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LONG BEACH -- A jury Thursday convicted a Whittier man of murdering a female friend in San Pedro woman in 2007 during a robbery.
Michael Bonfiglio, 34, was found guilty of the first-degree murder of 27-year-old Ginie Samayoa, 27, of San Pedro, who was found fatally shot in her car about two blocks from her home on Jan. 30, 2007, court officials said. He was also convicted of robbing the woman and conspiracy, and the jury also found true special allegations that a firearm was used in the crime and that the murder was committed during the course of a robbery.
"Justice was done in this instance," said Deputy District Attorney Julian Recana, who prosecuted the case.
Two other Whittier men -- Raul Tiscareno, 29, and Daniel Martinez, 28 -- are awaiting trial in connection with the same killing.
The three defendants and Samayoa were friends prior to the killing, and all four were together in her car when Samayoa was shot.
"Bonfiglio, Martinez and Tiscareno) were after Ginie Samayoa's laptop computer," Recana said. The laptop contained credit card numbers and other financial information.
"Ginie was involved in some type of identity theft and they wanted that computer," Recana said. "During the taking of the laptop, she was shot in the head."
Bonfiglio was ordered to return to Long Beach Superior Court May 25 for sentencing, when he faces life without the possibility of parole, officials said.
The three men killed Samayoa with a gunshot wound to the head as they robbed her of a laptop computer that contained credit card numbers and other information related to identity theft, prosecutor Julian Recana said.
Martinez, who allegedly fired the fatal shot, and Tiscareno are due in Long Beach Superior Court April 23 for trial.
LONG BEACH -- A jury is deliberating on the fate of one of three Whittier men accused of robbing and murdering a woman in 2007, officials said.
Michael Bonfiglio, 34, is the first of three defendants to go on trial for the Ginie Samayoa, 27, of San Pedro, who was found fatally shot in an alley two blocks from her home on Jan. 30, 2007, officials said.
Also accused in the case are Raul Tiscareno, 29, and Daniel Martinez, 28, both of Whittier. Tiscareno, who was already tried resulting in a hung jury last year, and Martinez are due back in court April 23 for a preliminary hearing, Deputy District Attorney Julian Recana said.
Though the suspects were eligible for the death penalty, officials elected to seek a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole against the three men, Recana said.
The three suspects are accused of fatally shooting Samayoa as they robbed her of a laptop containing credit card numbers and other information related to identity theft, the prosecutor said.
She was found wounded in the head and barely alive in her car parked in an alley about two blocks from her San Pedro home, Recana said. The car's engine was still running.
Samayoa died of her injuries a short time later.
Bonfiglio was arrested in connection with the killing Feb. 10, while Tiscareno was arrested Feb. 11 and Martinez was jailed Feb. 17, according to county booking records.
Martinez is accused of firing the gun that killed Samayoa.
LONG BEACH -- A Long Beach police officer accused of repeatedly assaulting and threatening his wife has been ordered to stand trial.
Brandon Preciado, 29, will reportedly be tried on 18 felony counts, including corporal injury to a spouse and assault with a deadly weapon.
The judge granted the defense's request to dismiss two counts of corporal injury to a spouse, citing insufficient evidence.
The alleged assaults occurred between Sept. 18 and Jan. 12 at the couple's Pico Rivera home.
Preciado's wife, Yessenia told the judge that her husband repeatedly struck and choked her and threatened at times to injure or kill her.
Preciado remains jailed without bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned March 14.
Police officials have not commented on Preciado's status at the department.
- From the Associated Press
Long Beach and a police officers group ask justices to overturn a Superior Court ruling that the city must provide the names of officers involved in shootings.
NORWALK -- Jury selection began Tuesday for two El Monte men charged with slashing the throat of a 20-year-old Bellflower woman and leaving her for dead in a rugged canyon.
Vincent Mendoza, 23, and Edward Meraz, 26, are each charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, aggravated mayhem and assault with a deadly weapon for the 2009 attack on Christina Ivonne Martinez, who was then 20 years old.
Prosecutors also allege the men personally inflicted great bodily injury on the victim and Mendoza used a knife to commit the crimes.
The charges stem from the Aug. 4, 2009, kidnapping of Martinez.
Martinez told police she was going to the beach with the men, who were her friends, when she got into their car.
Instead, she was tied up, beaten and then driven to Whittier where she was unbound and forced out of the car. One of the men then allegedly slashed her throat before pushing her down the rocky canyon.
Despite her injuries, Martinez was able to climb the steep grade. She then made her way to the back door of a house in the 6000 block of Altmark Avenue in Whittier where she was helped by a resident.
A Whittier Police Department officer later stopped a Mitsubishi and found the two defendants, along with a third suspect, a shovel and a rope, police said.
The third suspect, Jose Ayala, pleaded no contest on March 17 to a single count of attempted murder and was sentenced to 39 years to life in prison.
There was no word Tuesday if he would testify against his former co-defendants.
If Meraz and Mendoza are convicted on all counts, they face face a life prison term as well.
A jury was chosen Tuesday for Mendoza. A separate jury will be selected Wednesday for Meraz, according to court staff.
The two men will be tried simultaneously, with the two juries seated in the same courtroom to save time and expenses.
Opening statements are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. Thursday in Dept. D of the Norwalk Superior Court.
- From our counterparts over at the Long Beach Press Telegram.
Vincent Mendoza, 23, and Edward Meraz, 26, are each charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, aggravated mayhem and assault with a deadly weapon for the 2009 attack on Christina Ivonne Martinez, who was then 20 years old.
Prosecutors also allege the men personally inflicted great bodily injury on the victim and Mendoza used a knife to commit the crimes.
The charges stem from the Aug. 4, 2009, kidnapping of Martinez.
Martinez told police she was going to the beach with the men, who were her friends, when she got into their car.
Instead, she was tied up, beaten and then driven to Whittier where she was unbound and forced out of the car. One of the men then allegedly slashed her throat before pushing her down the rocky canyon.
Despite her injuries, Martinez was able to climb the steep grade. She then made her way to the back door of a house in the 6000 block of Altmark Avenue in Whittier where she was helped by a resident.
A Whittier Police Department officer later stopped a Mitsubishi and found the two defendants, along with a third suspect, a shovel and a rope, police said.
The third suspect, Jose Ayala, pleaded no contest on March 17 to a single count of attempted murder and was sentenced to 39 years to life in prison.
There was no word Tuesday if he would testify against his former co-defendants.
If Meraz and Mendoza are convicted on all counts, they face face a life prison term as well.
A jury was chosen Tuesday for Mendoza. A separate jury will be selected Wednesday for Meraz, according to court staff.
The two men will be tried simultaneously, with the two juries seated in the same courtroom to save time and expenses.
Opening statements are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. Thursday in Dept. D of the Norwalk Superior Court.
- From our counterparts over at the Long Beach Press Telegram.
From the Associated Press:
A teenage couple from Compton have been charged with killing the girl's parents and burying them in shallow graves in Norwalk and Long Beach.
Los Angeles County prosecutors say 15-year-old girl Cynthia Alvarez and 16-year-old Giovanni Gallardo were charged Friday as adults with counts of murder with special circumstances.
They're jailed and face life in prison if convicted.
Prosecutors say they killed the girl's mother, 58-year-old Gloria Villalta, last week in her Compton home, hid the body and then stabbed and beat her stepfather with a bat when 51-year-old Jose Lara came home.
The mother was found buried Saturday in vacant lot in Norwalk. Lara was uncovered Thursday in Long Beach.
Prosecutors say the killings were prompted by friction between the girl and her parents, partly over her relationship with Gallardo.
NORWALK -- Police have linked a body found in a shallow grave in Norwalk over the weekend and another found buried in long Beach Wednesday to the investigation into a missing Compton couple, authorities said.
A teenage boy and girl were arrested on suspicion of murder in the case, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said in a written statement.
Sheriff's and coroner's investigators unearthed the body of a woman in Norwalk about 10 a.m. Saturday, officials said. It was buried just below the ground in the side yard of an abandoned property in the 11800 block of Norwalk Boulevard.
The woman remained listed Thursday as a Jane Doe at the coroner's office pending positive identification, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner Chief of Operations Craig Harvey said.
Concerned family members contacted sheriff's officials Tuesday to report a couple had gone missing under "suspicious circumstances," according to the sheriff's statement.
The following day, using information given to them by the family of the missing couple, investigators found a second body buried in a shallow grave in a vacant lot at Atlantic Avenue and Rates Boulevard, officials said. The second body also had not been identified Thursday.
The causes of deaths for both people remained under investigation.
A 16-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl have been booked on suspicion of murder in connection with the killings and were being held without bail at a juvenile detention facility, authorities said. Their cities of residency were not available.
"The female juvenile is related to the missing couple, but their exact relationship has not been disclosed," according to the sheriff's statement.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500.
A teenage boy and girl were arrested on suspicion of murder in the case, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said in a written statement.
Sheriff's and coroner's investigators unearthed the body of a woman in Norwalk about 10 a.m. Saturday, officials said. It was buried just below the ground in the side yard of an abandoned property in the 11800 block of Norwalk Boulevard.
The woman remained listed Thursday as a Jane Doe at the coroner's office pending positive identification, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner Chief of Operations Craig Harvey said.
Concerned family members contacted sheriff's officials Tuesday to report a couple had gone missing under "suspicious circumstances," according to the sheriff's statement.
The following day, using information given to them by the family of the missing couple, investigators found a second body buried in a shallow grave in a vacant lot at Atlantic Avenue and Rates Boulevard, officials said. The second body also had not been identified Thursday.
The causes of deaths for both people remained under investigation.
A 16-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl have been booked on suspicion of murder in connection with the killings and were being held without bail at a juvenile detention facility, authorities said. Their cities of residency were not available.
"The female juvenile is related to the missing couple, but their exact relationship has not been disclosed," according to the sheriff's statement.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500.
As seen below, deputies in both the Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties sheriff's departments are now facing allegations of committing sex acts with underage girls. In the Los Angeles County case, the alleged victim is a 16-year-old relative of the deputy. In San Bernardino County, two deputies are accused of having sex with a 17-year-old Explorer Scout:
Statement issued by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office:
LONG BEACH - A Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy accused of engaging in sex acts with a teenage girl is expected to be arraigned this afternoon, the District Attorney's Office announced.Deputy District Attorney Deborah Escobar of the Justice System Integrity Division said Orlando Denison, 34 (dob 8/16/76), is charged with two felony counts of oral copulation of a person under 18.Denison is expected to appear for arraignment in Department J of Long Beach Superior Court. The defendant was charged on May 5 in case No. NA088848 in a felony complaint for arrest warrant.Officers of the Long Beach Police Department arrested Denison without incident at his residence yesterday afternoon. The alleged offenses, which occurred in July 2010, involve a female relative who was 16 at the time.If convicted as charged, Denison faces a maximum sentence of three years, eight months in state prison. Bail for the defendant is recommended at $100,000.
From our counterparts at the San Bernardino Sun:
VICTORVILLE -- Another San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy has been arrested on suspicion of committing sex acts with a child in the department's explorer program, officials announced today.Sheriff's Deputy Anthony Benjamin, 30, a supervisor of the program in Victorville, was arrested late Wednesday and posted $100,000 bail this morning, San Bernardino County sheriff's officials said.Investigators suspect the sex acts occurred while the victim, a 17-year-old girl, was on ride-alongs with the deputy.Sheriff Rod Hoops said the explorer ride-along program will be suspended for 60 days and the entire program will be fully reviewed and overhauled.Benjamin is the second deputy in less than two weeks to be arrested on suspicion of having sex with a child in the program.Deputy Nathan Gastineau, 30, based at the sheriff's Highland station, was arrested in late April on suspicion of committing lewd acts with a child. Jason Anguiano, 27, of Rialto, suspected of having sex with the same girl, also was arrested.
LONG BEACH -- The 2008 Whittier Daily News Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year died early Friday in a car crash on the 605 Freeway.
Cameron Allan Gillett, 21, of Norwalk was killed in the 2:15 a.m. crash on the 605 Freeway, just south of Carson Street in Long Beach, coroner's officials said.
He was driving his 1998 Nissan Altima northbound when, "For reasons unknown, (Gillett) allowed the vehicle to drift off the road, down a dirt/grass embankment," California Highway Patrol Officer Jeremy Tolen said in a written statement. The car then went airborne and struck a concrete bridge abutment.
"Drugs and/or alcohol do not appear to be a factor in this collision," he added.
Authorities added that the investigation is ongoing.
"He was such a joy to be around," said Gillett's mother, Eileen Neal. "He was really kind to everyone. He always had a word to make you feel comfortable. He put you at ease."
Gillett was unrelenting in any goal he set for himself, whether on or off the track, she said.
"He'll work at something hard and he'll go to accomplish it," Neal said. "He was competing with himself to be better."
He is survived by his mother and step-father, Wilbert Saunders, as well as three brothers and a girlfriend.
"He just reached 21 (April 10). He was so excited," his mother said.
He has worked as a recreation aid for the City of La Mirada for the past three years, Neal said, serving as a coach and referee for children among other duties.
He enjoyed listening to music, playing video games and going to museums and the beach with his girlfriend, she added.
Gillett studied economics at California State University Long Beach, where he was a jumper for the track and field team.
On Sunday, Gillett was on the track for CSULB, where he took fourth place in the 400m dash at the 17th annual Asics Steve Scott Invitational in Irvine. His brothers, with whom Neal said her son was extremely close, were there to cheer him on.
As a track and field star for La Mirada High School, Gillett was named the Whittier Daily News' 2008 All-Area Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year. He was also an honor roll student and basketball forward at the high school.
During his high school career, he became the 2008 State long jump champion with a leap of 24 feet, 1 3/4 inches.
He earned three top 10 Big West Championships finishes in the long and triple jumps during the 2010 indoor season.
Last year, as La Mirada High School's only state champion, Gillett became the first inductee into the school's track and field hall of fame, La Mirada head track and field coach Ollie Lynch.
"He was definitely the best athlete I've ever coached in track and field, bar none," Lynch said.
"(But) he was humble. He came back every chance he got while he was at Long Beach State to help out our kids," Lynch said.
"He'd come out on a weekly basis, and he'd have a big old smile on his face. That smile, I'll never forget it."
Beyond his athletic achievements, Gillett was a positive and hard-working young man and a role model to those around him, Lynch said.
"He was just an amazing kid," Lynch said. "Always charismatic, everybody's friend, always doing the right thing. He was just a positive person that others could emulate and try to be like.
"He's going to be missed by everyone who ever met him. He's had an impact on an entire community."
Services had not been scheduled Friday.
PHOTO of Cameron Gillett courtesy of family members.
LONG BEACH -- After more than 25 years, a man has been arrested on suspicion of killing a woman whose body was found in the Angeles National Forest north of Azusa, authorities said.
Twenty-three-year-old aspiring model Joanne Marie Jones "seemingly disappeared in the city of Long Beach," on April 19, 1985, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said in a written statement.
Two and a half decades after leads dried up, Stafford Joel Spicer, 59, of Las Vegas was arrested Tuesday and booked on suspicion of murder, officials said.
He's accused of stabbing Jones to death after she left her boyfriend's Long Beach home on her way to work in West Covina on April 19, 1985, officials said.
Though Spicer was arrested while driving Jones' 1978 Chevrolet Camaro days after she went missing, based on the information detectives had at the time, "There was insufficient evidence to pursue murder charges against Spicer in a court of law," the statement said.
Jones' body was found abandoned in a remote area near Highway 39 and East Fork Road in the Angeles National Forest north of Azusa on June 8, 1985, officials said.
"In 2009, Sheriff's Homicide Cold Case Detective Steve Davis re-opened this case," the sheriff's statement said. "He uncovered additional biological evidence (DNA), and along with advances in technology and additional investigative follow-up, the case was presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, which determined there was sufficient evidence for a homicide case to be filed."
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and sheriff's homicide investigators served a warrant at Spicer's Las Vegas home and arrested him without incident about 5 p.m. Tuesday, authorities added.
He's being held in Las Vegas pending extradition to California, officials said.
"The motto of the Sheriff's Cold Case Homicide Unit is 'Time is on our side,'" Captain Mike Parker of the Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau said. "Homicide cases are never closed until they are solved."
From the Associated Press:
Police searched on Sunday for as many as three men who were involved in the late-night shooting of an anti-gang detective wounded as he drove in a squad car with another officer, authorities said.Some 60 to 70 officers spread out in the MacArthur Park area and looked for two, possibly three men, who fled in a car, spokesman Sgt. Rico Fernandez said.Two officers were driving at about 11 p.m. Saturday near Anaheim Street and Gundry Avenue when a gunman opened fire, hitting a detective in the upper body, Fernandez said.A patrol officer who happened to be nearby heard the shots and saw the suspects, Fernandez said. The officer fired at the suspects as they fled, he said, but it was unclear whether any was hit.The 30-year-old detective, who is a seven-year veteran, was hospitalized in stable condition, Fernandez said.The shooting comes less than three months after a Southern California police officer was fatally wounded. Riverside OfficerRyan Bonaminio was shot in an ambush Nov. 7. A suspect has been charged with murder in his death.
This tragic story comes courtesy of the Associated Press:
LONG BEACH -- A 16-year-old girl died and two men were wounded after being shot following a football game at a Long Beach high school.
Long Beach police Sgt. Dina Zapalski says it's unclear what led to Friday night's shooting at Wilson High School. Police are searching for a gunman.
The girl died at a hospital.
An 18-year-old man and a 20-year-old man sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
City Councilman Gary DeLong described the girl as "an innocent bystander who was not
involved" in the altercation.
It's unclear if any of the victims were students at the school.
From the Associated Press:
LONG BEACH -- A tanker truck hauling 8,000 gallons of ethanol crashed on a highway, exploding into an inferno that sent a river of flame into storm drains, officials said. The driver was killed.
The truck crashed around 6 p.m. Saturday when it hit the side rail of eastbound State Route 91 at the transition to Interstate 710, the Long Beach Fire Department said in a statement.
The driver's name was not immediately released.
Witnesses said the heat was so intense it melted guardrails and all that remained of the truck were its axles and small portions of the cab.
A stream of fire flowed from the tanker into a storm drain, causing plumes of flame to spew 20 feet in the air from other storm drains.
The large quantity of ethanol in the truck fueled a huge fireball that enveloped the overpasses, Long Beach Fire Department Capt. Jackawa Jackson said. Firefighters snuffed the flames with foam, he said.
Officials worried the fire may have weakened the elevated stretch of road, the fire department said.
The cause of the crash was under investigation and the roadway remained closed while inspectors examined it.
This comes from the Associated Press:
LONG BEACH-- Police say a 29-year-old driver has been arrested in connection with a road rage fistfight that escalated into murder.
Long Beach police spokeswoman Nancy Pratt says Duy Tieu of Santa Ana was arrested
shortly before midnight Friday on suspicion of murdering 53-year-old George McCafferty of Long Beach.
Pratt says the two men were fighting on the Carson Street offramp of Interstate 605 when Tieu got back into his car and sped toward McCafferty, who was standing outside his Ford Escort. Tieu allegedly plowed into McCafferty and pinned him against his car, killing him.
Tieu is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.
CONTRIBUTORS
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| Frank Girardot, Metro Editor for the San Gabriel Valley Newspapers, brings you behind the yellow tape with takes on true crime, cold cases and more. This is also your forum to discuss crime, its impact on your neighborhood and how we cover it. Have any questions or tips? You can leave a comment here or e-mail Frank. |
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Brian Day is the crime reporter for the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper group. E-mail Brian. |
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