 block of Mesa Road sometime since his last visit to the home on Tuesday, San Marino police Sgt. Robert Cervantes said. The residents were out of town.
Investigating officers found that the home had been ransacked and noticed three grenades sitting on a bed in the master bedroom.
"We cleared out of there, just to be on the safe side," the sergeant said. A bomb squad was summoned, but cancelled before arriving after a police officers recognized the grenades as harmless training devices.
Officials left the devices, which are note illegal, at the home but dismantled them to avoid further misunderstanding, Cervantes said.
It was not immediately clear what, if anything, was taken from the home.
The investigation into the burglary was ongoing.

WHITTIER -- Community members are invited to meet with officials and their neighbors Aug. 25 at a meeting geared at combatting crime in the neighborhoods of North Whittier and Avocado Heights.
The North Whittier Neighborhood Watch Association and the Avocado Heights Association are teaming up to host "Night Out of the Year 2011" from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at 1101 Bassetdale Avenue in Whittier, organizers said in a written statement.
"The purpose of this activity is for all of us to come together and protect our families and properties form crime, drugs and gang activity," the statement said.
Representatives of Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina, State Assemblyman Roger Hernandez, D-West Covina, State Sen. Ed Hernandez, D--West Covina, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the California Highway Patrol will be on-hand to answer questions.
"Come and meet your neighbors, because they are the best protection for your family and property," the statement said.
For more information, contact Ruben Hernandez at 213-388-8352.

BALDWIN PARK -- Police investigated a shooting in a residential neighborhood Wednesday but found no victims, authorities said.
Officers responded about 6 p.m. to a report of gunshots being heard in the 5000 block of Stewart Avenue, Baldwin Park police Sgt. Mark Adams said.
They found no one injured at the scene, but did recover several bullet casings, the sergeant said. Nearby hospitals did not report receiving any gunshot victims.
No description of the shooter was available.

VICTORVILLE -- A Pasadena man has been arrested in the hit-and-run death of a woman outside Teazer's Nightclub.
Broderick Allen, 29, agreed to meet with San Bernardino County sheriff's investigators Monday after numerous interviews.
Sheriff's officials said he was very cooperative, and at the end of the meeting he was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and hit and run causing great bodily injury or death.
Deputies booked him into jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.
Deputies came to Teazer's Nightclub at 14269 Seventh St. at 12:42 a.m. Friday on a report of a disturbance.
Damisha Ford, 29, of Victorville was found lying on the ground suffering from major injuries. She died at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton.
Sheriff's officials said Ford was outside the club when Allen got into a 2009 Dodge Charger and tried to drive away. He was attempting to flee a group of people he had been arguing with inside the venue.
Two vehicles blocked his path and the group began to throw bottles and kick and jump on the vehicle. He put the vehicle in reverse, hitting Ford.
An armed security guard saw Allen drive through the parking lot recklessly and fired several shots at the Charger, striking it several times.
Deputies found the vehicle a few blocks away, abandoned and disabled.
Allen was not the registered owner of the vehicle.
-By Melissa Pinion-Whitt, Staff Writer

EL MONTE -- El Monte police will screen drivers for sobriety and driver's licenses at checkpoints Friday and Aug. 29.
The checkpoints will be held at undisclosed times and places within the city, El Monte police officials said in a written statement.
The goal is to both remove impaired drivers from the road, as well as to increase awareness about the dangers of drunken driving and encourage sober designated drivers, officials said.
Traffic volume and weather permitting, all vehicle passing through the checkpoints may be screened, police said.
Funding for the checkpoints is being provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

A prolific serial bank robber dubbed the "Tri-Cities Bandit" struck for the second time in Pasadena Wednesday, then just over an hour later in La Verne, authorities said.
"The suspect is known to law enforcement as the Tri-Cities Bandit after he was linked to bank robberies in the cities of Burbank, Glendale, and Pasadena," FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said in a written statement.
His criminal resume has since tripled, as he is suspected of a six-robbery spree over the past week, officials said.
"During the robberies, the Tri-Cities Bandit enters the bank and approaches the teller with a note demanding money in large denominations," she said.
The bandit walked into the Bank of the West, 2500 E. Colorado Blvd., about 3:30 p.m. and, like usual, handed a note to a teller demanding cash, Pasadena police Lt. Pete Hettema said.
After receiving about $900, he fled the bank and was last seen in a nearby parking lot, the lieutenant said. He may have gotten into a car, however no witnesses reported seeing it.
A second robbery was carried out by the same bandit at a La Verne bank just before 5 p.m., La Verne police Lt. Gary Mason said.
The robber walked into the U.S. Bank, 1933 Foothill Blvd., handed a teller a demand note and ran off with about $2,500, Mason said.
In both heists, police described the robber as a Latino man in his 30s, of thin build, with a mustache. No weapons were seen in either robbery.
"In the most recent robbery in the City of La Verne, the Tri-Cities Bandit was seen leaving the bank in a white vehicle driven by another individual, who was not further described," according to a bulletin issued Thursday by the FBI.
The car resembled a late-model, four-door Volkswagon Passat bearing dealer license plates, officials said. The driver may have damaged the right rear tire and hubcap while fleeing the scene.
The FBI has previously described the Tri-Cities Bandit as a Latino man in his 30s, 5 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 8 inches tall, about 155 pounds, with short dark hair and a goatee.
The crime in Pasadena Wednesday was the second time the Tri-Cities Bandit has visited the city in a month, police and FBI officials said. He tried, but failed, to rob a Wells Fargo Branch, 82 S. Lake Ave., on July 19.
He handed a teller a note demanding "large bills," Hettema said. The teller told him she had none, and the bandit fled empty-handed.
According to the FBI, the Tri-Cities Bandit is also being sought for an Aug. 16 robbery at a Bank of America branch in Los Angeles; an Aug. 15 robbery at a OneWest bank in Chino Hills; an Aug. 12 robbery at a Grandpoint bank in Brentwood; an Aug. 11 robbery at an EastWest bank in Tarzana; a July 20 robbery at a Wells Fargo in Glendale; and a June 13 robbery at a Citibank in Burbank.
He does not wear a disguise during his crimes and dresses casually.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Los Angeles office of the FBI at 888-226-8443.

POMONA -- Sentencing for a Temple City man convicted of killing a Baldwin Park youth counselor while fleeing from police last year has been postponed, authorities said.
A Pomona Superior Court jury convicted Luis Noriega, 29, in June of second degree murder for the death of Walter Williams, 37, of Carson.
He was scheduled to be sentenced Thursday, however the sentencing was postponed until Aug. 23, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney T.D. Pham said.
He faces from 23 years in prison to life behind bars when he's sentenced by Pomona Superior Court Tia Fisher.
Noriega was fleeing from police in a stolen SUV on June 18, 2010, when he slammed into Williams' car at Ramona Boulevard and Francisquito Avenue in Baldwin Park, officials said.
Williams' was thrown from his car, which then burst into flames.
He had just picked up his paycheck from Eggleston Youth Homes and Foster Care in Baldwin Park, where he worked as a counselor.

PASADENA -- The cause of a large fire that gutted a vacant house earlier this week remained under investigation Wednesday, authorities said.
The blaze was first reported about 11:30 a.m. in the 3200 block of East Orange Grove Blvd., according to Pasadena Fire Department spokeswoman Lisa Derderian.
"Firefighters encountered heavy smoke on arrival," she said.
After about 20 minutes, firefighters extinguished the flames, Derderian said. They remained at the home for more than eight hours conducting an investigation.
No one was living at the home, officials said.
"Neighbors said the house had been vacant for several weeks," Derderian said.
The fire caused an estimated $600,000 worth of damage, officials said. The cause remained under investigation.
PHOTOS courtesy of the Pasadena Fire Department.

WHITTIER -- A Whittier nursing home has received the most severe citation allowed by law after a patient died as a result of medical mishap three years ago, authorities said Wednesday.
Orchard -- Post Acute Care, 12385 Washington Blvd., received the citation along with a $75,000 fine after an investigation by the California Department of Public Health determined the facility made a mistake inserting a stomach tube into a 78-year-old man in 2008, CDPH spokesman Al Lundeen said in a written statement. The error caused his death six days later.
"The facility, previously known as Royal Court Health Care, failed to follow policies and procedures related to patient assessment, monitoring and care," Lundeen said.
Per CDPH policy, the facility has 10 days to request a hearing to appeal the citation.
"We do plan to appeal," Orchard Administrator Rich Jorgensen said.
"I understand the Department of Public Health, they have a job to do," he added.
Jorgensen said he was not a clinician and could not discuss the incident in detail.
According to a report issued by the CDPH, nursing home personnel incorrectly inserted a "gastronomy tube," a feeding tube that's meant to be inserted into the stomach through a surgically created opening.
"The (gastronomy tube) was inserted into (the patient's) peritoneal cavity located outside of the stomach, instead of into the stomach," according to the report.
As a result, the investigation found, the patient developed inflammation, septic shock and respiratory failure and died six days after the allegedly botched procedure.
The citation issued by the CDPH, a "AA" citation, is the strongest citation the agency can issue.
Jorgensen, who has been with Orchard for about a year, said he is confident in the nursing home's staff and level of care.
"I believe that we do provide a very high level of care to our patients and residents," he said. "I would absolutely put my mother here."
Orchard -- Post Acute Care is a 162-bed skilled nursing facility, Jorgensen said. Primarily specializing in seniors, it both serves as both a temporary rehabilitation facility and a long-term residential facility.
All nursing facilities in the state are regulated by state and federal laws governing health care facilities, Lundeen said.
"By providing nursing facilities it licenses with consequences for substantiated violations, CDPH strives to protect the health and safety of vulnerable individuals," he said.

SAN DIMAS -- Deputies arrested two Baldwin Park men Tuesday on suspicion of stealing two cars, including one that was taken earlier in the day from a parking lot at the Raging Waters water park, authorities said.
Carlos Flores, 25, and Sergio Lara, 21, were booked on suspicion of auto theft, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Craig Boyett said.
Someone flagged down a deputy in the Via Verde area of the city about 2 p.m. to report seeing two suspicious vehicles driving in the neighborhood, the lieutenant said.
A deputy found one of the cars, a Honda Del Sol, at Avenida Loma Vista and Paseo Gracia and pulled it over, Boyett said. It was found to have been reported stolen out of Montclair, and the driver, Flores, was arrested.
The deputy alerted fellow deputies of the description of a second car -- a pink Honda civic -- which appeared to have been driving with the Del Sol, Boyett said.
A deputy spotted the conspicuous Honda near Avenida Loma Vista and Paseo Anacapa, at which point Lara tried to elude him driving up onto the curb, Boyett said.
The Honda struck a parked recreational vehicle, he said, sheering off the windshield and roof of the car.
"That car had just been stolen from Raging Waters," Boyett said.
Lara was taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries and arrested, officials said.
According to county booking records, Flores was being held in lieu of $26,865 bail, while Lara was being held in lieu of $50,000 bail. Both suspects were due to be arraigned Thursday in Pomona Superior Court.

ARCADIA -- Arcadia police officers will serve up barbecue next week to raise money for Southern California Special Olympics athetes.
Officers will take part in a "Tip-a-Cop" fundraiser from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Aug. 24 at the Wood Ranch BBQ & Grill on the east side of the Westfield Santa Anita Mall, 400 S. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia police Sgt. Tom Le Veque said in a written statement.
Officers will serve as servers during the event, and all tips they collect will benefit the Special Olympics Southern California.
For more information, call Eloise Crawford at Special Olympics Southern California at 310-400-3120, or visit www.sosc.org/tipacop.

COVINA -- California Highway Patrol officers are planning to hold a checkpoint Saturday, authorities said.
The checkpoint will be held from 8 p.m. Saturday to 2 a.m. Sunday at an undisclosed time and place in the unincorporated county area near Covina, CHP officials announced in a written statement.
"Traffic volume permitting, all vehicle will be checked," CHP Capt. Marc Shaw said. "If volume becomes too heavy, vehicles to be checked will be selected by a preset standard, such as every third or fifth vehicle, to ensure objectivity."

ALHAMBRA -- Police plan to hold a checkpoint Friday to kick off a four-week crackdown on impaired driving.
The checkpoint will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Garfield and Linda Vista avenues, Alhambra police officials said in a written statement.
The department is joining a nationwide campaign called "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over," in which officers will crack down on intoxicated driving Friday through Sept. 15.
"All too often, innocent, law-abiding people suffer tragic consequences and the loss of loved ones due to this careless disregard of human life," Alhambra Police Chief Mark Yokoyama said. "Because we're committed to ending the carnage, we're intensifying enforcement during the crackdown."

NORWALK -- A judge sentenced a Santa Fe Springs man to spend the rest of his life behind bars Tuesday for murdering his boss and a co-worker at a Vernon lumber yard in 2009.
Saul Gastelum Moreno, 53, will never be released from prison for the fatal shootings of Alan Bohnhoff, 55, of Whittier, and 31-year-old co-worker, Jaime Sanchez of Bell Gardens, on May 18, 2009, at the Bohnhoff Lumber Co. in Vernon. Bohnhoff owned the business, where Sanchez and Moreno both worked.
Norwalk Superior Court Judge Michael Cowell sentenced Moreno to life in prison without the possibility of parole, as well as 102 years to life in prison. A jury convicted him last month of two counts of first-degree murder, with the special allegations of multiple murder and personally using a firearm, as well as fleeing from police.
"Every day my heart ached with sadness, pain and questions," Bohnhoff's daughter, Christa Bohnhoff, told Moreno before his sentence was handed down.
"I can never hear my father's voice again," she said. "I have no father to walk me down the aisle and give me away someday... It was not your choice to take away those future memories."
Bohnhoff's sister-in-law, Denise Maiorano-Torres, said her Bohnhoff was a "great man" and a "great human being."
"He loved to laugh. He was always having fun. We're just said he's not with us today," she said.
Maiorano-Torres also recalled Sanchez fondly.
"These were two good men who didn't deserve to die that way," she said.
Maiorano and other family members also expressed sorrow for Moreno's family, who is also now suffering because of his actions.
"These mistakes you've made have affected lives in a magnitude I can't even begin to explain to you," she said. "I hope you think about this every day of your life."
Moreno, shackled and dressed in a prison uniform, stared straight ahead throughout the proceeding and did not look at the victims' family members as they addressed him.
His eyes welled with tears as Crystal Sanchez, sister of Jaime Sanchez, addressed him.
"Only God and yourself know if you regret what you did," she said.
Moreno quietly uttered the words, "I am sorry."
"Saul, you have no idea of the pain you left in our hearts," she said.
Family members recalled Jaime Sanchez, a former U.S. Marine, as a kind and caring man.
"He was my Superman. The one who always defended me and took care of me," Crystal Sanchez said. "My life will never be the same, and this pain I feel will remain with me for the rest of my life."
Jaime Sanchez's brother, Eloy Martin, directed his rage toward the murderer.
Jaime Sanchez was, Martin said, "shot by a coward who couldn't even face him face to face."
"I want you to know that I want you to die in jail... and rot in hell," he said.
The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Islam Ramadan, and Moreno was represented by John Montoya of the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office.
"What happened is a terrible tragedy," Montoya said, for the Bohnhoff, Sanchez and Moreno families.
"I'm deeply saddened by what occurred. May Alan Bohnhoff and Jaime Sanchez rest in peace."
Moreno had been an employee of the Bohnhoff Lumber Co. with both victims for more than five years, Deputy District Attorney Islam Ramadan said.
Moreno felt Bohnhoff had given Sanchez a promotion he felt he himself deserved in 2006, and anger apparently continued festering though the years, Ramadan said. He was also angry because he felt he was being assigned work that should have been assigned to Sanchez.
On May 18, 2009, Moreno showed up to work with a .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun, which he used to kill Bohnhoff and Sanchez.
It was initially alleged that Moreno tried to kill Bohnhoff's son, Michael Bohnhoff, as well, but failed due to his gun jamming. A charge of attempted murder was filed but dismissed.
Judge Cowell said he was astonished to see a man with no previous criminal record responsible for such a senseless killing.
Cowell pointed out that testimony showed that Moreno had been treated very well at the lumber yard. He had been taken back numerous time after lengthy and unexplained absences.
"You seemed to feel entitled to a promotion, when you probably should have been fired long ago," Cowell told Moreno. "You were fortunate to have any job at all, let alone one where you were treated with such compassion."
The judge further said he believed that if a police officer didn't happen to be nearby at the time of the shooting, more people may have died.
Through his attorney, Moreno immediately stated his desire to appeal his sentence.

PASADENA -- Police sought two men who used a handgun to rob a man and woman late Friday.
The crime was reported about 10:40 p.m. in the 1100 block of North Raymond Avenue, Pasadena police Lt. Diego Torres said.
A man and woman in their 20s were standing on the sidewalk when a gray Jeep approached, both the driver and a passenger got out.
The passenger pointed a handgun at the victims and demanded money, the lieutenant said. The man and woman handed over a wallet and a purse.
One robber was described only as a black man wearing a gray hooded sweat shirt and carrying a black handgun, police said. The second robber was described only as a black man.

PASADENA -- Police arrested a parolee and sought his accomplice late Friday after he robbed three women at gunpoint, then tried to snatch another woman's purse 15 minutes later, authorities said.
Paul Bryan, 37, of Pomona, was booked on suspicion of robbery and attempted robbery, Pasadena police Lt. Diego Torres said. He was being held without bail.
Bryan and another man approached three women sitting in a parked car in the 200 block of West Montana Street about 9:45 p.m., Torres said.
Bryan brandished a handgun as the men demanded the women's gold chains, cell phones and the keys to their car, the lieutenant said. The robbers then ran off.
Police received a report of a second failed robbery about 10 p.m. in the 1000 block of Summit Avenue.
A woman in her 40s was walking alone when Bryan grabbed her purse, Torres said. The woman screamed and held onto her handbag, and the robber fled empty-handed.
Officers spotted a green Saturn sedan that matched the description of the one used in the purse snatching, which was being driven by Bryan, and pulled it over, Torres said. After police found a handgun and property stolen in the Montana Street robbery in the car, Bryan was arrested.
The second robber remained at large. Police described him as a black man with a light complexion of about 40 years old.

DIAMOND BAR -- A young man was hospitalized with serious injuries early Friday after his car struck a tree along Diamond Bar Boulevard, authorities said.
The crash was reported just after 7 a.m. on Diamond Bar Boulevard near Temple Avenue, Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Mario Estrada said.
The young man was driving southbound on Diamond Bar Boulevard when, for reasons that remained under investigation, the car veered toward the center of the road and struck a tree on the center median, the sergeant said. No other vehicles were believed to be involved in the crash.
The driver, a 25-year-old Ontario man, was flown to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center with with major injuries but expected to survive, Estrada said.

ALHAMBRA -- Police jailed a man Friday on suspicion of breaking into a car parked in front of the police station, vandalizing the police facility and stealing construction equipment from a high school while wearing a stolen parking enforcement uniform within an hour of release from jail on an unrelated arrest, authorities said.
Leonardo Zepeda, 25, of Los Angeles was booked on suspicion of auto burglary, commercial burglary and possession of stolen property, Alhambra police Lt. Jennifer Wiese said.
He was arrested late Thursday due to an outstanding warrant and released from jail with a court date early Friday morning, the lieutenant said.
Shortly after his release, officials discovered about 5:45 a.m. that a parking enforcement officer's personal car, which was parked in front of the police station, had been broken into, Wiese said. Items including a parking enforcement uniform were stolen, and a stereo had been ripped from the car and discarded nearby.
Additionally, she said, officers discovered a mechanical gate at the police facility had been damaged in an apparent act of vandalism.
About an hour later, Wiese said, police received reports of someone stealing concrete and chicken wire from a construction site at Alhambra High School.
Officers found and arrested Zepeda, wearing the stolen parking enforcement uniform, as he was gathering the goods into a school-owned van he had broken into, Wiese said. It was unclear if he also intended to steal the van.

SOUTH PASADENA -- Police arrested a man Thursday on suspicion of stealing large amounts of Red Bull energy drink from grocery stores in what police described as a growing trend.
Eric Petrossian, 21, was arrested at his Burbank home shortly after 11 a.m. after being identified through surveillance videos taken at the stores where he's accused of stealing the beverages, South Pasadena police Officer Richard Lee.
He went into both a Ralph's store and a Pavilions store July 21, and in each store he filled two hand carts with Red Bull energy drink before running from the store without paying, the officer said.
Reports of thefts of the drink have been increasing throughout the region, police officials said.
The thieves are suspected to be re-selling the stolen drinks for a profit, Lee said.
According to county booking records, Petrossian was being held in lieu of $20,000 bail pending arraignment.

EL MONTE -- An El Monte man was expected to be charged Friday with attempted murder as his 1-month-old son fought for his life at a hospital, police said.
Raul Gonzalez, 19, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of abusing his son to the point he was hospitalized in critical condition, El Monte police Detective George Fierro said.
Hospital officials notified police after the infant arrived at an emergency room by ambulance, the detective said.
Fierro declined to say how the child was injured, due to the ongoing investigation, other than to say "physical abuse" was suspected -- "enough to cause grave injuries."
The baby remained hospitalized with life-threatening injuries Thursday, officials said.
According to county booking records, Gonzalez was being held in lieu of $1 million bail and was due for arraignment Friday in El Monte Superior Court.
The baby's mother had not been arrested Thursday, however investigators considered her a "person of interest," Fierro said.
In addition to police, the county Department of Children and Family Services was investigating.

MONTEBELLO -- Police arrested a man Thursday on suspicion of stealing a car from a Whittier Boulevard auto dealership, authorities said.
Luis Diaz, 39, of Los Angeles was booked on suspicion of auto theft, as well as on an outstanding arrest warrant, Montebello police Lt. Andy Vuncanon said.
He's accused of stealing a 2009 Chevrolet Impala from Chevrolet of Montebello, 310 W. Whittier Blvd., the lieutenant said.
An employee had left the keys in the Impala while working an another nearby car about 12:30 p.m. when Diaz jumped in and drove off, Vuncanon said.
The worker called police and provided a description of the stolen car and thief, he said.
Officers spotted the car driving near the Montebello Town Center and summoned backup as they followed the Impala westbound on the 60 Freeway.
Police ultimately pulled over the Impala and arrested Diaz without incident at the 60 Freeway and Atlantic Boulevard in East Los Angeles, Vuncanon said.

LA PUENTE -- A Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department checkpoint planned for Friday in La Puente has been cancelled, authorities said.
Deputies announced plans Wednesday to hold a sobriety and driver's license checkpoint at an undisclosed time and place within the city.
"At the direction of the city manager for the City of La Puente, the checkpoint for Friday, 8-12-11, has been cancelled," Deputy Michael Lang said Thursday in a written statement.
In a 2-1 vote at a July 7 special city council meeting, council members chose to place a 30-day hold on checkpoints in La Puente, citing concerns over the department's exclusive use of a single tow company for the operations. The suspension expired Sunday.
But Interim City Manager Raul Romero said Thursday he did not know if the council members had resolved their concerns with sheriff's officials, so he decided to cancel the planned checkpoint until the matter could be discussed at the upcoming Aug. 23 council meeting.
There was no time to add the item to the agenda for this past Tuesday's meeting, he added.
"I want to make sure their concerns have been addressed," Romero said. "I'd rather pull (the checkpoint) off for now and bring it back to the council."
Mayor John Solis and Councilman David Argudo supported suspending the checkpoints in the July meeting, while Councilman Dan Holloway voted against it.
Solis and Argudo said they had safety concerns about the checkpoints because sometimes there were not enough tow trucks, currently provided by Haddick's Autobody and Tow, to tow away all necessary vehicles.
They also said they were concerned about the perception of a business monopoly using only one tow company may create, and believed that adding another tow company would provide the city with improved service.
In a letter to the council, sheriff's Chief Thomas Laing said the checkpoints and the service being provided to them by Haddick's was more than adequate, and in line with all applicable standards.
Critics have claimed that Solis merely wants to force the sheriff's department to give some of the city's towing business to another company, Bob's Towing, which he had previously lobbied the council to enter into an exclusive contract with.
Solis denied the allegation, saying that his only motivation is to do what's best for the city.
Officials also expressed concerns that cancelling checkpoints could cost the city tens of thousands of dollars in revenue from tow fees that had already been factored into the budget.

EL MONTE - An El Monte man was arrested Wednesday for allegedly assaulting and critically injuring his 1-month-old son.
Raul Gonzalez, 19, was booked on suspicion of attempted murder and was being held at the Inmate Reception Center in lieu of $1 million bail.
El Monte Detective Bureau Sgt. Michael Goodwin said the child is in critical condition at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.
The hospital notified police at 11 p.m. Tuesday about the injured baby.
Goodwin said the incident happened either Monday or Tuesday in the family home in the 3400 block of Santa Anita Avenue. The motive for the attack is still unknown.
"The 1-month-old child was assaulted by the father. The child has significant injuries consistent with abuse," Goodwin said.
Citing the ongoing investigation, Goodwin declined to say how the baby was assaulted and what kind of injuries the child sustained.
No other suspects were arrested. The mother doesn't appear to have been home when the alleged abuse happened, according to Goodwin.
Police didn't release the baby's name or if the couple has other children.
Officers were still at the hospital late Wednesday afternoon.
- From Staff Reporter Ruby Gonzales

PASADENA - A Pasadena man was shot multiple times by two suspected gang members late Wednesday night.
The 31-year-old was in critical condition and undergoing surgery at a local hospital, according to Pasadena police Lt. Pete Hettema.
The shooting broke out about 11 p.m. on Claremont Street and Lake Avenue.
The 31-year-old and another man were walking on the street when a dark-colored Honda sedan carrying the suspects drove past them. Hettema said the suspects yelled out the name of a gang.
The car returned. He said the suspects got out of the Honda and confronted both victims. They then shot the 31-year-old.
The other victim, described only as a Latino in his 20s, wasn't injured.
The culprits left in the Honda which was last seen heading eastbound on Claremont Street.
The suspects were described as Latinos 20 to 25 with slight builds and wearing shorts. One stands 5 feet 5 inches while the other is 5 feet 7 inches tall.
Hettema said one of the suspects also has tattoos.
- From Staff Reporter Ruby Gonzales

PASADENA -- Police will be out in force looking for drunken drivers during an extra enforcement campaign Friday, authorities said.
The "Zero Tolerance DUI Saturation Patrol" will begin at 9 p.m. Friday and run through 3 a.m. Saturday, Pasadena police officials said in a written statement.
"The Pasadena Police Department encourages people who are leaving home and planning on consuming alcoholic beverages to select a designated driver prior to drinking, or to simply telephone one of the many taxi cab services for a safe ride home," the statement said.
Funding for the extra patrols is being provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

SOUTH PASADENA -- A parolee was behind bars Thursday on suspicion of trying to break into a South Pasadena home last month while residents were asleep inside, authorities said.
Police arrested Anthony Ace Martinez, 24, early Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles and booked him on suspicion of burglary, South Pasadena police Sgt. Jim Valencia said in a written statement.
Residents of a home in the 800 block of Kendall Avenue in South Pasadena were awakened about 2:30 a.m. July 18 by the sounds of two men trying to force their way in the back door, the sergeant said.
"(A) resident yelled and scared away the suspects," Valencia said. "It was determined that the suspects tried to pry open the door and also removed the screen to a bedroom window."
Fingerprints collected from the window screen matched Martinez, who was on parole for burglary and making criminal threats, police said.
South Pasadena police went to his home Wednesday morning and, after briefly hiding in the home's attic, he was taken into custody, Valencia said.
The second suspect remained at large.
Martinez was being held without bail at the Pasadena Police Department's jail, according to county booking records. Information on his initial court date was not available.

From the Associated Press:

ST. LOUIS -- Police and sheriff's departments in states that produce much of the nation's methamphetamine have made a sudden retreat in the war on meth, at times virtually abandoning pursuit of the drug because they can no longer afford to clean up the toxic waste generated by labs.
Despite abundant evidence that the meth trade is flourishing, many law enforcement agencies have called off tactics that have been used for years to confront drug makers: sending agents undercover, conducting door-to-door investigations and setting up stakeouts at pharmacies to catch people buying large amounts of cold medicine.
The steep cutbacks began after the federal government in February canceled a program that provided millions of dollars to help local agencies dispose of seized labs.
Since then, an Associated Press analysis shows, the number of labs seized has plummeted by a third in some key meth-producing states and two-thirds in at least one, Alabama.
The trend is almost certain to continue unless more states find a way to replace the federal money or to conduct cheaper cleanups.
In Michigan, authorities still bust meth labs when they find them, but tougher missions like secretly sending officers into the meth underworld have been scrapped.
"They're not actively out there looking for it," said Tony Saucedo, meth enforcement director for Michigan State Police. "And the big issue is money. We have taken 10 steps backward."
Authorities say they have no doubt that meth trafficking remains brisk. Record busts are being reported in some states that fund their own cleanups.
But in places that rely on federal money, law enforcement agencies feel paralyzed. At least one sheriff became so frustrated that he considered burning meth waste illegally in a landfill rather than leaving it in neighborhoods where curious children could find it.
In Warren County, Tenn., about 70 miles southeast of Nashville, deputies had "always been very aggressive on meth," Sheriff Jackie Matheny said. By midsummer a year ago, they had busted some 70 meth labs. This year, that number tumbled to 24.
"When you have to kind of kick it into neutral, it makes you sick to your stomach because we know it's out there," Matheny said.
Making matters worse, sheriffs say, was the suddenness of the loss, which didn't give cash-strapped local governments any time to come up with another way to pay for cleanups that typically cost $2,500 to $5,000 per lab.
"We didn't have an opportunity to prepare," Matheny said. "We just got a phone call saying, 'You're not going to have funds anymore.' It just absolutely crippled us.'"
The AP analysis involved building a database of lab seizures in the nation's top 10 meth-producing states based on 2010 figures. Combined with numbers from the first half of 2011, the statistics showed that seizures had dropped sharply in states that depended on federal money. Yet busts were skyrocketing in states that pay for their own cleanups.
The AP also conducted 50 to 60 interviews to confirm the trend, speaking with police officers, sheriffs and meth-lab specialists in many of the top 10 states.
Lab seizures were down 32 percent through May 31 in Tennessee, which led the nation in seizures in 2010. The numbers were similar or worse in other leading meth states: down 33 percent in Arkansas, 35 percent in Michigan and 62 percent in Alabama.
All of those states relied heavily on funding from the federal Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS program. It offered local agencies $19.2 million in 2010.
That money was not renewed and is unlikely to come back.
"Do you really think our labs fell that much?" asked Tommy Farmer, state meth task force coordinator for Tennessee. "Hell no."
Other figures confirm that meth is thriving. The most recent national survey from the Department of Health and Human Services shows that after declining for several years, the number of first-time meth users rose in 2009 to 154,000, up from 95,000 the previous year. The National Drug Intelligence Center reports that shipments of meth from Mexico are also on the rise.
In states that have developed their own lab cleanup programs, full enforcement has continued. Missouri, the leader in meth lab busts for a decade before falling to No.
2 behind Tennessee last year, has seen a 9 percent increase in seizures through May 31. Kentucky seizures are up 34 percent, Illinois up 36 percent.
Because meth is made using a volatile mix of ingredients such as battery acid, drain cleaner and ammonia, only crews with specialized training are allowed to handle the materials found in labs. The waste and debris cannot be dumped in a regular landfill, only in specially approved waste sites.
In years past, a typical meth lab often consisted of pots of simmering chemicals in basements, kitchens and garages. But then restrictive new laws made it harder to purchase large quantities of the cold medicine pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient.
That led many meth makers to give up on big batches in favor of smaller ones produced by combining ingredients in a 2-liter soda bottle.
The majority of labs now use this "shake-and-bake" system, police say.
Under the COPS program, the agency that seizes a lab notifies the Drug Enforcement Administration, which hires a contractor to clean up and remove the meth debris and take it to a disposal site. Those cleanups typically cost at least $2,500, even for a small shake-and-bake lab.
Matheny's office busted 100 meth labs last year. At $2,500 per lab, that would cost the county $250,000 -- money he said the local government doesn't have.
Farmer recalled a conversation with another sheriff who was distressed about the cost of cleanups -- and frustrated that there wasn't a cheaper way.
"He was thinking about taking the meth waste to a landfill and burning it," Farmer said. "I told him not to do that because he would be violating all kinds of laws."
The sheriff's response was that illegally disposing of the waste was a better alternative than leaving it in a neighborhood where kids might get into it.
"He said, 'I don't have a choice,'" Farmer said.
States are finding different ways to adapt to the loss of the federal money, but it has not been easy.
Oklahoma was also among the national leaders in meth lab busts in 2010, when it used federal funds for cleanup. After that money dried up, the state agreed to pick up the tab. As a result, lab seizures in Oklahoma have continued to climb -- up 25 percent this year.
The decision was costly: Oklahoma had to scuttle plans to hire a combined 20 drug investigators and educators to pay the cleanup tab.
"We stepped up and decided we had to do this," said Mark Woodward, spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.
In states with their own cleanup programs, local police and deputies are trained to remove meth waste and collect it in designated containers -- essentially small metal storage buildings. The DEA picks up the waste and disposes of it.
The system is far less expensive -- $500 for a typical cleanup. Now some states that previously used the COPS money are developing their own container systems, including Michigan and Tennessee, which began its program last month. Arkansas also is looking at a container program.
Meanwhile, states are aggressively pursuing legal means to stop meth before it is made, largely by limiting sales of cold and allergy pills containing pseudoephedrine.
A number of states track pseudoephedrine purchases.
In July, Mississippi began requiring a prescription for pseudoephedrine. Meth lab busts there fell 68 percent for the first five months of 2011, compared with the same period in 2010. More than two dozen towns and counties in Missouri have adopted their own prescription-only laws.
Police chiefs and sheriffs agree the problem is too big to ignore.
"We've got to keep moving forward," said Tim Fuller, sheriff of Franklin County, Tenn. "Funding or no funding, it's a public safety issue and a criminal issue, and we can't back down."

Police are planning sobriety and driver's license checkpoints Friday in Baldwin Park and La Puente, officials said.
One checkpoint will take place at an undisclosed time and place within the city, Baldwin Park police said in a written statement.
"The program is a proven and effective tool for achieving the city's goal in removing impaired drivers from our streets," according to the police statement.
Checkpoints also serve to educate the general public about the consequences of drinking and driving, police said.
Sheriff's deputies will also hold a checkpoint at an undisclosed time and place within La Puente Friday, Deputy Michael Lang said.

MONTEBELLO -- A woman died late Tuesday after being struck by a car on Whittier Boulevard, police said.
The woman's name was not released early Wednesday pending notification of family members, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner Chief of Operation Craig Harvey said. She was initially described as a 45-year-old woman and believed to be a transient.
The incident took place about 10:20 p.m. in the 2400 block of West Whittier Boulevard, Montebello police Lt. Rich Meadows said.
"Officers discovered that a female in her 40s was struck by a vehicle as she was walking south crossing Whittier Boulevard," the lieutenant said.
"Montebello Fire Department paramedics responded and administered medical attention, however the woman succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced deceased at 10:38 p.m.," he said.
The driver of the car remained at the scene and did not appear to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, Meadows said.
The crash remained under investigation.

AZUSA -- A hit-and-run driver led police on a chase Tuesday before escaping on the 210 Freeway, authorities said.
An officer saw a new-model, white Chevrolet sedan crash into another vehicle and continue driving about 3:11 p.m. at Alameda Avenue and First Street, Azusa police Sgt. Xavier Torres said.
The officer tried to pull over the white sedan, but it continued, leading police on a chase onto the 210 Freeway, the sergeant said.
Officers chased as the car exited and re-entered the freeway several times, before they ultimately lost site of it on the eastbound 210 Freeway near the 57 Freeway, he said.
Police had the license plate number of the car and were continuing their investigation, Torres said.
The victim of the hit-and-run was not seriously hurt, officials said.

NORWALK -- A judge Tuesday sentenced a South Whittier man to die for the murders of the greed-motivated murders of three men and a woman in late 2003 and early 2004.
Cimarron Bernard Bell, 37, received the sentence from Norwalk Superior Judge Dewey Falcone. He was convicted in April of the four killings, along with the special allegations that the three men were killed for financial gain, and that he lied in wait before killing them. The jury recommended the death penalty.
His victims included then-girlfriend Ineka Edmondson, 22, of Compton, as well as three men who met him to buy a car: Mario Larios, 23, of West Covina, Edgar Valles, 22, of La Puente and Fernando Pina, 25, of Mexico.
Deputy District Attorney Michele Hanisee, who prosecuted the case along with Deputy District Attorney Todd Hicks, said Bell has remained, "completely remorseless" and "a constant threat to the public."
"These were very egregious murders," she said. "These were particularly innocent and vulnerable victims."
Edmondson was killed for both personal and financial reasons, while the three men were killed solely for their money, prosecutors said.
Defense attorney Harriet Hawkins, who defended Bell along with attorney Connie Quinones, declined to comment following the sentencing.
Edmondson's body was found inside a car Nov. 12, 2003, at a La Habra industrial park where Bell worked at the time, investigators said. She was the only of the four victims who knew Bell prior to being murdered by him.
Bell had been involved in a check-cashing scheme with her when one of their accomplices was arrested and bank account involved was frozen, Hanisee said.
Bell believed that Edmondson had reported the checks stolen and was stealing from him, prosecutors said.
Additionally, officials said, Bell was also worried that his wife would find out about his relationship with Edmondson.
So he summoned Edmondson to meet him in La Habra, near his employer at Morgan Metals, where he greeted her with a kiss, then shot her three times in the head, prosecutors said.
Less than three months later, Bell hatched a murderous plan to make money, Hicks said.
The bodies of Larios, Valles and Pina were discovered Jan. 31 inside a car parked behind a La Mirada shopping center, officials said. Three days prior, they had set out to meet Bell in South Whittier to discuss buying a customized Chevrolet Monte Carlo for $8,500.
Bell, along with an alleged accomplice who is still awaiting trial for the deaths of the three men, then shot and robbed the three men before abandoning their bodies in their Mercedes Benz.
The motive was strictly financial gain, Hicks said.
He's running low on money, so he lured these three men over, robs them and kills them," he said.
After receiving his sentence, Hawkins made a motion on Bell's behalf for the return of property such as a car, jewelry and a computer that have been stored in evidence since his arrest in 2004.
"It's all he cares about -- stuff," Hicks said.
"(But) he places a very low value on human life," Hanisee added.
Prior to his arrest for the murders, Hanisee said, Bell solicited a gang member to photograph the prosecutor in an Orange County fraud case against him for the purpose of "making him disappear," Hanisee said. The gang member did not cooperate with Bell, and no charges were filed against him for that alleged crime.
Hanisee said she was pleased to be able to bring some justice to the four families ripped apart by Bell's bloodlust.
"To have a loved one die is bad enough. To have a loved one murdered is an injury you don't recover from," she said.
Under California law, Bell, like all convicts who receive the death penalty, is entitled to an automatic appeal.
Falcone ordered that Bell be sent to San Quentin Correctional Facility in Marin County pending his to await his sentence and pending his appeal.
Accused partner in the killing of Larios, Valles and Pina, is awaiting his trial for his alleged role in the killings.
Briaell Lee, 29, of Los Angeles is due in Norwalk Superior Court for trial Sept. 16.
- Staff Writer Ruby Gonzales contributed to this report.

LOS ANGELES -- A Montebello man faces up to 12 years in state prison after being convicted of running over and killing an 84-year-old Montebello woman and her dog, then fleeing the scene of the crash, court officials said.
David Loera, 38, is due to return to Los Angeles Superior Court Sept. 15 for sentencing, court officials said.
A jury found him guilty Monday of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and hit-and-run in connection with an Oct. 5, 2009 crash that killed longtime Montebello resident Normal Lambo and her dog, Barney. Lambo had deep tied to the community, and co-founded Montebello's "Ashiya Sister Cities," organization.
"We are pleased with the verdicts and feel that justice was served in this case," Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said.
Montebello police investigators arrested Loera three days after the crash after finding his truck at a local auto repair shop, officials said.
He struck Lambo as she walked with her dog at Jefferson Avenue and Alfred Court, police said. An unidentified passenger exited the truck and removed Lambo's walker from the front bumper before getting back into the vehicle, which then sped away.
Lambo had the right of way, as she was crossing in an unmarked intersection, Gibbons said.
"The defendant failed to stop, although he obviously knew that he had been involved in a traffic accident," Gibbons said. "He fled the scene, hid (his truck) in a garage, and had towed to an auto body shop where it was discovered by Montebello Police Department officers.
Loera had no driver's license at the time of the crash because of poor vision, Gibbons added.
"According to testimony presented at the trial, he had four months before gone to have his license renewed, and twice failed the vision test," she said.
Before and during the trial process, Loera was free on $100,000 bail. Following his conviction Monday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen Marcus ordered Loera immediately taken into custody without bail pending sentencing, officials said.
The passenger who removed Lambo's walker from the truck before fleeing with Loera has not been found.

WHITTIER -- A young man was hospitalized with serious injuries but expected to survive after falling 12 feet from the roof an elementary school and striking his head on the pavement over the weekend, police said Tuesday.
The 19-year-old Whittier man was with about half a dozen other young men "jumping rooftop to rooftop" between buildings about 7:50 p.m. Sunday at Orange Grove Elementary School, 10626 Orange Grove Ave., Whittier police Officer Bradley White said.
"One of the males, a 19-year old Whittier-resident, fails to make one of the jumps to the next building and falls 12 feet to the ground, striking his head on the pavement," Whittier police said in a written statement.
The young man was knocked out for several minutes, according to the statement. Upon awakening, "He discovered he couldn't move his legs."
Officials took the injured man to a hospital where he was listed in stable condition, White said. No further details of his injuries were available.
While there were no signs that the group was trying to burglarize or steal from the school, White said, they were trespassers as they had no permission to be there.
None of the people in the group were initially arrested or cited, he added.

LA PUENTE -- A man was shot and wounded late Friday in a shooting investigators suspect was gang-related, officials said.
Deputies were on patrol when he heard about 10 gunshots ring out from the 900 block of Clintwood Avenue, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Vic Sotelo said.
While driving toward the sound of the gunfire, deputies spotted a man running down the street with gunshot wounds to his abdomen and leg, the lieutenant said.
The wounded man -- later identified as a 28-year-old La Puente resident -- was taken to a hospital where he was listed in stable condition Saturday, Sotelo said.
The victim said he was shot by someone inside a passing white compact car, but did not provide any description of the shooter, Sotelo said. He did not appear to be fully cooperating with investigators.
Deputies found bullet casings and several parked cars that had been shot at the scene of the attack, officials added.
Sheriff's gang detectives were assigned to investigate the shooting.

A young man died early Saturday after taking a fall while hiking near the second waterfall at Eaton Canyon, authorities said.
John Jutiyasantayanon ,23, of Montclair was pronounced dead at the scene of the fall, coroner's officials said.
Authorities received word of the incident about 9:30 a.m., Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Debra Herman said.
A man and woman, both in their 20s, were hiking in the area when the man fell about 50 feet, then continued sliding down the hillside, the sergeant said.
The woman, "tried to help him and got trapped herself," Herman said.
Altadena Search and Rescue Team members and Los Angeles County firefighters hoisted the woman from the cliff by helicopter and dropped her off in the field of a nearby school, Herman said. She was treated for minor injuries.
Other hikers performed CPR on the man, but he was pronounced dead at the scene, officials said.
Accidents and rescues are common in Eaton Canyon, and Saturday's fatal incident was the second reported in the area this week.
Twenty-one-year-old Erwin Molina died at a hospital Monday evening shortly after falling from an area near the first waterfall of Eaton Canyon, coroner's officials said.
A 31-year-old man badly broke his legs Thursday when he fell from the same cliff.

The hot summer weather may be to blame for an increase in residential "hot prowl" burglaries in West Covina, in which intruders take advantage of unsecured doors and windows to burglarize homes in the middle of the night, officials said.
Six such crimes have been reported in the city between June 21 and Aug. 2, West Covina police Cpl. Rudy Lopez said in a statement.
All but one occurred at night while residents were sleeping in their homes, the corporal said.
"The common factor in each of these burglaries is that there was an unsecured window or door that the suspect used to enter the location," Lopez said. Five of the crimes were reported between 2 and 7 a.m., while one of the burglaries took place about 1:30 p.m., police said.
"The current warm weather is prompting many residents to leave their windows open," Lopez said. "This may be the reason for the increase in nighttime burglaries."
In some cases, people didn't realize anyone had been in their home until they woke up and found items missing, Lopez said. Other times, residents saw the intruders.
No injuries have been reported as a result of the break-ins, officials said.
Property stolen in the burglaries includes items such as purses, iPods, cash and jewelry.
"These burglaries have occurred throughout the city, leaving no apparent crime pattern to work with," Lopez said.
The burglaries were reported:
*June 21, between 2 and 6:30 a.m., in the 600 block of South Almirante Drive. Access was gained through an unlocked front window.
*June 20-21, between 11 p.m. and 7:30 a.m., in the 600 block of South Citrus Avenue. Access was gained through an open living room window.
*July 29, between 4:30 and 5 a.m., in the 1000 block of South Hillborn Avenue. Access was gained through an open living room window.
*July 30 at 4:10 a.m. in the 1800 block of East Arizona. Access was gained through an open living room sliding door.
*July 30 at 1:30 p.m. in the 900 block of East Francisquito Avenue. Access was gained through an open kitchen window.
*Aug. 2, between 2and 5:40 a.m., in the 1500 block of East Newcrest Drive. Access was gained through an open upstairs bedroom window.
In the daytime burglary, police said, a suspect knocked on the front door of the victim's home, but the resident did not answer.
The burglar then climbed a wall to enter the house through a second-story kitchen window before being spotted by the resident.
[BODY]West Covina is not the only San Gabriel Valley police department to report issues with so-called "hot prowl" burglaries.
Arcadia police are investigating two similar overnight burglaries reported in their city July 26 in the 100 block of Diamond Street, and July 28 in the 600 block of West Walnut Avenue, Arcadia police Sgt. Tom Le Veque said. The crimes were reported at 4:50 a.m. and 11 p.m., respectively.
Arcadia police believe the same burglar is responsible for both of their break-ins, however, officials said there was not enough information to determine whether the Arcadia and West Covina crimes are linked.
"In these types of situations, we always try to look for links, which is what we're doing in this case," Lopez said. "At this point, we don't have enough information to go on to say if they're linked."
While there are similarities in the way the crimes were carried out, there were also some noticeable differences observed, Lopez said, such as the areas and times of day when the crimes took place.
The intruder in Arcadia was described as a white man, about 5 feet 10 inches tall, wearing a white T-shirt and basketball shorts.
Arcadia and West Covina police have issued warnings advising residents to be cautious and secure their homes at night.
"The West Covina Police Department is advising its residents to be aware of this crime trend," Lopez said. "Be aware of the status of your home before going to bed. If you must leave a window open, secure it in a way that it cannot be opened any further to allow someone to enter.
Locking side gates to prevent access to the backyard and sensor-activated outdoor lighting may also serve as good deterrents, police added.

SAN GABRIEL -- Homicide detectives have arrested a Los Angeles man on suspicion of stabbing his wife to death earlier in the week and wounding her sister.
Sherman Dion Dorsey, 40, of Los Angeles was booked into custody Friday afternoon at a hospital, where he was being treated for self-inflicted stab wounds, according to sheriff's officials and booking records.
He's accused in the death of his estranged wide, Gina Reano, 45, who was fatally stabbed early Wednesday morning in the home she shared with her sister in the 5500 block of Walnut Grove Avenue, in an unincorporated county area near San Gabriel, coroner's and homicide investigators said.
Reano's sister was also wounded in the attack as she tried to come to her sisters aid, Lt. Mike Rosson of the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau said. She was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
After stabbing his wife and her sister, Dorsey stabbed himself in the abdomen and cut his wrists, the lieutenant said. He was initially hospitalized in critical condition, but later upgraded to stable condition.
According to booking records, Dorsey was being held without bail. Information on his initial court appearance was not available.

ALHAMBRA -- A 19-year-old woman was hospitalized with major injuries early Friday after her car collided with a parked big rig, officials said.
The crash was reported shortly before 6:40 a.m. on Garvey Avenue near Carlos Avenue, Alhambra police officials said.
The woman's car was northbound on Garvey Avenue when it veered toward the right side of the road and struck a parked big rig, police said. The cause of the crash remained under investigation by Alhambra police traffic investigators.
The woman was hospitalized with major injuries, but was showing improvement Saturday morning, officials said. Her exact condition was unavailable.

INDUSTRY - Officials filed charges against two Hemet men Friday in connection with a lengthy car chase and shoot-out with California Highway Patrol officers, authorities said.
Arthur Reyes, 20, was charged with four counts of attempted murder of a peace officer, four counts of assault with a deadly weapon, being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and felony evading arrest, Los Angeles County sheriff's Capt. Mike Parker said in a written statement.
Thomas Cline, 19, was charged with felony evading arrest and auto theft, he added.
*A rear passenger in the car, an 18-year-old Hemet man, was also wounded in the shooting, Lt. David Coleman of the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau said.
No charges were filed against him, however the investigation was ongoing, the lieutenant said.*
The incident began when Banning police spotted the two men driving in a stolen car around 7 p.m. Tuesday and started a pursuit, officials said.
As the chase reached freeway, CHP officers took over the pursuit, sheriff's and CHP officials said.
"Ultimately, in the City of Industry, the suspects pulled off the freeway and ran out of gas (at Crossroads Parkway North and Workman Mill Road)," Parker said. "The front seat passenger suspect then began shooting at CHP officers."
The shooter was later identified as Reyes.
Officers returned fire, striking Reyes and the rear passenger, officials said.
The driver, Cline, fled from the car but was arrested a short distance away, officials said.
According to sheriff's booking records, Reyes was being held in lieu of $1 million bail, while Cline was being held in lieu of $25,000 bail. Information on their next court appearances was not available.


PHOTOS of Arthur Reyes courtesy of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

ALTADENA - Sheriff's deputies FBI agents raided a home in Altadena Thursday in search of drugs, authorities said.
An FBI SWAT team detonated flash-bang grenades about 5:30 p.m. Thursday as they forced their way into a home at El Sereno Avenue and Woodbury Road, officials said.
The FBI and sheriff's deputies teamed up to serve a narcotics search warrant at the home, which is believed to be a hangout for Pasadena Denver Lanes gang members, Capt. Steve McLean said.
Officials found "a small amount" of crack cocaine inside a bedroom of the home, he said.
More than 20 people were detained and questioned following the raid, Sgt. Joseph Fender said.
One man was arrested because of an outstanding arrest warrant, he said, and another was cited for possession of marijuana.
The investigation was ongoing.
A simultaneous narcotics search warrant was served at a home in the 200 block of Douglas Street in Pasadena, however no information regarding that raid was available Friday.

LOS ANGELES -- Closing statements were heard Friday in the case of a man accused of fatally running over an 84-year-old Montebello woman as she walked her dog in 2009 and fleeing the scene, court officials said.
David Louis Loera, 38, of Montebello is charged with vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run in connection with the Oct. 5, 2009 crash that killed Norma Lambo and her dog, Barney, at Jefferson Avenue and Alfred Court. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
According to court officials, attorney's were presenting their closing arguments Friday to a Los Angeles Superior Court jury, before the case was turned over for deliberation.
Lambo, a longtime Montebello resident and co-founder of Montebello's "Ashiya Sister Cities" organization, was walking her dog, Barney, across the street when she was struck by a pickup truck about 6 p.m., investigators said.
According to Montbello police, a passenger got out of the truck and untangled Lambo's walker from the front bumper before returning to the truck, which left the scene. The passenger has not been found.
Detectives arrested Loera three days after the fatal crash after finding his truck at a Montebello auto repair shop, police said.
He has remained free pending trial after posting $100,000 bail.

PICO RIVERA -- Officials have arrested and charged a Whittier woman in connection with the near-fatal shooting of a 36-year-old Pico Rivera woman who was shot in the head as she slept in her apartment in May.
Michelle Caldera, 32, of Whittier was arrested late Tuesday at a motel, according to officials and sheriff's booking records.
Along with two other men already jailed in connection with the shooting, "She's charged with the attempted murder as well," Deputy District Attorney Brock Lunsford said.
She pleaded not guilty Thursday in Whittier Superior Court in the May 19 shooting of Gloria Montes at her home in the 5300 block of Lindsey Avenue, investigators said. The badly wounded woman has remained hospitalized on a ventilator since the shooting.
She was taken into custody Tuesday at a motel, Lunsford said, however further details of the arrest were not available.
Caldera was the alleged getaway driver in the shooting, Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Mark Bailey said. He has previously referred to the former fugitive as "the last piece of the puzzle."
Co-defendants Jose Trejo, 21, of Pico Rivera and Arthur Lerma, 33, of Whittier, were already in custody and charged with the attempted murder. Lerma is accusing of being the gunman.
All three suspects are accused of carrying out the crime for the benefit of a criminal street gang.
Lerma and Trejo are believed to be members of a Pico Rivera gang, Bailey said, while Caldera was believed to be a members of a Whittier gang and associate of the Pico Rivera gang.
The suspects shot Montes because Lerma believed she had cooperated with law enforcement officials in a robbery case which sent him to prison for eight years, Bailey said.
Though Caldera was interviewed by detectives in the investigation, she did not testify against him, officials said.
According to sheriff's booking records, Caldera was due back in Whittier Superior Court for a hearing Aug. 30, Lerma was due back in court Sept. 20 and Trejo was due back Sept. 22.
Later in the process, the three defendants will have their cases consolidated into one, Lunsford said.
Caldera and Trejo and Lerma were each being held in lieu of $1 million bail, according to booking records, while Lerma was being held without bail.

ALTADENA -- Sheriff's officials rescued two Rancho Cucamonga hikers from Eaton Canyon Thursday after one of them fell from a cliff and the other became stranded, authorities said.
Rescuers responded to reports shortly after 3 p.m. that a 31-year-old man had fallen from a cliff near the third waterfall in Eaton Canyon, while his 20-year-old female hiking companion remained stuck on the cliff, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said in a written statement.
Altadena Search and Rescue Team members reached the woman and hoisted her to safety via helicopter about 4 p.m., officials said. She was shaken but uninjured.
The man had suffered several broken bones in one of his legs, Sgt. Debra Herman said.
After rescuers tended to his injuries at the scene, he was flown to an area hospital for treatment, officials said. An update on his condition was not available Friday, however the man was expected to survive.

From the Associated Press:

LOS ANGELES -- Police raided a Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensary suspected of being a front for an interstate drug-trafficking operation, arresting six people -- including two Pasadena men -- and seizing 20 pounds of cocaine and several weapons, authorities said.
Raymond George, 60, the owner of the White Oak Healing Center in the San Fernando Valley, was among those arrested for investigation of conspiracy to sell cocaine and marijuana, police said in a statement Thursday.
The others arrested were Reginald Beijer, 59, and Alfredo Gonzalez, 51, both of Pasadena; Halz Carrera, 51, of Los Angeles; Francisco Franco, 41, of Riverside; and Francisco Vallejo, a 30-year-old resident of Tijuana, Mexico.
The investigation began last year after a murder attempt on George's son in what appeared to be an organized crime-style hit. Police said the probe, conducted with Ohio drug trafficking investigators, led to information that implicated George in the transportation and sale of marijuana and cocaine between Los Angeles and Cleveland, where he has a second home.
He was arrested after officers, who were preparing to serve a search warrant at the center, saw five men come in to make an alleged cocaine deal, the statement said. They were taken into custody while leaving the center and George was arrested after SWAT officers ordered him to come out.
Besides the drugs, police seized a loaded rifle, two loaded pistols, a bottle containing 120 oxycodone pills and nearly $7,000 in cash. They said they found the cocaine in one of the suspect's vehicles, and seized George's car, which had Ohio license plates and had been modified with secret storage compartments.
Each of the six suspects was being held on $1.5 million bail.
An after-hours call to the center went unanswered.

PASADENA -- Officials inspected a suspicious envelope received at a Pasadena insurance office Thursday, ultimately determining a powder inside to be harmless, police said.
The envelope was discovered about noon on the 8th floor of an office building at 210 S. Lake Ave., Pasadena police Sgt. John Luna said.
After spotting a powder inside, employees called authorities.
Pasadena firefighters responded and tested the substance, ultimately finding it to be non-toxic, Luna said. More tests were needed to identity the substance definitively, however it was initially believed to be corn starch.
No letter or threat accompanied the powder-filled envelope, police said.

SAN GABRIEL -- Authorities Thursday identified a woman fatally stabbed in her home and named her husband a suspect in her death.
Gina Reano, 45, died at the scene of Wednesday's early-morning stabbing at a home in the 5500 block of Walnut Grove Avenue, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner's Chief of Operations Craig Harvey said. Her sister suffered significant injuries in the incident.
Lt. Mike Rosson of the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau said her husband, who was previously considered a "person of interest" in the killing and is undergoing treatment for self-inflicted stab wounds, is now a suspect in the stabbing.
His name was not released Thursday pending booking, Rosson said. Officials described him as a Los Angeles man in his early 40s.
In addition to stabbing his wife to death, the man is suspected of slashing her sister when she tried to intervene, Rosson said.
"We believe that (the surviving woman) tried to come to her sisters assistance," he said.
The sister, who is in her 40s, suffered significant cuts and underwent surgery, he said. The injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.
The suspect then turned the knife on himself, slashing himself in the midsection and wrists, the lieutenant said. Though initially hospitalized with major injuries, he too was expected to survive Thursday.
The motive in the stabbing was described by investigators only as domestic violence.
Reano and her husband were believed to be estranged, though in the process of reconciling, when the killing took place.

NORWALK -- A Santa Fe Springs man will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole later this month when he's sentenced for the murder of his boss and co-worker at a Vernon lumber yard in 2009, authorities said.
A Norwalk Superior Court jury convicted Saul Gastelum Moreno, 53, of two counts of first-degree murder July 19, Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said.
He fatally shot his 55-year-old boss, Alan Bohnhoff of Whittier, and 31-year-old co-worker, Jaime Sanchez of Bell Gardens, on May 18, 2009, during a work-related dispute, officials said.
Moreno had no criminal record or history of violence prior to the double-murder, he said, and had worked closely with both victims for more than five years, Deputy District Attorney Islam Ramadan said.
"Nobody could have ever imagined that this man would do this," Ramadan said.
He described the motive in the slaying as what appeared to be fairly normal "workplace politics."
"He had been passed over for a promotion in 2006," the prosecutor said. "The person he was passed over for was (Sanchez)."
An employee of Bohnhoff Lumber Co. for more than five years, Moreno felt he was more experienced and qualified for the promotion than Sanchez, Ramadan said.
The reason he was not promoted, Ramadan said, was that, "He had a problem getting along with other coworkers and customers. He wasn't a people person."
Additionally, Moreno felt he was being given extra work that should have been assigned to Sanchez, Ramadan said.
he added that Moreno was heard talking about shooting Bohnhoff and his son months before the killing.
On the morning of the murders, Moreno showed up to work with a handgun on his persona and wearing five shirts and 11 pairs of thermal underwear, Ramadan said. The reason for the strange dress was unknown, but the prosecutor said he theorized either it was meant as a sort of homemade "armor," to help him change his appearance as he fled authorities or even to create grounds for an insanity defense in court.
After Moreno felt that he was again assigned extra work, "He made a comment to the affect of 'things are going to change, I'm not the same man today,'" Ramadan said.
Minutes later, he said, Moreno shot Bohnhoff and Sanchez to death.
Prosecutors initially charged Moreno with the attempted murder of Bohnhoff's son as well, alleging that Moreno tried to shoot him but failed because his gun jammed, but a judge dismissed the charge.
He was also convicted of felony evasion of police due to a high-speed, dangerous pursuit he led police on before his arrest the day of the killings.
The special circumstance of multiple murder made Moreno eligible for the death penalty, however District Attorney's officials decided not to pursue capital punishment in the case.

MURRIETA -- A West Covina man faces multiple life terms in prison after being convicted this week of four rapes, including one in which his victim fought back by biting off a portion of his tongue.
A Riverside County jury found Ronald Douglas McGowan Jr., 34, guilty of twelve felony charges connected with the sexual assaults of four women Tuesday, Riverside County District Attorney's spokesman John Hall said. Jurors Wednesday determined that McGowan will be sentenced as a third-strike offender when he returns to court Oct. 7.
McGowan was already a convicted sex offender for sex crime convictions in Sonoma County in 1995 when he attacked a Murrieta woman inside her apartment on June 5, 2009, investigators said.
The woman called 9-1-1 to report being raped and beaten, Hall said in a written statement.
"When officers arrived a short time later, the rapist was gone but he left behind a portion of his tongue -- about the size of a 50-cent piece -- which the victim had bitten of and spit out during the attack," he said.
McGowan than badly beat and choked the woman, and stole her cell phone, officials said.
As the woman was being interviewed by Murrieta police at a hospital, "police were notified that a man was at the same hospital saying he cut his tongue on a can," Hall said. Doctors were unable to re-attach the severed portion of tongue.
The Murrieta victim told investigators she was working as a prostitute at the time of the attack, and that she met McGowan through a website on which she advertised "erotic services" before she was beaten, raped and robbed, according to the District Attorney's Office.
When reports of McGowan's arrest found there way into the media, three additional women came forward to report being raped by the West Covina man, Hall said.
One of the victims was McGowan's ex-wife, who reported he had beaten and raped her numerous times between June of 2007 and January of 2009, according to officials and court documents.
A third woman, a former co-worker of McGowan's, also came forward to report he had raped her in January of 2009, according to officials and records.
Another woman, also an admitted prostitute who met McGowan online, also came forward to report being pinned down, choked, raped and robbed by McGowan in April of 2009.
McGowan was ultimately convicted of three counts of rape, four counts of rape of a spouse, two counts of assault with force likely to create great bodily injury, robbery, sodomy by force or fear, and use of force causing serious bodily injury.

PHOTO of Ronald McGowan courtesy of the Murrieta Police Department

HACIENDA HEIGHTS -- Two gunman kidnapped, tied up and robbed a man and woman early Thursday as they were stopped at a red light, authorities said.
A 29-year-old West Covina woman and a 21-year-old La Puente man were stopped at a red light about 1:30 a.m. at Stimson Avenue and La Monde Street when two robbers approached them from behind, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Vic Sotelo said. Both robbers were armed with handguns.
"The suspects jumped in the rear seat of the car and told them to drive to a (nearby) parking lot," the lieutenant said.
Once there, the gunmen bound the victims hands with plastic zip-ties and robbed them of their wallets, money, keys and other items, officials said.
The robbers, described as Latino men between 17 and 25 years old who were wearing dark clothing, then fled westbound on La Monde Street in a dark-colored Honda.
The victims managed to free themselves from their bindings and use a cell phone to call for help, Sotelo said.

PASADENA -- Two Pasadena men were expected to face charges Thursday on suspicion of stealing two cars, police said.
Officers were on patrol about 2 a.m. Wednesday when he spotted two suspicious Honda Civics stopped at Mountain Street, near the 210 Freeway, Pasadena police officials said in a written statement.
After watching the driver of one of the cars exit the vehicle and get into the passenger seat of the other, "officers believed the suspects were abandoning a stolen car," the statement said.
Officers tried to pull the car over as it drove away, but it fled a short distance before the driver lost control and crashed into a parked van and a utility pole at Sunset Avenue and Washington Place, police said.
Both suspects were hospitalized, though their names and the extent of the their injuries was not available, officials said. They will be arrested upon their release from the hospital.
Both of the Civics were determined to be stolen, officials said. The one that was crashed was taken from Rancho Cucamonga, and the one that was abandoned was taken from Los Angeles.

SAN DIMAS - Gang detectives are continuing their investigation into the the shooting of a man in Bonelli Regional Park Saturday evening.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department began receiving calls reporting the shooting about 7 p.m., a fire official said.
Upon arrival, they found a wounded San Bernardino County man. He was flown by helicopter to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center for treatment.
"The victim was shot in the chest, a through-and-through wound," said Sgt. Luis Trejo of the Sheriff's Operation Safe Streets task force -- the department's gang unit.
The man was expected to recover from his injury, officials added.
No information about the shooter was known, Trejo said, but based on the circumstances of the attack, detectives suspected it was gang-related.
There were at least 400 people at the large park when the shooting occurred, officials said, though it was unclear how many people were in the immediate vicinity of the gunfire.
A woman who injured herself running from the scene of the shooting was found a short time later near San Dimas Avenue and Puddingstone Drive. Sgt. Al Leyva of the Sheriff's Parks Bureau said she suffered only minor injuries.

GLENDORA -- A con artist tried, but failed, to steal $3,000 from a Glendora couple by calling them and claiming to be their grandson arrested in Mexico, officials said.
The couple, a 69-year-old woman and an 80-year-old man, received a call about 8:30 a.m. at their home in the 600 block of Hunters Trail, Glendora police Lt. Joe Ward said.
The caller identified himself as the couple's grandson, and claimed he's been arrested for drunken driving in Mexico and needed $3,000 for bail, the lieutenant said.
The couple soon realized the person on the phone was not their grandson and hung up on the caller before reporting the incident to police, Ward said.
Wednesday's incident was only the most recent example of a prolific scam targeting older residents throughout the nation.
Police urge residents to be cautious when asked to send money, and pay attention to their instincts when they think something may be wrong.

PASADENA - An argument between two groups of men along El Sereno Avenue in Pasadena on Tuesday led to shots fired and sent three people to the hospital with bullet wounds, Pasadena Police officials said in a statement.
Pasadena police detained three suspects in the case, officials said.
The argument, between two groups of black males, began just before 10:15 p.m. on Tuesday in the 1500 block of El Sereno Avenue. The verbal exchange escalated and shots were fired, leaving three victims injured, according to reports by the Pasadena Police Department.
Each victim suffered a single gunshot wound, and all were expected to survive, Lt. Rodney D. Wallace said.
The violence came on the same evening as National Night Out, an event that encourages residents to participate in community-based activities in an effort to fight crime and drug abuse.

-- From staff reports

SAN GABRIEL -- A woman was stabbed to death and her sister and husband were wounded in what investigators called an incident of domestic violence early Wednesday.
No suspects had been arrested in connection with the incident, however the husband of the dead woman was being questioned as a "person of interest," Lt. Mike Rosson of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Homicide Bureau said.
Deputies from the sheriff's Temple Station responded to a report of a stabbing just before 5:30 a.m. at a house in the 5500 block of Walnut Grove Avenue in an unincorporated county area near San Gabriel, Rosson said.
"The 9-1-1 call came from the surviving sister, who fled to a neighbor's house and called police," the lieutenant said.
A trail of blood led from the front door of the home in two directions. It went both east on a private road, as well as north on Walnut Grove Avenue.
Deputies arrived to find a man -- later identified as the dead woman's husband -- in front of the home, also suffering from stab wounds, officials said.
Inside the home, deputies found the woman's body.
"The deceased victim was stabbed multiple time in the upper torso," Rosson said.
The surviving woman was hospitalized in stable condition, Rosson said, while the "person of interest" was listed in critical-but-stable condition.
There were no outstanding suspects, and detectives believed the incident involved only the three people who were stabbed, Detective Philip Guzman said. Exactly what took place between the three, however, remained under investigation.
The surviving sister has been able to give a statement to officials, Guzman added, however it was not clear what she told investigators.
None of the names of the three people involved were released. They were initially believed to be in their 40s.
The dead woman had moved to the home with her sister in recent weeks, investigators said.
Rosson said she was estranged from her husband, a Los Angeles resident, though, "We believe there was some type of reconciliation process going on."
There were no signs of forced entry into the home, and detectives suspected the man had been invited there.
A knife was found inside the house, however detectives declined to described it.
A specific motive in the stabbing was unclear, other than an incident of domestic violence.

ARCADIA -- Police arrested an 18-year-old Arcadia man late Saturday on suspicion of breaking into a home, authorities said.
Warren Drakos was booked on suspicion of burglary, Arcadia police Sgt. Tom Le Veque said in a written statement.
A man and his son heard their garage door open about 11:45 p.m. in the 800 block of South Third Avenue and went to investigate, the sergeant said.
The man and son, "confronted a male suspect standing inside the garage, next to the open door of the resident's car." Le Veque said. The teenage suspect then ran away, as the homeowner immediately called police.
Officers found Drakos in the area and detained him.
"While detaining the suspect, an officer at the victim residence called the victim's cell phone, which rang in the bag that the suspect was carrying," Le Veque said.
Warren was found to be in possession of the victim's cell phone, as well as other property taken from the home, and other items possible stolen in other incidents, police said.
Drakos apparently got into the garage by taking a garage door opener remote from a vehicle that was parked in front of the residence, Le Veque added.
According to sheriff's booking records, Drakos was being held in lieu of $51,000 bail and was due for arraignment Wednesday in Pasadena Superior Court.

From staff writer Lori Consalvo:

A woman said she was sexually assaulted inside a Cal Poly Pomona bathroom by what she described as a large, intimidating man.

About 12:45 p.m. Thursday, the victim walked into the men's restroom near the university's running track and Parking Lot K to clean it, according to a written statement from the school.

A man suddenly appeared inside the bathroom, forced the woman against a stall, exposed himself and asked for a "sexual favor," police said. When he heard a noise outside, the man ran away.

The man was described as black, about 40 years old, between 5-foot-10 and 6-feet tall, and about 350 pounds. He had short, black hair and he was missing an upper right tooth.

At the time of the assault, the man was wearing a black scoop neck tank-top that exposed three skull tattoos across his chest, blue jeans and white tennis shoes.

The woman also said her attacker appeared dirty, had bloodshot eyes and smelled of urine, according to the news release.

Anyone with information about the incident can call the University Police Department at 909-869-3070. Anonymous tips may be called into a recorded line at (909) 869-3399.

PASADENA -- Authorities Tuesday found a body inside a detached garage that was badly scorched by fire earlier this week.
The identity of the dead person was not, nor was the person's age or gender, Pasadena police Lt. Rodney D. Wallace said.
It was also not clear what killed the person, he added. The body was found about 12 p.m. Tuesday at a home in the 00 block of S. San Marino Avenue, the lieutenant said.
"We are ruling it as a suspicious death at this time," the lieutenant said.
The body was partially burned, Wallace said, but it was unclear if the person died as a result of the fire or some other cause.
The cause of death was expected to be determined by coroner's investigators.
The body was discovered by a private investigator hired to look into the fire, which occurred about 2:20 a.m. Sunday in the 00 block of South San Marino Avenue and caused about $30,000 in damage, Pasadena Fire Department spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said.
Firefighters arrived at the scene Sunday to find a detached garage of the house, which had been converted into living space, and a covered patio well-involved with flames, Derderian said. The fire was extinguished within 10 minutes.
Firefighters searched the burned area twice but found no body, she said. It was not known if the body was there at the time the firefighters made the searches.
The occupants of the main house on the property were accounted for following the blaze, however it was not clear if anyone from the converted garage was contacted by authorities.
The cause of the fire remained under investigation.

PHOTO courtesy of the Pasadena Fire Department

NORWALK -- Authorities have released the name of a 31-year-old man who was fatally shot in an alley behind his home over the weekend.
Rogelio Sanchez was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after Sunday's 1:02 p.m. shooting in the 11900 block of Pioneer Blvd., Los Angeles County sheriff's Department of Coroner's Assistant Chief of Operations Ed Winter said.
Few details were initially released regarding the shooting.
"Detectives have learned that the victim was a resident at the location," sheriff's officials said in a written statement. "He was found shot in the alley, at the rear of his residence."
The shooting was believed to be gang-related, officials added. No information about the shooter was available.
Anyone with information was asked to call the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.

From the Associated Press:

MIAMI -- A vial of Ted Bundy's blood has been found in Florida and investigators will use the newly discovered evidence to try to solve cases that went cold decades ago.
Before he was executed in 1989, Bundy confessed to more than 30 murders and was suspected of many more. A complete DNA profile couldn't be developed for the serial killer until the blood was found. The full profile will be uploaded to the FBI's national database Friday, giving authorities key evidence to possibly link Bundy to long-unsolved crimes.
The vial was discovered after Florida authorities received a call from a detective working a cold case in Tacoma, Wash. The blood had been taken in 1978 when Bundy was arrested in the death of a 12-year-old girl in Columbia County, Fla., The News Tribune in Tacoma reported.
Despite an order to destroy much of the biological evidence in the Florida case, the vial was still on file, said David Coffman, chief of forensic services at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Tallahassee crime lab.
"We were really surprised," he said.
Coffman cautioned that it will be a challenge to find full DNA samples from so long ago, making a match unlikely. But if there is a match, authorities will know right away.
The Tacoma detective was investigating the 1961 disappearance of Ann Marie Burr, a 6-year-old who vanished from her home in the middle of the night. Bundy is among several possible suspects.
The Tacoma detective said they had letters Bundy had sent that might contain his DNA on the stamps or envelop and could be used to develop a forensic profile, and possibly discover if he was linked to the Burr case.
Coffman said the agency said it had some items to examine, too. There was a display case with evidence from Bundy's trial in their lab. Among the items: dental molds of Bundy's teeth and the wax impressions that had been used to make them.
"After hanging up with her, I went back to our display and looked at it," Coffman recalled. "I said, 'There's got to be something. DNA's gotten so sensitive now.'"
He decided to try the molds for traces of saliva, but there were a number of fingerprints on them, so it wasn't a great sample. At about the same time, the
Florida agency discovered the Columbia County clerk's office had an original blood sample taken from Bundy. It resulted in a complete forensic profile, with all 13 core markers used in tests against the DNA database.
A bulletin will be sent to law enforcement agencies across the country when the DNA is uploaded. Tacoma police are among those waiting. Detectives there are sending evidence to the state crime lab to see if there is still DNA on it 50 years later.
Bundy sexually assaulted and killed several young women in Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Utah and Florida between 1974 and 1978. He was sentenced to death in 1979 for the murder of two Florida college students and later for the rape and murder of the 12-year-old girl in Columbia County.

PASADENA -- Authorities Tuesday released the name of a young man who was killed in a fall from a waterfall in Eaton Canyon.
Erwin Molina, 21, was pronounced dead at Huntington Hospital shortly after falling from the first waterfall of Eaton Canyon Falls about 6:30 p.m. Monday, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner's Assistant Chief of Operations Ed Winter said. Coroner's officials listed the man as 21 years old, while fire officials listed him as 26.
The victim's city of residency was not clear Tuesday afternoon.
After losing his footing and falling about 35 feet from the top of Eaton Canyon Falls, the young man landed on some rocks, fire officials said.
"He was already in critical condition when we arrived," Pasadena Fire Department spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said.
He was flown by helicopter to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Molina was hiking with three companions when he fell, Derderian said.
Monday's fatal fall was the second incident involving an troubled hiker at the Eaton Canyon Falls.
About 15 minutes before Molina fell from the falls, the sheriff's Altadena Search and Rescue Team rescued a 17-year-old Altadena boy who had become stranded on a ledge near the same waterfall, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Robert Blume said in a written statement.
"A Pasadena resident was hiking along the trail, when she heard a male teen yelling from a ledge near the first waterfall," Blume said. The teen was unable to get himself down from the ledge.
"Sheriff's rescue team members rapelled down the cliff and lowered the teen to safety using ropes and rapelling equipment," Blume said.
The teen was unhurt.
Another man, 22, was hiking about 5 p.m. July 17 between the first and second waterfalls when he injured his ankle and was unable to get out of the canyon alone, officials said. He called for help with a cell phone.
Rescuers found the man and flew him to an area hospital.
Many of the injuries rescuers see in Eaton Canyon occur between the first and second waterfalls, Derderian said. "It's challenging terrain."
Officials advised hikers to be prepared and be cautious while enjoying the foothill wildlands.

PASADENA -- A driver was hospitalized in stable condition after crashing a car into a building late Monday, officials said.
The crash was reported just after 8 p.m. at 44 E. Walnut Street, Pasadena Fire Department spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said.
Firefighters responded to reports of a crash to find a Cadillac sedan that had gone through a metal roll-up door of a film production equipment rental company and ended up about 20 feet inside the business, fire officials said.
"We had to extricate -- use heavy tools to remove the patient from the vehicle," Derderian said.
The driver was taken to a hospital in stable condition, she added.
No on inside the building was hurt.
"Fortunately, it was later in the evening, so there were no occupants inside," Derderian said.
Officials estimated the crash caused a total of about $30,000 worth of damage. The structure sustained about $20,000 in damage, while the car sustained about $10,000 worth of damage.
The cause of the crash was being investigated by the Pasadena Police Department.

PHOTOS courtesy of the Pasadena Fire Department