Recently in West Covina Category

According to the West Covina PD, James Westly Essix, 18, of La Puente is wanted in connection with as many as five local residential burglaries.

A juvenile crime partner in West Covina custody apparently gave up Essix during interogation.

"There is an organization behind this, a tribe of transients, and they go city to city doing their deeds," Lopez said. "We are concerned they are targeting people who are least suspecting it."

Juan Fuentes, 71, was home alone Wednesday around 10:30 a.m. when he heard the doorbell ring. At his doorstep was a woman in her 20s, who told Fuentes she was there to fix a broken wall in his backyard.

Fuentes, who rents the home on the 100 block of South Fircroft Street with his family, left the front door unlocked and was led by the woman to the furthest end of his backyard.

"She told him that they would fix the crack on the walls, and that they would cut down the trees," said Laura Magallanes, Fuentes' daughter. "That's when he knew something was strange."

<snip>

Police said they believe the suspects are Long Beach residents Eric Bimbo, 20, and Amy Adams, 20.

The story is similar to five other instances in West Covina, Lopez said, although typically there have been two men and one woman.

There have also been similar incidents reported to the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

On Oct. 20, the suspects robbed a home in the 200 block of North Vincent Avenue. On Oct. 25 they targeted a home at 3:30 p.m. in the 1200 block of South Meeker Avenue, and then a half-hour later a home was targeted in the 900 block of South Orange Street.

This comes from the History Channel's Gangland series. West Covina resident Ruben "Doc" Cavazos is interviewed about the gang. Cavazos was one of several dozens arrested in a federal sweep of Mongols members.

** Material removed

Jennifer McLain wrote the story in Tuesday's newspaper:

WEST COVINA - A Lake Elsinore woman who posted an Internet sex video targeting a city councilwoman has been convicted of disturbing the peace for making threatening phone calls to the councilwoman, officials said Monday.

Charlynda Lamb, 32, posted a video in several Internet forums purporting to show West Covina Councilwoman Shelley Sanderson engaged in sexual activity in 2000.

Sanderson, 43, filed a criminal complaint against Lamb in January, alleging Lamb was threatening and harassing her over the phone. Sanderson on Monday declined to discuss the video.

``I need to make sure that nothing compromises the ongoing investigation,'' Sanderson said. ``I am a victim here.''

West Covina police Lt. Ron Mitchell, who hadn't seen the video, said police didn't believe it was Sanderson in the video.

This letter was sent to parents of kids attending CJ Morris Elementary in Walnut. About the time we made a round of calls to both Walnut and West Covina and were told "Nothing going on."

Good afternoon. This is Mrs. Arzola, Principal of C.J. Morris. As some
of you may know, this morning there was police activity in a home a few
blocks from our school. Helicopters and patrol cars were dispatched. As
a precautionalry measure, we implemented a lock-down and brought our
students in from recess. Throughout the incident, we were in contact
with both the Walnut Valley Sherriff's Station and the West Covina
Police Department. At approximately 11:00a.m., 30 minutes later, Watch
Commander, Tolich, of the West Covina Police Department informed us
that the incident was contained and we isssued an all-clear.

I just wanted to reassure you that throughout the incident, our
students were safe and secure and the lock-down was merly a
precautionary measure. The staff at C.J. Morris is well-trained in
safety proceedures. We take great pride in ensuring our school is a
safe place.

Thank you for helping us to make it happen. If you have any questions
or concerns, please feel free to give me a call.

 

This from Judy Hammond downtown:

WEST COVINA - Until at least Thursday, August 28, 2008, the West Covina Courthouse at 1427 West Covina Parkway will remain closed due to flooding.The problem's origin is unknown.

Case management contingencies are under discussion and will be outlined in future advisories from the Los Angeles Superior Court.

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." 

Federal drug agents have arrested a chief of police from Mexico in connection with a drug investigation in Los Angeles County, officials said. Its an interesting place to make such an arrest...here's the story as it stands from the wires:

Two men believed to be members of the Agencia Federal de Investigacion
-- the Mexican federal police -- are due to be arraigned this afternoon in Los
Angeles on charges of possessing an estimated $500,000 as part of a narcotics
enterprise.
Victor Manuel Juarez, 36, and Carlos Cepano Filippini, 34, were arrested
Wednesday, along with two other people, at a home in West Covina.
They were taken into custody by a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration task force
as part of an ongoing investigation, according to the Los Angeles County District
Attorney's Office.

If the person who decorated this wall on Orange Avenue in West Covina gets caught, he or she will be responsible for the clean up, according to a law signed by Gov. Arnold Wednesday.  This from LAist:

When a tagger gets sentenced, it's up to the judge whether or not being on a clean up crew is part of the punishment or not. Soon, it will be mandatory after Governor Schwarzenegger signed some new graffiti legislation sponsored by Los Angeles that forces part of their punishment to be cleaning graffiti. City officials say graffiti has increased significantly in the past few years, from "25 million square feet of graffiti-stained surfaces in 2005 to 31.7 million in the year that ended June 30,"

Apparently an argument led to this. Four people were injured. One seriously. Here's the story:

WEST COVINA - The DJ at a house party was arrested early Sunday after he allegedly stabbed two people and hit two others with his car, authorities said.

Luis Perez, 23, of Baldwin Park was arrested shortly after the incident and was booked on suspicion of attempted murder, West Covina police Lt. Marcos Plebani said.

The alleged attack occurred about 2 a.m. at a house in the 1600 block of West Louisa Avenue, he said.

"He slashed one person in the back yard, then stabbed another person multiple times in the front yard," Plebani said.

A 26-year-old man was hospitalized with three stab wounds to his stomach and lower chest, said West Covina Fire Department Capt. Jim Rudroff.

The injuries were initially believed to be life threatening, however the wounded man was expected to survive after undergoing surgery, police and fire officials said. Another man suffered a superficial stab wound but did not seek treatment from fire officials.

Brian Day reports that the so-called "vampire" pre school bandit has been caught in a park in Temple City.

Our original post said:

Suspect Scott Raymond Lopez broke into Montessori Academy preschool, 1030 E. Merced Ave., ransacked it and urintated on the floor on on Thursday, July 10, 2008. Equipment was found piled up as if the burglar had intended to steal it, however nothing but food was believed to have been stolen.

We're not sure what sort of food you can steal from a pre school. I'm guessing "Teddy Grahams." Tania Chatils said it was more likely carrot sticks --since the school is a "Montessori" academy.

Moe-Squatch beats Moe-Dini 13 votes to 11 votes. Way to participate!

Here's the seven other suggestions:

Abused

Moe Trouble than he's worth

pendejo

Hedeir Nomo

MOE

moe'z-gone wild

Moe mentum

A man suspected  of leading West Covina police on a high-speed chase through town before crashing in Irwindale got a little more than he bargained for when police apparently Tasered him in the head.

This photo comes from Raul Roa, who was on scene for the aftermath of the pursuit, which came right by our office complex.