Pomona: July 2008 Archives

This is what we'll be reporting:

Brett Nichols, who admitted to shooting a Rosemead man then dumping his body in nearby hills, is out of custody. The person he shot, 22-year-old David Rotela, may now face charges.

Here's a little more information on the story, which ran on the front page of today's Tribune.

Goddess of Pomona -- responsible for two posts today.  This one is a link to a film called Gang Boy, a 1950s tale of feuding gangs in a very different Pomona. The goddess writes:

The 1954 movie Gang Boy was filmed entirely in Pomona, and was based on a true Pomona story of a truce between gangs.

Nate McIntire's story on an ATM scam in Monrovia was pretty thorough and included some interesting information from local authorities. It developed from an email posted here last week that generated some interesting commentary on the Foothill Cities Blog.

Goddess of Pomona has a local tale from the victim's point of view that makes for a great read:

The first thing that was sort of odd, is that when I went inside the store to pay, no one was there, and it was a good two minutes before anyone came inside. The man who came inside did not have a name tag on and that sort of bothered me too. I paid by credit card and what was irregular about that was that it looked like a normal cash receipt, but there was no pre-printed line for my signature. Instead, the checker drew a line in pen along the side of the receipt and had me sign my name perpendicular to the rest of the receipt. I convinced myself that these irregularities were rather charming in a funky Pomona kind of way. The gas station was absent of any other customers, 'cept a woman and her teenage son in an old caddie.

Otherwise, the pump worked fine and the money I put in seemed to make my gas monitor go up to to the proper level.

Well, fast forward to tonight. A few minutes ago, I turned on the Channel 9 news to see the cashier at Fuel It Up being interviewed about an alleged credit card scam operating out of the gas station.

It looks like Zendejas had a rude wake-up call.

According to booking information, the onetime NFL star is a puny guy.

Just 5-8 and 165 pounds.

Very similar to his playing weight.

Seems like he'd be crushhed in today's NFL.

 Info from the booking sheet:

ANTONIO ZENDEJAS

Booking Num: 1542051

Charge(s): 261(A)(3) / PC / F / RAPE OF DRUGGED VICTIM

Arrest Date: 07-10-2008

Birth Date: 05-15-1960

Sex: M

Race: H

Height: 5' 8"

Weight 165

Police discovered 1600 doses of ecstasy, 1.5 pounds of coke and 1.5 pounds of pot from a home int he 300 block of East Harrison just after midnight, officials said.

They also found a firearm and $1,500 at the location.

Arrested were Francisco Soto, 22, of Pomona; and Michael Bravo, 29, of Pomona.

Brian Wunk, 21, remains at large.