Covina: May 2008 Archives

A 20-year-old man was stabbed to death Saturday night behind a Covina apartment complex. Detectives have little information, no suspects or motives. Here's an excerpt:

COVINA - A local man was found stabbed to death late Saturday behind a Covina Boulevard apartment complex, authorities said. Frank Montes, 20, was pronounced dead at the scene, said Los Angeles County Department of Coroner Lt. Cheryl MacWillie.

Sheriff's deputies responded to a call reporting a fight about 9:30 p.m. in the 19500 block of Covina Boulevard in an unincorporated county area near Covina when they found Montes suffering from multiple stab wounds, said Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Aura Sierra.

Montes was pronounced dead at 9:45 p.m. in a parking lot, MacWillie said.

COVINA - A man and teen were arrested late Saturday on suspicion of tagging 22 different locations on Azusa Avenue, police said.
Adrian Mejia, 18, and a 17-year-old boy, whose name was not released due to his age, were arrested on suspicion of felony vandalism and possession of vandalism tools, said Covina police Sgt. Gregg Peterson. Both are from El Monte.
Both admitted to the graffiti, which totalled nearly $2,000 in damage, Peterson said.
The suspected taggers were arrested about 9:30 p.m. in the 900 block of North Azusa Avenue after scrawling graffiti on a business in plain view of a police officer, Peterson said.
Both admitted to the graffiti spree, he added.
Mejia is being held in lieu of $5,000 bail, Peterson said, and the juvenile was cited and released to his parents. 

Reporter Brian Day's story on Tuesday's officer involved shooting in Covina has the first actual quotes by representatives of Glenn Patrick Rose's family.

Here's the story top:

COVINA - Details continue to emerge about a fatal officer-involved shooting earlier this week and the local man who was killed.

The driver, Glenn Patrick Rose, 25, was shot to death by police. Rose and his girlfriend, 24-year-old Sarah Morales, were both zapped with a Taser prior to the shooting and Rose had been convicted twice before of fleeing police, according to police and court documents.

Rose and Morales were inside an allegedly stolen pickup truck when he rammed a car being used for cover by a sheriff's deputy and a California Highway Patrol officer, said sheriff's Lt. Dan Coleman.

Records show that Rose was convicted of evading police in July 2001 and May 2002. He had also been found guilty of grand theft and driving a vehicle without the owner's consent.

Brian Claypool and Eric Maier, attorneys representing Rose's family, said Rose had no history of violent crime and that the 6- and 7-year-old convictions only bolster their belief that he was merely trying to evade officials, not attack them.

"When the officers opened fire, they didn't know that (Rose had a criminal record)," Claypool said, adding that past deeds do not excuse bad decisions made by officials.

"He was really doing a lot to change his life," Claypool added. "He was really working hard."

Though Rose had a drug problem in the past, he had been sober for more than four years, Claypool said.

After two days of intensive reporting Brian Day is set to report several new revelations that have emerged from his investigation into the slaying of Glenn Patrick Rose.

Among those revelations, Rose had been Tasered prior to an officer involved shooting that led to his death. Additionally he had been convicted of participating in at least two police pursuits in 2001 and 2002.

On Tuesday morning, Rose was shot to death by deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and officers from the California Highway Patrol. The shooting occurred after Rose led officers on a high speed pursuit from Walnut through West Covina.

Rose, a woman who was riding in the car with him, and the officers ended up in a Covina alleyway near First and Puente avenues in Covina.

Once there, officers said Rose attempted to steal another car before attempting to run them down.

As many as 15 shots were fired and Rose was killed.

Here's the new information:

• Rose was Tasered before he was shot, according to an autopsy performed by the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner.
• Rose had a criminal record in Los Angeles County that included convictions for fleeing officers in 2001 and 2002. His record also included convictions for grand theft and driving a vehicle without the owner's consent.
• An attorney hired by Rose's family to possibly file a wrongful death lawsuit against the county told Day in an interview Friday he was unaware of convictions, but believes it bolsters his case; as Rose was never charged with violent crimes stemming from previous pursuits.
• Rose's family and friends as well as the attorney told also told reporter Day that Rose, who previously had a substance abuse problem, had turned his life around and was attending a 12-step program.
• Rose's girlfriend Sarah Rebecca Morales remains in custody for her role in the pursuit. She is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Much of this continues to be debated in a Topix forum that's been pretty heated.

As a sample, here's an anonymous comment from a person identified as a friend of both Rose and Morales:

 I knew Sarah and Patrick very well. I was in sober living with Patrick and knew Sarah from her job at Alpha Omega. She was and is a sweet young lady. It is so sad to see what the drugs and alcohol do to us and how we turn into a totally different person once we are on them. I am in recovery and have been sober for four years. I know the strugles of staying clean and sober. I relapsed many times befor I got the four years I have today. The one thing that AA tell us is,(If we do not stop doing the drugs and drinking and work the Spiritual Program put befor us, that we are doomed to Jails, Institutions or Death. It is just really sad and ashame that Patrick had to draw the death card, because when he was sober he was a very good person and helped many.) I have seen so many guys that I care about and that have been through the sober living that I went through and managed go back to prison and institutions that it really hurts. But, Sarah and all of the men that have had to go to jail or back to prison are the lucky ones, because they can resume there lives once they have served there time,

The death of Glenn Patrick Rose following a pursuit that ended in a hail of gunfire in a Covina alley is generating a lot of comment from friends and family in a Topix discussion of Amanda Baumfeld's story.

Here's a sample comment from someone identified as JoJo of Covina:

Those of us that knew Patrick know what cause's this type of behavior. Those of you that were close to him know exactly what I'm saying.

Several other commenters have taken up a defense of Rose on the site.

Meanwhile, Rose's girlfriend Sarah Rebecca Morales, 24, of Pomona was arraigned Thursday on three counts of assault on a police officer or firefighter and two counts of taking or driving a vehicle without the owner's consent.

She's being held in lieu of $60,000 bail at the same Lynwood facility that housed Paris Hilton last summer, according to the sheriff's inmate locator.

BTW, here's a link to the Trib's discussion forum, which is hosted by Topix.

Here's some photos by Walt Mancini, who was at the scene of the OIS in Covina this morning. These are the ones we can put on the net. There were some pretty gruesome shots of the dead man that we will withhold. Walt's captions are next to the photos.

Sheriff's deputies and California Higway Patrol Officers chased a
stolen car Tuesday, May 13, 2008 into an alley adjacent to The
Lexington Apartment 327 South First Avenue, where gunfire  broke out.
No deputies  or CHP officers were hurt in the shooting but the suspect
were shot and killed. (SGVN/Staff Photo by Walt Mancini/SVCity)

A bullet from crime scene on the door of The Lexington apartment
building at 323 South First Avenue in Covina.  Sheriff's deputies and
California Higway Patrol Officers chased a stolen car Tuesday, May 13, 2008 into an alley adjacent to The Lexington Apartment 327 South First
Avenue, where gunfire  broke out. No deputies  or CHP officers were
hurt in the shooting but the suspect were shot and killed. (SGVN/Staff
Photo by Walt Mancini/SVCity)

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***One is dead after three officers shot at a suspect attempting to flee. One body remains uncovered and in plain view in the street.**  

There are reports that as many as 16 shots were fired at the end of the pursuit.***  Several people who live in the neighborhood are not allowed ot leave their residences while the crime scene is being investigated. Officers opened fire when they feared for their safety***

An officer involved shooting on First Avenue in Covina is under investigation this morning, officials said. The shooting apparently occurred at the tail end of a high speed pursuit. Few details were available early Tuesday.

Sheriff's Homicide investigators remained on scene at 8:30 a.m., more than six hours after the shooting occurred. Although the shooting occurred in Covina the officers involved were apparently members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and California Highway Patrol.

The Los Angeles County Department of Coroner has not been called to roll out to the scene, officials said.

No further details were available.

For LA County, the event marked the third such shooting over the past three days. On Sunday morning,  Officers in Inglewood opened fire on a car they believed was involved in a shooting. Michael Byoune, 19, was killed, driver Larry White, 19, was injured.

The CHP shot and killed a DUI suspect in Westlake, officials said.

The shooting happened just after midnight on West 7th Street at South Westmoreland Avenue, CHP Officer Patrick Kimball said.

"After the suspect exited vehicle, per the orders of the officers, that suspect produced a handgun," CHP Sgt. Mark Garrett told reporters at the scene. "At that point the officers, in self-defense, fired on the suspect, and he was hit more than once and succumbed to his injuries at the scene."

After the shooting, a man that had been riding in the suspect's car was handcuffed and put into the back of a CHP patrol vehicle. He is reportedly being questioned as a witness.

**An officer involved shooting in San Jacinto in Riverside County has left two others dead:

SAN JACINTO, Calif. -- Sheriff's deputies killed two people suspected of shooting at a security guard at the Soboba Casino on Monday night, according to broadcast reports.

Riverside County sheriff's deputies initially received calls that the security guard was shot and wounded, but when deputies arrived they discovered that the guard's shack was hit but the man was not wounded, a sergeant said.

After the shooting near the guard shack, the suspects then fled in a vehicle on the Idyllwild National Forest (74) Highway into the hills just east of the casino, engaging in a running shootout with Riverside County sheriff's deputies and a SWAT unit. The shooters also fired at least six rounds toward a sheriff's helicopter, but the chopper was not struck, the sergeant said.

  

 

Here's the top of a story I just filed for tomorrow's newspaper:

The District Attorney's Office added 29 more charges Wednesday to its case against a Covina man accused of using Craigslist and eBay to scam renters and potential investors.

Prosecutors accuse Pardeep Singh, 30, of defrauding 22 potential renters of $2,400 each. Wednesday's filing follows a seven-count criminal complaint brought against Singh last week. He remains at large.

Two of the counts in the amended complaint involve the suspected theft of $185,000 from Kenneth Yandoli, a Glendale man.

"I hope something comes of it," said Jennifer Yandoli, who along with her husband loaned Singh $100,000 in September in exchange for a trust deed on Singh's Covina home at 5441 N. Calera Ave., according to public records.

Pardeep Singh has left quite a trail of financial destruction in his wake.

You might remember Singh as the Covina man who rented out his home to several unsuspecting tenants via Craigslist.

Turns out he may have taken a friend for at least $100,000 as well. The friend, Kenneth Yandoli, of Glendale, said he gave Singh $100,000 in return for a deed of trust in the home at 5541 Calera Avenue in Covina.

Then we stumbled upon this great discussion of Singh and his LLC on a couple of websites including the TUG BBS, a group for Timeshare users.

Perhaps the best tidbits of information came from Singh's user profile on eBay. As well as this auction for a nonexistent property near the Las Vegas strip.

We're going to stay on top of this for the rest of the week. I'm still waiting for calls back from eBay, the Las Vegas PD, IC3 and the FBI, no doubt Singh is on all their radar screens.

This is a photo of Pardeep Singh wanted for his role in a Craigslist scam gone bad.

Amanda Baumfeld has been all over this story and plans on filing an update this afternoon. In the meantime here's a snippet of what she wrote for Friday's newspaper:

This is a very well put together scam," said Capt. Joe Hartshorne of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. "The families are truly victims. They could not have seen this coming."

A hold has been placed on Singh's passport and a silver Volvo left in the driveway has been impounded, officials said.

Renters began learning of the apparent fraud Monday night.

The Los Angeles Times didn't touch the story in its print version, but did post a blog entry at LA Now.  The story is accurate, but we're wondering where they got the picture of a "For Rent " sign.

None of the photographers or reporters who actually visited the scene at 5441 Calera Avenue saw a sign quite like that.