Fundraiser planned for family of fallen Pomona officer
Author Archives: Frank Girardot
VIDEO: Detroit Lions’ Ndamukong Suh pulled over by police
The Detroit News posted this video of Lathrup Village police pulling over troubled Detroit Lions defensive player Ndamukong Suh.
Prosecutor: Former Duarte teacher a sick pedophile who preyed on elementary school Latinas
Accused pedophile Wade Bughman’s defense attorney today will tell a Pasadena Superior Court jury that his client didn’t molest students at a Duarte elementary school.
Prosectuors told a different story on Tuesday. Here’s what Brenda Gazzar reported.
Closing arguments began Tuesday for the trial of Wade Bughman of Monrovia, 43, who was charged with crimes of a sexual nature against five girls over a period of 15 years while he taught at Beardslee Elementary School in Duarte.
The nine counts against Bughman include oral copulation of a person under 14, the crime of continual sexual abuse, forcible rape, sexual penetration with a foreign object and lewd acts upon a child.
With enlarged photos of the five young girls smiling behind her, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Debra Archuleta told jurors the girls endured physical, emotional and psychological abuse at the hands of a pedophile that robbed them of their innocence.
Many of the girls were shy or submissive and some sat in the back of the classroom, she said. They were allegedly molested at lunch, during recess or after school in the “Think Together Program.”
Some of the girls in his class called him “rapist” and had code words to warn others they needed help, Archuleta said. She described Bughman as a “practiced and skilled manipulator” in satisfying his own lusts and desires.
Dueling press releases detail two stories of Altadena rescue
Pasadena Fire Department officials are steamed over a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department press release taking credit for a mountain rescue Monday night. They say the press release is riddled with falsehoods — and that the Sheriff’s Department was barely involved in the rescue of two injured women.
Leave it to sheriff’s Spokesman Steve Whitmore to put it all in perspective.
“Here is what’s important: The people got saved.”
Perhaps the most telling detail about the whole operation is on Tim Rutt’s altadenablog, which has a picture of the patients being loaded into a paramedic van — not a helicopter.
Cops arrest one in Ontario triple slaying
An Upland man was arrested in connection with the Monday morning slaying of three in Ontario. This from the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.
Steven David James Carter, 34, was booked into West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga. Court records show he is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday, although it is unclear if he has been charged in the case.
Officers said they plan to recommend to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office that Carter be charged with three counts of murder.
Police came to a home in the 1000 block of South Magnolia Avenue at 6:15
Police investigated the triple homicide Monday after receiving a report of an unconscious man lying in the driveway.
The man was dead of what investigators suspect was a gunshot wound. Police found two more bodies inside the home, but are unsure about their cause of death.Officers identified one of the men in the house as Brandon Perez, 31, of Ontario. He resided in the home and appeared to be the target of the robbery, police said. The other man in the residence, one of Carter’s accomplices, was 25-year-old Albert Lamar Thomas of Ontario.
Police withheld the name of the third man because his relatives have not been notified.
FBI arrest of Most Wanted Fugitive Saenz detailed
LA Weekly points out that the arrest of Jose Luis Saenz was facilitated by a Mexican deportation of the mafia hit-man, not an extradition. The mag profiled Saenz in its 2010 cover piece titled: “East Los Angeles Hit Man Trained by Mexican Cartels“. He was wanted for a couple of street corner killings, the rape murder of his pregnant girlfriend and the slaying of a Whittier man in connection with a $600,000 drug debt.
This from LA Weekly:
For years, nobody has had a death wish strong enough to rat out Smiley for these killings, save for young Juan Pena. Dying several years ago of childhood leukemia, he fingered his blood brother Saenz for the executions on North Clarence Street.
But Smiley, with his intense black eyes and his quick, deviant mind, vanished from the local cops’ radar for 10 years — to Mexico for some of that time, the FBI says, where he morphed from East L.A. tagger and Cuatro Flats gang member to a connected, Mexican-cartel drug “soldier” — simply put, a high-level executioner, and then trafficker, operating on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border.
Here’s video of the Whittier slaying — warning it is graphic:
Elmo actor resigns — accused of child molestation
Kevin Clash
OK so the Elmo guy might be a perv — at least that’s what several accusers say. Kevin Clash, the actor, has resigned. He’s been Elmo for 28-years. He could do more than that if convicted.
This comes from the Associated Press:
Cecil Singleton
Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash resigned from “Sesame Street” on Tuesday amid allegations he sexually abused underage boys, bringing an end to a 28-year career in which he turned the furry red monster into one of the most beloved — and lucrative — characters on TV and in toy stores.
“Personal matters have diverted attention away from the important work ‘Sesame Street’ is doing and I cannot allow it to go on any longer,” the 52-year-old performer said in a statement. “I am deeply sorry to be leaving and am looking forward to resolving these personal matters privately.”
His departure came as a 24-year-old college student, Cecil Singleton, sued Clash for more than $5 million Tuesday, accusing the actor of engaging in sexual behavior with him when he was 15. Singleton charged that Clash made a habit of trolling gay chat lines for underage boys and meeting them for sex.
FBI arrests four LA men in alleged Taliban terror plot
Sohiel Omar Kabir
A plot to enlist local men in an Al Qaeda terror organization fell apart Monday night with the arrests of four Southern California residents.
Here’s what the Pasadena Star-News is reporting so far.:
According to the story the arrested men were identified as:
Sohiel Omar Kabir, 34, an Afghanistan native and former resident of Pomona; Ralph Deleon, 23, of Ontario and a native of the Philippines; Miguel Alejandro Santana Vidriales 21, of Upland; and Arifeen David Gojali, 21, of Riverside, a United States citizen, were arrested on suspicion of plotting to join Al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan in hopes of killing Americans.
… the four conspired to provide material support to terrorists in preparation for or in carrying out acts of terrorism.
You can read the full complaint here
Family, friends continue search for Megan Di Piazza, 33, missing woman from Montrose
The Glendale Police Department has now issued a bulletin seeking clues in its search for Megan DiPiazza, 33, missing since last Sunday. Here’s what the flier says:
The Glendale Police Department is asking for the public’s help in locating Megan Sue Dipiazza. She was last seen on the evening of November 11, 2012. A note was discovered “saying goodbye to her family.” Megan has a history of depression.
There is no indication of foul play. No suspicious activity has been identified. The Police Department would like to speak with Megan Dipiazza. The family is concerned for her welfare and has been working closely with the Police Department.
Last week a police spokesman said he believed DiPiazza was in the company of “people”. On Monday a second spokesman recanted that statement. Meanwhile, DiPiazza’s friends continue to search for her or her car, a “2013 Gray Toyota Scion.” The car has license plates of 6XJR885, but those plates may not be attached, according to Glendale PD.
#Dingdong … A Twinkie ad from the late 1960s
Hostess may be turning off the Twinkie machines. But if you are nostalgic, there’s always YouTube for classics like this one: