Charges filed in 911 call that led to slaying by Pasadena police

The 911 caller who falsely claimed that he was robbed at gunpoint the night Pasadena police shot and killed unarmed 19-year-old robbery suspect Kendrec McDade is due in court Tuesday to face misdemeanor charges that he lied to emergency dispatchers.

Oscar Carrillo, 27, is charged with one count of making a false report of a criminal offense and a second count of reporting an emergency knowing the report was false, a Pasadena city spokesman said.

If convicted on both counts, Carrillo faces a maximum sentence of 18 months in jail, his defense attorney, Andres Bustamante, told the Pasadena Sun.

Carrillo, who has already pleaded not guilty to the charges, is scheduled to return to court on March 26 for a pretrial hearing.

The city prosecutor’s office filed the charges after the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office declined a request by Pasadena police to charge him with manslaughter.

Bustamante accused the city of prosecuting Carrillo as a way to redirect responsibility for McDade’s death.

“I think they’re deflecting,” Bustamante said. “It seems to me the city feels obligated that [Carrillo] must take some kind or responsibility. Their position has always been that he set in motion certain events that lead to the tragic shooting of this African American teenager.”

An internal review of the shooting incident, announced Wednesday, determined that the two Pasadena police officers who shot McDade during the robbery investigation one year ago acted “within departmental policy.”

And in December, an investigation by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s Justice System Integrity Division concluded that the officers had “a reasonable fear of imminent death or serious bodily injury” and “acted in lawful self-defense and defense of others” in shooting McDade.

Investigations by the Los Angeles County Office of Independent Review and the FBI remain ongoing, according to police.

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Chef who killed wife, then cooked body to be sentenced

-- Joe Piasecki, Times Community News

Photo: A picture of Kendrec McDade is posted during his funeral at Metropolitan Baptist Church in Altadena in April 2012. Credit: Christina House / For The Times

Chef who killed wife, then cooked body to be sentenced

Los Angeles County prosecutors have asked a judge to sentence David Viens, the chef who told authorities that he accidentally killed his wife and cooked her body to dispose of it, to 15 years to life in prison.

Viens, who is scheduled to be sentenced Friday, was convicted last year of second-degree murder in the death of his wife, Dawn. He has since fired his attorney and filed a motion for a new trial, which Superior Court Judge Rand S. Rubin is also scheduled to hear Friday.

In a sentencing memo, prosecutors called Viens "a liar and a manipulator" and said he had a history of narcotics-related crimes before the 2009 slaying.

While living in Vermont, prosecutors said in court papers, Viens was convicted in 2003 of a federal drug-related charge. Instead of reporting to serve a four-month sentence, he fled to Mexico, prosecutors said. He eventually surrendered. In 2005, he was convicted in Florida on a federal marijuana charge, according to court papers.

In October 2009, Viens' 39-year-old wife vanished. Her body has never been found, and Deputy Dist. Atty. Deborah Brazil suggested that was because Viens wanted to conceal how she was killed. Testimony painted their marriage as disintegrating, with Dawn Viens telling one friend her husband had choked her and David Viens telling another friend he wanted to "kill that bitch."

Shortly after his wife disappeared, David Viens started dating a 23-year-old waitress who worked at his Lomita restaurant, Thyme Contemporary Café. He told friends and police that his wife had run off. He also sent fake text messages from his wife's phone to her friends, prosecutors said, one of which said she was in Florida.

But Dawn Viens' sister, Dayna Papin, suspected that something was awry. She filed a missing-person report.

In February 2011, when David Viens learned that investigators suspected he'd played a role in his wife's disappearance, he leaped off an 80-foot cliff in Rancho Palos Verdes. From his hospital bed, Viens gave a dramatic recorded confession to investigators.

Reward offered for information on shooter who gunned down 3 men

Oxnard police Thursday night announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a gunman who killed two men and wounded another in a burst of violence last year.

The shooting was reported on Sept. 29, 2012, when the three men were gunned down in an alley in the 300 block of Cuesta del Mar Drive in the south side of Oxnard.

Two of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene, and the wounded man was treated at a hospital for injuries that police described as minor. 

Anyone with information is asked to call Oxnard Police Department Det. Martin Perez at (805) 385-7680. 

Confidential tips can be left at (805) 982-7070.

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Photo: Sketch of suspect. Credit: Oxnard Police Department

Police release video footage of woman found slain in orange grove

Police on Thursday released surveillance video showing a 23-year-old woman whose body was later found in a Redlands orange grove.

Sylvia Maria Flores is seen on the video footage at a fast-food restaurant near D and 5th streets in San Bernardino during the evening of Feb. 25. 

She was found the next day in the grove near Alabama Street and Almond Avenue in the same or similar clothes that she wearing at the restaurant, the Redlands Police Department said.

"Flores was believed to be a prostitute who frequented the San Bernardino area," police said in a statement.

Anyone with information is asked to call Det. Frank Rocha at (909) 798-7850.

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Video: Surveillance footage of woman who was slain. Credit: Redlands Police Department

Pasadena police officers who killed student cleared in review

The two Pasadena police officers who fatally shot unarmed Azusa college student Kendrec McDade during a robbery investigation one year ago acted “within departmental policy,” an internal review of the incident has determined.

Findings of the Pasadena police administrative review board were announced in a brief statement Wednesday.

Pasadena Police Officers Jeffrey Newlen and Matthew Griffin shot McDade, 19, during a March 24, 2012, police pursuit that ended near the intersection of Orange Grove Boulevard and Sunset Avenue.

Newlen and Griffin were responding to an 11:04 p.m. report that two men were fleeing the scene of an armed robbery on Orange Grove when they spotted McDade running near Orange Grove and Fair Oaks Avenue, according to findings of the district attorney’s office probe. 

Oscar Carrillo, who told 911 dispatchers eight times that the assailants had threatened him with guns, later admitted to lying about the weapons in order to generate a faster police response.

McDade was clutching at his waistband during the chase and after he turned and charged toward Newlen and Griffin, the officers told district attorney’s office investigators.

Newlen and Griffin each shot McDade four times.

McDade was later found to be carrying a cellphone in the front of his sweatpants, according to investigators.

The internal probe considered “lawfulness, tactics, patrol vehicle operation, radio communication and equipment” in reaching its findings, according to the police statement issued Wednesday.

Further details about the probe’s findings are not being made public because investigation documents are part of the officers’ personnel records, Pasadena Police Lt. Tracey Ibarra said.

In December, an investigation by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s Justice System Integrity Division concluded that the officers had “a reasonable fear of imminent death or serious bodily injury” and “acted in lawful self-defense and defense of others” in shooting McDade.

Investigations by the Los Angeles County Office of Independent Review and the FBI remain ongoing, according to police.

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Photo: Anya Slaughter, center, holds a picture of her son, Kendrec McDade, during a rally in front of City Hall in Pasadena last year. Credit: Cheryl A. Guerrero

Fake Rockefeller: Trial focuses on dug-up backyard

A friend of a man accused of killing and burying his landlady’s adult son in the mid-1980s testified Tuesday that she questioned him about a freshly dug patch of dirt in the backyard of the San Marino home.

Dana Glad Farrar, who knew Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter as Christopher Chichester, told jurors she asked about the overturned dirt while playing Trivial Pursuit at the home months after the landlady’s son and his wife went missing in 1985.

FULL COVERAGE: Rockefeller imposter on trial

“He said he had been having plumbing problems,” she testified.

Prosecutors say there was no plumbing in that area of the yard and that Gerhartsreiter bludgeoned John Sohus to death before burying him in the yard of the Lorain Road home. The victim’s remains were discovered by construction workers building a pool for a new owner of the home in 1994, according to prosecutors.

Shortly before vanishing in early 1985, Sohus and his wife, Linda, had been living in the main house on the property with Sohus’ mother, while Gerhartsreiter had been living in a guest house. Gerhartsreiter also disappeared, surfacing on the East Coast under a series of new names, including Clark Rockefeller. Gerhartsreiter masqueraded as a member of the wealthy family.

Farrar, a special education teacher, testified she was studying at USC about the time she met Gerhartsreiter, who had befriended her aunt in San Marino and often visited the USC film school. He claimed to be descended from royalty, she said, and passed out cards with a family crest.

She testified that he hosted a gathering in the summer of 1985 and that she saw him go into the main house on the property, bringing out spoons, ice and sugar for iced tea his guests were drinking. Farrar asked him why he was going into the house, she said.

“They are away; they will not mind,” she recalled him saying.

Farrar said she called San Marino police after the bones were discovered. She did not recall whether she told detectives in 1994 about seeing the dug-up portion of the yard. Defense attorney R. Bradford Bailey noted that a police report from her interview then did not include any reference to the account. Farrar, however, insisted that she did recall seeing the dug area.

Also Tuesday, a construction worker told jurors how he and his father unearthed Sohus’ remains while digging a pool behind the guesthouse for the new owners of the property. The soil behind the home was rocky and hard, “more difficult to dig than your average dirt,” Jose Perez Jr. said.

Perez, a large man, said it would have taken him several hours to hand dig the three-feet deep hole where the bones were buried. The digger’s hands, he said, would probably be covered in blisters.

A defense attorney hinted that Linda Sohus -– about 6 feet tall and 200 pounds -– would have been more physically capable of digging the hole than Gerhartsreiter, who is about five inches shorter and 50 pounds lighter. Linda has never been located.

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Photo: Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter in June 2001. Credit: Lisa Poole / Associated Press

 

Three to stand trial in bondage killing of Marine's wife

San Diego County Superior Court Judge K. Michael Kirkman on Monday ruled that there is sufficient evidence to have three people stand trial on charges of murder, kidnapping, torture, attempted sexual battery and conspiracy in the strangling death of Brittany Killgore, the wife of a U.S. Marine.

Former Staff Sgt. Louis Perez, 46, Dorothy Marie Maraglino, 37, and Jessica Lopez, 25, have pleaded not guilty. The three lived in a home in Fallbrook near Killgore's apartment.

Killgore's nude body was found in a ravine in southern Riverside County days after she was reported missing April 13. Killgore had filed for divorce from her husband, who was deployed to Afghanistan, when she disappeared after allegedly going on an outing with Perez.

Perez had boasted that he planned to hold a sadomasochism session that weekend, according to evidence submitted during the preliminary hearing.

Perez, Maraglino and Lopez were involved in "bondage, torture and master-servant-slave" behavior, according to evidence submitted by prosecutors. Maraglino calls herself a dominatrix, and Perez particularly likes to spank women, according to search warrants.

Killgore had agreed to go on a dinner cruise with Perez the night of April 13 in exchange for his help in moving her belongings out of her Fallbrook apartment.

"After getting into Perez's vehicle and leaving with him, nobody has seen or heard from Killgore," according to an investigator for the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.

Within 13 minutes of getting into Perez's truck, Killgore reportedly texted a friend, "Help." Moments later the friend texted back, "Brittany are u okay I am freaking out here."

According to an investigator's statements in a search warrant, there is no evidence to suggest that Killgore knew of Perez's sexual habits, which included bondage, whipping, spanking and cutting. She was an "unwilling participant," according to the warrants.

Prosecutors assert that Perez took Killgore to his Fallbrook home and texted Lopez and Maraglino to join him. In the house, investigators found "sex apparatuses, toys, and a sex dungeon," according to a search warrant.

Among the items found were ropes, whips, a Taser, a nightstick and spiked gloves. Perez and the victim's husband, Cpl. Cory Killgore, were both assigned to Camp Pendleton. Perez was on active duty when arrested; he is no longer in the Marine Corps.

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Photo: Brittany Killgore's body was found in a ravine in southern Riverside County days after she was reported missing April 13. Credit: San Diego County Sheriff's Department

Testimony expected to begin in Rockefeller imposter's murder trial

John and Linda Sohus, avid science-fiction fans, married on Halloween 1983.

He was quiet and smart — a young man who tried to stump his friend in "Star Trek" trivia and mentored children participating in programs at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge. She was outgoing and artistic, an animal lover and artist who had just started selling her paintings.

They had been married for a little more than a year when, in 1985, they vanished from the upscale San Gabriel Valley community of San Marino. In 1994, construction workers digging a pool in the backyard of the Sohus’ former home found John Sohus' bones wrapped in plastic and buried 3 feet deep.

PHOTOS: Clark Rockefeller investigation

Prosecutors say John Sohus was killed by German-born Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, a man with numerous aliases. Testimony is expected to begin Tuesday in Gerhartsreiter’s trial in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Gerhartsreiter’s attorney, Brad Bailey, said his client has gone by the aliases of Chris Gerhart, Chris Chichester, Chris Crowe, Chip Smith and others. For years he persuaded people, including his wife, that he was Clark Rockefeller, a member of the billionaire family and New England high society.

Gerhartsreiter — known to the Sohuses as Christopher Chichester — lived in the guesthouse of the home the couple shared with John Sohus' mother.

FULL COVERAGE: Rockefeller imposter on trial

Defense attorneys and prosecutors presented their opening statements to a jury Monday. Gerhartsreiter, 52, wore a blue suit jacket and took notes as each side presented its case.

Bailey said his client was "a strange guy, an odd guy," but that did not prove he committed "a murder that nobody witnessed."

Deputy District Atty. Habib Balian showed photographs of the couple and of the bones. The person whose skull was found in the backyard “suffered large blows to the head with a hard, blunt object,” Balian said.

After the couple disappeared, John Sohus’ mother, Ruth “Didi” Sohus, was devastated, Balian said. She “had believed her son had abandoned her at the end of her life, had taken off,” he said.

John was adopted, and he and his mother “had a special bond,” Balian said. After John disappeared, his mother “lost her spark to live,” he said.

Gerhartsreiter, using the Rockefeller name, was arrested in 2008 on suspicion of kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter. He was convicted in Massachusetts in that case and extradited to California while serving a four-to five-year prison term. He was charged in 2011 in connection with John Sohus' death.

Although Linda Sohus was never found, authorities have said they presume her to be dead.

Bailey told jurors it was possible that Linda Sohus, whom he described as "just as odd" as his client, killed her husband.

"There are just as reasonable inferences for you to assume that John Sohus' murderer might have been … the missing Linda Sohus," Bailey said.

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Photo: Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter takes his seat before opening statements in his murder trial Monday in Los Angeles. Photo lower right is family photo of the Sohuses. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times; Handout

Mother of teen killed at park seeks $35 million from Los Angeles

The mother of a youth volunteer who was fatally shot at Harvard Park in South Los Angeles has filed a claim for damages against the city totaling $35 million.

The claim cites the city’s failure to install security cameras and other safety measures in the park, which is a known gang hangout, as resulting in the death of the teen. Patrick Caruthers, 19, was sitting on a park bench last fall listening to music before the start of his volunteer shift when he was gunned down by an unknown assailant.

Police said the shooting was gang-related, but Caruthers, who had a learning disability, was an innocent bystander.

For months, Councilman Bernard C. Parks lobbied for security cameras to ward off crime and monitor illegal activity in the city-owned space. But the issue stalled in the City Council's Public Safety Committee. The cameras were finally approved hours after Caruthers was fatally shot.

His mother, Gail Sears, said in the complaint that the city's slow response to previous requests for surveillance cameras put her son and other park-goers in danger.

The city "negligently owned, operated, patrolled, controlled, managed and staffed the park in a manner which created a dangerous condition of public property," stated the claim, filed Thursday.

Sears is seeking $25 million in damages for emotional pain and suffering, an additional $10 million in compensation for the severe physical and emotional pain and suffering her son sustained before he died, and $12,000 for funeral expenses.

The city has 45 days to accept or reject the claim. If it rejects the claim, Sears will have the option to file a civil lawsuit.

"The city really let me down, and cost my dear son his life," Sears said in an email statement.

Cameras were finally installed in January.

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Photo: People offer written notes, candles and flowers to memorialize Patrick Caruthers, who was fatally shot at Harvard Park in September. Credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times

Rockefeller impostor acted odd but isn't a killer, his lawyers say

Defense attorneys Monday said they would not deny that Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter changed his name numerous times, acted oddly and went out of his way to avoid authorities wanting to ask him about the 1985 death of John Sohus.

Gerhartsreiter's attorney, Brad Bailey, said his client was "a strange guy, an odd guy," but that did not prove he committed "a murder that nobody witnessed."

Bailey's statements to the jur, followed opening remarks by prosecutors who said the evidence will show that Gerhartsreiter, 52, killed Sohus and buried his body in the victim's San Marino backyard.

PHOTOS: Clark Rockefeller investigation

Sohus and his wife, Linda, lived in the house with Sohus' mother. German-born Gerhartsreiter — whom the Sohuses knew as Christopher Chichester — lived in the guesthouse, authorities said. 

Defense attorneys and prosecutors presented their opening statements to a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury Monday. Gerhartsreiter is in custody in Los Angeles in lieu of $10-million bail.

Gerhartsreiter, his attorney said, has gone by the aliases of Chris Gerhart, Chris Chichester, Chris Crowe, Chip Smith "and some others." For years he convinced people, including his wife, that he was Clark Rockefeller, a member of the billionaire family and New England high society.

FULL COVERAGE: Rockefeller imposter on trial

John and Linda Sohus vanished in February 1985. Shortly after their disappearance, Gerhartsreiter also disappeared from San Marino, telling people he had to leave to take care of family business, Deputy Dist. Atty. Habib Balian said.