Bell Gardens Police Lt. Jeff Travis is telling a story today that he says makes the department's guns-for-money program worth every penny.
By the end of the event today at St. Gertrude Catholic Church, Bell Gardens police had collected 19 guns and in exchange gave the owners $75 for each firearm.
Travis said that last Sunday pastors at several churches told congregants about the program. The next day, a distraught man took his gun to his pastor.
The man said he bought the gun after discovering that his wife was leaving him for another man. He planned to shoot his wife and her boyfriend, and then turn the gun on himself, Travis said. The man then asked his pastor to turn the gun over to police for him, Travis said.
The man has since received counseling and is "working through this," Travis said, adding that their work today might have saved lives.
Today's program was the first gun buyback program in Bell Gardens. Travis said he suggested the idea to the police chief after an increase in gang-related crime about two months ago in this city of about 45,000 people, about 10 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The funds for the program were donated by the Bicycle Casino.
"Hopefully, we got enough guns to make the streets a little safer," Travis said. Thirteen handguns and six rifles were turned in today.
Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies plan to hold their own gun surrender program at 10 a.m. Nov. 29-30 and Dec. 6-7 at the parking lot of the Ralphs supermarket at 280 E. Compton Blvd. For each gun turned in, sheriff's deputies will give a $100 gift card from Best Buy, Target, Home Depot or Ralphs. Owners of assault weapons will be given gift cards worth $200.
FBI agents are requesting the public’s help in finding an elderly woman they call the “Grandma Bandit.” They say she twice robbed a Bank of America branch in Chino.
The FBI said the woman, about 60 years old, robbed the bank branch at 12747 Central Ave. on Jan. 14 and on Friday. During the January robbery, the woman lifted her shirt, showing a metal object with wires attached, and presented a note that read: “Please help this lady, she is strapped.”
Then she proceeded to rob the bank, walk out and get into the driver’s side of a white SUV, according to FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller. In the most recent robbery, the woman again presented a note. Witnesses said the woman wore a blond wig and told the teller she was under “some sort of duress,” Eimiller said. “In the first robbery and in the last robbery, she appeared to be some kind of a victim,” she said. “There was a legitimate concern that she was possibly acting at the behest of others. Now, in the most recent robbery, that theory is a little less credible. It’s been 11 months, we haven’t heard any reports of kidnapping. ... She may be using this victim tactic as a ruse to avoid law enforcement.”
The woman, who some theorize is a Chino resident, was not believed to be armed during the robberies, Eimiller said. The FBI would not release the amount of money the woman got away with. “We don’t disclose the amounts. All I can say is she successfully robbed a bank twice,” Eimiller said.
The Grandma Bandit is described by witnesses as possibly of Middle Eastern descent, about 5 feet, 5 inches tall, with a thin build and eyeglasses. Anyone with information is asked to contact the FBI in Los Angeles at (310) 477-6565 or (888) CANT-HIDE.
A Beverly Hills fashion designer was found guilty today of sexually assaulting seven girls and young women, capping a two-month trial that offered a sordid portrait of the fashion world.
During the trial, prosecutors accused Jon -- whose real name is Anand Jon Alexander -- of using the promise of modeling jobs to lure young women and girls as young as 14 to a squalid-looking apartment in Beverly Hills, where he acted out sadistic fantasies.
He faced 23 felony and misdemeanor charges that included rape, sexual assault and other counts and could face life imprisonment. In addition to the victims in California, prosecutors called seven women to testify about alleged assaults in New York and Texas, where he also has been indicted.
Remember the theft of the landmark gold miner sculpture in Carthay Circle? Well, the guy who took the statue was sentenced today to more than a year in jail. Here's everything you ever wanted to know about the statue from our friends at the Daily Mirror blog. City News Service has the story on today's court action:
A man was sentenced today to 16 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $31,700 for stealing outdoor sculptures, including a 7-foot bronze statue of a gold miner taken from its longtime home in the Carthay Circle community of Los Angeles.
Sebastian Solis Espana, 22, of Los Angeles was one of two men who pleaded no contest June 12 to grand-theft charges stemming from the string of thefts in the Wilshire and Beverly Hills areas. His codefendant, Jessie Guzman Hernandez, 24, also of Los Angeles, was previously sentenced to 16 months in state prison, and today was also ordered to pay restitution of $31,700.
The two were arrested Feb. 14 by detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department's Commercial Crimes Division after the life-size, 512-pound bronze statue of a miner panning for gold, valued at $125,000, was recovered in two pieces from a local scrap yard, which had paid them about $900, authorities said.
The bizarre killing of five homeless people off a Long Beach freeway interchange is still very much a mystery. The Times' Harriet Ryan and Ari B. Bloomekatz report on the strange circumstances:
An anonymous caller tipped authorities Sunday morning about a slaying in an area near the 1500 block of West Wardlow Road. When Long Beach police arrived, they found two women and three men dead, some with multiple gunshot wounds, authorities said.
"We don't know who did this, not yet at least," said Long Beach Deputy Police Chief Robert Luna.
The victims, who were pronounced dead at the scene, have not been identified. Luna said he did not know whether any of them were homeless or only visiting the encampment. "They were residents of Long Beach, at least last night," he said.
Residents in a nearby apartment complex on West Wardlow Road said they heard several gunshots and shouting early Sunday morning.
"It was so many, it sounded like fireworks," said Leticia Walker, who said she was in her apartment about 12:15 a.m. when she heard the noise.
Another resident, Tippi Briggs, said that about the same time, she heard a woman scream and then a man shout "Get in the car! Get in the car! Let's go!"
According to the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, the victims, three males and two females -- all adults -- had all been shot.
"We're still investigating the identity," said Ed Winter, assistant chief of the Los Angeles Coroner's Office. "There were multiple gunshot wounds on some of the deceased."
Two men were quickly arrested after a Beverly Hills armed robbery Monday, spotted from a police helicopter as they drove away from the crime scene, officials said.
About 1:30 Monday afternoon, a man was robbed in an underground parking garage in the 300 block of North Swall Drive, Beverly Hills Police Department spokesman Tony Lee said. A man approached the victim, pulled a knife and took his wallet, then got into a car with an accomplice, Lee said.
Beverly Hills police officers arrived within 72 seconds, Lee said. But the men were already gone.
An LAPD helicopter found the car “almost immediately” near 3rd Street and Fairfax Avenue, he said. Shannon Hausey, 35, of Perris and Raymond Preston, 22, of Los Angeles were arrested. A knife and the victim’s wallet were in the car, Lee said.
The moral of the story: If you’re trying to blend into traffic, you might not want to drive a bright yellow Volkswagen Beetle.
Having done their damage in the cities throughout the state, metal thieves are now turning their avaricious ways to the rural areas, targeting farmers and ranchers who rely on miles of pipes and heavy valves to irrigate their land. AP has details:
Metal thieves are preying on farms and ranches along the Central Coast, hauling away irrigation valves and pipes for sale to recycling centers.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Deputy John McCarthy says four suspected metal thieves were arrested last month. The Rural Crime Unit deputy says most crooks are stealing metal for drug money.
Chip Gee of DB Specialty Farms in Santa Maria says brass valves are popular with thieves because they fetch good money at the recycling centers.
Early this month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill that targets metal theft.
Troubled former pro football player Lawrence Phillips, who has had more than his share of run-ins with the law, was sentenced today to 10 years in prison. The sentence for Phillips, who grew up in Los Angeles and went to Baldwin Park High School, was handed down after he made a public apology. Details from City News Service:
Former professional football player Lawrence Phillips has been sentenced to 10 years in state prison for driving a car at a group of boys and young men after a pickup football game near the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, hitting three of them. Phillips -- who was convicted in October 2006 of seven felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon -- apologized to one of the victims, who was in court, and said he takes “full responsibility” for what he did.
According to AP: "Phillips was once one of the nation’s top college football players. The St. Louis Rams released him for insubordination in 1997 and he went on to play for a number of teams."
James Ramsdell is a youth sports coach who was arrested this week for allegedly robbing banks. But what makes the case really interesting is the backstory, provided at the end of this OC Register report:
Ramsdell coaches youth baseball and soccer in the Cypress area. Recently, he has managed the Cypress Shock, an age-9-and-younger baseball club; the Cypress Yankees, an 8-and-younger boys baseball team; and the Blue Xtreme, a 10-and-younger girls soccer team. Ramsdell was known in the local sports community for his extravagance, taking his team out and paying for all his players' uniforms. Ramsdell had worked as a subprime mortgage broker.
The killing of a gay middle school student in Oxnard is generating national attention, and today there are reports of another tabloid twist: That the teen gunman may have been linked to skinheads. Here's a report from the Associated Press:
Investigators found white supremacist literature and hand-drawn swastikas among the possessions of a 14-year-old boy charged with murder in the fatal shooting of his gay classmate, court records showed. Senior Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox wrote in the court filing that the items found in Brandon McInerney’s room constituted a “trove of white supremacy-related” items that “depict racist skinhead philosophy.” McInerney, who is being tried as an adult, is also charged with committing a hate crime in the Feb. 12 shooting of 15-year-old Larry King at their junior high school in Oxnard.
Meanwhile, the Ventura County Star is reporting that the local school district has rejected a claim of damages filed by the family of victim Larry King.
Who killed Jon A. Simmons? The Chicago gay-rights activist was found dead in a Beverly Hills alley 14 years ago -- by a West Hollywood councilman. But despite various leads and twists and turns, detectives have not been able to solve this case and it remains open, which is rare in Beverly Hills. City News Service has an update:
“New leads were pursued over the past year. However, no significant new evidence was developed, and the case remains open,” Beverly Hills police Lt. Tony Lee told City News Service. Koretz said a woman walker told him she thought she saw a body in the alley, about a block south of Sunset Boulevard. He walked closer and found the victim naked and lying face down. A burned-out car rented by Simmons was found more than 20 miles away in El Monte later on Oct. 2, 1994, according to Beverly Hills police. Simmons was vacationing in Southern California. Family members said he had been at the Abbey Cafe in West Hollywood the night before his body was found and may have visited other bars nearby, police said.
Back in 2005, detectives thought they had a big break in the case with some new DNA evidence.
There's nothing ordinary about Steve Rocco's tenure as a trustee on the Orange Unified School District board. Elusive and reclusive, Rocco won his seat against a heavily-favored candidate in 2004 without ever making a single speech.
He dresses in black, always wears shades, and never willingly allows himself to be photographed. And though Rocco's made plenty of news with his various forays into politics, now he's in the headlines for allegedly stealing a bottle of ketchup. Here's the update from his hometown paper, the O.C. Register:
Orange Unified School District trustee Steve Rocco was detained and cited, charged with stealing a bottle of Heinz ketchup from Chapman University's cafeteria.
Sgt. Dan Adams of the Orange Police Department said today that Rocco was detained Saturday by campus public safety officers who said he stole the ketchup at 10:30 a.m.
"One of the security guards saw him take a 14-ounce bottle of ketchup off of one of the tables," Adams said. "He concealed it and started to ride away on a bike."
Rocco, who police called "cooperative," was cited for petty theft and released. He faces a possible $250 fine. He's already on the hook for his share of $37,000 in legal fees racked up when his 2006 lawsuit against the school district was dismissed. (Rocco belittled a school principal during a board meeting, was censured by his fellow board members for doing so, and then sued the board members who censured him.)
Add in his run for Santa Ana City Council, where his platform includes taking on "the Mexican Mafia, their Caucasian Puppetmasters and Judicial Miscreants," and the question of whether or not he's behind the website about the late comedian, Andy Kaufman, and you've got a real American original.
Black Crowes cancel California concerts because of to illness. LAist
The eternal question -- buy or rent? -- answered (sort of ) in the NYT.
A busy day in Daily Breeze territory, with cops arresting an accused burglar who leaped through a double-paned window, hunting for car thieves and checking out the hand grenade found in a newly purchased home, which prompted an evacuation.
Santa Monica High choir -- greater than the sum of its parts. The Homeroom
Speculation that Metrolink lawsuits could lead to millions -- and possibly billions -- in claims. LADN
Check out pix of the pro surf championship last weekend at Trestles. LAT
Irvine is one of those cities that seem to always rise to top of all those "best city" rankings. With great schools, low crime, neatly planned communities and lots of jobs -- why not? The latest crime numbers by the FBI again rank it as the safest city of its size in America (Irvine's been there before, vying with towns like Mission Viejo and Simi Valley). Should we brag? According to the OC Register:
And although an FBI disclaimer released along with the yearly numbers discourages ranking of any sort, stating that doing so leads to simplistic and incomplete analyses of the numbers, that didn't stop the city of Irvine from pointing out where it stood in the numbers. "Safest Big City in America Four Years in a Row," read a statement from the Irvine Police Department released the same day.
The Times' Joel Rubin reports that L.A. is recording low crime numbers not seen since 1967.
Exile on Wall Street -- stocks are tumbling, companies are teetering and laid-off employees are boxing up their coffee mugs and Dilbert calendars. Experts say more bad news is on the way.
Some of the commuters in Friday's deadly Metrolink crash were survivors of the crash in Glendale in 2005. Richard Myles survived both crashes. Gregory Lintner walked away from the first but died this week in the second.
A fatal crash on the eastbound 210 Freeway has all but one of the lanes closed in Arcadia.
Another day, another few hundred tomatoes in Bill Anderson's Winnetka garden.
Cab drivers in Burbank love their hybrid rides. (pictured at right.)
An agriculture instructor in Tulare was gored to death by a bull.
Monday was Day One of the O.J. Simpson trial, where he's facing more than a dozen charges, including kidnapping.
Let's start with the crash: Metrolink officials initially blamed the engineer, who died in the crash, and then backed off that claim. But the feds are looking into whether a red light signal, which would have warned of the oncoming freight train, was broken.
If you're a rail commuter, how do you get to work today? Info here.
And for IDs on those who died in the crash, check here.
Ready for some good news? We (almost) have a state budget! No new taxes in the new spending plan, which goes to a vote today.
Another O.J. Simpson trial, another debate about race, as prosecutors are accused of trying to exclude blacks from the jury.
An appreciation of the late (I still can't quite believe it) David Foster Wallace.
Let's end with some good -- and surprising -- news: Ike's damage to oil and gas platforms in the Gulf was relatively minor and oil falls to $97 per barrel.
A woman who witnesses say was sitting in a lane of the 101 Freeway near the Cahuenga Pass was struck and killed.
Health Net, one of the state's biggest insurers, reinstated 926 people whose health insurance policies it had canceled after they got sick, and will pay some hefty fines. One thing the Woodland Hills company refuses to do: admit it was wrong.
Kelly Slater shreds the competition at Lower Trestles in San Clemente.
Oops -- never mind. The MTA alters a message urging support of Measure R, a sales tax hike, on its website because it turns out that's, well, illegal.
A somber day around the nation as people commemorate the 7th anniversary of the attacks on the Twin Towers in NYC and the Pentagon in D.C. Check out some event listings in our travel blog, and Johanna Neuman's story from today's front page. Also, some photos, and our original story about that awful day.
On a lighter note, if you've been reading this blog this week, you've had a peek into the madcap mind of our own Shelby Grad, who energized this space with posts about everything from taco trucks (a perennial L.A. Now fave) to Barack Obama. Shelby's a natural when it comes to blogging so let's hope he keeps finding time to spice things up.
And now onward to today's news:
At last -- something good to say about the credit crunch. If you can qualify for a mortgage (and that can be a big if) you'll find that rates are sharply down.
Now here's a concept -- when developers are finished with the redo of the Santa Monica Place mall, there's actually going to be an ocean view. Oh -- and Bloomingdales will replace Macy's as the anchor.
And here's something verging on a minor miracle -- for the first time in 40 years, Watts is close to having a movie theater of its own. Barbara Stanton (she's heads the Wattstar Cinema and Education Center) says she's got about $10 million of the $20 million the project will take to build.
Another indoor pot farm busted, this time in an Azusa warehouse.
California's top Episcopal bishops stand up to their denomination's ban on gay marriage and publicly oppose Prop 8.
The fight for an Air Force tanker contract, no less bitter than the "lipstick on a pig" controversy now hijacking the presidential campaign, has been canceled by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, on grounds that things got out of hand.
An early-morning brush fire in the hills of Sherman Oaks near Benedict Canyon Lane burned just two acres before firefighters knocked it down. Residents were praised for their brush-clearing efforts, which made the job easier.
Four days later, the seven Inglewood police officers involved in shooting to death an unarmed homeless man have been put on leave. Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks says of the shooting, in which 47 rounds were fired, "We could have done a better job tactically." You think?
Steve Lopez has a few thoughts about Inglewood, and they're not all that flattering.
The LAUSD has shelled out $9.9 million for MealpayPlus, an online program for parents to track how school kids spend their lunch money.
Authorities are mighty vague about the "security adjustments" they're making at LAX after discovering that an elevator mechanic may have been helping illegal immigrants slip past security checks and enter the U.S.
Vietnamese immigrants who came to the U.S. as political refugees have a higher rate of mental illness when they reach their mid-50s and beyond.
Bobcats move into a foreclosed home in Lake Elsinore. LAT
A 160-acre parcel in Rialto that was used to store bombs, missiles and other munitions during World War II, and then was used by defense contractors and a fireworks company, is being proposed by the EPA as a Superfund site. Daily Bulletin
Parking costs grow, hours shrink at the Getty. LA Metblogs
West Nile virus strikes a Long Beach woman, the city's first since 2005. Press-Telegram
New Dash service coming to east side of downtown L.A. Blog Downtown
Carson tightens housing restrictions for registered sex offenders. Daily Breeze
An excellent question about what recourse we have about light pollution at Curbed L.A.
An American Youth Soccer Organization coach from Lake Forest faces federal child-porn charges. OC Register
What's the deal with "For Better or For Worse" in the LAT's comics pages? Franklin Avenue
Great pix from last week's Long Beach Blues fest on LAist.
Foreclosures are still a drag on the Inland Empire's economy. The Sun
Ex-Pasadena cop accused of two bank robberies in La Habra is denied bail. Star-News
So that's why you're not supposed to feed them -- hungry bears are breaking into people's homes in Kern County in search of easy pickings. Talk about a home invasion robbery.
Think stern warnings to L.A. city workers about wasting water have had an effect? Think again.
Eight men digging a tunnel from Mexico into the U.S., complete with ventilation and a trolley system, have been arrested.
Antonio Villaraigosa promises the moon to double the rate of academic achievement in the 10 "Partnership for Los Angeles Schools" he oversees.
Speaking of which, lots of back-to-school news and details in our education blog, The Homeroom.
Jerry Brown, the state's attorney general, sides with O.C. sheriff's deputies in a fight about their pension plan.
A man has been found shot to death on an isolated canyon road in Malibu.
A man in Irvine, who police say aimed a gun at a SWAT team during a standoff, has been shot and wounded.
As soon as I finish this post, I'm downloading Google's new browser, Chrome, which gets a (mostly) good review from our own David Colker and Michelle Maltais. I'll let you know how it goes.
Tami Abdollah reported in The Times this week about concerns regarding crime on the Westside, even though most types of crime are down. But in Santa Monica, officials are dealing with a big uptick in shoplifting -- particularly along the Third Street Promenade. According to the Lookout News:
Still, reports of shoplifting are on pace to double this year, with 112 reported incidents in the first half of 2008, compared to 143 in all of last year. The spike was in large part due to a dramatic increase in shoplifting on the Third Street Promenade –- with the 78 incidents reported in the first half of 2008 exceeding the 73 that took place on the bustling strip in all of last year.
It's the economy, according to Police Chief Tim Jackson, with shoplifting and theft from parked cars up 19% this year.
A bill working its way through the state Legislature targets snooping into hospital medical files by unauthorized docs, nurses and healthcare workers. Also in the hopper -- a bill to assure medical care for people with pre-existing conditions.
Another deadline looms for state lawmakers -- they must say yes to a plan on the shared use of carpool lanes on the 110 and 10 freeways, or $210 million the feds are offering will vanish.
Ready for some good news? Poverty in L.A. is down. (Bad news -- it's rising in the rest of the U.S.)
And whether this next item is good or bad news depends on how much of a purist you are (litmus test -- interleague play is A: A brilliant idea, or B: The devil's handiwork.) -- MLB umpires will be allowed to use video replays starting Thursday.
Dave Freeman, the ad exec who wrote "100 things to do before you die" has died at age 47 after a fall in his home in Venice. (And yes, he did most of the 100 things in his book.)
-- Veronique de Turenne
Photo: Ruth Cordoba, center, and her family are living in a hotel after they were evicted from a rental that had fallen into foreclosure. Credit: Karen Tapia-Andersen / Los Angeles Times
Good luck if you're now on or near the 105 Freeway hoping to get anywhere on time. A body (no ID, no reason for death given) found on the eastbound lanes near Watts prompted authorities to shut down the freeway while they figured out what happened. Lanes reopen at 9 a.m., or so we're told.
Some rail buffs aren't faring much better -- an Amtrak train headed to San Diego from L.A. ran out of fuel and had to be pushed to its destination.
A man in East L.A. has been arrested in connection with a drug-related massacre on a ranch near Ensenada, in which 19 people, including two toddlers, were shot to death.
UCLA football -- hoping for the best but not expecting much.
What's going on at Aurora Las Encinas hospital in Pasadena? A teen was raped and three adults unexpectedly died in the facility, which is known for its ties to celeb doc Drew Pinsky.
Tyrone Freeman, prez of L.A.'s chapter of the SEIU, steps down after stories by The Times reveal the union and a related charity paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to companies owned by Freeman's wife and her mother. (That's Freeman in the photo at right.)
Our state legislators are on the verge of doing something right, George Skelton says. (Hint: a growth bill.)
Meanwhile, Arnold Schwarzenegger is tilting at windmills pushing a budget that includes a three-year tax hike.
Not so fast -- even if state leaders do manage to balance the budget (fingers crossed), state voters will screw it all up on Nov. 4 when all those pricey ballot initiatives are up for grabs. That's one opinion, anyway.
You pull back, those upscale malls reach out, which means more marketing, aggressive sales and even free outdoor concerts and movies.
Those seven fires in Griffith Park? Definitely arson, investigators are saying. At least two were set by the same person. All seven started near roadways, a "crime of opportunity."
It's been 27 years since wholesale prices have risen as fast as they're rising right now.
But wait -- a spot of good news. Gas prices are at their lowest since May.
An Internet kiddie porn sweep in SoCal results in several arrests and charges filed against 50 men, the Department of Justice announced. We'll have a story later in the day.
Eighteen hospitals -- most here in SoCal -- get hit with fines for violations that put patients in serious jeopardy.
A man who barricaded himself in the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza mall stabbed a police officer with a pair of scissors and was shot by another officer.
"Faulty recollections" by an LAPD detective lead to dismissal of a 2005 gang murder case and, after three years, the man falsely accused is released from prison.
The FBI has begun a criminal probe of our city attorney, Rocky Delgadillo, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. (UPDATE: Given what we’ve reported about Delgadillo’s use of city funds to repair a wrecked car and city staff to watch his kids, it’s not surprising that the feds might be looking into his actions. They have a legal obligation to chase leads. But it’s also worth noting that lots of investigations end up determining nothing illegal happened.)
The ancient Terra Cotta warriors of imperial China are drawing some of the biggest crowds yet for the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana.
Forget the fake grass, Patt Morrison says. Just let your unnatural lawn die a natural death.
California remains without a budget as statehouse Republicans freeze out the Democrats' plan to close the $15.2-billion gap by taxing corporations and the wealthy.
Get ready for a fight as the developer who owns the 14-acre property formerly known as the South Central Farm tries to build a warehouse for Forever 21.
Speaking of which, there's a bit of a controversy about whether that "What if you couldn't marry the person you love?" TV commercial is breaking the law.
Cutbacks by foreign airlines flying into LAX could cost the region $9 billion per year in local economic activity.
The father of Olympic boxer Shawn Estrada has died.
Is the basketball winning streak at Villa Park High School the result of rule-breaking recruiting practices? Some coaches think so, but school officials deny it.
Ever donate a few bucks to the American Deputy Sheriffs Assn.? Turns out it's more likely you paid for a round of drinks at Hooters for the telemarketers than for a new bulletproof vest for the deputies, the OC Register reports.
The group, formally known by its initials, ADSA, paid insiders at least $400,000 in four years. That's far more than it spent on death benefits and bulletproof vests for members, according to a report filed in an Ohio court last week. Among the insider perks: dinners at Hooters, golf tournaments and a chartered river cruise.
Donors unwittingly paid for it all. They also paid for the court-appointed receiver and forensic accountant who spent two years scouring the group's books.
Now ADSA's long run is ending. The receiver, Columbus, Ohio, attorney Jeffrey Lewis, halted fundraising earlier this year and is preparing to give away its remaining cash.
Created by OC telemarketing king Mitch Gold, who went on to serve six years in federal prison for mail fraud, the ADSA was one of the biggest 'badge scams' in the U.S., the Register reports. That and more details in the full story here.
Note to self -- a publicity-seeking video blog is not the way to stay hidden after skipping out on probation after a prison sentence. Case in point, Patric Ian Henn, a 33-year-old gay man who pleaded guilty to bilking charity organizations out of $68,000 when he lied about losing a partner in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Henn, who also failed to perform 600 hours of community service and didn't pay back $29,000 to the Red Cross and other charities, was discovered in Long Beach, where had set up an identity as "Boy About Town." He used the blog to post pictures and videos of himself with minor celebs, as well as details of his party hopping. It wasn't until he told someone his real name that Henn's newest scam began to unravel, the Long Beach Press-Telegram reports:
Henn made his way to Long Beach late last year, trying to leave his past and create a new identity with his "Boy About Town" blog, www.boysbuzz.net.
He never told anyone his full name, introducing himself only as "Boy About Town" or Patric, according to sources he interviewed for his blog and local businesses he sought for advertising.
One day, Henn revealed his real name to an acquaintance, who searched the Internet and found Henn's checkered past. Word spread about Henn's real identity and eventually, the Long Beach Police Department got an anonymous tip.
Long Beach police arrested Henn earlier this month, and he now sits in the men's central jail in Los Angeles until his hearing, now postponed until Aug. 8. No bail has been set. And, apparently he has not a clue, judging from the most recent post on his website:
In light of what has happened to me recently, I want to assure you all that Who I was is not who I am today.
Wan to run for City Council in Cudahy? Then get ready to run for your life. Scare tactics against two men who declared their candidacy in this small but densely-packed suburb in southeast L.A. County included telephoned death threats and Molotov cocktails. Sam Quinones has the details:
When Luis Garcia first ran for Cudahy City Council in 2007, vandals spray painted his white Dodge Dakota. His friend and fellow candidate Tony Mendoza later dropped out of the race after receiving death threats on his answering machine.
Garcia and another novice candidate, Daniel Cota, continued, campaigning to combat gangs and lure more businesses to the tiny Latino suburb southeast of Los Angeles. They lost by a few dozen votes.
Earlier this month, Cota and Garcia launched a website announcing their intention to run for City Council again next year.
On Thursday night, while Garcia was watching TV in his living room, he heard breaking glass, looked outside and saw his Dodge Dakota engulfed in flames; someone had thrown a Molotov cocktail at it.
The incident marked the sixth time since the 2007 election that he had been the target of vandalism, Garcia said. His truck has been hit with paint four times in the last 20 months, according to police reports. Two weeks ago, someone threw a brick through his living room window.
Garcia (in the photo, seated next to his torched truck) is certain the attacks stem from his plan to run for office. A 2007 story in the L.A. Weekly does little to dispel the theory. The rest of Sam's story about the Cudahy candidates is here.
They've terrorized residents of the Harbor Gateway area for years, and now two gangs are getting a taste of their own medicine, though without the shooting and stealing and killing, the Daily Breeze reports.
A permanent injunction handed down by a Superior Court judge prevents members of two violent Harbor Gateway gangs from meeting in public, trespassing on private property, having spray paint or any other tools of the graffiti trade, and they've got to stay off the streets from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. From the story:
The injunction approved by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge
Michael Stern makes permanent a temporary injunction granted by Judge
David Yaffe in March, the same day gang members shot a 6-year-old boy
traveling through Harbor Gateway with his family.
Police, the City Attorney's Office and harbor-district City
Councilwoman Janice Hahn had sought the injunction since Dec. 15, 2006,
when 204th Street gang members allegedly shot 14-year-old Cheryl Green because she was black.
The
shooting enraged residents, who urged public officials to take strong
action. The injunction took months to complete and had to be approved
by a judge and served on gang members.
The injunction also prevents the gang members from possessing drugs and weapons, and creates a "safety zone" of close to two square miles. Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who sought the court ruling, now wants more money for job training in the area. The full story is here.
Some pro soccer players bound for Los Angeles are being hailed as heroes. The FBI says members of a Major League Soccer team, the New England Revolution, helped subdue an out-of-control American Airlines passenger who stripped, put his clothes back on and then tried to open an emergency exit door. According to the Associated Press, the plane landed safely at LAX, and the team had some interesting stories to tell:
Craig Tornberg, the soccer team’s general manager, said he confronted the man as soon as he saw him emerge naked from one of the plane’s restrooms. "I said he should get back into the bathroom and put on his clothes," Tornberg said after the plane landed in Los Angeles. "He said something strange to me. He said, 'I don’t hear you. I don’t see you.'" Still, the man complied and got dressed, Tornberg said, before he "made a beeline for the emergency door." Tornberg said he, assistant coach Gwynne Williams and Michael Burns, the team’s vice president for player personnel, grabbed the man and forced him into a seat as a flight attendant ran to get restraints.
Justice, finally, for a Redondo Beach police dog wounded in the line of duty. Jimmie Divo Lunceford, who stabbed the dog -- and made criminal threats against two ex-girlfriends -- was sentenced today to five years and eight months in prison. According to City News Service, the case involved a German shepherd named Valor:
The dog -- which was brought into court by its handler during the trial and referred to as Court Exhibit 7 -- was stabbed twice in the side of its neck last July 30 and had to undergo an hourlong surgery. Officers initially went to look for Lunceford a day earlier after getting reports about the threats, but police were not able to find him. Police were called to the home in Redondo Beach again about 5 a.m. July 30. Lunceford yelled at responding officers, telling them he had a knife and wanted them to shoot him, police said. The police dog was injured after being sent to try to subdue Lunceford, and the canine’s handler, Officer Ken Greenleaf, called the animal. Lunceford then dropped the knife and was arrested without incident, according to police. He has remained jailed since then.
Just learned that Jill Leovy, founder of the Homicide Report, the ground-breaking LAT blog that tries to chronicle every single murder in Los Angeles, is writing a book. No title yet.
Though inspired by the blog, Leovy's book won't be a recap. Instead, she'll use the knowledge gleaned from her work to look at race and murder rates, and to formulate a theory of her own about of the causes of inner-city warfare. Our lit-blogger, Carolyn Kellogg, gets some details:
Jacket Copy: Does your book chronicle all 845 murders in Los Angeles last year?
Jill Leovy: No. The book is not related to the Homicide Report blog, nor to my efforts to cover all homicides in Los Angeles County last year. (In reality, there were more then 900.) The book will be about the syndrome of high homicide rates among blacks in America, their causes and consequences.
Jacket Copy: Will you focus on a specific area or region?
JL: The book will be mostly reported out of Los Angeles, but it seeks to explain a national phenomenon. High homicide rates among blacks are everywhere ...
The full Q&A, in Jacket Copy, is here. And check out the Homicide Report, now in the capable hands of Ruben Vives.
A new report on the medical treatment of female inmates at Los Angeles County jails said deputies say shackles are generally not used to restrain pregnant prisoners during childbirth. But as The Times' Richard Winton reports:
A county hospital delivery nurse said "leg chains, which are heavy but long enough to allow the inmate to get to the bathroom, are often present during childbirth," the report stated.
A few hours after Rachael Mullenix of Huntington Beach said she saw her boyfriend fatally stab her mother to death, she sent him this text message:
“I love you. Am I going to see you soon? Are you in trouble? Can I call you?”
Mullenix and her boyfriend are on trial for the September 2006 slaying of her mother. Trial coverage in the Huntington Beach Independent and the OC Register.
Well, if you are LAPD's Deputy Chief Charles Beck, you turn around and arrest the law-breaking cop. That's what Beck did earlier in his career when he was working undercover for the LAPD and ran into officers who were not following the law, he told Celeste Fremon at Witness LA:
"I actually have a tape too — where [his former partner] and I were working undercover in narcotics and we got evidence planted on us. That was a long time ago. But there’s a message here. It does happen occasionally. But when it happens, we take it very seriously. People lose their jobs and they get prosecuted. And we make an example of them."
The latest LAPD crime stats for first six months of 2008 are in. Although homicides are up, rape, robbery and assault rates have dropped compared to the same period last year. Property crimes dropped too. Times reporter Phil Willon passes along this info:
Violent crime:
Homicide up 4.3%
Rape down 11.3%
Robbery down 8.6%
Aggravated assault down 5.7%
Total violent crime down 7.2%
Property crime:
Burglary down 5%
Grand theft auto down 8.2%
Burglary/theft from vehicle down 6.9%
Personal/other theft down 6.1%
Total property crime down 6.6%
Total "gang-related crime" down 15.3%
Meanwhile, Jose Luis Saenz is the latest addition to the LAPD's Top Ten gang list. Police say Saenz killed two gang members, then murdered his girlfriend to silence her about the murders.
The attorneys representing former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona in his upcoming corruption trial have apparently decided that the less the jurors hear from the ex-lawman the better. On Monday, the lawyers took their latest stab at limiting what federal jurors will hear from about 10 hours of secretly taped conversations between Carona and friend Donald Haidl, who was cooperating with prosecutors. Jurors would no longer hear Carona making numerous sexist and racist comments if the lawyers get their way, says the OC Register and LAT.
Attorneys say the remarks have nothing to do with the legal issues at hand and fear they will generate anger an "unfair prejudice" among jurors to their client. The judge rejected a previous request by Carona's attorneys to exclude the recordings. In some of the transcripts released by prosecutors, Carona defends his record while bragging about his sex life:
"I've met millionaires, billionaires, I've traveled on personal airplanes, and I never shook anybody down .... Not that I haven't, you know, drank some great wine and had great booze and ... got some, you know, phenomenal (sex) along the way."
Javier Francisco Ovando, the former gang member who was awarded a $15 million settlement as a victim of the Rampart police scandal, was arrested Sunday night after an hour-long, high-speed chase that began in Glendale. What was Ovando driving? A 2001 "canon" colored Hummer, police said.
The prospect of two rival biker gangs -- the Mongols and the Vagos -- riding into town would normally generate visions of deadly violence and mayhem. In Palm Springs, however, the bikers' arrival means sold-out hotels and jam packed bars and restaurants.
That may explain why some of this resort town's business and civic leaders have for several years now put aside concerns about possible violence to welcome the Mongols, Vagos and many other bikers for October's American Heat Palm Springs Motorcycle Weekend.
For this year's event, the City Council voted to move the event to its main drag, Palm Canyon Drive, chip in $35,000 for public safety and clean up and even suspended its noise ordinance for American Heat, reports the Desert Sun. Police and some council members warned about possible violence, especially with the presence of two of California's most notorious biker clubs:
The Mongols and Vagos Motorcycle Clubs are identified as outlaw motorcycle gangs in the Organized Crime in California Annual Report to the California Legislature 2005 document prepared by the California Department of Justice.
"When you get this event, you have Vagos, Hells Angels, the Green Machine, and when they all come together, they are bitter enemies," Palm Springs Police Chief David Dominguez said. "That's when we have the potential for violence."
Mayor Steve Pougnet conceded that there is a potential for violence but noted that police have done a good job of keeping the peace in earlier American Heat events.
If there are problems in October, however, Pougnet will most likely not be around. As he has in previous years, the mayor usually leaves town during American Heat because he said he "can't stand the noise."
Scores of residents in Glassell Park were rousted from their beds at 4 a.m. as hundreds of law enforcement officers raided the neighborhood in search of the Avenue's gang Drew Street clique. More than 70 people were named in a federal indictment, Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Andrew Blankstein
report.
The hope is the action will help break the gang's hold over the area. That's police talking to residents in the photo, who, truth be told, look more than a wee bit skeptical. They complained to officers about being terrified as they were wakened during the raid.
Details of the arrests and indictment are in the full story here.
OK, so I'm kind of scared to write this post. (Is it totally chicken to say Garrett Therolf is the one working on the story?) Among the bank accounts maintained by the L.A. County Jail so inmates can buy snacks, phone cards and other extras, the ones belonging to a Mafia hit man and two bank robbers are among those that grew by $5,000 or more during incarceration. Garrett reports:
Some inmates are engaging in large transactions, and it's possible that the in-house bank may be helping to facilitate further crime, the Los Angeles County Civil Grand Jury reported Monday. No effort was made to determine whether the deposits came from legitimate sources.
Here's the key section of the report:
"Although we appreciate that those inmates who have large quantities of money in their accounts, in some cases hundreds or thousands of dollars, represent a very small percentage of the jail population, we also recognize that those at the top of the inmate pecking order, the most powerful and dangerously well-connected, are likewise a very small percentage of the jail population.
The thought of these “shot-callers” having large sums of money at their disposal is disturbing. Certain possibilities come to mind, including bribery, money-laundering, and violence for hire."
He had friends in the Rollin' 20s, part of the deadly Bloods gang, and was known by the nickname Deuces Wild. When he was shot and killed, he was wearing a red belt with black skulls and the number 20 associated with the gang. Could this be the very same Jamiel Shaw II, the innocent high school athlete who was killed by an undocumented immigrant and alleged gang member in what many believe was a racially motivated shooting?
The troubling details of the Inglewood teenager's possible connections to gang life were revealed Thursday during a preliminary hearing. It's not the first time that someone has pointed out that Shaw's shooting might have to do more with gang rivalry than racial hatred. Earlier this month, an article in LA Weekly noted that online tributes and albums created by Shaw's friends includes photos of them flashing gang signs next to images of candles burning in the 17-year-old's honor.
Of course, many youths who live in gang territory often have friends and neighbors who are in gangs and may adopt their manner of dress and symbolism. That does not necessarily make them a gang member. Shaw's parents maintain that their son was not involved in gang life, and police said they never found Shaw, who has no arrest record, hanging out with known gang members. But police claim that Shaw's alleged killer, undocumented immigrant Pedro Espinoza, 19, has ties to the 18th Street gang, a rival of the Bloods.
Since Shaw's shooting March 2, his parents and others have used his death to put pressure on the Los Angeles Police Department to scrap a controversial rule that limits police inquiries into a suspect's immigration status. But the former football all-star's alleged gang ties could make him a less than ideal poster boy for the cause.
Growing questions about his gang connections and their possible role in his shooting also have undermined arguments that Shaw's death was largely the result of racial tensions between blacks and Latinos. After Thursday's hearing, Najee Ali, director of Project Islamic Hope, said:
"We still support the family and want to make sure that justice is done, but we can no longer support the belief that Shaw was targeted because of his race."
An Irvine Eagle Scout who had just graduated from high school is arrested on burglary charges after he allegedly entered 30 vehicles ... Three more San Fernando Valley students allege they were sexually assaulted by a basketball coach ... An Orange County man flying an ultralight plane dies after the aircraft crash-lands at an Antelope Valley airport ... Sections of the 710 Freeway will be closed for road repairs ... A deaf hiker was found after getting lost in Anza Borrego State Park as temperatures reached 112 degrees ... A woman dies in a house fire in Bellflower ... A gunman wounds three in Pomona ... A woman is injured in L.A. when a police officer crashes into her car ... A teen in Harbor City shoots his cousin in the head during an argument ... For the second day in a row, the lights inexplicably go out in Duarte.
Sheriff Lee Baca is making some waves for his tough talk on what he considers the serious problem of race-motivated gang violence. Baca thinks he has one answer: An emergency operations center to deal with street gangs.
For the last six months, a dozen full-time analysts have been sifting through crime data in the basement of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department's Monterey Park headquarters with one goal: breaking the region’s entrenched gang culture.
But the Southern California Gang Emergency Operations Center, the brainchild of Sheriff Lee Baca, is not just staffed by cops poring over statistics.
It draws on the expertise of numerous professionals -- including educators, social workers and mental health and healthcare workers -- in developing strategies to fight gangs.
Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said the clearinghouse is modeled on the county’s emergency operations center, which is activated after a natural disaster or any other emergency requiring a response from multiple agencies.
Whitmore said that, to Baca, street gangs are “on par with a disaster, albeit man-made."
If you can stand to read about how the Lakers blew the biggest first-quarter lead in NBA Finals history, then wrote their names in the record books with the biggest breakdown in the NBA Finals in the last 37 years, and how Kobe Bryant walked off the court with time on the clock, then by all means, read our coverage. Bill Plaschke's righteous rage will actually make you feel better. T.J. Simers blames Phil Jackson. The game story pulls no punches. The photos, well, they'll just break your heart. Thank God it's Friday.
And now onto the real world:
L.A.'s top cops have a turf war of their own going. L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca says race plays a big role in gang violence, while LAPD Chief Bill Bratton says it's actually about drugs and money.
Manson acolyte Susan Atkins may be released from prison because she has brain cancer.
Judge Alex Kozinski wants you to look at some porn -- his own. Specifically, he's called for an investigation into the fact that he kept hard-core images on his website to determine whether he's considered fit to judge obscenity cases.
The Japanese gangster who wanted a liver transplant at UCLA tried to pay $1 million for a U.S. visa.
Got a Q about same-sex marriage in California? Chances are, we've got the A.
Meanwhile, the Kern County clerk says she's hurt by the criticism at her decision to halt all civil marriage ceremonies.
Feeling a particularly vicious pinch in your wallet? You're not dreaming: May's jump in inflation was the biggest in six months.
Check out our coverage of the "Georgia O'Keeffe and the Women of the Stieglitz Circle" exhibit now in the San Diego Museum of Art. What's Hillary Clinton got to do with it? Ironic, in light of today's piece in the NYT.
There's a second arrest in the Foshay Learning Center sex scandal.... A man is found shot to death in his Hacienda Heights home.... Divers in Long Beach call off the search for a possible drowning victim.... A Cypress man believed to be selling steroids is arrested.... Three 14-year-old boys have been charged as adults in a suspected gang killing.... Two men are arrested in a bank robbery in Covina.... A suspect in a theft investigation is detained at the home of the mayor of Pico Rivera.... A Marine charged with murder in Santa Ana makes bail, then gets arrested again on an unrelated charge.... The FBI is looking for a group of armed bank
robbers known as the "Boricuas Bandits" in a
series of holdups in Upland, Rialto and Walnut... About 50 firefighters put out a 2-acre grass fire in Ojai....
We at the LAT counted 14 homicides in L.A. County last weekend; the LAPD, held to different boundaries (city rather than county) came up with with 10. They also came up with this bland thicket of language posted on the LAPD Blog to explain just what is going on here:
"...as trends migrate and evolve throughout the City, we have an obligation to move resources to address crime ... we should not panic..."
And:
"There have been no connections or trends developing that can be inferred as a result of this spike in the number of homicides."
The Board of Supervisors selectedSandra Hutchens, a retired Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department division chief, to lead the law enforcement agency still reeling from the resignation of Sheriff Michael S. Carona after he was charged with corruption. The board picked Hutchens over Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters.
Three supervisors voted for Hutchens, while two voted for Walters.
Times staff is gathering more details on the decision.
The number of people killed in L.A. County this weekend is up to 14, with at least 10 of those in LAPD jurisdiction. Ruben Vives has details in our fine -- and heartbreaking -- blog, The Homicide Report. Not a record, but way more than the two or three per day we've come to think of as the average for sunny SoCal.
The slaying in January of a West Covina woman generated national headlines because her assailant was her estranged husband, who just weeks before had been convicted of kidnapping her. Today, prosecutors made a stunning admission: that errors by the D.A.'s office contributed to her death. Andrew Blankstein has details:
Los Angeles County prosecutors acknowledged today that miscommunications, errors in judgment and office policy violations contributed to the slaying of a West Covina woman killed by her estranged husband two weeks after he was sentenced to jail for threatening her with a stun gun.
A video camera captures a fatal hit-and-run in East LA.... A pit bull attacks an infant in Pacoima.... A father and son from Redlands are in custody on suspicion of child molestation.... County supes want a broader investigation into the Universal Studios fire.... The L.A. County Sheriff is investigating four cases of “inappropriate contact” involving staff and students in Santa Clarita.... A woman driving the wrong way on Interstate 40 near Ludlow was killed after running into two trucks.... Authorities have charged a Santa Ana mother with murdering her four-year-old son.... A 3.1 earthquake rattled Idyllwild.... A Metro bus hits a pedestrian in downtown LA.... It's jail time for a Gardena man who secretly videotaped a co-worker while she used the bathroom.... L.A. sheriffs raid 108 homes, find drugs and guns, make 14 arrests.... Suspected copper thieves arrested in Lake Forest.... And five endangered condors are sick from lead poisoning just weeks before a statewide ban on lead in bullets kicks in.
Though no one's nailed down the cause of that catastrophic fire at Universal Studios, the reason it got out of hand is pretty clear: Water pressure at the site was so low, firefighters reported water streams of just 10 feet, laughably inadequate against the towering flames. Add in a failed sprinkler system and two city blocks of sets built from what amounts to kindling and you're looking at the disaster that was yesterday's blaze.
We've got lots of info: main story here (including the news the studio's re-opening to the public toay)... what, exactly, burned ... the yes-no-yes-no saga as studio heads couldn't decide whether or not to open the park ... some video, of course ... and news that despite the damage, cameras will still roll.
Iconic fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent has died.
With some prime tourist attractions now in cinders, maybe Universal should look into the gay marriage business. Ever since the state Supremes gave same-sex marriage the nod, all corners of the wedding industry have seen an uptick in business.
And if the long wait for the Lakers-Celtics match-up is getting to you, Kareem Abdul-Jabar's got lots to say about the 1985 Boston-L.A. series.
As long as we're having a fire, why not a couple of earthquakes as well? Two small ones rattled through last night, one in the Salton Sea, the other in San Bernardino County.
The $10 billion that Californians spend annually on home remodeling and construction is a major boost for the economy that supports countless businesses and workers. It's also a major attraction for unlicensed contractors. That's why state regulators have organized sting operations to try and catch them. Times staff writer Robert J. Lopez witnessed a sting operation last March in Van Nuys and videotaped it. His full story about one woman's ordeal with an unlicensed contractor will appear in Sunday's Real Estate section.
"It's safe to say that there are thousands of people out there breaking the law by contracting without a license," said Pamela Mares, a spokeswoman for the Contractors State License Board. "There's a lot of money out there, and they know it."
An alleged drunk driver who led police on a pursuit in Pacoima last night is arrested.... An LAPD officer accidentally fires his gun during a sting operation.... A Northern California doctor is held in sexual assaults on a man.... The estate of singer Billie Holliday's husband sues a record company for unpaid royalties.... An LAPD officer pleads not guilty in an alleged drunken brawl while off-duty in Redondo Beach.... A Navy SEAL trainee admits he killed a woman.... Feds arrest a former Bell police officer on suspicion of forcing a woman to have sex with him during a traffic stop.... Killers still at large in the slaying of a Monrovia teen.... A man was in good condition after an Amtrak train demolished his Mercedes-Benz at a San Juan Capistrano railroad crossing.... Two teens were arrested in Mentone after allegedly setting a high school security guard’s truck on fire.... A Corona mother whose son leaped from the back seat of her car was arrested on child endangerment charges for failing to stop and return to pick up her child.... A Lancaster woman who opposed display of the words "In God We Trust" at City Hall wakes up to find her home’s windows covered with the phrase "In God We Trust or ?"
An Irvine high school student dies after collapsing at football practice(OC Register, LAT).... Investigators are looking into the second fire to hit a Wilmington church.... A Mexican national was arrested near Temecula after police found $344,863 in cash in his pickup truck.... An 84-year-old Santa Monica woman dies after being hit by a car backing out of a driveway.... One man may have robbed two San Bernardino banks on the same block in one week.... A man working on a Whittier motel sign dies after falling 40 feet.... The conversion of a San Bernardino family restaurant into an adult bikini bar has been halted by a judge.
L.A. is the second-greenest big city in the U.S.? Depends on whether you believe the Brookings Institution, which delivers this startling bit of news, or the naysayers who scoff at fuzzy data. Margot Roosevelt tries to clear things up.
Does L.A. lead in school sex scandals, too? Another teacher suspected of having sex with a student is arrested. Andrew Blankstein has the story.
Ever since the new owner took over Centinela Hospital Medical Center in South L.A., services have been shrinking. Most private insurance contracts have been canceled and 13% of the staff laid off. Is this the way to serve a community? Daniel Costello looks for answers.
A first in the O.C. -- all the candidates running for office in the 1st District are Vietnamese. My-Thuan Tran reports on the new political landscape.
Too many hands-off caches of cash are a big reason for California's current money crisis. Plain speaking from George Skelton.
It wouldn't be a playoff series without a brouhaha, and ours is here. The NBA says the Lakers' Derek Fisher fouled the Spurs' Brent Barry in the last seconds of the game, and the Spurs should have gotten two free throws. (Hey, didn't NBA honchos read Plaschke's great two-fouls means no-fouls column yesterday?) Yeah, the Lakers won Game 4 by 2 points. Commiserate with Steve Springer.
The B of A/Countrywide deal is still on, but the players are changing. E. Scott Reckard and Kathy M. Kristof explain.
Mary McNamara takes her kids to the Hollywood Bowl to see the Police. Shares her music, learns some lessons, makes you laugh.
-- Veronique de Turenne
Photos: Jerry Lara / San Antonio Express-News; cgee / Your Scene
An armed robbery suspect is shot in a gun battle with police in Long Beach ... four men are injured in a racially motived brawl in a corrections camp in Malibu ... an attic fire reveals a marijuana farm in a San Jose house ... a patron of a Cypress bar is arrested after the man he allegedly beat with a pool cue dies ... the family of a San Clemente insurance man who died following outpatient knee surgery sues ... CSI actor Gary Dourdan will be arraigned today in Indio on felony drug charges ... two people are taken to a hospital after an attempted skateboard theft in Santee ... Ventura County farmers are hit by fuel theft ... Tijuana sewage forces San Diego beach closures ... the Maverick Steakhouse in Norco improves security after two shootings and other incidents ... police seek two men who sexually assaulted a woman at El Camino College.
Wrapped in miles of neon, Universal Studios CityWalk re-creates the flash and fun of Los Angeles in a sanitized and profitable setting. But there's one element of L.A. life that the outdoor mall and tourist attraction wants to avoid duplicating: gang violence. That's why California Highway Patrol officers will be brought in to help the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department raise the profile of law enforcement and lower the chance of any potential gang trouble, reports the Daily News.
"Universal CityWalk and that area up there has got a gang presence but not a gang problem," said sheriff's Lt. Blaine Talmo, who oversees detectives at the West Hollywood station. "Everybody, including dummies, goes up there to see movies and things like that.... So we make it a point to ramp up our enforcement to set the tone and the tenor for the summertime."
A guy scrambles across an overpass and tags it in broad daylight. The cops use the YouTube video to help bust him. Andrew Blankstein has the story about how one of L.A.'s most prolific taggers wound up under arrest.
Big rig crash closes two lanes of the Pomona Freeway ... more than 300 immigrants arrested in L.A. as part of a nationwide sweep ... the pilot of that helicopter crash on Catalina Island this weekend has been identified ... four people have been arrested in connection with shots fired at a sheriff's helicopter last week ... a wrong-way driver was killed in a crash on the 605 Freeway ... a man armed with a knife robs a Northridge mall ... a convicted sex offender in Pomona gets a life sentence for possessing child porn and not registering as a sex offender ... a registered sex offender is arrested for attacking a 5-year-old in a bookstore in Arcadia ... detectives still can't figure out who killed a Lancaster woman whose mummified body was found seven months ago....
That's what the N.Y. Times says in a front-page story this morning. Tougher enforcement is driving smugglers to recruit Border Patrol agents and customs officials to not just turn a blind eye to the smuggling of illegal immigrants, but to helping them cross the border as well.
The pattern has become familiar: Customs officers wave in vehicles filled with illegal immigrants, drugs or other contraband. A Border Patrol agent acts as a scout for smugglers. Trusted officers fall prey to temptation and begin taking bribes.
Increased corruption is linked, in part, to tougher enforcement, driving smugglers to recruit federal employees as accomplices. It has grown so worrisome that job applicants will soon be subject to lie detector tests to ensure that they are not already working for smuggling organizations.
(Skip)
Altogether, there are about 200 open cases pending against law enforcement employees who work the border. In the latest arrests, four employees in Arizona, Texas and California were charged this month with helping to smuggle illegal immigrants into the country.
The agents-gone-bad are just a fraction of the workforce, officials say, but the numbers -- and temptations -- are growing and the feds are getting worried. The NYT's full story is here.
Five Marines stationed in Southern California have died in recent days as a result of homicide, traffic accidents and suicide....an alleged foreclosure scam gets busted.... gunfire errupts on the Ventura Freeway...more than 60 people are arrested in Long Beach and other areas following a months-long probe into gangs and guns.... A Santa Ana man was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting and photographing his girlfriend's 13-year-old daughter over several years. Nude photos of a second girl were also found.... Sierra Madre is asking for voluntary evacuations of residents threatened by mudslides.... Los Angeles County reports this year's first signs of West Nile virus, and a mountain lion is captured in a Sonoma County backyard.
A bad week in San Bernardino: Three teenage males face murder and street terrorism charges over the fatal stabbing of one of their classmates outside Arroyo Valley High School.... Deputies are searching for a man who tried to run over his pregnant girlfriend.... Residents are being warned after a bat tested positive for rabies.
Oh no -- California's losing the cheese race to Wisconsin. (Whose license plates do say America's Dairyland.) AP via LAT
The soldiers of San Pedro-based Company C (a.k.a. Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 160th Infantry of the California National Guard) came home today after a 12-month tour in Iraq, amid laughing and hugging and kissing and more than a few tears. Story and lovely photos in the Daily Breeze.
The bloody night in the Valley that left two dead and eight wounded in shootings has residents wondering, what's this summer going to be like? LADN
Someone's been aiming lasers at airplanes taking off from John Wayne Airport. OC Reg
Colleagues of the Three Valleys Municipal Water District director who lied about winning the Medal of Honor want him to quit. SGV Trib
Police used a Taser on a Baldwin Park school board member early this morning after he allegedly broke windows in a house and then drove drunk with his headlights off. Star-News (That'll be some reelection campaign.)
Sex education classes aren't offered at five school districts in San Bernardino County. SB Sun
Turns out a janitor at Oaks Christian School has been accused of videotaping girls as they changed their clothes in the locker room. Officials said a school employee found a camera with "inappropriate images" and the guy's been arrested and booked on charges of possession and control of child porn. Andrew Blankstein has the details.
A Los Angeles County sheriff's helicopter speeding to a robbery had to make an emergency landing after someone on the ground hit it with gunfire. Bullets slammed into the belly and tail areas, but no one was hurt and the helicopter can still fly. Then SWAT teams surrounded a home. AP via LAT.
Is Renée Zito, the California drug and alcohol treatment czar with personal ties to the Schwarzenegger administration, any good at her job? A new report raises the question and pretty much concludes she's not. Jordan Rau has the story.
Thirteen SoCal hospitals are hit with fines for bad patient care. Rong-Gong Lin II explains.
Oil hits $135 a barrel. Does anyone doubt it's headed even higher? AP via LAT.
David wins "American Idol"! OK, you already knew that. Rocker David Cook beats teen sensation David Archuleta, which our "Idol" watchers call an upset. Richard Rushfield has the details.
Meanwhile, across the street at Staples, the Lakers win! Mike Bresnahan has the game story. Bill Plaschke's so happy, he speaks in one-liners.
George Skelton says that if they ask very, very nicely, California politicians can get us to accept a tax increase. Do we believe they'll spend the money wisely? Ummm, no. Find out why here.
They came, they dug, they didn't find any bodies. That's that for the excavation at the Manson ranch, Louis Sahagan says.
The Salvation Army shows a bunch of middle-class kids and adults what it's really like to be poor. Eyes are opened. Maybe some pocketbooks too. Martha Groves was there.
Day One with a bullet. Well, a shell casing, anyway. That's what's been found so far in the excavation of the Barker Ranch, where Charles Manson and his murderous band of followers once lived. Louis Sahagun is following the story.
An L.A. Unified police officer who reported sex abuse at South East High School says he was punished with "freeway therapy" and transferred to another campus for embarrassing school administrators. Richard Winton has the details.
That prison plan to shift low-risk offenders to community-level care? Great idea, says Michael Rothfeld.
West Nile virus has been found in 13 birds in the O.C. so far this month, David Reyes reports.
You're excused! San Diego city workers who don't want to officiate at gay weddings can just say no. AP via LAT.
Profits at Home Depot drop 66% as the housing slump continues.
Steve Lopez waxes nostalgic for the soon-to-be termed-out Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Who gave what to whom? L.A.'s richest residents (Geffen, Spielberg, Redstone, Selleck) spread their wealth all around the political spectrum, Tina Daunt reports.
Are you missing baseball's super-slugger Barry Bonds? Yeah, neither is the city of San Francisco, where he's quickly vanishing from the collective consciousness. John M. Glionna reports on Bonds' post-Giants slump.
When the Inland Empire ranked as one of the nation's largest producers of meth during the 1990s, police officers like Jim Foreman were kept busy raiding and investigating countless makeshift labs where the drug was produced. During one incident, Foreman actually passed out from the chemicals. Today, Foreman, who took a medical retirement last year, says his lungs operate at only 60% of capacity. He suffers from a series of other ailments he blames on his exposure to the meth lab toxins.
Foreman's health problems are part of the dark legacy that continues to haunt the Inland Empire, according to a wide-ranging report in the Riverside Press Enterprise.
Police officers who raided the homes are not the only ones who worry about their exposure to toxic chemicals and lingering contamination. It's also a troubling issue for the children who grew up with meth-addicted parents and even the current occupants of homes used to cook the chemicals, which can leave a residue on walls, carpets and other surfaces that can last for years.
"Some days are better than others," said Foreman, surveying the living room in his Hemet home, which is decorated with photos of him in uniform -- both police and military. "Then there are days when I don't even want to get out of bed."
Fourteen people were injured, five of them critically, after a massive gas explosion at a waterfront San Diego hotel that is under construction. Richard Marosi and Tony Perry explain what happened.
Rehab services and community jails for low-risk offenders -- that's the gist of a proposal to settle the federal lawsuit brought against California's overcrowded prisons. It took six months of talks to get here, and still needs the OK of lots of different groups and agencies before it's a done deal. The upside -- no early release. But where's the money going to come from? Michael Rothfeld has the details.
Snooping into celeb medical files is a decades-old cottage industry, says Andrew Blankstein.
Ex-LAPD officer gets a 102-year sentence for his role in a robbery ring. Scott Glover was there.
Police and witnesses continue to argue over the events leading up to the shooting of an unarmed man in Long Beach on Sunday. The latest news -- the city's mental health team wasn't called to the scene. Deborah Schoch has the story.
Turns out even luxury home prices are heading south -- one Newport Beach enclave sees a drop of 34%. Peter Y. Hong runs the numbers.
It'll be the San Antonio Spurs against the Lakers tomorrow night in Game One of the Western Conference finals. AP via LAT.
Film directing -- still a man's world, says Patrick Goldstein. (And a white man's world, at that.)
Now that the state Supreme Court has ruled to make same-sex marriage legal in California, religious congregations are wrestling with the issue.
James Frey, "the most notorious writer in America", talks to Scott Timberg.
It started Monday when 80-year-old Harry Johnson found the American flag that flies outside his Mission Viejo home partially burned. Today, a second flag went up in flames, the OC Reg reports.
Evan Fewsmith said he was sleeping when firefighters were called to his home at 5:30 a.m. on the 26900 block of Marbella.
Fewsmith, 46, says his newspaper carrier notified the Orange County Fire Authority and slowed down the fire by using a hose before firefighters arrived.
As firefighters fought the fire, a eucalyptus tree near the flag caught the flames.
Firefighters doused the fire in about five minutes, and sheriff's deputies are investigating the event as arson. The two flag burnings happened just two blocks apart.
Traffic is still recovering from that wrong-way crash that left three dead on the I-5 today. LAT
Port of LA says OK to ban on indie truckers by 2013. Daily Breeze
Ventura County goes to court to try to confiscate $385,000 in drug profits.
Jury selection starts on Monday for the last three civil cases stemming from the Santa Monica Farmer's Market disaster in 2003, when an 86-year-old man killed 10 people as his car careened through the crowded outdoor venue. LADN
A Pasadena mother, her son and his wife all graduate from nursing school. Star-News
Why the new Narnia movie is really better as a book. Jacket Copy
Whittier schools hope the revised state budget will save the jobs of some of the 140 teachers and 30 administrators who got pink slips. Whittier Daily News
California's highest court gave the green light to more than same-sex marriage Thursday. It fired up opponents, who already had a ballot proposition in the works, and forced the divisive issue back into the presidential race. Phil Willon and Patrick McGreevy take a look at the political fallout.
The Missouri mom, who pretended to be a 16-year-old boy on MySpace and bullied a girl who later killed herself, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles. Scott Glover and P.J. Huffstutter have the details.
And in case you missed it, Anthony Pellicano -- guilty.
Three people are dead and the morning commute is snarled after a wrong-way driver on I-5 downtown causes a catastrophic crash. AP via LAT
How did three girls wind up unconscious in a Chatsworth park? Howard Blume says police have a both a theory and a suspect.
Whittier Boulevard in East L.A. gets a face-lift. Scott Gold looks at its history and future.
Can it be? Good housing news: April starts are the best since January '06. Reuters via LAT.
(Fake) diamonds fit for a (real) diva: the jewelry that Maria Callas wore when she debuted in "Tosca" at the Met in New York City in 1956 will shine on stage in the L.A. Opera's production. David Ng has details about the $85K worth of Swarovski crystals.
