Former Compton basketball coach won't be retried on charge of meeting a minor for a lewd purpose

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office announced in court today that it will not seek a retrial of former Compton Dominguez High School boys’ basketball coach Russell Otis on a felony charge of meeting a minor for a lewd purpose.

A Compton jury, after more than 10 days of deliberations, last month deadlocked 10-2 in favor of convicting Otis on the charge, which would’ve left the ex-coach facing up to a three-year prison sentence.

Prosecutors alleged that Otis had met a former member of his 2008 CIF Southern Section-championship team at the player’s home and offered the then-16-year-old boy $1,500 in cash if he’d let the coach sexually arouse him.

The two holdout jurors said there wasn’t enough evidence presented to prove Otis actually visited the boy’s home. “It’s always a victory when prosecutors decide to drop the most serious charge,” Otis’ attorney, Leonard Levine, said after today's hearing. 

Deputies seeking gunman in fatal Paramount shooting

Authorities today are looking for a gunman who shot and killed a man in Paramount.

The shooting at East 70th Street and Eureka Avenue was reported at 9:56 p.m. Tuesday, said Deputy Aura Sierra of the L.A. County Sheriff's Department.

The circumstances surrounding the shooting were not immediately clear. The victim was taken to a hospital, where he died of his injuries, Sierra said. His name was being withheld until his family could be notified.

-- Alexandra Zavis

Maywood activists seek probe into alleged voter fraud

Community activists from Maywood plan to file a complaint with the L.A. County district attorney’s office today, seeking an investigation into voting discrepancies during last month’s city elections.

Members of the group, Maywood for Better Community, said some residents were unable to vote in the Nov. 3 election because someone had already voted for them. The group also alleges that some voters lived in other cities, such as Southgate and El Monte, and that other Maywood residents were allowed to vote more than once.

The allegations are centered on several candidates who ran for seats on the City Council. Members plan to hold a news conference at 11 a.m. in downtown L.A. to announce the filing.

“We are certain they committed voter fraud,” said Ramon Medina, a member of the group. “We have people who saw it.”

L.A. elementary school photo carried on space shuttle to return to Earth

A photograph of Grape Street Elementary School students that has been on a ride with the space shuttle Atlantis will return Friday along with the crew that's carrying it.

The crew took off Nov. 16 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a mission to conduct experiments on the effects of space on the spread of microorganisms. Lesson plans for students of all levels will be developed based on the results.

The photo was carried aboard the shuttle by NASA astronaut Leland Melvin, who is a part of the National Technical Assn., the group that invited the school to be involved with the mission. The NTA is a professional organization of scientists and engineers who aim to encourage minorities, women and youths to study science and math and gain skills for technological careers.

The mission is the 31st trip to the International Space Station and included three spacewalks. Only six flights remain before the end of the space shuttle program.

-- Baxter Holmes

Photo: LAUSD

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Police seeking suspects in three murders in Long Beach and Pico Rivera [Updated]

Police are asking for the public’s help today in solving three separate murders in south Los Angeles County.

One person was killed and two wounded about 11:30 p.m. Thursday in a shooting outside a liquor store in the 3600 block of Santa Fe Avenue in Long Beach, according to city police spokeswoman Jackie Bezart. The  murder is believed to be gang-related, and the victim's identity is being withheld pending notification of his family.

[Updated at 11:28 p.m.: The victim was identified as 19-year-old Frank Castro Jr. of Long Beach. A man approached him and the two other victims on foot and shot all three of them. Castro was hit multiple times in the upper body and torso and pronounced dead at the scene. The two other victims, ages 18 and 40, were treated at a local hospital and released.]

At about the same time, a driver in the 6400 block of Rosemead Boulevard in Pico Rivera saw a body in the street and called police, who found a Latino with gunshot wounds in the upper torso, said Dep. Aura Sierra of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The victim, whose identity is being withheld until his family is notified, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Two found shot to death in Santa Fe Springs

A man and a woman were found shot to death early this morning in a Santa Fe Springs parking lot, authorities said.

Two Whittier police officers conducting a traffic stop on Norwalk Boulevard heard gunshots about 2 a.m. and began searching the area, Lt. Carlos Solorza said. They discovered the two victims in the 11500 block of Los Nietos Road, in an industrial neighborhood, but did not see a suspect.

The relationship of the man and the woman was not known, and their names and ages were withheld pending further investigation. They were pronounced dead at the scene, Solorza said.

-- Corina Knoll

Teens charged as adults in slaying of Wilson High honors student

Two 16-year-olds were charged as adults this morning in the shooting of a Long Beach honors student last week after a Wilson High School football game.

Tom Love Vinson and Daivion Davis, identified by authorities as gang members, were each charged with one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. 

Vinson and Daivion allegedly opened fire a week ago outside the school, striking and killing Melody Ross, a popular 16-year-old whom police said was an innocent bystander.

Two men -- an 18-year-old and a 20-year-old -- were wounded in the shooting, which occurred about 10 p.m. as crowds of students gathered near Ximeno Avenue and 10th Street for a dance. Police believe the men may have been the intended targets and that the shooting was the result of a gang feud.

At first, detectives struggled to find witnesses even though hundreds of students were in the immediate area when the shooting occurred. Police said more students came forward Monday, some at the urging of school officials.

The shooting shocked faculty and students at the campus, a diverse school that serves some of Long Beach's most affluent communities.

Ross was wearing a superhero costume to Wilson's homecoming game against Polytechnic High School. A number of students at the game were decked out in costumes on the day before Halloween.

The suspects are being held on $3 million bail and face life in prison if convicted. They will be arraigned later today in Long Beach.

-- Shelby Grad

Police believe feud between two gangs led to slaying of Wilson High honors student

Long Beach police believe the fatal shooting of a Wilson High School honors students occurred when two rival groups of gang members at the school's homecoming dance got into a confrontation.

Two reputed gang members were arrested in connection with the shooting Friday night outside the Long Beach high school, and police said they are looking for other suspects.

Melody Ross, who was also a track athlete, was gunned down as she and her friends were leaving a football game. Two men -- an 18-year-old and a 20-year-old -- were wounded in the shooting, which occurred about  10 p.m. as crowds of students gathered near Ximeno Avenue and 10th Street.

Police say Ross was an innocent victim.

At first, police detectives struggled to find witnesses, even though hundreds of students were on campus when the shooting occurred. Police said more students came forward Monday, some at the urging of school officials.

The shooting shocked faculty and students at the campus, a diverse school that serves some of the city's most affluent communities.

Ross was dressed as Super Girl for the homecoming game against Polytechnic High School, which was attended by a number of students decked out in costumes on the day before Halloween.

The day after the shooting, Ross' classmates gathered at a pedestrian crossing along Ximeno near the football stadium exit to leave flowers and light candles by the curb where she was shot. They hugged one another, and some sat against the school fence or on the grass with their heads down, pondering the loss of a friend they described as polite and well-liked.

The names of the suspects were not released.

-- Robert J. Lopez

$10,000 reward likely in slaying of Long Beach honors student

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is expected to approve a $10,000 reward today for information leading to the conviction of the gunman who fatally shot a Wilson High School student.

Although there were hundreds of people leaving the campus, Long Beach police have no witnesses or suspects. Anyone with information is asked to call the homicide detail at (562) 570-7244. Police also said they don't have a motive in the shooting.

Mourning students at Long Beach's Wilson High School gathered Monday by the pavement where classmate Melody Ross was shot after the homecoming football game. Leaving handwritten notes to Melody and her family, the teenagers lighted candles and shed tears as they remembered the bubbly 16-year-old.

"Why her?" asked sophomore Micah Mathis, 15, who took French with Melody, an honors student. "That's what I want to know."

The Board of Supervisors will consider the reward later this morning.

-- Seema Mehta

No motive, no suspects in slaying of Wilson High honors student

Long Beach police said they have no suspects and no motive in the shooting death of a Wilson High School student who police said was an innocent victim of gunfire in front of the school Friday night.

The daughter of Cambodian immigrants, Melody Ross died at St. Mary's Hospital at 10:30 p.m., half an hour after she was shot, said her uncle. Ross and her friends were leaving the Wilson High homecoming game against Polytechnic High School when she was hit.

16-year-old girl fatally shot after high school football game in Long Beach

A 16-year-old girl died after a shooting following a football game at Wilson High School in Long Beach.Two people were wounded.

Long Beach police spokeswoman Sgt. Dina Zapalski said the shooting occurred Friday night at about 10 p.m., just as people were leaving a football game between Wilson and Long Beach Polytechnic.

Zapalski said details were still sketchy. LB Report said that a 18-year-old man and a 20-year-old man sustained non-life-threatening injuries and that the gunman was still at large.

Long Beach police interviewed students and others who were in the area near 10th Street and Ximeno Avenue. 

It's unclear whether the victims were students at Wilson or Poly.

-- Cara Mia DiMassa

Three new swine flu vaccine clinics open today in L.A. County

Three new H1N1 community vaccine clinics are scheduled to open today across Los Angeles County.

Clinics are scheduled from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. at El Camino College in Compton and the Pomona Fairplex and from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.

Public health officials have opened more than two dozen clinics countywide since Friday, but today’s clinics are open later in an effort to reach those most at risk of infection, such as parents of young children and college students, according to Dr. Jonathan E. Fielding, the county’s public health director.

Staff at county clinics distributed more than 8,000 doses of the vaccine Tuesday, Fielding said.

Man arrested, allegedly admits to multiple sexual assaults

A man arrested for allegedly luring a 15-year-old boy to Cerritos with the promise of a job, then binding him with duct tape and sexually assaulting him, has admitted assaulting five others, L.A. County sheriff's officials said today.

"We found a lot of duct tape and other evidence near the warehouse in Cerritos," said Sgt. Dan Scott.

Lamar Andre Evans Jr., 20, was arrested Friday in Norwalk and told detectives about the assaults, Scott said. Detectives are asking for the public's help in identifying the other victims.

Evans met the teenager Oct. 13 in the 1100 block of South Figueroa Street in Los Angeles, asked if he needed a job and exchanged phone numbers with him, Scott said.

Maywood police seek man in possible kidnapping attempt

Maywood police are looking for man who allegedly tried to kidnap a 13-year-old girl today as she walked to school.

The girl was walking west on East 52nd Street when she saw a man sitting in a dark sport utility vehicle. The man followed the girl in his vehicle, then got out and began chasing her, according to the Maywood Police Department.

As the girl ran, the suspect got back into his vehicle, possibly a Ford Expedition, and left the area, police said.

Police described the man as a Latino in his mid-30s, about 5 feet 11 and 170 pounds. He has dark, curly hair, brown eyes, acne scars and a mole on his right cheek, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at (323) 562-5005.

-- Robert J. Lopez

Photo: Sketch of suspect, above right, and photo of a vehicle similar to what he may have been driving. Credit: Maywood Police Department.

18 charged in alleged $25-million Medicare fraud scheme in Southern California

Authorities charged 18 people in an alleged $25-million Medicare fraud scheme operated out of Southern California.

Prosecutors alleged that the defendants fraudulently ordered power wheelchairs, hospital beds and other equipment. They charged Michael Martinez, 30, of Long Beach and six other people  with conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and for making false statements to the government.

"Martinez allegedly recruited relatives and individuals linked to the Santa Ana-based Brook Street Gang to act as straw owners for four fraudulent DME companies," officials said in a statement.

Fake cop might be making traffic stops, Long Beach police say

Long Beach police called on the public for help on Monday in their investigation of a 34-year-old Long Beach man suspected of impersonating an officer, and possibly making illegal traffic stops.

The suspect first came under investigation in connection with a domestic violence incident. But a subsequent inventory of his blue 2004 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck revealed that it was equipped with emergency police lights and a siren, and contained numerous blank law enforcement identification cards and badges, said Sgt. Chris Morgan.

"One of those badges said 'Special Officer,' " Morgan said. "The suspect said he was a security guard. But for us, it doesn’t make sense. Why would he have these things if he wasn’t using them?"

"We are trying to determine if anyone was falsely detained," he said. 

Bellflower traffic crash involving stolen vehicle critically injures two children

A traffic collision today in Bellflower caused by three men in a stolen vehicle left a 6-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy in critical condition, authorities said.

After failing to stop at a DUI checkpoint at Artesia Boulevard and Obispo Avenue in Long Beach, three men in a sport utility vehicle drove east on Artesia about 12:25 a.m. and caused a three-car collision near Lakewood Boulevard, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The men fled on foot, but were later apprehended and are in custody. Their names and ages were not released.

The driver of the vehicle, which was reportedly stolen in Torrance, will be charged with felony hit and run, said Sheriff’s Sgt. Chris Neeper.

The two children are cousins and were in a vehicle with their grandparents, who suffered minor injuries. The occupants of the third car also suffered minor injuries.

-- Corina Knoll

Case against former basketball coach goes to the jury

A jury will begin deliberations Monday in the case of Russell Otis, a former basketball coach at Dominguez High School in Compton who is accused of stealing $15,000 in school funds and making sexual advances on a former 16-year-old player.

Otis, one of the state’s most successful high school boys’ basketball coaches in the last two decades, could be sent to prison and forever barred from coaching in high school if he is convicted. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Pat Connolly delivered the case to the six-man, six-woman jury after closing statements today.

Otis, 47, is charged with making unwanted sexual advances last year on the Dominguez student and for  alleged theft and forgery in 2007. Prosecutors allege that he committed theft when he deposited into his own bank account a $15,000 check written by Nike Inc. for the Compton Unified School District.

Former Marine convicted of molesting 2 teenage girls

A Norwalk jury today convicted a former Marine of molesting two teenage girls who he met as a volunteer junior ROTC drill instructor.

Jurors deliberated for less than a day before convicting Ross Jay Curtis, 24, of several felonies involving a 13-year-old girl and a 15-year old girl, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Trudi White-Black.

Curtis was found guilty of two counts of lewd acts upon a child, one count of sending harmful matter, one count of sexual penetration by a foreign object and two counts of oral copulation of a person under 16. He faces up to 12 years and eight months in state prison when he is sentenced Dec. 1 in Norwalk

Curtis was court-martialed in 2006 for sexual misconduct involving three female subordinates. In May 2006, he met the 13-year-old victim at a three-day youth camp and then began sending her salacious e-mails.

Two months later, he attended a career-day event at her middle school and later had sex with the victim, prosecutors said. In March 2007, Curtis met the 15-year-old victim at another youth camp and had sex with her while on the grounds, prosecutors said.

—Richard Winton

Lawyer accused of selling fake work visas and buying cemetery plots

Immigration and customs officials said today the investigation into a decadelong employment visa fraud scheme has led to a dead end – cemetery plots.

An attorney and two business associates were arrested Thursday for allegedly selling at least 100 fake visas and using the profit to buy hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of vacant burial plots, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Kelly Einstein Darwin Giles, 46, owner of a West Covina law practice, was arrested by customs agents at Los Angeles International Airport as he returned from a trip. His two business associates, Joseph Wai-man Wu, 50, and Wu's wife, May Yin-man Wu, 43, were arrested earlier in the day. Bail for the pair was set at $250,000 each. All three are charged with visa fraud.

Downey delays renaming street after space shuttle

Downey is proud of the city's connection to the space program -- and particularly to the space shuttle Columbia, which crashed in 2003. So city leaders proposed renaming a portion of Clark Avenue around a former NASA facility "Columbia Way." However, officials are finding that making the change is a little harder than expected, according to the Press-Telegram's John Canalis:

Citing the need for more community input, the City Council continued until next week a discussion on whether to rename a stretch of Clark Avenue in honor of the Space Shuttle Columbia. The council took up whether to rename Clark "Columbia Way" between Foster Road and Lakewood Boulevard at this week's meeting but voted the name change down 3-2 because members wanted more feedback from residents. Council members Anne Marie Bayer, Roger C. Brossmer and David R. Gafin voted against the name change; Mayor Mario Guerra and Councilman Luis H. Marquez were in favor.

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Woman killed, man injured in Huntington Park shooting

Officers are investigating a shooting early this morning that left a woman dead and a man injured in Huntington Park, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Deputies were called to the 2400 block of Grand Avenue about 1:10 a.m. and found two gunshot victims, said Deputy Guillermina Saldana. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene, and the man was taken to a hospital. His condition was unknown.

Homicide detectives were trying to determine why the two were shot, Saldana said.

-- Seema Mehta

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Deputies investigating possible robbery, kidnapping at the Commerce Casino

Deputies investigating possible robbery, kidnapping at the Commerce Casino

Sheriff's deputies are at the Commerce Casino tonight investigating reports of a possible robbery and kidnapping, authorities said.

The incident occurred about 8 p.m. Deputies are currently at the casino at 6131 Telegraph Road gathering information, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said.

One resident who lives near the casino told The Times that investigators have set up a command post at the scene and that a helicopter was flying overhead shining its lights as it apparently looked for suspects.

No further details were available.

--Robert J. Lopez

Burned body found in a Santa Fe Springs trash bin is not that of Mitrice Richardson, police say [Updated]

Los Angeles police detectives investigating the disappearance of Mitrice Richardson, who vanished from Malibu Canyon three weeks ago, said they are certain the badly burned body found in a Santa Fe Springs trash bin is not the missing woman.

“Bottom line is it’s not Mitrice Richardson,” said Det. Chuck Knolls of the Los Angeles Police Department.

The detectives got a flurry of calls this morning about sightings of Richardson, 24, that they are following up. One was from a doctor who said he saw a seemingly disoriented woman on the beach in Santa Monica one afternoon three or four weeks ago.

“If it’s four weeks ago, it’s not Mitrice. If it’s three weeks ago, it could be her,” Knolls said.

The doctor said he spoke to her.

“She said she had dropped her keys in the sand and was looking for them,” Knolls said.

Woman shot, killed in Lynwood

A woman was fatally shot this morning in the 300 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Lynwood, authorities said.

She was pronounced dead at the scene. The shooting occurred shortly after 10 a.m., the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said.

The name and age of the victim have not been released. Homicide detectives are looking for witnesses.

Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at (323) 890-5500.

-- Robert J. Lopez