Recently in Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Category

BASSETT -- Authorities locked down Bassett High School Thursday afternoon after receiving reports of a planned shooting on campus.

The report came in about 12:10 p.m. , according to Sheriff's Sgt. S. Bracken, at the Industry substation.

"It was an anonymous call about a potential shooting," Bracken said. "Our lieutenants and sergeants are at the scene right now attempting to sort it out."

The school remains on lockdown.

Bracken said the call came from a concerned parent.

"A kid wanted to come home early because he heard there was going to be a shooting on campus," Bracken said.

Bracken did not know if the threat was gang related.

A report in USA Today notes that the FBI claims criminal gangs are responsible for 80 percent of our nation's crime. Here's the story.

No Chargers in Industry this year, at least that's a what a report in the San Diego Business Journal claims.

Local soldier Sgt. Hy Thai, of Monterey Park is profiled on News Blaze, for his work in Iraq.

Detroit cops slow to respond to reports of frozen body in abandoned warehouse, according to the Detroit News and the Associated Press, which cites the indifference of cops there as part of the city's overall problem.

LASO unveils new technology in the pursuit of criminals.

Students at Kwis Elementary School, Newton Middle School, Los Altos High School and Shadybend Elementary School were kept in classrooms from the start of school until noon while authorities searched for two of the four suspects.
School officials were not fazed.
"This is a very normal situation. They always notify our school district," said Norman Hsu, school board member for the Hacienda-La Puente District. "These happen very often. This is not the first time. This is like the fourth time this month."

Recently, the Federal Signal ALPR network has assisted LASD in solving two key cases. A serial rapist in South Los Angeles approached female pedestrians and forced them into his vehicle at gunpoint. A victim obtained a license plate number and provided police with a vehicle description; however, the address for the registered owner of the vehicle was no longer correct. With the help of Federal Signal's ALPR Back Office System Software (BOSS) by PIPS, investigators pinpointed prior vehicle sightings, which led them to the suspect's workplace. The employer provided a cell phone number for the suspect, which enabled police to locate the suspect and make an arrest.

 

In another case, a shooting left one victim dead. Witnesses provided police with a partial license plate and vehicle description. A query of this data in the Federal Signal BOSS system provided investigators with a full license plate number which enabled them to identify the suspect. Surveillance was established on the suspect's address, and the suspect was in custody less than 24-hours after the shooting. The suspect was also wanted in connection with three other homicides.

 

Sheriff Lee Baca responded to a series of articles that have appeared in this paper over the past week. Here's the top of our story:

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is reexamining how it collects towing fees in response to allegations a former traffic sergeant took nearly $500,000 from the city of La Puente in impound revenues, officials said.

"We are doing that now," Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said. "We are probably going to go to a cashless system. Using something like an ATM card to make it more difficult for theft to occur."

Whitmore also said the department is reviewing several other internal policies and will consult with the Board of Supervisors.

Former Sgt. Joe Dyer, who used to work out of the Industry sheriff's station until he retired in May, has been under investigation since the beginning of the year.

An outlaw motorcycle gang member is led on a perp walk by officers involved in a RICO bust of members of the Mongols Motorcycle gang.

A person is brought in to the Montebello Police Department after many
arrests overnight during an investigation conducted by the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), L.A. Sheriff Dept.,
Montebello Police and La Vegas Police. Over 160 federal search
warrants and 110 federal arrest warrants were served today on members
and associates of the Mongols Outlaw Motorcycle Gang nationwide.
(SGVN/Staff Photo by Raul Roa/SVCity)

In light of Robert Urteaga's no contest plea to Grand Theft charges back in 1999, I got to thinking about a case that involved Walnut City Councilman Joaquin Lim back in 1997.

Lim was accused of petty theft after he allegedly left a grocery store without paying for $27 in groceries. Ultimately Lim testified in his own behalf and was acquitted in the case. Some of the original reporting is on the jump.

This comes from the Whittier Daily News' new blog, "Whittier Dispatch." Enjoy:

Deputy Donald Naslund was flagged down this morning by a citizen who found six newborn puppies.
The still-wet puppies were behind a Dumpster at the 76 gas station at Fullerton and Colima roads in Rowland Heights, according to Sgt. Thomas Wilson.
Naslund brought the little furballs to the sheriff's Industry Station
at 150 Hudson Ave. in Industry.
"They're being cleaned and fed by the jailer," Wilson said.

*(actual dogs not pictured here)

We heard this call on the scanner about 3 p.m. this afternoon. Draw your own conclusions:

HACIENDA HEIGHTS - A woman who looked pregnant and had a young child waiting in her car swiped a charity bucket on Tuesday from a CVS Pharmacy.

Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Mark Relyea said the woman took the bucket from the CVS at 887 Hacienda Blvd. around 3 p.m.

Relyea did not say how much money was in the bucket.

The "heavyset" woman left in a white Toyota Corolla, Relyea said.

A summary of some items we've been covering over the weekend:

1. EL MONTE -- Homicide detectives are investigating the mysterious death of a man whose body was found on the property of an office building Sunday.
2. ROSEMEAD -- The man who died in a fiery crash at the end of a police chase Saturday was driving an SUV that belonged to a woman found shot to death at her Gardena business.
3. LA PUENTE -- A man allegedly shot and wounded two of his roommates during an argument at their house Saturday.
4. SOUTH EL MONTE -- Officials have released the name of a man found who was fatally shot in his car last week.
5. NORWALK -- A man was shot and wounded in the parking lot of a convenience store Sunday.
6. SONORA -- The Montrose Search and Rescue Team rescued a 34-year-old man Sunday after he spent two nights at the bottom of an abandoned mine shaft.

This is a press release from Supervisor Gloria Molina's office. It came just two days after an emotional hearing before the Supes about the deaths of Good Samaritans who try to stop graffiti vandals throughout the county:

Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina will join Lieutenant Gil Carrillo of the Sheriff's Department Homicide Division to publicize a $25,000 reward for anyone with information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the death of Luis Sandoval, a 71-year-old East Los Angeles resident who was shot in the abdomen after witnessing two males spray-painting graffiti on the side of a business located at the corner of East Olympic Boulevard and South Hicks Avenue. 

Mr. Sandoval had been riding his bicycle home and lived just four houses away from the scene of the crime.  Though the shooting took place on February 25, 2007, Mr. Sandoval died approximately four months later on June 13, 2007.  Authorities have since confirmed that his death was due directly to the injuries he sustained as a result of the shooting and are now asking for the public's help to solve this homicide--the third graffiti-related killing to occur in the First District.  (Robert Whitehead of Valinda was shot and killed in March 2006 while trying to stop graffiti taggers from spray-painting his neighbor's garage; Maria Hicks of Pico Rivera was shot and killed in August 2007 while trying to stop graffiti taggers from spray-painting a wall in her neighborhood.) 

Surviving relatives of Luis Sandoval will be available at tomorrow's press conference for interviews and pictures of the crime scene will be on display.
 
"Luis Sandoval was a hard-working, retired steel worker with a large family whose only transgression was being at the wrong place at the wrong time," Molina said.  "The anguish his death has caused his family is indescribable--and it is particularly painful to the community since it is the third graffiti-related homicide to take place in the First Supervisorial District.  It is my sincere hope that this $25,000 reward compels someone to bring information forward that will help us catch the people responsible for Luis Sandoval's murder."

The Board of Supervisors is about to extend the time limit on the $10,000 reward offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of two men suspected of killing Sammantha Salas in January.

Salas was gunned down in a section of Monrovia known as "No Man's Land." Police believe her killing was the result of a series of escalating gang violence attacks between black and Latino gangs that took on racial overtones.

The reward vote takes place Tuesday.

***

Sheriff's homicide Lt. Dan Rosenberg said Monday that all five juveniles suspected of taking part in the robbery that killed Covina Hills resident Michelle Chien at her home earlier this year will be tried as adults. One suspect, Victor Maurtua, 19, a member of the El Monte Flores gang remains at large in the case.

"This is a pretty vicious case," Rosenberg said. "And it was random basically. These were local kids. One individual orchestrated the whole things and the others followed along."

***

Rosenberg also has a crew working alongside LAPD detectives in hopes that they can solve the slaying of Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Juan Escalante, 27. 

The deputy was slain outside his home two weeks ago, as he left for work at Men's Central Jail.

According to the Los Angeles Times:

A U.S. Army reservist, Escalante had worked for the Sheriff's Department for 2 1/2 years. He was assigned to the "high power" unit, where dangerous inmates -- many of them violent gang members -- are housed in single-man cells. Investigators said this week that the shot that killed Escalante was fired from behind him and that he may not have seen his killer or killers.

Ropsenberg said deputies and officers are working alongside and getting along.

"We're working real well together," he said. "We still don't have a motive, but we're looking at everything." 

This from ABC7:

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Funeral services at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral are held Friday morning for Juan Escalante, an L.A. sheriff's deputy who was shot to death in front of his parents' home.

The reward for his killers is nearing $100,000, but the gunmen have still not been found.

A large law enforcement presence gathered for the funeral set to begin at 9 a.m.

As family and friends said their final goodbye, police are still looking for suspects involved in the 27-year-old deputy's murder.