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DIAMOND BAR -- A man armed with a handgun robbed a Big Lots Wednesday night of an undisclosed amount.
Sheriff's Sgt. Mark Saldecke said no shots were fired and no one was injured during the 9 p.m. robbery at the store, 1139 S. Diamond Bar Blvd.
He said the robber was waiting outside the manager's office. When she stepped out, Saldecke said the suspect pulled out a gun and forced her back into the office.
The suspect also threatened to hurt her if she didn't take the money from the safe, according to the sergeant.
The man then ran out with the cash. He was described as a Latino, about 45 to 50, with a mustache, between 5 feet 8 inches to 6 feet tall and weighing between 160 to 180 pounds. He wore blue jeans and a denim jacket.
- From Staff Writer Ruby Gonzales

INDUSTRY -- A Diamond Bar man died and three other people were injured in a crash involving two cars and two big rigs early Saturday, authorities said.
Jonathan Guzman Vaca, 22, of Diamond Bar, died in the 2:50 a.m. crash on the eastbound 60 Freeway at Azusa Avenue, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner's Lt. Larry Dietz said.
It initially appeared that Vaca was entering the freeway from southbound Azusa Avenue in a 2003 Nissan 350Z when, "For reasons still under investigation, the driver was not able to control the Nissan as he entered the main portion of eastbound State Route 60," California Highway Patrol officials said in a written statement.
After entering the right-hand lane of the freeway, Vaca's Nissan was struck by a big rig, officials said.
"After being struck by the big rig," the CHP statement said, "the Nissan spun across into the No. 3 lane and was struck by another big rig."
The Nissan was forced into the center divider, and a 2000 Nissan Frontier SUV being driven by a 33-year-old Pomona man then struck the rear of the big rig, CHP officials said.
Fire Department paramedics pronounced Vaca dead at the scene, officials said.
The driver of the Nissan Frontier and one of the big rig drivers, a 27-year-old Anaheim man, were hospitalized with major injuries, according to the CHP. A 64-year-old Fontana man who was driving the other big rig suffered minor injuries.
All but one lane of the freeway were shut down as officials examined the scene early Saturday.
Officers from the Santa Fe Springs office of the CHP are continuing their investigation.

DIAMOND BAR -- Arraignment was postponed Tuesday for a Diamond Bar teacher who authorities allege was having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old student.
Steven Shane Andrews, 41, was scheduled to be arraigned in Pomona Superior Court, but the proceedings were postponed, court officials said.
Andrews, a teacher at Lorbeer Middle School, faces 18 felony counts stemming from an alleged relationship with the girl from May through September, according to a criminal complaint filed in Superior Court by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Andrews is scheduled to return to court Nov. 1 for arraignment on the charges, officials said.
The defendant is being held at Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles in lieu of $450,000 bail.
The girl told investigators that she had a sexual relationship with Andrews while she was in the eighth grade at Lorbeer, in the 2010-2011 school year, sheriff's officials said.
The school is in the Pomona Unified School District.
The defendant surrendered to deputies on Sept. 30 at a sheriff's station in Walnut.
Andrews faces six counts each of sexual penetration with a foreign object and unlawful sexual intercourse with a child, three counts of lewd acts with a child, two counts of oral copulation with a child under 16 and one count of first-degree residential burglary, according to the criminal complaint.

George and Jennifer Dejongh, 34, are shown in video below shortly after their capture in Mexico nearly two weeks ago. Jennifer is accused of taking her children to Mexico after temporary custody was awarded to their grandfather Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea.
She claims the children were abused by their father, Miller's son Brian.
An attorney for the Millers denied the accusations last week.

DIAMOND BAR -- A young man was hospitalized with serious injuries early Friday after his car struck a tree along Diamond Bar Boulevard, authorities said.
The crash was reported just after 7 a.m. on Diamond Bar Boulevard near Temple Avenue, Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Mario Estrada said.
The young man was driving southbound on Diamond Bar Boulevard when, for reasons that remained under investigation, the car veered toward the center of the road and struck a tree on the center median, the sergeant said. No other vehicles were believed to be involved in the crash.
The driver, a 25-year-old Ontario man, was flown to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center with with major injuries but expected to survive, Estrada said.

WALNUT -- Four years after the unsolved shooting death of a retired police sergeant and school teacher outside his Walnut handyman business, detectives and family members are renewing their calls to bring his killer to justice.
Ruben Whittington, 61, of Diamond Bar, had just left his Mr. Handyman business in the 300 block of South Lemon Avenue on July 29, 2007, when he was fatally shot, sheriff's investigators said.
No motive has been established in the killing, and nothing was believed to have been stolen from Whittington.
"It's just so hard to understand what the person wanted enough to kill him," said his wife, Marsha Kramer. "I will never understand. The worst part of the anger and the frustration is it literally got them nothing."
Whittington had noticed a flat tire on his SUV and was waiting for a tow truck when he was shot, authorities said.
"Our best guess is he couldn't get the lug nut off for some reason, he called AAA," Kramer said. "As he was waiting for the tow, he was killed."
Between five and 10 minutes passed between the time Whittington called AAA and the time the driver arrived and found him dead.
Investigators have been left with no witnesses and no solid leads to follow, Detective Kevin Lowe of the Los Angeles County sheriff's Homicide Bureau said.
"It's a frustrating case for us," Lowe said, adding that detectives continue to pursue the killer.
The leading theory in the shooting is that Whittington was surprised by someone who tried to rob him, the detective said. But he added he could also not rule out the possibility of some type of personal dispute "that we didn't know about."
Having been retired from the LAPD for 13 years at the time of the killing, Lowe said it was unlikely the shooting had anything to do with his previous career as a Los Angeles police officer.
Whittington resisted his attacker, Lowe said.
"There were defensive wounds," he said. "There was a struggle, I believe over the gun. It was a struggle for his life. He put up a good fight."
Whittington was ultimately shot in the torso and died at the scene.
Though his status as a retired police sergeant allowed Whittington to carry a concealed handgun, he didn't arm himself, Kramer said.
"We really talked about that," she said. "His thought was, honestly, it's pretty easy to disarm an older person."
It did not appear that the killer intentionally flattened Whittington's tire prior to the killing, Lowe said. A nail was found in the tire of Whittington's SUV that appeared to have been there for some time.
Whittington, a Vietnam veteran, was born and raised in the Philadelphia area before coming to California to join the LAPD in 1974, his wife said.
"He loved being a cop, and it suited him so well because he was a community service kind of guy," she said.
After his retirement from police work, he spent 10 years teaching law enforcement at high schools through the La Puente Valley Regional Occupational Program.
"As it turned out, he loved it," Kramer said. "Besides liking the kids and wanting to talk to them, he tried to get them to do really productive things in their lives. He recruited many officers into the LAPD."
In 2005, he started his handyman business.
She described her husband as an "extremely sociable" man who quickly made friends with everyone he met.
Whittington is survived by son, Joseph, 29, and daughter, Emily, 27.
Kramer said she was thankful for the detectives and community since her husband's slaying.
"They've been really gracious to us," she said.
Kramer and Lowe both said they hope someone has information regarding this killing and implored anyone who may have information to call sheriff's homicide investigators at 323-890-5500.
With all leads in the case drying up, Lowe said, "we'll take any help we can get."

PHOTO of Ruben Whittington courtesy of family members

DIAMOND BAR -- Officials filed charges Tuesday including possession of an assault weapon, animal cruelty, drug possession and child endangerment against a Hacienda Heights man and his wife, authorities said Thursday. an investigation into alleged extortion
Sheriff's gang investigators first began looking into Sheng Hui "Sunny" Chen, 37, and his wife Yulan Hu, 31, due to allegations of gang intimidation, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said in a written statement.
Sheriff's gang investigators received a tip in April that Chen was involved in exporting Chinese immigrants by representing himself as a high-ranking member of the "United Bamboo" gang, the statement said.
"Unfortunately, we were not able to locate any victims who would cooperate with us on the extortion," Sgt. Steve Kim of the sheriff's Asian Gang Task Force. "They're too scared."
The probe did, however, yield evidence of the other crimes, Kim said.
Residents of a home Chen was suspected of occupying for several months found an illegal AK-47 assault rifle in the home allegedly left behind by Chen, authorities said.
Deputies from the sheriff's Asian Gang Team carried out a search warrant on Chen's home on Del Prado Drive in Hacienda Heights and arrested the couple on June 22.
Methamphetamine was found in the home's bathroom, in easy reach of Chen's young children (ages 8 and 9), Kim said.
Deputies also found 15 large dogs being held in unacceptable conditions, he added.
"Some of the dogs were kept in the garage without proper ventilation during extremely hot weather," Kim said. "They were kept in crates that were much too small for their size."
The other 10 or so dogs of various breeds were kept in a backyard kennel, officials said.
"However, the kennel did not have a cover to shield the dogs from sunlight and it was too small to house all the dogs. Several of the dogs were obviously malnourished," the sheriff's statement said.
Chen also owns owns a pet shop -- Teddy Bear Life House -- in the 1400 block of Nogales Avenue in Rowland Heights, officials said.
Chen was charged Tuesday with possession of an assault weapon, felony impersonation for falsely identifying himself to officers, felony animal cruelty, felony possession of methamphetamine and two misdemeanor counts of child endangerment, Kim said.
His wife Hu was charged with misdemeanor counts of possession of methamphetamine, animal cruelty and child endangerment.
Chen is due in Pomona Superior Court for arraignment July 14, Los Angeles County District Attorney's spokeswoman Jane Robison said. Hu's initial court date was not available.
The children were taken into protective custody and released to relatives, officials said.
Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control officials seized the dogs and are conducting an investigation, which will include looking into his pet shop, Kim said.
No one at the pet store answered the telephone Thursday.
Additionally, authorities said, investigators believe Chen had plans to open an illegal nightclub in the Rowland Heights area.
"(He) was soliciting young Asian women to work in his illegal nightclub he was preparing to open somewhere in the Rowland Heights area," Kim said.
Chen's possible gang ties remained under investigation.
According to sheriff's booking records, Chen and Hu were released from jail the day after their June 22 arrest after posting $50,000 and $30,000 bail, respectively.
Officials said both are Chinese nationals who came to the U.S. on tourist visas.
Though officials were unable to bring extortion-related charges against Chen, Kim said the investigation continues, and he encourages any potential extortion victims to report it to the sheriff's department.
"If anybody wants to come forward and tell us they've been victimized by this man, we'd love to talk to them," he said.

LOS ANGELES -- A Southern California woman accused of killing her ex-boyfriend and pushing his body parts down the street in a trash can may have acted for financial gain in a case rapidly expanding across three counties, an official said Thursday.

Investigators have surveillance video showing Carmen Montenegro, 51, using credit and ATM cards belonging to the victim, Samuel Wiggins Jr., after he disappeared on April 20, said David Hidalgo, supervisor of the San Bernardino County district attorney's family violence unit. Montenegro also used the 63-year-old Wiggins' car in the days after his disappearance, he said.

Her public defender, Rebecca Taft, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Montenegro has pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder and is being held on $1 million bail.

She was arrested Sunday at a house in Ontario, a San Bernardino County city 40 miles east of Los Angeles, after neighbors called police to say a woman was dragging what appeared to be body parts down the street in a 30-gallon trash bin.

Police found a torso and legs at the address, which was the home of some of Montenegro's relatives, and later discovered a head and arms in two large flower pots that Montenegro and her son delivered on Mother's Day to another relative's address in Bell Gardens, near Los Angeles.

The body parts all have been identified as Wiggins' and an autopsy was under way Thursday to determine how Wiggins was killed, authorities said.

Montenegro's two adult children were arrested late Wednesday on suspicion of helping their mother dispose of the remains.

Daniel Ortiz, 25, and Chanel Alicia Ortiz, 26, both of Riverside, were stopped in Rancho Cucamonga and could be charged as early as Friday, Hidalgo said.

The children remained jailed Thursday and it was not immediately clear if they had retained attorneys.

"It's hard to comprehend that someone could be so callous and pushing body parts down the street in a trash can like it was nothing," Hidalgo said. "She was desperate and she was looking for people to help her dispose of the body."

A woman who ansered the phone at Wiggins' Diamond Bar home Thursday afternoon said family members did not wish to comment.

Authorities believe Montenegro killed Wiggins at his home in Diamond Bar, in Los Angeles County, and then transported the remains to her relative's home in Ontario, where she buried the body parts. She dug several deep holes and told relatives she was re-doing the garden, Hidalgo said.

Investigators have also discovered bloody carpet at a home in Riverside where Montenegro was renting storage space, Hidalgo said. The carpet was in a large cardboard box that was used to deliver a sofa and is believed to have come from the victim's house.
At some point, Montenegro uncovered the body and put the head and arms in flower pots that were delivered to the Bell Gardens address, he said.

A family member of Montenegro's, Matthew Bell, said he saw Montenegro in a hole in the backyard of his grandmother's house on Sunday. He said he also saw her throw body parts in the trash can and that she offered him $5,000 to help dispose of the remains.

Bell said he instead went to call police and that Montenegro followed him with the trash can, still pleading for help.

She was arrested about 200 yards from the home.