Recently in Irwindale Category

    The death of retired Pasadena Police Lt. David Richter has highlighted the need for responsible journalism in a time when tabloid reporting and the sentiments of bloggers are confused with news.

    Richter's abandoned car was found by a water-filled pit in Irwindale last January. Police assumed the retired lieutenant had either taken his own life or simply walked away from his financial troubles.

    The later discovery of Richter's corpse and a firearm under a nearby overpass seems to corroborate the theory that Richter took his own life. But then there's the conspiracy theorists, and admittedly the case possesses all the potential of a Law and Order episode.

    Thursday, I read an article by Andre Coleman of the Pasadena Weekly. Buried on page 13, the article uses an unnamed source and anonymous letter to create speculation amongst readers. After a short recap of the facts, Coleman delves into a lengthy digress about an anonymous letter sent to members of the Pasadena City Council.  The letter alleges everything from police malfeasance to racism.

    Coleman's sublimation of this anonymous letter leads to another anonymous source:

"According to an earlier conversation with one coroner's office employee who did not wish to be named, among the factors that may have led authorities to reopen the case (the case was never closed) was that a gun found near Richter's body appeared to have been fired four times, and one bullet remained in the weapon."

    Keeping in mind that they are a tabloid, I find it alarming that the Pasadena Weekly published this story. Had someone in the coroner's office made the statement, a statement that Los Angeles County Coroner Assistant Chief Ed Winter doubts the legitimacy of, I would have written it off as conjecture, rather than present it as news. How would someone in the coroner's office know this information? According to Winter, homicide detectives would have taken the weapon and run ballistics on it, not the coroners office. While the article spends ample time on anonymous sources, it fails to mention Richter's financial possible motives for Richter to commit suicide.

    Prior to writing my article on Richter, I searched for reliable information, unfortunately reliable sources of information weren't permitted to comment.

    Friday I spoke with a psychic who claims the spirit of David Richter awakens her every morning seeking justice for his murder.

    Monday morning I listened to a voice-mail from an anonymous caller who presented himself as law enforcement by using the word "we" often in his rant. I listened to the message several times in an ill-fated attempt to extract meaningful insight.

"You'll never find out what happened, because that's what happens to us good cops when we make promises we can't keep."

What promises? Promises to financial institutions involving adjustable rate mortgages?

    After racking my brain for three days I had an epiphany: there probably isn't any credible information indicating Richter's death was anything but a suicide.

    Let's face it, Richter was a retired cop and retired cops kill themselves. By the age of 55 Richter had spent his entire adult life in law enforcement, and didn't have a spouse or children.

    Police who survive years of service, only to take their own lives after retirement is not a new concept. My own grandfather retired after 30 years as a Philadelphia homicide detective, and spent the next ten years drinking himself to death.

    Sure, it's possible that Richter caught a bullet during an old-west-style shootout with a crooked cop. However, it's far more likely that Richter was lamenting his career, his impending financial doom, and a Christmas without not only kin but comrade, last holiday season when he died.

    Regardless of what happened to Richter, it's important that journalists remember their role: to report the news not create it. That's why I take it as a compliment when bloggers like Aaron Proctor recognize me with a "ham and egger" award for "stealing" a story. So long as the Associated Press continues to recognize the difference between news coverage and misleading narratives, there just might be hope for the media and the role it should play in our society.

My guess is the beers will stay the same. I prefer Miller High Life (The Champagne of Bottled Beer) in the "thirsty-two" ounce clear bottle.

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IRWINDALE- Crews continue to clean up a tanker spill after four cars of a freight train derailed this morning on Azusa Canyon Road.

A few weeks ago, I had a surprise late-night encounter with three coyotes roaming the streets of Los Feliz.

It seemed like feral dogs were everywhere that week. Photographer Watchara Phomicinda snapped a picture of a skinny one rooting about an empty field in Irwindale. I can't remember where else they turned up, but they were around.

Last year at this time it was black bears. Bears in Monrovia; bears in Duarte; bears in Bradbury; bears in Azusa.

Old-timers probably know this already, but I was fascinated to find out that predators are nothing new in the San Gabriel Valley or Whittier for that matter.

Grizzlies, wolves, cougars and coyotes roamed pretty freely in these parts right up until the turn of the 20th century.
They're pretty much gone. If only we could say the same about their human counterparts.

***
Whoops.
In my haste to write a brilliant column each week, I've been making grammatical errors. To all you English teachers out there, my deepest apologies.

I had this pointed out to me via a marked-up column sent in the mail by Ms. Beryl Collins of Arcadia.

The mark-up, done nicely in red ink, actually contains just three sentences.
It begins with, "What school did you attend?"

To answer that I guess I have to tell you a little about myself. For the most part I am a product of the California public school system.

After my parents moved to California, I attended Laura M. Hansen Elementary in Saratoga and Joaquin Miller Junior High in San Jose.

The Jesuits took over from there, and although there were some summer school classes at Lynbrook High, I graduated from Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose.

Since then, I've attended UCSD, San Jose State, Pasadena City College and Mt. San Antonio College.

That seems like a lot of education. Even after all that, I still don't know how to construct a proper sentence.

The sentence below was one example pointed out by Ms. Collins. It appeared in a column that ran in this newspaper on June 3:

"I'm sure there's countless similar stories."

She suggests I should have constructed the sentence as: "I'm sure there are countless similar stories."

All I can say is that I'm really glad she hasn't been reading my text messages.

U no wot i mean?

Thanks for the tip, Ms. Collins, I'm sure there are countless similar examples.

***

Are the copper thieves getting bold or what?

Whomever hit an Edison substation in Whittier knew exactly what to take, and absconded with copper grounding wire. It could fetch a tidy sum at the recycling center.

What's probably most irritating about the theft is that Edison had to turn off the power in most of Pico Rivera and portions of Whittier on a hot afternoon.

One can only hope the thief's refrigerator was affected and his (or her) beer got warm.

Here's what we know about the investigation into the missing persons case involving a former police officer who disappeared just after Christmas:

1). The "badly decomposed" body of former Pasadena police Lt. David Richter was found beneath a freeway overpass in Irwindale last Thursday.

2). There was a weapon at the scene, according to Ed Winter of the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner.

3). Richter's girlfriend, Noah Beltran, personal assistant to interim Pasadena police Chief Chris Vicino, has been placed on paid administrative leave for "misleading investigators" who were searching for Richter.

4) One of Richter's cars, which had been originally reported as missing, turned up in the garage of a friend.

5) Despite the discovery of a gun at the scene, no suicide note was recovered from his body, either car or his home.

6) Investigators from Irwindale, who recovered the body have been asked to remain silent about the circumstances.

Questions of the day: Is there something more sinister than a suicide going on here? Why all the mystery?

The discovery of a missing Pasadena police lieutenant’s decomposed body is one of those head scratchers that come along every now and again on the police beat.

David Henry Richter, 55, of Arcadia was reported missing just after Christmas by his father, a Palm Springs doctor. Right after that, investigators found Richter’s 2007 Lexus abandoned on Rivergrade Road in Irwindale.

From there, bloodhounds led police to a chalky, deep pond at the bottom of a nearby gravel pit. Divers searched the pit and the Coast Guard brought in sonar equipment, all in hopes of finding Richter’s body.

He wasn’t found, and the case remained unsolved until late last week.

On Thursday a Caltrans worker picking up trash underneath an overpass where the 605 crosses Rivergrade Road discovered Richter’s body. By then it was so badly decomposed that determining how he died apparently isn’t a slam dunk.

We have learned that he was clothed. There was no note at the scene and “he had a weapon with him,” according to Ed Winter, assistant chief of the coroner’s department.

“It’s a probable suicide, but we’ve deferred the ruling pending additional stuff,” Winter said.

Among the “additional stuff” is likely an interview with Richter’s friends, particularly girlfriend Noah Beltran, a one-time assistant to interim Pasadena police Chief Chris Vicino.

Following Richter’s disappearance, Beltran was placed on paid administrative leave by the department for allegedly giving false information to Arcadia police investigators searching for her boyfriend.

No one will say what that false information was, or how long Beltran will remain on leave.

It has been reported that a second car belonging to Richter, originally thought missing, turned up in the garage of an acquaintance, Arcadia police told us in January. They did not identify the acquaintance.

As for Richter, he was born in Pasadena, grew up here, graduated from John Muir High School and pretty much went to work for the Pasadena PD right after that, according to his father, Dr. Henry Richter of Palm Springs. Investigators notified Dr. Henry Richter that his son’s body had been found, but there was no surprise.

“We didn’t expect a different outcome,” Henry said. “We emotionally said goodbye when his car was found in January and bloodhounds tracked him to the gravel pit. It was pretty clear to us then that he was gone.”

Henry does defend Beltran, whom he described as “delightful, but fragile.”

“I don’t know all the details,” he said. “What happened to her happened early on. I thought it was unfair.”

Richter will be laid to rest in a small, private ceremony, according to his dad.

“That’s what he wanted,” Henry said. “Beyond that we’re trying to sort things out. It’s not easy when a person doesn’t leave a note, a will or any trace.”

A body discovered under a freeway overpass on the 605 Freeway was identified as missing former Pasadena police Lieutenant David Richter, 55.

Richter has been missing for several months. According to the Pasadena Weekly, his girlfriend, an assistant to interim Chief Chris Vicino has been placed on administrative leave.

The coroner's office has not assigned a cause of death in the case, pending the outcome of toxicology reports.

Gotta love this photo. It's the Tribune Newsroom, circa 1961. Reporters angered the Irwindale City Council with a series of stories detailing corrpution in the city, which was incorporated in the mid-1950s.

Someone was apparently so mad they threatened the reporters, prompting West Covina to establish a police presence in the newsroom and some reporters to carry their own heat (as OJ would say).