Man suspected of killing wife in Montebello turns himself in to authorities

A 29-year-old Tustin man suspected of fatally shooting his estranged wife with a handgun turned himself into the Whittier Police Department early Sunday and was arrested on suspicion of murder, authorities said.

Authorities had been searching for Arthur Andrew Andrade since Saturday about 8:30 a.m., when he allegedly shot Soria Esperanza, 24, multiple times in the parking lot of her place of employment in the 100 block of West Washington Boulevard in Montebello, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.

Esperanza, who suffered injuries to her upper body, was pronounced dead at the scene. The two, who were separated and had been in the process of getting a divorce, were arguing just before the shooting began.

Andrade turned himself in at 1 a.m. He was taken to the Montebello police station and is being held in lieu of $1-million bail. Authorities are still searching for the weapon and the vehicle Andrade allegedly used to flee the scene.

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Woman dies in Montebello shooting

A woman was shot and killed in Montebello on Saturday, apparently by her husband, according to Los Angeles County sheriff's investigators.

Arthur Andrade, 29, of Tustin is suspected of shooting Sonia Esperanza, 24, of East Los Angeles while she sat in her car in the 100 block of Washington Boulevard around 8:30 a.m. 

The couple were in the process of getting a divorce, according to investigators.

Andrade fled the scene in a dark-colored vehicle, sheriff's deputies said. Anyone with information about Andrade is urged to call the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.

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Boot camp counselors face charges of abusing youths

An instructor for a youth boot camp in Los Angeles is due in court this month on charges he beat several kids there and sexually assaulted one of them.

Edgar Alvarado, 36, is charged with three felony counts of causing great bodily injury on a child, one felony count of corporal injury on a child and one felony count of sexual battery. One of the female victims has accused Alvarado of inappropriately touching her.

He is being held in lieu of $480,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court March 28.

According to Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies, Alvarado and a co-worker, Ruben Romero, continuously hit nine boys and two females ages 12 to 17 years old repeatedly while they attended 180 Recon, a camp meant to reform troubled youths. Alvarado lists himself as a retired Marine on the site.

Romero faces three misdemeanor battery charges and is out on bail.

According to the camp’s website, the program begins with “breaking them down in order to build them back up” as model citizens. Kids who go there may have a bad attitude, skip school, use drugs or exhibit violent or criminal behavior. Recon 180 is supposed to give youths a 180-degree turn in their lives and instill some “good old-fashioned morals,” according to the site.

But that’s not what they received, according to sheriff’s deputies. Instead, they were allegedly physically abused at the company’s Camp Coulter in the Angeles Crest Mountains and at its East L.A. headquarters.

The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department asks if anyone has any information to call its special victims bureau at (877) 710-5273.

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Man held in stabbing death of his girlfriend, authorities say

A man suspected of stabbing to death his 63-year-old girlfriend in Montebello has turned himself in after fleeing to Mexico, authorities said Tuesday night.

Carmen King was found mortally wounded in her home Feb. 20 in the 600 block North 20th Street.

After the stabbing, detectives received information that King's boyfriend, Emilio Martinez, had fled to Mexico, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Investigators were able to communicate with the 51-year-old Martinez and encouraged him to surrender, authorities said.

On Monday, Martinez "turned himself in for the murder of Carmen King" at the San Ysidro Port of Entry on the U.S.-Mexico border, the Sheriff's Department said in a statement. He was being held in lieu of $1-million bail.

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Photo: Emilio Martinez Credit: Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department

L.A. Votes: Election Day! Candidates barnstorm, new controversies emerge

Tuesday is election day in Los Angeles, and voters will weigh in on who should be the city’s next mayor and decide on a measure that would boost the city’s sales tax. Also on the ballot are contests for city controller, city attorney, eight council districts, and board seats for the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Los Angeles Community College District. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and voters can also drop off mail-in ballots at polling stations.

After many months of campaigning and a frenzy of television ads and mailers, voters still have few details of how the top mayoral contenders would deal with the city's financial problems.

In their final push before voters headed to the polls, the candidates barnstormed Los Angeles. Eric Garcetti had an early morning meeting with union workers in Wilmington before embarking on a “whistle-stop” tour, taking public transit to greet voters throughout the city. Greuel completed a swing that took her to 30 events in the three days preceding Election Day, including testing out her moves with an elementary school drill team.  Jan Perry campaigned not only for herself,  but also against Measure A, which would raise the city’s sales tax to 9.5%. Kevin James hit the Original Farmers Market with former Mayor Richard Riordan.

WHERE THEY STAND: Los Angeles mayoral candidates in their own words

Candidates in the down-ballot races were also busy. City Atty. Carmen Trutanich, who is facing a tough reelection bid, returned to the campaign trail Monday after taking time off because of the death of his mother on Saturday. And Eastside council hopeful Gil Cedillo put out a call from California Gov. Jerry Brown.

Last-minute controversies continued to dog the candidates. The California chapter of the National Organization of Women and Garcetti slammed radio and Web ads by Greuel and her allies that pointed out that Perry declared bankruptcy years ago. And county supervisor and fellow Republican Michael Antonovich cried foul over a James fundraising plea that purported to come from Antonovich. The supervisor said the appeal included comments he never made. James’ campaign manager apologized.

The candidates are voting today, but they will continue to woo voters around the city, mindful that in what is expected to be a low-turnout contest, a small number of votes could swing key races. After the polls close, they will settle in and wait for the results before speaking at election night parties.

PHOTOS: Los Angeles voters go to the polls

The public might get a brief respite from campaign ads because the top two candidates continuing to the May 21 runoff in any unresolved races must begin raising donations again. As for the losers, they will have to decide whether to endorse one of the rivals they have spent months attacking.

For comprehensive coverage of today's developments and tonight's results, visit www.latimes.com for  updates from the campaign trail, scenes from election night parties, Web chats with the reporters covering the races, and video reports.

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Photo: Mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti, left, and mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel, right, talk to media after casting his ballot at separate polling stations. (Irfan Khan and Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Gov. Brown sends out robocall for Gilbert Cedillo's City Council bid

A robocall recorded by Gov. Jerry Brown went out to 25,000 voters Monday in support of Gilbert Cedillo, a candidate for an Eastside seat on the Los Angeles City Council.

"I've worked with him in Sacramento," Brown said in the recording, "and I believe he will do everything humanly possible to make things better in your neighborhood."

The automated call is Brown's first during this election cycle, a Cedillo campaign spokesman said. Brown's office could not be reached for comment. The call went out to voters in the 1st District who registered as Democrats and voters who declined to state their party affiliation. 

Brown endorsed Cedillo last month, as did Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Cedillo has frequently mentioned in his campaigning that his connections in Sacramento would help him get things done in Los Angeles.

L.A. Votes: Last-weekend barbs and poll results

Approaching Tuesday's vote, a USC Price/L.A. Times poll found Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel close to a tie for the lead. However, a large number of voters who say they could still change their minds could yet swing who makes the May runoff to be the city’s next mayor.

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Jan Perry and Kevin James are effectively tied for third place, according to the survey of likely voters, with James possibly losing support because of an ad created by an independent committee that is supporting his bid.

The Times scrutinized the education platforms of the mayoral candidates, who spent the weekend trading barbs as they skittered around Los Angeles courting voters in what is expected to be a low-turnout contest.

L.A. ELECTIONS 2013: Sign up for our email newsletter

The most recent campaign financial disclosures showing that Greuel has been the beneficiary of a deluge of outside spending, much of it from unions representing city workers, prompting her rivals to question whether she'll be forced to return to the favor if she is elected mayor. During their final debate before the primary, Perry and Garcetti hammered Greuel about the matter, and she countered that she was not beholden to any group.

In another issue on Tuesday's ballot, the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy/L.A. Times Los Angeles City Primary Poll also found that a slim majority of Angelenos supports a sales-tax measure on the ballot.

Outside spending is playing a major role in school board races in Los Angeles, and the use of standardized testing has emerged as a flash point.

WHERE THEY STAND: Los Angeles mayoral candidates in their own words

The USC Price/L.A. Times poll, which surveyed 500 likely voters from Feb. 24 to 27, also found City Atty. Carmen Trutanich struggling in his reelection bid. The incumbent has filed an ethics complaint against rival Mike Feuer.

With the sole woman on Los Angeles’ City Council leaving in June because of term limits, a handful of women are trying win a spot on the council but face uphill battles against better-funded men.

The race to replace termed-out Councilman Ed Reyes features two men with similar goals for revitalizing the 1st council district, but different political histories.

FULL COVERAGE: L.A.'s race for mayor

In other coverage, columnist Steve Lopez visits the Korean Resource Center in Koreatown, which has pushed up voting rates among Korean Americans. Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne looks at the city’s most embarrassing civic-architecture and urban-planning failures, and advises the next mayor how to fix them.

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Photo: City Controller Wendy Greuel gets down to the level of Sam Damico, 4, from Sherman Oaks, during a campaign stop at the Encino Farmer's Market on Sunday. Credit: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times

State suspends license of day-care owner accused of molesting girls

The California Department of Social Services has temporarily suspended the license for a Boyle Heights day care whose owner has been charged with molesting three children.

The agency, which licenses day-care centers, cited "an immediate health and safety risk to children" at Cano & Ramos Family Child Care. At least 14 children were at the center when Enrique Ramos was arrested last week.

Ramos, 45, was charged Monday with three felony counts of committing lewd acts on a child. He has pleaded not guilty and remains in County Jail in lieu of $1.3-million bail.

In addition to the molestation allegations, the department noted that the day care had failed to report allegations made in 2009. 

Both the state and police investigated the incident, but the day care continued to operate.

But Claudia Guangorena, a state licensing evaluator, wrote in a report, "At this time, there is insufficient corroborating statements and/or physical evidence to substantiate this case."

Police forwarded their case to the district attorney's office, which declined to file criminal charges because of insufficient evidence.

A 2012 evaluation of the day-care center found no issues. On Friday, a day after Ramos' arrest, state evaluators returned to the facility and issued three citations for failure to have basic information, including immunization records and emergency contact information for each child.

Los Angeles police said the first allegation was made in 2008, when a mother reported that her 5-year-old daughter had been sexually abused. But the mother was homeless and disappeared before they were able to investigate.

On Feb. 5, a 5-year-old girl attending the day-care center for the first time came home and told her mother that she didn't want to go back, police said. The child said Ramos had touched her vagina, Juarez said.

The new allegation spurred police to take a closer look at the previous cases. They were able to track down the mother in the 2008 case and gathered enough evidence to arrest Ramos last week on suspicion of molesting three children.

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Photo: Enrique Ramos. Credit: Los Angeles Police Department

Day-care owner charged with abuse was accused as early as 2008

A day-care center owner charged this week with molesting children at his Boyle Heights operation had been investigated twice before -- but never arrested -- in connection with similar allegations several years ago, according to law enforcement officials and state records.

Parents reported accusations of molestation in 2008 and 2009 to the LAPD, but Ramos continued to operate Cano & Ramos Family Child Care.

The California Department of Social Services, which licenses day-care center, was also aware of the 2009 allegation. But the agency allowed the Boyle Heights facility to continue to operate after agency investigators concluded the accusation was not corroborated, records show.

This year, on Feb. 5, a 5-year-old girl attending the day-care for the first time came home and told her mother she didn't want to go back, according to LAPD detectives. The child said Ramos had touched her vagina, LAPD Det. Steven Juarez said.

Detectives said that allegation spurred them to gather evidence to arrest Ramos last week on suspicion of molesting three children, including the earlier cases.

Ramos, 45, was charged Monday with three felony counts of lewd acts on a child.

In the 2008 case, police said a mother reported that her daughter had been sexually abused.

But Juarez said the victim’s mother was homeless and disappeared before they could investigate the allegations.

 “She was moving from shelter to shelter,” the detective said.

In 2009, police investigated a second allegation that Ramos had fondled a child. “It was a one-on-one allegation," Juarez said.

Juarez said Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Taklender declined in January 2010 to file the case because of insufficient evidence. Sandi Gibbons, a D.A. spokeswoman, said she could find no record of the decision not to bring charges.

When police were contacted with the new allegation, they resumed their investigation and tracked down the first mother, who now lives in eastern Los Angeles County.

Ramos made a brief appearance Day-care owner charged with abuse was accused as early as 2008Monday in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom. He entered a not guilty plea and remains in the county jail in lieu of $1.3 million bail.

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Boyle Heights daycare owner charged with molesting 3 girls

A Boyle Heights daycare owner was charged with molesting three girls, authorities said Monday as they looked for other possible victims.

Enrique Ramos, 45, of Los Angeles, was arrested Thursday on allegations of committing lewd acts on a child, Los Angeles police said.

Ramos is the co-owner of Cano & Ramos Family Child Care, located in the 2600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Police say Ramos is accused of molesting girls in 2008, 2009 and this year. Prosecutors plan to ask the judge to set bail at $1.3 million, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. Ramos was scheduled to appear for arraignment Monday afternoon.

The daycare center could not immediately be reached for comment.

Investigators urged anyone with information about the case or other potential victims to call detectives at (323) 342-8994 or Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

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Photo: Enrique Ramos Credit: Los Angeles Police Department