Pasadena: October 2008 Archives

Todd Ruiz says it is. And, he blogging again as proof.

It's probably a good thing too. WIth the recent demise of the Foothill Cities and Aaron Proctor someone needs to fill the void.

Hopefully K. Todd and his partner Monica will light a fire and get the region's blogosphere back up to speed...

Until then some might say West Covina is the center of the universe.

PASADENA - A naked woman fleeing a parking lot where she was allegedly breaking windows led police on a 28-mile chase last night before she lost control of her car and was apprehended.

The chase began on the 2400 block of Mohawk Street where police responded to calls of a disturbance in a parking lot. The woman fled immediately and led police west on the 210 to the  134 west to the 170 north, before crashing her car on the side of the highway near the intersection of highway 170 and highway 5, Sgt. Vasken Gourdikian said.

Los Angeles police will dig near two freeway ramps in Ventura County today in a search for the remains of a San Fernando Valley boy killed by a serial murderer 40 years ago.

LAPD officers, aided by dozens of FBI agents and police from other agencies, will excavate where four police dogs have indicated that human bones have been buried, the Ventura County Star reported Sunday.

A ground-penetrating radar unit from Caltrans has indicated a likely burial location, and a particle detector that sniffs out decaying human bones "went off like a Geiger counter in the same place," said Los Angeles Police Detective Vivian Flores.

The interchange of the 23 Freeway at Tierra Rejada Road in Moorpark is about 25 miles west of the Arleta home where Roger Dale Madison was last seen alive on Dec. 14, 1968. A construction crew chief who was building the freeway, Mack Ray Edwards, confessed to kidnapping and murdering the boy, throwing him into a hole and covering him up with rocks and fill dirt as the 23 was being built.

Edwards, known as the most-notorious serial killer of children in California history, confessed to as many as 18 kidnappings and murders dating back to at least 1953. Although he was never charged with killing Roger Madison, he confessed to the crime shortly before he hanged himself with a television cord while on death row at San Quentin.

Flores said Edwards' confession in the Madison case was not followed up in 1970, but the reasons

This from staff writer Robert Hong:

A former teacher at Mayfield Senior School in Pasadena pleaded guilty today to possessing child pornography.

The illegal images were found on a computer belonging to 63-year-old David Hassler when authorities searched his home in November 2007, authorities said. He was among about 10,000 of people arrested in nationwide federal investigation into on-line child pornography.

Hassler, who pleaded guilty in federal court in downtown Los Angeles, could be sentenced to up to 10 years in federal prison.

PASADENA -- Authorities arrested nearly 90 people and seized a half-million dollars worth of narcotics during a multi-agency crackdown on gangs and drugs, police announced this morning.

Here's what the state Sen. told PCC's Courier staff regarding Darryl "Slurp" Stephens:

"I'm a strong believer in second chances. If someone has served his time and is deemed worthy to reenter society, a public school should not prevent that person from obtaining an education," said Scott.

Scott was speaking in an interview after his appearance at the Faculty Flex Day.

The senator's comments came in the wake of revelations that "Slurp" a PCC wide receiver/tight end was on the PCC fottball team's roster while wearing a GPS ankle bracelet designed to track high risk sex offenders. 

Stephens had been convicted of rape and is listed on the state's Megan's Law Web site.