Monthly Archives: February 2014

5 Freeway through Norwalk to close this weekend

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NORWALK — Motorists are advised to make alternate travel plans this weekend as officials shut down both directions of the 5 Freeway through Norwalk as part of an ongoing Santa Ana Freeway South Corridor Improvement Project, officials said.
The northbound and southbound 5 Freeway will be shut down from 12:01 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Sunday morning, Caltrans officials said in a written statement.
Northbound motorists will be directed to exit at Carmenita Road, then prompted by detour signs to re-enter the freeway.
Southbound drivers will exit at Rosecrans Avenue and be detoured past the closure to get back on the 5 Freeway.
Beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday, the Rosecrans Avenue onramp to the southbound 5 Freeway will be closed, along with the Carmenita Road onramps and offramp to the southbound 5 Freeway, according to Caltrans.
Also beginning Saturday at 7 p.m., the northbound 5 Freeway onramp at Carmenita Road will be shut down, as well as the offramp from the northbound 5 Freeway at Rosecrans Avenue.
The connector road from the westbound 91 Freeway to the northbound 5 Freeway will be closed from 12:01 a.m. Saturday 8 a.m. Sunday, and the connector road from the southbound 605 Freeway to the southbound 5 Freeway will be closed from 1 a.m. to 8 a.m. Sunday.
“On Sunday morning, Feb. 23, the travelling public will begin driving on three newly-paved southbound I-5 lanes just before Carmenita Road,” according to the Caltrans statement. A new lane transition will be installed.
Construction work in the area will continue, however.
“Caltrans reminds the public to drive safely and undistracted through the new transition lanes.

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Rowland Heights man charged with fatal stabbing of El Monte man in La Puente

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A Rowland Heights man was charged Tuesday with fatally stabbing another man whose body was found behind a La Puente business.
The District Attorney’s Office filed one count of murder against 27-year-old Andres Aguirre Garcia, according to DA spokeswoman Sarah Ardalani.
She said the charge comes with the allegation that the suspect personally used a knife to commit the crime.
Garcia’s arraignment was continued to March 11 at Pomona Superior Court.
The victim, 28-year-old Jose Chacon of El Monte, was found lying in a parking lot behind a business in the 15900 block of Old Valley Road in La Puente about 2:45 a.m. Feb. 12. He sustained multiple stab wounds to his upper body and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Lt. Steve Jauch of the sheriff’s Homicide Bureau said Garcia and Chacon were acquaintances. The two had a disagreement which resulted in the stabbing, he said.
But Jauch didn’t say what the disagreement was about or what led deputies to Garcia on Feb. 14. He was arrested that night.
“He confessed and he produced the knife,” Jauch said.
Booking records show Garcia is being held at Men’s Central Jail in lieu of $1 million bail.

– Ruby Gonzales

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UPDATED: Checkpoints planned this weekend in La Puente, La Verne, Monterey Park, Arcadia

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Officials in La Puente, La Verne, Monterey Park and Arcadia are planning to screen drivers for sobriety and valid licenses at checkpoints this weekend.
Deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Industry Station will hold a checkpoint from 7 p.m. Friday to 1 a.m. Saturday at an undisclosed location within La Puente, sheriff’s officials said in a written statement.
More than 70 people were arrested during the city’s last checkpoint, which took place overnight Dec. 21 and Dec. 22 on Hacienda Boulevard, just north Nelson Avenue, officials said.
One of the arrests was for suspected driving under the influence of methamphetamine, sheriff’s officials said. Fifty-six drivers were arrested for driving without a valid license, while one person was jailed on a parole violation, three people were arrested due to outstanding traffic warrants and 14 people were arrested on suspicion of driving on a revoked or suspended license.
The La Puente City Council suspended checkpoints in the city in mid-2011 amid concerns that such checkpoints unfairly target local residence who are unlicensed or uninsured. But the council reversed it’s decision a year later.
Protestors demonstrated against Baldwin Park police in late December after a checkpoint overnight Dec. 28 and Dec. 29 at Los Angeles and Littlejohn streets, as well as Ramona Boulevard and Barnes Avenue, in that city resulted in the arrests of more than two-dozen unlicensed drivers, along with five allegedly intoxicated drivers and several other arrests.
Another checkpoint is scheduled to take place this weekend in La Verne, La Verne police officials said in a written statement.
The checkpoint will be held from 7 p.m. Saturday to 2 a.m. Sunday at an undisclosed location within the city, police said.
Monterey Park police are planning a checkpoint at a undisclosed location within that city from 7 p.m. Saturday to 3 a.m., officials said, Sunday, and Arcadia police will hold a checkpoint late Saturday into early Sunday.
Funding for all the checkpoints is being provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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San Gabriel man sentenced for fatal stabbing of Burbank man

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PASADENA — A judge sentenced a San Gabriel man to 26 years to life in prison Wednesday for fatally stabbing a man more than 30 times near his Burbank home, officials said.
Jorge Ernesto Villalobos, 47, received his sentence from Pasadena Superior Court Judge Suzette Clover, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s officials said in a written statement.
A jury convicted him Dec. 19 of the first-degree murder of 47-year-old Glenn Giles, which took place Feb. 26, 2008, near Giles’ home in the 3000 block of Joaqin Drive in Burbank, officials said.
“Testimony during the trial revealed Villalobos had been keeping track of Giles before finally killing him because he was dating his former girlfriend,” according to the district attorney’s office statement.
Giles was stabbed 32 times, officials said.
“Giles was stabbed at his house, but managed to make it to his neighbor’s house before collapsing and dying,” the district attorney’s office statement said.
Villalobos was additionally ordered to pay $8,000 in restitution.

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Fire leads officials to marijuana grow house in Arcadia

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Arcadia police is investigating a marijuana “grow house” found Monday during an electrical fire call, Sgt. Jason Davis said.
Arcadia fire and police responded to a call at 8:49 a.m. about a transformer on fire at a residence in the 2400 block of Louise Avenue, Davis said.
When first responders arrived, they found a small roof fire caused by wires, officials said.
“In an attempt to locate persons inside the residence and get them to safety, officers made entry into the house and observed numerous marijuana plants in different stages of cultivation,” Davis said in a written statement. Officers then summoned detectives to the scene.
“Detectives searched the residence and recovered 2,489 live marijuana plants along with sophisticated growing equipment used for the cultivation of the crops,” Davis said.
Additionally, police found the home’s wiring had been rewired to bypass the Southern California Edison meter, effectively stealing it’s electricity from the utility, police said.
An SCE officials estimated between $16,000 and $20,000 worth of power had been stolen by the grow house, Davis said.
No one was at the home at the time of the fire, and no suspects had been arrested, police said.
Anyone with information, call the Arcadia Police Department at 626-574-5150. Anonymous tips can also be submitted by calling 1-800-222-8477.

PHOTO courtesy of the Arcadia Police Department

– Venusse Navid and Brian Day

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San Gabriel man accused of trying to kidnap boy in Rosemead

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ROSEMEAD — Deputies jailed a San Gabriel man Sunday on suspicion of trying to kidnap an 11-year-old boy from a Rosemead sidewalk last month, officials said.
Bin Zhang, 44, was booked on suspicion of attempted kidnapping following his arrest, which took place about 10 a.m. in the 2700 block of Del Mar Avenue in Rosemead, Los Angeles County sheriff’s Lt. Phillip Marquez said in a written statement.
The alleged kidnapping attempt took place in January, but went unreported until after sheriff’s officials issued a public alert Feb. 12 regarding a separate Jan. 30 incident in which a man grabbed onto a young girl on the campus of Arlene Bitely Elementary School, on Fern Avenue just west of Jackson Street.
“As a result of the press release, Temple Sheriff’s Station investigators learned that in early January, an 11-year-old male was accosted near Del Mar Avenue and Emerson Place, Rosemead, and the incident went unreported. An investigation was launched,” Marquez said. “It is alleged the suspect attempted to kidnap the 11-year-old male from a public sidewalk in January of 2014.”
Deputies Sunday morning spotted a man matching the description of the man who tried to kidnap the boy and arrested him without a struggle, Marquez said.
According to county booking records, Zhang was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail pending his initial court appearance, scheduled for Wednesday in El Monte Superior Court.
The investigation was ongoing, Marquez said, and it was not clear Sunday if the suspect arrested for attempting to kidnap the boy was the same man who accosted the young girl.
Anyone with information was asked to contact Detective S. Gibson of the sheriff’s Temple Station at 626-285-7171.

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UPDATED: ‘Person of interest’ sought in fatal shooting of young woman in Pasadena

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PASADENA — Police sought a “person of interest” Sunday in connection with the fatal shooting of a young woman inside a Raymond Avenue apartment, authorities said.
The fatal shooting was first reported about 8:45 a.m. at a home in the 1500 block of North Raymond Avenue, Pasadena police Lt. Jason Clawson said.
Officers responded to reports of gunfire and encountered the wounded victim, a woman estimated to be 19 years old, Clawson said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
“There’s a person of interest we’re looking for,” Lt. Vasken Gourdikian said. “We can’t label that person a suspect at this time.”
Police withheld the identity of the person they were seeking as a SWAT team, with help from a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department bloodhound, scoured the area.
“They are doing a comprehensive search of the outlying neighborhood,” Gourdikian said.
Meanwhile, forensic investigators combed over the homicide scene for clues.
Neighbor William Hernandez said a young man and his teenage brother lived at the apartment and that the shooting stemmed from a dispute between the older brother and his girlfriend.

0217_NWS_PSN-L-RAYMOND187.3Police declined to comment on the specifics of the investigation, and would not describe the relationship between the dead woman and the person of interest.
Another neighbor, who asked that her name be withheld, said she heard three gunshots followed by female voices yelling, “Why did you do it?”
Police placed a teenage boy into a squad car and questioned him at the scene, however he was not placed in handcuffs.
Family members gathered at the scene did not wish to comment.
The homicide is the first reported in Pasadena this year. The city saw three homicides in 2013, according to department records.

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Man fatally shot in La Mirada

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LA MIRADA — Homicide detectives are investigating the fatal shooting of a man in a residential neighborhood early Sunday.
The shooting was first reported just after 12:40 a.m. in the 13400 block of Bona Vista Lane, Deputy Mark Pope of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Headquarters Bureau said in a written statement.
“The victim was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead,” Pope said.
Deputies initially responded to a report of a shooting in which bullets penetrated a family’s home, Lt. Eric Smitson of the sheriff’s Norwalk Station said.
As deputies were talking to residents and checking the area for possible suspects, they were notified by Whittier police that a man had arrived at the emergency room of PIH Health Hospital in Whittier, Smitson said.
The man, whose identity was not available, died at the hospital a short time later, officials said. It was unclear who brought him to the hospital. Coroner’s officials described him as a man appearing to be in his 20s.
No information regarding the shooter or shooters was available.
Anyone with information was asked to contact the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500. Tips may also be submitted anonymously through L.A. Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.

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Rowland Heights man accused of fatal La Puente stabbing

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LA PUENTE — Detectives Sunday announced an arrest in connection with the slaying of an El Monte man who was found stabbed to death behind a La Puente business Wednesday.
Andres Aguirre Garcia, 27, of Rowland Heights was arrested late Friday on suspicion of murder in connection with the stabbing, which was discovered about 2:45 a.m. Wednesday in a parking lot behind a business in the 15900 block of Old Valley Road in La Puente, Lt. Steve Jauch of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau said in a written statement.
“Garcia has confessed to the crime and the murder weapon was recovered by homicide detectives,” Jauch said.
Lieutenant Pete Cacheiro of the sheriff’s Industry Station described the arrest was the result of, “a bunch of leads.”
“This was a collaboration of Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau, the La Puente Special Assignment Team and the community,Cacheiro said.
No information regarding the motive in the alleged slaying was released.
Jose Chacon, 28, was discovered suffering from multiple stab wounds to his upper body in the parking lot to the rear of Alert Insulation Co. Inc., which is owned by La Puente Mayor Charlie Klinakis.
Earlier in the week, the mayor expressed sorrow over the slaying and said she did not know the victim.
Garcia was booked at the sheriff’s Industry Station’s jail, where he was being held in lieu of $1 million bail pending his scheduled arraignment Wednesday in El Monte Superior Court, according to county booking records.

– Brian Day and Ruby Gonzales

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Police plan pedestrian safety campaign Monday in West Covina

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WEST COVINA — Police are planning an enforcement campaign targeting pedestrian safety issues Monday, officials said.
The pedestrian safety crackdown will take place at several undisclosed West Covina intersections throughout West Covina, West Covina police spokesman Rudy Lopez said.
It will target both drivers and pedestrians who violate traffic laws, he added.

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