$12 million in designer knock-offs seized in raids

Burberry, Hermes and Chanel were just some of the designer brands pirated by counterfeiters who were arrested over the last week in a multiagency crackdown on knock-off operations, authorities said Tuesday.

More than 30 people were arrested and millions of dollars in pirated goods were seized in the raids, including at least 47,000 wallets, watches and other items. If sold as genuine, the total haul would have been worth about $12 million, authorities said.

More than half the bounty came from a single raid in a Santee Alley warehouse in the fashion district of downtown L.A.

“By conducting these sweeps, we hope to increase global awareness of the negative impact of organized intellectual property crimes,” L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca said in a statement.

-- Robert Faturechi

Coroner confirms Ecstasy overdose caused death of 15-year-old who attended massive rave [Updated]

Los Angeles County coroner's officials said Tuesday that Sasha Rodriguez, the 15-year-old girl hospitalized after attending the Electric Daisy Carnival rave in June, died as the result of an overdose of MDMA, a drug commonly known as Ecstasy.

Officials listed the cause of death as an accident due to drug intoxication.

[Updated at 5:40 p.m.: Coroner's officials said the official cause of death was determined to be complications of ischemic encephalopathy from methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) intoxication.]

In effect, the ingestion of the hallucinogen caused Sasha to lose oxygen to her brain, leading to inactivity and death, said Dr. Marc Futernick, head emergency room physician at California Hospital Medical Center, where Sasha was treated.

Although a drug overdose had been suspected from the start, it took weeks for toxicology tests to be completed.

Futernick said Sasha arrived at the hospital in a coma. During the ambulance ride and for a short time after she arrived at the hospital, she experienced seizures, he said. Her sodium levels were severely low and she had abnormal heart rhythms, Futernick said. Two days after she was admitted, tests showed Sasha had no brain activity. On June 29, she was taken off a life support machine and pronounced dead.

Sasha and another critically ill patient had been taken to the downtown Los Angeles hospital by ambulance directly from the Los Angeles Coliseum on June 27, officials said. Both were treated for drug intoxication in the intensive care unit.

Marin County judge nixes restart of death row executions

A Marin County judge Tuesday scuttled efforts to resume capital punishment in California, saying a 2007 injunction against executions remained in force "unless and until" the court approves newly revised lethal injection procedures.

The order issued by Marin County Superior Court Judge Verna Adams followed the setting of an execution date of Sept. 29 for death row inmate Albert Greenwood Brown. A Riverside County judge on Monday issued a death warrant for Brown, who raped and murdered a 15-year-old girl in 1980.

Adams' ruling was made at a hearing in the cases of two other death row prisoners, Michael Morales of Stockton and Mitchell Sims of Los Angeles. Morales, Sims and Brown are among the few death row prisoners, from among the 706 condemned inmates in the state, who have exhausted all appeals and are cleared for execution once the practice resumes.

Executions have been on hold in California for nearly five years, since Morales's defense lawyers challenged the state's former lethal injection procedures in federal court, alleging they violated the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel agreed and ordered revisions to the three-drug lethal injection sequence to ensure that the inmate was fully anesthetized before being given the final fatal dose.

A task force named by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger rewrote the execution procedures behind closed doors in 2007, but they were deemed illegal by Marin County Superior Court Judge Lynn O'Malley Taylor because they had been adopted without public input. It was Taylor's injunction that Adams ruled was still in force.

--Carol J. Williams

Orange County man charged with killing wife as deputies search for body in campground [Updated]

The Orange County district attorney’s office filed charges Tuesday against a Santa Margarita man who allegedly killed his wife of 39 years by hitting her with a small statue.

The charges against Richard Forsberg were filed as deputies searched for the body of Marcia Ann Forsberg, 61, in a Ventura County campground. [Updated at 2:49 p.m.: Marcia Ann Forsberg was a longtime features writer at the Daily Pilot in Costa Mesa.]

Richard Forsberg, 61, was charged with murder for allegedly killing his wife in February by repeatedly hitting her in the head with a small statue after arguing with her, according to the district attorney's office.

He allegedly kept her body in their Rancho Santa Margarita home for several days before taking it in a rented motor home to Lake Piru Recreation Area, where he dumped the body, authorities said.

Richard Forsberg allegedly told neighbors his wife was visiting friends in Arizona and they were having marital problems.

 

L.A. County approves $750,000 settlement with family of man fatally shot by deputy

A $750,000 settlement was approved Tuesday for the relatives of an unarmed man shot and killed by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy in July 2008 in front of his family’s home.

Christian Portillo, 35, was sitting in his car in the driveway of the Lennox residence when two deputies approached because they believed he was a drug dealer.

Sheriff’s officials said Portillo was startled and reached under his seat, prompting one deputy to fire two rounds into the suspect’s upper torso.

The killing drew outrage, particularly from Portillo’s family, which said the man had done nothing wrong. No weapons or drugs were found in his car.

On Tuesday, the family’s attorney said the settlement would offer closure.

“This has been devastating to the parents,” said attorney Franklin Casco. “They were present. They were running up to the driveway when the shots were being fired.”

 

L.A. County may have failed to disclose about 60 abuse and neglect deaths of children, auditor says

About 60 child deaths tied in confidential court filings to abuse or neglect by Los Angeles County child protective services workers are under review because they were not disclosed publicly in potential violation of state law, according to an independent auditor.

Michael Gennaco, chief attorney for the Office of Independent Review, presented his findings Tuesday to the L.A. County supervisors who had asked for the inquiry after questioning why officials had not listed the suicide of an 11-year-old Montebello boy with a long history of abuse and neglect.

Department of Children and Family Services Director Trish Ploehn told supervisors Tuesday that “there is no excuse” for the omissions. Ploehn said until last week she was unaware of the problem, which she attributed at least in part to a disconnect between two parts of her department.  

If the 60 cases are verified to be inappropriately sealed, they would more than double the known number of children who, since 2008, have died of abuse and neglect after their families came under the scrutiny of the Department of Children and Family Services

To date, the department had acknowledged only 38 such deaths since state law requiring disclosure went into effect more than two years ago.

“Even 15 would be a lot. Twenty would be a lot. Sixty would be an awful lot,” said Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.

Ploehn said her department will soon release records for each abuse or neglect fatality as required by the state public disclosure law. For months, The Times has been denied repeated requests for such records.

Ex-girlfriend stabs man with ice pick after hiding in back seat of his car in Yorba Linda, police say

A Yorba Linda man was stabbed several times with an ice pick by his ex-girlfriend, who had been hiding in the back seat of his car before attacking him as he pulled out of a church parking lot, authorities said Tuesday.

The 48-year-old man, whose name was not released, was starting to pull out in his Mercedes-Benz convertible when Elizabeth Cuevas Villanueva, 47, allegedly jumped from the back seat and began stabbing him in the head and shoulders.

He accidentally stepped on the gas and slammed into a tree.

The man had broken up with Villanueva four months ago, but the pair continued to live together, officials said. He was treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

“We’re still trying to figure out why she did what she did,” said Sgt. Bill Smyser of the Brea Police Department.

Villanueva, of Yorba Linda, allegedly ditched the ice pick and ran off but was caught by police shortly afterward. She was arrested for on suspicion of attempted homicide, felony domestic violence, assault with a deadly weapon and brandishing a weapon.

-- Robert Faturechi

Zsa Zsa Gabor 'unresponsive' -- paramedics rush her to hospital [Updated]

Zsa Zsa Gabor was being rushed back to a hospital Tuesday after her husband found her "unresponsive."

Gabor's publicist announced Gabor's latest illness to media outlets but did not provide more details.

[Updated at 4 p.m.: A spokeswoman for the actress said doctors at Ronald Reagan-UCLA Medical Center were able to stabilize her and were conducting tests. It was possible Gabor could go home Tuesday night.]

The actress has been in and out of the hospital for the last month. She returned home on Aug. 17 after doctors removed two blood clots.

Gabor, 93, broke her hip July 17 at her home while getting into a wheelchair that was not locked in place, according to her publicist, John Blanchette.  She underwent hip replacement and was released from the hospital.

-- Valerie J. Nelson and Shelby Grad

Share a thought about Zsa Zsa Gabor and visit her star on The Times' virtual tour of the Walk of Fame

-- Valerie J. Nelson and Shelby Grad

Share a thought about Zsa Zsa Gabor and visit her star on The Times' virtual tour of the Walk of Fame

Estate planner testifies Frank McCourt 'wanted me to talk sense' into Jamie McCourt

An estate planner testified Tuesday that an agitated Frank McCourt went to her office in July 2009 and poured out his frustration with his wife, Jamie.

"He said she was lacking rationality," said Leah Bishop, who took the stand on the second day of the McCourts' divorce trial. "He said: 'She thinks she can run the team. That's a total disconnect.'"

The L.A. power couple are battling it out in Superior Court in downtown Los Angeles over who owns the Dodgers. Frank McCourt, who says he is the sole owner of the team, is expected to begin his testimony Tuesday afternoon. 

Bishop is a key witness for Jamie McCourt because the estate planning lawyer said in an affidavit and testified Tuesday that both Frank and Jamie McCourt told her in 2008 they did not intend to separate their assets forever and wanted to put the Dodgers in their community property.

That is a crucial point for Jamie McCourt, who contends she is entitled to a share in the team. But after Bishop drew up new papers to commingle properties, Frank refused to sign them.

Bishop testified Tuesday that Frank McCourt told her he never understood why he and and his wife made an official agreement to separate their properties in the first place. But later, he seemed to want different advice.

"He said she needed sensible people...and he really wanted me to talk sense into her," Bishop said under examination by Jamie McCourt's attorney, Michael Kump.

Fruit pops recalled by Santa Fe Springs firm

Fruiti Pops recall: The Orange County Register reports that Fruiti Pops, based in Santa Fe Springs, has recalled 10,000 frozen treats because of concerns that they may contain typhoid fever-causing bacteria:

Typhoid is rare in the U.S., but several cases have been reported this month, many of them linked to mamey frozen pulp sold by Goya Foods, Inc., of Secaucus, N.J. Fruiti Pops uses Goya pulp in its mamey-flavored fruit bars.

Rick Bayless Twitter fight: Eater L.A. reports on a Twitter spat between L.A. Weekly food critic Jonathan Gold and celebrity chef Rick Bayless:

So now we give you this, Bayless' tweet on the matter, in which he goes so far as to suggest that Gold is "sloppy" in his reporting and fact-checking. For his part, Gold has remained mum about the issue. Frankly, we feel there are better ways of solving disputes; a tweet attack?

Billionaire yacht sighting: Yo! Venice! spotted the yacht of a Russian billionaire off the coast:

Want to see what the 300 million dollar, 390 foot Philippe Starck designed mega yacht that belongs to Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko looks like? The "A" (that is its name) is off the coast of Venice Beach right now

-- Anthony Pesce

Are you a local blogger? Do you want to make a pitch for Linking L.A.? Contact Times Web producer Anthony Pesce.