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WEST COVINA -- Police arrested an Azusa man Wednesday on suspicion of scamming a Covina woman out of $45,000, authorities said.
Gerardo Alejandro Torres, 27, was booked on suspicion of grand theft and was released later Wednesday after posting $20,000 bail, West Covina police Cpl. Rudy Lopez said.
Police released a picture of Torres on Thursday in hopes of tracking down additional victims, Lopez said.
"We think this guy's probably done this before," he said, adding that Torres may have targeted the woman because she spoke primarily Spanish.
After obtaining a search warrant for Torres' home, "We found $39,000 in his house," he added. The other $6,000 allegedly stolen from the woman remained unaccounted for.
The scam took place Monday, West Covina police said in a written statement.
Torres told the woman he could help her buy a house in Ontario without going through the usual escrow process and without the usual fees, authorities said.
The woman gave Torres $45,000 and the two went to a Carrows restaurant in West Covina, 101 S. Azusa Ave., Lopez said.
While at the restaurant, Torres told the woman his car had been broken into and the money had been taken, according to the police statement.
Torres then called police and reported the break-in, Lopez said. "The woman, who spoke Spanish, didn't really understand what was being said."
When she realized Torres had not reported the $45,000 as missing, she herself became suspicious and called police.
An investigation led police to jail Torres, Lopez said. Other charges may be added in the future.
"There could be other victims out there and the suspect may have been targeting the Hispanic community," the police statement said.
Officials ask that anyone who has had a suspicious encounter with Lopez to contact the West Covina Police Department.
According to court records, Torres is due for arraignment in West Covina Superior Court Friday.

*Photo courtesy of the West Covina Police Department

A guy dressed as a cop, wearing an oval badge stopped a woman in West Covina the other night and made some lewd comments. Now he's being sought by police as an imposter.

Here's Brian Day's story:

WEST COVINA - Officials are seeking a man who pulled over a woman while pretending to be a police officer and made sexual comments before being scared off Friday

The incident occurred just after midnight on a side street near Francisquito and Conlon Avenues, West Covina police Lt. Dan Brooks said.

A woman in her 30s was driving when a man driving a "police-style" car used a white spotlight and loudspeaker system to order her to pull over.

When the man, who was wearing a blue uniform, possibly a police uniform, with no patches and an oval-shaped badge, approached the woman, he began making sexual comments, Brooks said.

The woman became panicked and set off her car alarm, which prompted the police impersonator to flee, the lieutenant said.

The suspect was described as a white man in his 40s with brown hair, a bushy mustache and a muscular build, he added.

 

Marcelino Corniel lost his life in the Iraq war. IndyMac then lost between $71,000 and $36,000 of the $370,000 life insurance policy Corniel purchased to ensure the livelihood of his family.

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I can't say that I was shocked so much as I was disappointed when I viewed reader responses on our website. Some comments blamed Corniel's mother, Elaine Lopez, for investing poorly, while others seemed to equate losing a son in war with winning the lottery.

I don't dispute that Lopez could have invested her money more wisely, but at the same time it's not like she went out and bought a Cadillac. Lopez placed $70,000 in a money market checking account and the remaining $300,000 in a CD, from which she used the $1450 a month interest yield to sustain her family.

I believe Lopez, when she says that IndyMac Bank managers persuaded her not to withdraw the money by claiming the addition of a third beneficiary would insure the entire sum.

The Monday after the news of Indy Mac's financial trouble broke, I went to Indy Mac and spoke with patrons. My questions were met by belligerent customers who informed me that bank representatives warned them against speaking with the press, and cited the media as a cause for Indy Mac's problems. Funny, I don't remember receiving a check from Indy Mac for managing their stocks to 23 cents a share, what they were prior to any article running.

Despite my Ivy League education, the hours I spent reading regulations, the two interviews I conducted with securities lawyers, and numerous calls to the Federal Deposit Insurance Company, I still fail to understand how the FDIC is not returning somewhere between $36,000 and $71,000 of Lopez's money.

Sure, Lopez was naïve for taking the word of a bank manager. But I bet she wasn't the only one to lose money because of promises made by IndyMac representatives. It's possible that IndyMac's employee's weren't intentionally deceiving Lopez. Maybe bank officials just didn't comprehend the same regulations that two securities lawyers, and a financial adviser failed to understand well enough to answers my questions.  But should incompetence excuse so-called officials from accountability?

When did regulations start to cloud our understanding of right and wrong? After all regulations are created by men, frequently flawed, and certainly subject to change.

Some have argued that Lopez should feel lucky to still have $300,000. Why? Because her son went to great lengths to protect his family? The $370,000 wasn't a gift from the government or a death benefit, but something that Corniel payed for with both his money and life.

Despite promises that he would be a recruiter, and by the spring of 2005 Corniel was back in Iraq, stationed with the 184^th Infantry out of Fullerton, CA..The 184^th was sustaining heavy causalities when Corniel decided to purchase the additional $170,000 in life insurance.

As an Iraq veteran, I knew a lot of servicemen who declined to pay the $40 a month for the  $250,000 in Serviceman's Group Life Insurance. At the same time I was never aware of anyone who sought additional life insurance. But Corniel, who was the patriarch of his family, wanted to ensure that his two younger sisters and mother were taken care of in the event of his death.

On New Years Eve  of 2005, most 23-year-old-Americans were drinking themselves into stupors while Corniel was defending their freedom to do so. As a former Marine attached to "Killer" company, Corniel had already seen a good deal of combat. But unlike some men, he didn't try to get a family hardship discharge and avoid his second tour. Corniel sacrificed his life for our freedom, with the knowledge his family would be able survive in his absence.

Corniel's legacy was intended to send his sisters to college, and support his illmother, not pad the bank accounts of rich men, as some would argue his service did. I urge Americans to remember Corniel as they drive their yellow ribbon adorned sport utility vehicles. And think about the regulations that qualify the loss of his legacy, while justifying the outlandish incomes of IndyMac's executives.  In the end you can blame Lopez for mismanaging the money, but don't think it couldn't happen to you.

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.

This from the email bag:

I am a resident of Monrovia, and I have been hearing alot about ATM scams going on in my city. My mother in law was hit for $600 dollars just before the 4th of July weekend, and so was her co-worker here in Monrovia. Just today I found out that another person was hit that lives on Madison. The police told my Mother in law, that they were looking into Pavillions in Monrovia for possible leads, being that most of them had used their PIN to make purchases there. ...

We are really concerned that there is a ring of Scammers out here. We are afraid of using our cards at all. If you know anything, can you please help us out, so that we know where to stay out of. I would like my name to be anonymous in case you decide to post anything on it. I just thought that if you knew something, it would be of great help to my community to be informed. Thank you for your time.

Any thoughts?

Reporter Amanda Baumfeld will report tomorrow on a Craigslist scam in Covina that has some potential renters hopping mad.

Here's the top of her story as it stands:

COVINA - Stevan Ortiz and his girlfriend planned to move into a three-bedroom home on Calera Avenue Thursday.

The couple - expecting their second child in June - gave notice at their apartment in Baldwin Park, bought a washer and dryer and even made plans to pick up a dog.

But Tuesday afternoon, Ortiz, 22, discovered he was among a group of people who have been victims of a real estate fraud.

"We made so many plans," said Ortiz, who tried contacting the owner all weekend. "I had this in the back of my mind when I couldn't get a hold of him."

At least 12 families have filed complaints connected to the property located at 5441 N. Calera Avenue, said Detective Ted Williams, of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. Each family gave first and last month rent, totaling $2,400, officials said.