MONTEBELLO >> Police asked residents of a Montebello neighborhood to stay indoors Wednesday as they searched the area for suspect in a reported home-invasion robbery, officials said.
The incident first began shortly after 7 p.m. in the area of Wilcox Avenue and Hay Street, Montebello police officials said via the department’s Twitter account.
Though initially described as a residential break-in, police later said they were treating the crime as a home-invasion robbery.
EL MONTE >> Police reached out to the public for help Wednesday in tracking down a 71-year-old old El Monte man suffering from schizophrenia and a mild intellectual disability who went missing Saturday.
Francisco De Guevara Ladron was last seen about 8 a.m. Saturday leaving his home in the Sunnyside Guest Home, 4457 Maxson Road, El Monte police Sgt. Richard Luna said in a written statement. He told staff he was heading to a store, possibly a 7-Eleven at 12170 Ramona Blvd., Luna said.
When staff members noticed Ladron had not returned, they went looking for him without success, Luna said. El Monte police were also unable to find Ladron after searching the area.
“Ladron has no immediate family and there are no other known areas where he frequents,” Luna said. “Ladron does require daily medication.”
Ladron was described as Latino, with gray hair and brown eyes. He’s 5 feet 6 inches tall, 145 pounds and is missing all of his teeth. He speaks only Spanish and talks in an “animated” fashion, police said. He walks slowly and with poor posture.
Anyone with information was asked to contact the El Monte Police Department or their local law enforcement agency immediately.
LA MIRADA >> Deputies took a man into custody after he holed-up inside a home along the La Mirada border in unincorporated Orange County Wednesday afternoon, authorities said.
The standoff began about 1 p.m. when deputies responded to deal with a man who had outstanding arrest warrants and was believed to be armed with several rifles or shotguns, Los Angeles County sheriff’s Lt. Eric Smitson said.
Orange County deputies continued trying to persuade the man to surrender more than four hours later, Smitson said. Los Angeles County deputies helped close off nearby streets and evacuate nearby homes.
Orange County sheriff’s officials announced about 5:45 p.m. that the suspect had surrendered and been taken into custody.
SANTA FE SPRINGS >> Tuna manufacturer Bumble Bee Foods LLC, an employee and a former employee pleaded not guilty Wednesday to felony charges related to the death of a worker who was cooked to death inside an industrial oven at the company’s Santa Fe Springs plant, authorities said.
Bumble Bee Foods LLC, along with former safety manager Saul Florez, 47, of Whittier and director of plant operations Angel Rodriguez, 63, were each charged last month with three felony counts of willful violation of safety rules in connection with the Oct. 11, 2012 industrial mishap at the plant, 13100 Arctic Circle.
Killed was 62-year-old father of six Jose Melena of Wilmington, who became trapped and cooked to death in a massive industrial oven used to sterilize cans of tuna, officials said.
Melena was working inside the cylindrical, 35-foot-long oven when another employee assumed Melena had gone to the restroom, according to OSHA’s report.
“Coworkers were unaware that Melena was inside the oven when they loaded multiple carts, collectively containing about 12,000 pounds of tuna, closed the front door and started the oven,” Los Angeles County District Attorney’s officials said in a written statement. “The victim inadvertently became trapped in the back of the super-heated, pressurized steam cooker.”
Hours later, after the oven had been heated to more than 270 degrees, coworkers noticed Melena was missing and ultimately discovered his badly burned remains inside the oven, officials said.
The defendants are due back in Los Angeles Superior Court July 14 for a motions hearing, district attorney’s Office spokesman Greg Risling said.
The California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupational Safety and Health levied nearly $74,000 in fines against Bubble Bee Foods for safety violations the following year.
If convicted as charged, Florez and Rodriguez each face up to three years in prison, as well as fines of up to $250,000. San Diego-based Bumble Bee Foods could face a fine of up to $1.5 million.
PHOTOS: [TOP] – Jose Melena, 62, of Wilmington was a Bumble Bee Foods workerkilled in when he accidentally became trapped inside an industrial oven at the company’s Santa Fe Springs plant on Oct. 11, 2014. (Courtesy) [BELOW] – The front of Bumble Bee Foods LLC in Santa Fe Springs on Friday October 12, 2012. The plant was the site of an insustrial accident the day before in which a 62-year-old employee died after becoming trapped inside an industrial oven.
(File: SGVN/Staff Photo by Keth Durflinger)
WHITTIER >> Prosecutors Wednesday declined to file criminal charges against a Whittier man arrested last week on suspicion of child molestation, citing insufficient evidence, authorities said.
Whittier police arrested Joseph Anthony Teixeira, 68, Friday on suspicion of molesting a girl over the course of three years, Whittier police officials said in a written statement.
But prosecutors Wednesday reviewed the case and declined to file charges due to “insufficient evidence,” Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office spokesman Greg Risling said. Police had sought two charges of committing lewd acts on a child.
In addition to the alleged sex crimes, police also booked Teixeira on suspicion of drug possession after discovering about 150 pounds of marijuana in his home while serving a search warrant, according to the police statement. But no drug-related charges were filed, Risling said.
PASADENA >> A 19-year-old Altadena man has begun serving a sentence of more than four years in prison after pleading “no contest” last week to charges stemming from a Pasadena car crash blamed on drunken driving that killed one of his passengers and injured three others, authorities said.
Gerardo Garcia was immediately sentenced to four years and four months in state prison after pleading “no contest” Friday in Pasadena Superior Court to charges of gross vehicular manslaughter, drunken driving and driving with a blood-alcohol level greater than .08 percent, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office spokesman Greg Risling said.
The 12:15 a.m. crash at Washington Boulevard and Lincoln Avenue claimed the life of 17-year-old Gabriel Cabral of Riverside, and injured two teenage girls also riding as passengers, according to Pasadena police and district attorney’s officials.
In addition to being drunk, police received reports from witnesses that Garcia was involved in a street race when his 2004 Nissan sedan went out of control and struck a freeway overpass, officials said. But criminal charges related to street racing were not filed.
PHOTO of fatal crash victim Gabriel Cabral, 17, of Riverside. (Courtesy)
ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST >> Rescuers rushed a mountain biker to a hospital in critical condition after he was found unconscious after taking a fall in the Angeles National Forest north of La Canada Flintridge Sunday afternoon, officials said.
Members of the Montrose Search and Rescue Team, along with a Los Angeles 
County Sheriff’s Department helicopter, responded after an unconscious bicyclist was discovered about 50 feet over the side of the road near Josephine Saddle shortly after 2 p.m., sheriff’s officials said.
An update on the cyclists condition was not available late Sunday.
PHOTOS: Courtesy, Montrose Search & Rescue Team
INDUSTRY >> Coroner’s officials Sunday released the named of a Baldwin Park man and an Ontario woman who died when they car they were passengers in left the roadway and struck a tree along the 60 Freeway early Saturday.
Rafael Flores Reinoso, 49, of Baldwin Park and Michelle Alvarez, 23, of Ontario, died at the scene of the 2:40 a.m. crash along the eastbound 60 Freeway, just west of the 605 Freeway, in an unincorporated county area near Industry, Los Angeles County coroner’s Lt. Fred Corrall said.
They were passengers in a 2006 Scion tC being driven by a 24-year-old Ontario man that veered from traffic lanes and struck a tree along a gore point, California Highway Patrol officials said.
The driver and another passenger, described as a 45-year-old Ontario woman, were hospitalized with major injuries, according to the CHP. The cause of the crash remained under investigation.
WEST COVINA >> An unknown attacker shot and wounded a West Covina man at a Del Norte Park late Saturday in what police suspect may have been a drug deal gone awry.
Officers responding to a 10:42 p.m. report of a “man down” near the gazebo north of the baseball diamond at the park, 1500 W. Rowland Ave., encountered a 41-year-old man suffering from a gunshot wound to his abdomen, West Covina police Lt. Dennis Patton said.
The victim was conscious and speaking with officers before he was taken to a hospital for treatment, but would not tell police what had taken place, the lieutenant said. His injury was not believed to be life-threatening.
No information regarding the shooter or circumstances of the shooting were available Sunday, however investigators were looking into the possibility the shooting stemmed from a drug deal.
The victim had methamphetamine in his possession, and is also named in a felony arrest warrant stemming from a narcotics case, Patton said.
Anyone with information can reach West Covina police at 626-939-8500. The department’s 24-hour tip line can be reached at 626-939-8688, or information can be submitted to the department by texting TIPWCPD and your tip to 847411.
PASADENA >> A Pasadena church is hosting a youth forum this month featuring the son of executed killer, gang leader and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Stanley “Tookie” Williams.
The “Youth Speak Out” forum will take place from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, 1700 N. Raymond Ave., FAME Board of Directors member Pamela Short Powell said.
The event is targeted toward young people ages 16 to 35.
Travon Williams will discuss, “his lived experiences in the gang culture and how making he right decisions can have a positive impact on life’s challenges,” church representatives said in a written statement.
His father, who was an early leader of the Crips street gang in Los Angeles before being convicted and executed for four murders, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize six times while behind bars, “in recognition of his work against gang violence, anti-gang choices and life in prison,” according to the statement.
A panel of young people from local high schools, colleges, churches and other organizations will be invited to engage in a dialogue with Travon Williams and speak out regarding the issues and challenged they face in their lives.
Community resource providers and social service agencies will also be on-hand to provide information.
For more information, FAME Pasadena can be reached at 626-798-0503, or online at famepasadena.org.