Teens convicted in La Puente High School sexual hazing case

LA PUENTE — Three former La Puente High School soccer players have been convicted and sentenced for their roles in the sexually violent hazing of fellow students last year, officials said Wednesday.
The teenagers, whose names have not been released because they were juveniles at the time of the crimes, were accused of taking part in hazing rituals which included sodomizing other players with a javelin, officials said.
At an May 14 hearing before a juvenile court judge, all three defendants pleaded guilty or no contest to charges leveled in connection with the attacks, which took place between April and August of 2012, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s officials said.
A 16-year-old boy and an 18-year-old man, who was 17 at the time of the hazing, pleaded no contest to one felony count of assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and a misdemeanor count of hazing, district attorney’s office spokeswoman Shiara Davila-Morales said.
A third defendant, who is 17 years old, admitted a felony count of assault with a deadly weapon, in the form of a broken flagpole, as well as a misdemeanor count of hazing, Davila-Morales said.
The now-18-year-old defendant was sentenced to three months in a juvenile camp, Davila-Morales said.
The 16 – and 17-year old boys were each sentenced to probation, she said.
“There is not a set term, but the minor(s) can be put on probation to the juvenile court until age 21,” Davila-Morales said.

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Man killed in La Puente shooting named

LA PUENTE — Coroner’s officials Thursday released the name of a 35-year-old La Puente man shot to death over the weekend while riding a skateboard.
Antonio Ojeda Jr. died at a hospital shortly after Saturday’s 11:15 p.m. drive-by shooting on 2nd Street , just north of Main Street, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner Lt. Larry Dietz said.
The attackers were described only as three Latino men in a silver Honda Accord, Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said. The shooting was being investigated as possibly gang-related.
Neighbors said the man was southbound on 2ns Street when he was shot.
Several said they heard a series of gunshots, then seeing Ojeda lying on the floor asking for help.
Anyone with information was asked to contact the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500.

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Investigators continue digging for clues in Glendora woman’s 1978 disappearance

WENDY BYRON

Sheriff’s and coroner’s investigators embarked on a second day of digging in a Glendora backyard Thursday as they continued searching for clues in the missing person case of a 24-year-old woman who vanished without a trace in 1978.
Sheriff’s Homicide detectives and a coroner’s Special Operations Team joined Glendora police in the search, which began about 8 a.m. Wednesday in the 500 block of Essex Street, Deputy Kim Manatt said in a statement.
They were seeking information about the disappearance of Wendy Susan Byron, a former resident of the home who was last seen in Glendora on Aug. 26, 1978 , according to the California Department of Justice.
The disappearance was considered “suspicious,” Lt. Holly Francisco of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau said. “Why does a 24-year-old just disappear.”
“Nothing’s been found at this point,” Francisco said Thursday morning, adding that the current homeowners have been “highly cooperative” with the investigators.
Officials worked through the day until sundown Wednesday, and resumed their dig Thursday morning.
The case was reopened as Glendora police were going through cold case in recent weeks, Francisco said.
After determining the department had exhausted its investigative avenues, the case was turned over to sheriff’s officials about two weeks ago, the lieutenant added.
The search on Essex Street was simply follow up on that investigation, and not the result of a new clue which directed detectives back to the missing woman’s former home, Francisco said.
“No new piece of evidence popped up in the past two weeks,” she said.
Investigators hoped advances in technology might help them unearth clues that were not found during the original investigation.
“Thirty-five years ago, obviously, they didn’t have the equipment and technology we have today,” Francisco said.
Officials Wednesday used ground penetrating radar to get a glimpse beneath the soil.
“There was an anomaly,” Francisco said. “They can’t say what it was. It could be a rock.”
Officials had not yet unearthed the anomalous object Thursday.
The search focused on a patch of the northeast corner of the backyard about 12 feet by 12 feet across, Francisco said. She declined to discuss what led investigators to focus their attention there.
Coroner’s officials completed digging “spot holes” in the excavation area Thursday morning, and investigators were waiting on a backhoe to begin peeling away layers of the ground, down to about 3 feet in depth, Francisco said.
Cadaver dogs from the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner were also used in the search Wednesday and Thursday, Francisco added, though their ability to detect any potential human remains after such a long period of time was uncertain.
The case has remained classified as a “suspicious missing person” investigation, and authorities had not confirmed foul play.
Shortly after her disappearance, Byron’s car was later found at Ontario International Airport, according to the NamUs and Doe network national missing persons databases.
Byron and her husband used to live at the Essex Street home. The husband couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday.
The name Robert G. Byron appears in deed documents on the Essex Street house until May 1994. World Savings & Loans bought the property the next month. It was sold two more times.
As officials continued their work Thursday morning, a small group of neighbors gathered to talk.
One said she had lived in the neighborhood since 1975, but declined to comment further.
A woman who lives next door described the current residents as “a very nice couple.”

– Brian Day and Ruby Gonzales

PHOTO of Wendy Byron courtesy of the California Department of Justice.

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La Puente man, Downey man killed in Pomona freeway crash identified

POMONA — Authorities Thursday released the names of a La Puente man and a Downey man killed in a violent crash between two trucks on a freeway transition road in Pomona.
Jose Antonio Garcia, 25, of La Puente and Jorge Garcia, 61, of Downey died in the crash, which took place about 8:50 a.m. Wednesday on the connector road between the eastbound 60 Freeway and the southbound 71 Freeway, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner Lt. Larry Dietz said.
Jose Garcia was a passenger in a 1999 Chevrolet box truck hauling snack food and change, according to California Highway Patrol and Los Angeles County Fire Department officials. The truck was being driven by a 34-year-old Riverside man.
Prior to the collision, Jorge Garcia was standing beside his 2010 Volvo big rig, which was parked along the right shoulder with its hazard lights activated and the engine running, CHP Officer Robert Ruiz said in a written statement. He was believed to be standing on the driver-side of the truck, nearest to the roadway.
The driver of the box truck, “allowed his vehicle to drift onto the shoulder of the connector road, where the right front portion of (the box truck) struck the left, rear portion of (the big rig’s) trailer,” Ruiz said.
Jose Garcia was severely injured in the impact, officials said. The out of control box truck continued moving forward and struck Jorge Garcia.
Both men were pronounced dead at the scene.
The box truck came to rest in traffic lanes of the transition road, spilling its entire load into the roadway, fire Capt. Larry Jordan said.
The box truck was nearly unrecognizable, he added. “It looked like it exploded.”
The driver of the box truck was hospitalized with moderate injuries, including lacerated tendons in his arm, officials said.
The cause of the crash remained under investigation.
The connector road remained shut down for about six hours as officers investigated the scene.

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Gunman robs Rosemead gas station

ROSEMEAD – A man dressed all in black with a bandana covering part of his face robbed a gas station at gunpoint of about $500 Wednesday night.
Sgt. Mark Skaggs of the sheriff’s Temple Station said no one was injured during the 10:20 p.m. robbery at the Mobil gas station, 939 San Gabriel Blvd.
Skaggs said the robber entered the gas station and demanded money. The culprit took the cash then ran through the parking lot and out of view.
The suspect was described as black man in his 30s, 6 feet tall and about 180 pounds. He carried a semiautomatic handgun.

– Ruby Gonzales

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Replica grenade prompts evacuations in Covina

COVINA — About 11 businesses were evacuated and part of College Street was shut down Wednesday after a man found what looked like a grenade inside a parcel.
It turned out to be a replica grenade, Covina Police Sgt. Jim McDonough said.
The incident started about 4 p.m.
A man picked up his packages at the post office in the 100 block of East College, walked to where he parked his car and opened a package, McDonough said.
“He sees what looks like a wrapped grenade,” the sergeant said.
The man called police. Officers evacuated nearby businesses plus closed down College Street between 2nd Avenue and Citrus Avenue.
The sheriff’s bomb squad examined the device and deemed it inert. McDonough said the replica grenade was from a surplus-type company.
The man didn’t recall ordering the item, McDonough said.

– Ruby Gonzales

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Bear breaks into Duarte home

DUARTE – A young bear may have used a window to crawl into a kitchen where it grabbed a snack Wednesday.
The break-in happened about 2 p.m. in the 70 block of Crestview Court. A resident was home.
“The lady heard a noise and saw a bear had made it into her house,” Sheriff’s Lt. Ignacio Somoano said.
He said the woman locked herself in a room and called 9-1-1.
A deputy and a Duarte Animal Control officer headed to Crestview Court. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife was also notified.
The law found the furry burglar on the kitchen counter still eating.
Somoano said the deputy left the door open. Then the deputy and the animal control officer made loud noises. The bear ran out through the door.
Authorities estimate the bear to be a year old and weighing 100 pounds.
Somoano didn’t know if this hungry bear was the same bruin found sleeping in a tree Tuesday night by deputies.

– Ruby Gonzales

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Shots fired in Altadena neighborhood

ALTADENA – Deputies responding to calls about gunfire in a neighborhood Wednesday night found shell casings but no victims.
The shooting broke out around 9:30 p.m. in the 100 block of West Altadena Drive, according to Lt. Elisabeth Sachs of the sheriff’s Crescenta Valley Station.
She said the station received four to five calls about gunshots in the area. Deputies recovered seven shell casings.
While a nearby house had been hit in previous shootings, Sachs said it’s unknown if the suspect or suspects targeted the residence on Wednesday.
Nobody was injured and there was no evidence of property damage, she said.

– Ruby Gonzales

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Worker gets arm caught in conveyor belt at Pasadena Salvation Army

Conveyor rescue

PASADENA – A worker at a Pasadena Salvation Army facility suffered major injuries to his arm Wednesday after getting the limb caught in a conveyor belt, officials said.
The workplace mishap was reported about 11:45 a.m. at the Salvation Army, 35 Waverly Drive, Pasadena Fire Department spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said.
Eleven firefighters and paramedics arrived at the scene within about three minutes and set to work with specialized equipment to free the worker’s arm, she said.
“It took at least a half an hour dismantle the machine,” Derderian said.
Rescuers rendered medical care and provided the man pain medication as they worked, she said. He was described as being in his 30s.
The man suffered “major trauma” to his arm and was taken to an area hospital, fire officials said.
It was not clear if the arm would need to be amputated.
The conveyor belt the man became caught in is used to sort donated clothing in a Salvation Army warehouse, Derderian said.
Representatives of the facility could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.
It was not immediately clear how the accident occurred.
The California Department of Industrial Relations Division of Occupational Safety and Health will conduct an investigation, she said.
Firefighters rarely deal with such an injury, Derderian said. “This is a very rare situation. A very rare rescue.”

PHOTO courtesy of the Pasadena Fire Department

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Man and woman arrested in 1997 Altadena cold case homicide believed to have stemmed from argument over CDs

Darryl Johnson, 38, Pasadena

PASADENA — Detectives Tuesday arrested a man and woman in connection with a 1997 cold case slaying in Altadena believed to have stemmed from a dispute over CDs.
Blood gang member Darryl Lamont Johnson, also known as Darryl Callum, 38, of Pasadena, was once linked to the infamous 1993 Halloween Homicides, Detective Michael Rodriguez of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau Cold Case Unit said.
In addition to murder, Johnson, affiliated with the Pasadena Denver Lanes gang, was also accused of the special allegations of personal use of a firearm and that the crime was gang-related.
Also arrested Tuesday on suspicion of murder was Dominique Raquel Evans, 41, of
Darryl Lamont Johnson, 38, of Pasadena and Dominique Evans, 41, of Pasadena were arrested Tuesday, May 21, 2013, on suspicion of the June 21, 1997 shooting death of 18-year-old Johnis Jackson in his hometown of Altadena.
Pasadena. She was also described as a Blood gang affiliate.
Dominique Evans, 41, PasadenaThe two are accused in the 1997 shooting death of Johnis Jackson, 18, of Altadena at Fair Oaks Avenue and Harriet Street, the detective said.
“After all these years, this is something that I wanted. I wanted that closure,” said Vivian Knox, mother of Jackson.
Johnson was also once expected to testify as a witness, but ultimately refused, in the case of the fatal 1993 Halloween shooting that left three boys dead.
Investigators Rodriguez and Gary Sica described Jackson’s 1997 slaying as senseless and cowardly.
“We believe that the murder all stemmed from a disagreement regarding some possible stolen CDs,” Rodriguez said.
Johnson and Evans were arrested hours after detectives secured charges against the suspects and obtained a warrant for their arrests, Rodriguez said. A scheduled arraignment Wednesday in Pasadena Superior Court was postponed until May 28, court officials said.
Johnson and Evans were boyfriend and girlfriend at the time of the early morning June 21, 1997, slaying of Johnis Jackson at Fair Oaks Avenue and Harriet Street, the detective said. Their current relationship is unclear, though they have children together.
Jackson was a member of a Crips gang in Altadena, investigators said.
After attending a party, he was congregating with some other gang affiliates at Loma Alta park in Altadena, Rodriguez said. An argument broke out between one of Johnson’s gang affiliates and a woman at the park, who detectives identified Wednesday as Evans.
Evans accused Jackson’s gang-affiliate of stealing CDs, and the man slapped her, Rodriguez said.
After making threats, Evans left the park, he said. She was accompanied by several other women.
Jackson tried to calm the situation, and even offered to buy the angry woman new CDS to replace the ones she claimed were missing, Rodriguez said.
But less than half an hour later, Jackson was shot to death at Fair Oaks Avenue and Harriet Street as he was walking to his car with another young man, officials said.
Though investigators had long had leads in the case, they were not previously able to obtain a criminal filing, Rodriguez said.
As the investigation has continued through the years, “We had several people come forward,” he said.
New information, “coupled with the statements that witnesses gave us years ago,” assisted detectives in securing the charges Tuesday, Rodriguez said. He declined to comment on the specifics of new information received by investigators.
“(Past) accounts of the incident implicating both Evans and (Johnson) were corroborated. ”
Following more than 15 years of investigation, detectives Tuesday secured charges against Johnson and Evans and obtained warrants for their arrests, Rodriguez said. They were taken into custody later in the day during separate traffic stops in Pasadena.
Evangelina Young of Los Angeles, who said she’s known Evans for 25 years, disputed sheriff’s investigators assertion that she was involved with gangs, and said she did not believe Evans was involved with the fatal shooting. ”
She’s not gang member, and not affiliated,” Young said. “She would never be a part of somebody murdering somebody.”
Evans was a community-oriented and deeply religious woman, the friend added.
She would never get wrapped up in something like that,” Young said. “She’s not that person. It’s just not who she is.”
Young said she was less familiar with Johnson, though she was acquainted with him through Evans.
“He’s very quiet,” she said. “He’s a businessman. He’s a smart guy. He’s always been there for his family. That’s all I know.”
Long before he allegedly shot and killed Jackson in 1997, Johnson played a significant role in one of Pasadena’s most notorious homicide cases: the fatal shooting of two 14-year-old boys and a 13-year-old boy in the 500 block of North Wilson Avenue on Halloween night in 1993.
Johnson implicated Aurelius Duane Bailey in the Halloween slayings before a grand jury and in interviews with Pasadena police detectives, however those statements were not admissible as evidence in court.
Johnson was later arrested in September of 2002 while driving a stolen truck in Duarte with Aurelius Duane Bailey, who was sentenced to five years of probation after pleading no contest to three counts of voluntary manslaughter and five counts of attempted murder for his role in the Halloween slayings.
The Halloween homicide, along with Jackson’s slaying and other violent incidents of the 1990s, helped spur the formation of the federally funded Community Law Enforcement and Recovery program, known as CLEAR, to combat gang violence in the Pasadena and Altadena areas.
Johnson was ultimately sentenced to six months in jail and five years of probation after pleading no contest to the truck theft. Bailey received a six year prison sentence due to his previous criminal record.
According to county booking records, Johnson was being held in lieu of $2 million bail, while Evans was being held in lieu of $1.5 million.

PHOTOS of Darryl Jackson and Dominique Evans courtesy of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

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