Authorities seek burglary suspects captured on home surveillance

Authorities in Palmdale are seeking the public’s help in identifying two burglary suspects who were captured on a home video surveillance system as they stole items from the residence.

According to a statement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, two males climbed through a rear window of a home in the 38000 block of 20th Street East around 2 p.m. Jan. 16 and ransacked the place. The suspects stole a .22 caliber rifle, a laptop, valuable jewelry and more than $1,000 in cash, authorities said.

The resident’s video surveillance system captured an image of the pair while they were committing the crime. Authorities said the suspects appears to be around 18 years old. They described one of them as standing around 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighing about 165 pounds. He wore a gray beanie, a  gray sweat shirt and pink pants. The second suspect wore a gray beanie, a gray sweat shirt, gray gloves and tan pants, authorities said. 

Anyone with information about this case is urged to contact the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station at (661) 272-2506. Tips can also be called in anonymously to Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477. 

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Photo: Authorities say a home video surveillance system captured two suspects as they burglarized a residence. Credit: Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Manti Te'o tells Katie Couric: 'I was scared. That’s the truth.'

Former Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o said was "hurt" by the hoax allegedly created by a Palmdale man he barely knows and Te'o also admitted Wednesday that he was "scared" when he received a phone call from the girlfriend he thought was dead.

Te'o spoke to ABC's Katie Couric for his first on-camera interview since news broke last week that his supposed girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, did not exist. The full interview aired Thursday afternoon on Couric's daytime talk show, through segments were released in advance.

Te'o had spoken to reporters repeatedly about his supposed girlfriend and her battle with cancer, a story that captivated college football fans throughout the fall of 2012, when the Heisman Trophy runner-up helped his team to an undefeated regular season and to the national championship game.

Couric pressed Te'o to explain why he did not speak out when he got a call from a woman in December purporting to be Kekua weeks after she had died of the cancer.

"I did not know who to turn to. I did not know who to tell. I did not know who to trust," Te'o said. "It was a big thing for me, and I was scared. That’s the truth. I was just scared, and I didn’t know what to do."

Both Te'o and a Southern California woman whose photos were apparently used in the fake girlfriend's social media accounts have identified a Palmdale man, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, as the perpetrator of the ruse. The Deadspin.com report that revealed the hoax last week alleged that Tuiasosopo was involved in creating a Twitter account for a "Lennay Kekua" and connecting her with Te'o.

Tuiasosopo has not commented publicly on the allegations, but on Wednesday, Te'o shed new light on a conversation he had with the young man. Tuiasosopo called Te'o to apologize for the hoax last week, and Te'o said Tuiasosopo tried to explain "what he did and why he did it."

"He didn’t say why, he just explained that he just wanted to help people, and that was his way of helping people," Te'o said. "Being someone that he wasn’t and trying to connect with somebody on a different level and help them out."

Te'o's father Brian said his family had sent the Tuiasosopo's a message through an "intermediary."

“I just want to be able to let them know that we’re thinking about them and praying for them also," Brian Te'o said.

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Manti Te'o tells Katie Couric: 'What I went through was real'

The girl turned out to be fake, but the emotions Manti Te'o felt at the time of her supposed death were real, the Notre Dame linebacker said.

Te'o spoke to ABC's Katie Couric for his first on-camera interview since news broke last week that his supposed girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, did not exist. Segments of the conversation have been released in advance of the full interview, which will air Thursday on Couric's daytime talk show.

Te'o had spoken to reporters repeatedly about his supposed girlfriend and her battle with cancer, a story that captivated college football fans throughout the fall of 2012, when the Heisman Trophy runner-up helped his team to an undefeated regular season and to the national championship game.

When asked whether he had had something to gain by keeping that story alive, Te'o said: "The only thing I basked in is that I had an impact on people. That people turned to me for inspiration. ... My story, I felt, was a guy who, in times of hardship and in times of trial, really held strong to his faith, held strong to his family."

"Even if that hardship was perhaps exaggerated?" Couric asked.

"What I went through was real," Te'o said. "The feelings, the pain, the story. That was all real."

Woman accused of torturing adoptive children with cords, hammer

A Palmdale woman faces torture charges after her adoptive children told investigators they ran away from home because she deprived them food, locked them in separate rooms, and tied their hands and beat them with electrical cords and a hammer, authorities said.

Ingrid Brewer, 50, reported her 8-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter missing on Jan. 15, prompting a search by deputies at the Los Angeles County sheriff's Palmdale Station, the sheriff's department said. The children were eventually found hiding under a blanket near a parked car near their home, without winter clothes in 20-degree weather.

"The children told deputies that they had run away from home because they were tired of being tied up and beaten by the suspect," a sheriff's statement said.

The children accused Brewer of locking them in separate bedrooms when she went to work each day and said they had to use waste baskets in the rooms when they needed to go to the bathroom, the statement said. They also told investigators Brewer withheld food and would "zip-tie their hands behind their backs and beat them as punishment" using items like electrical cords and a hammer.

Both children had injuries consistent with the alleged abuse, the statement said, including marks on their wrists indicating they had been held with a "zip-tie type restraint."

Authorities told KTLA the children were home-schooled so there were no school officials to report the alleged crimes.

"It's upsetting," one neighbor, who asked not be identified, told the television station. "Very upsetting."

Brewer, who was arrested Jan. 16, faces felony courts of torture, assault with a deadly weapon, battery and cruelty to a child, sheriff's Sgt. Brian Hudson told the Antelope Valley Times. She pleaded not guilty to the charges on Jan. 18, the newspaper reported, but remains jailed on $2 million bail.

“Even our most veteran child abuse detectives were appalled at what we came across in this incident,” Hudson told the newspaper. “These two kids are heroes because they showed a heck of a lot of courage to take it upon themselves to get out of a bad situation on their own.”

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Stockpile of stolen electronics seized at Lancaster home

Sheriff’s deputies searching a Lancaster home while investigating the alleged sale of illegal drugs found more than just narcotics early Tuesday. They uncovered a stockpile of stolen electronics, including computers, hard drives, monitors and cellphones, authorities said.

Along with methamphetamine and other illegal drugs, investigators said they discovered evidence of check fraud and identity theft at the property, in the 1100 block of East Kildare Street.

Deputies arrested Roger Leek, 52, Thomas Howell, 44, Alexandra Garcia, 34, and Jonas Andrada, 43, according to a statement from Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials. All four suspects lived at the home, authorities said. They face charges related to narcotics, fraud and stolen property, officials said.

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Photo: Hoard of stolen electronics seized by sheriff's officials at Lancaster residence. Credit: Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department

Lancaster scraps entry fees to Museum of Art and History

Lancaster city officials have unanimously voted to abolish admission fees to the city’s popular Museum of Art and History and instead suggest visitors make a donation to the facility.

At a council meeting Tuesday, Ronda Perez, director of the Lancaster Parks, Recreation and Arts Department, told council members that eliminating the entry fee would allow the museum to qualify for a county property tax exemption that could ultimately save the city about $41,000 a year.

She added that free admission to the museum would also have wider advantages, such as “making it more accessible to children, seniors, and citizens on fixed income.”

Woman pictured in Te'o hoax talks about perpetrator

Two of the people linked to an expansive hoax involving Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o attended the same Antelope Valley high school, according to the Southern California woman whose photos were used in the ruse.

Diane O'Meara, who now works in marketing at STN Media Group in Torrance, spoke to NBC's "Today"  about the incident in a segment that aired Tuesday. In the segment, she said she met the supposed hoaxer, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, in high school but added that the two were not friends.

Paraclete High football coach Norm Dahlia confirmed to The Times that Tuiasosopo played quarterback for the Lancaster school in 2007.

A Deadspin.com report published last week first revealed the hoax but did not name O'Meara. The report claims that Tuiasosopo used photos of a girl he met at Paraclete High School in Lancaster as part of a Twitter account for a "Lennay Kekua," a fake woman whom he connected with Te'o.

"My name is not Lennay Kekua," O'Meara told "Today." “My name's Diane."

Online athletic records and a story published in the Los Angeles Daily News indicate that a "Diane O'Meara" participated in track and field for Paraclete High around the same time Tuiasosopo played football. It was unclear when and how O'Meara and Tuiasosopo’s paths crossed.  

Titus Tuiasosopo, the father of Ronaiah, works as a health and physical education teacher at Paraclete, according to the school's website. A Times reporter was denied entry into the private high school last week.

Odor leads deputies in Palmdale to illegal marijuana cultivation

This post has been updated. See note below for details.

Three men were arrested on charges of cultivating marijuana after Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in Palmdale detected a strong odor coming from a local residence and discovered scores of illegal plants being grown there, authorities said.

According to a statement from the Palmdale sheriff’s station, the deputies noticed the distinct smell at about 4 p.m. Monday while working patrol in the 37000 block of 5th Street East. Authorities said they investigated and saw Daniel Campos, 31, of Palmdale, and Eric Thuesen, 39,  and Joseph Marsetti, 23, both of Chatsworth, loading lighting equipment, plant fertilizer and large plastic bins and bags into a vehicle.

After the car pulled away, deputies stopped it and the driver confirmed there was a marijuana cultivation operation at the 5^th Street East residence. Authorities said they recovered a rifle, about 40 marijuana plants and 40 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of $40,000, from the home.

[Update at 3:33 p.m. Jan. 22: The Palmdale's sheriff's station later updated the numbers to 240 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of $240,000, as well as 240 plants.]

Manti Te'o hoax: Woman in photos calls ruse 'twisted, confusing'

The Southern California woman whose photos were apparently used in an elaborate hoax involving Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o called the ruse "a very twisted and confusing scenario."

Diane O'Meara, who works in marketing at STN Media group in Torrance, spoke to NBC's "Today"  about the incident in a segment that aired Tuesday.

"My name is not Lennay Kekua," O'Meara said. "My name's Diane."

O'Meara, 23, was not named in the Deadspin.com report that revealed the hoax last week. According to the report, a Palmdale man identified as Ronaiah Tuiasosopo allegedly was involved in creating a Twitter account for a "Lennay Kekua" and connecting her with Te'o.

The Notre Dame player and Heisman Trophy runner-up spoke to the media repeatedly about his girlfriend and her supposed battle with cancer, a story that captivated football fans.

After more than a year of corresponding on social media and by telephone with someone he thought was Kekua, Te'o said he was told in September that the woman had died of leukemia. Three months later, the player got a call from a phone number he recognized as Kekua's, with the voice on the other end telling him Kekua wasn't dead.

On Dec. 26, Te'o told Notre Dame officials that he had learned his girlfriend did not exist, the university said. In an interview with ESPN, Te'o denied a role in the ruse.

"I wasn't faking it," he said. "I wasn't part of this."

O'Meara told "Today" she had never heard of Te'o until news of the scandal broke.

"I've never met Manti Te'o in my entire life," she said. "I've never spoken with him, I've never exchanged words, tweets [with him]."

Manti Te'o hoax: Woman pictured as girlfriend is called 'fabulous'

Friends are coming to the defense of a woman whose photo was used in what has been described as an elaborate hoax involving Notre Dame star linebacker Manti Te'o.

A Deadspin.com report Wednesday linked a Palmdale man to the incident that fooled media outlets across the nation. The man allegedly was involved in creating a fake Twitter account for a woman who never existed and linked her with the Heisman Trophy runner-up, who spoke repeatedly to the media about her, her illness and supposed death.

The extent of the woman's connection to the hoax -- and whether she was a participant or someone was using her photo -- remains unclear.

“She’s not that type of person,” former neighbor Joanne Shaw said.

The woman's former boss said the woman attended Cal State Long Beach. After speaking briefly with her Friday night, former boss Diane Merrick said she “sounded fine.”

Merrick, who owns a clothing store on Beverly Boulevard, said the wonan reached out to her by email last Monday or Tuesday and asked if she knew of an attorney who could help. Someone had stolen her identity, she said, but Merrick couldn’t help.

Merrick vehemently defended the employee she said worked for her for about two years until early 2012.

“Now all this stuff is happening – and it’s so bizarre to me,” Merrick said. “I’ve been in business 42 years. I’ve had some creepy employees, and I’ve had some employees that are really fabulous. And she’s one of the most fabulous.

“She was always on time. She had the most fabulous energy,” Merrick said. “I never had to ask her to do anything. She was one of those incredible people that you just wish you had for the rest of your life.

“I would get on a stack of Bibles and vouch for her,” she added.