Crime & Courts

A Huntington Beach man was ordered Thursday to stand trial for the 1981 killing of his wife, a Torrance woman whose body never was found.

Michael Clark, who turns 59 next week, is set to be arraigned May 24 in Torrance Superior Court on one count of murder for the killing of Carol Lubahn, who was last known to be alive March 30, 1981.

Clark told family members his wife of 10 years left their Torrance home in the middle of the night following an argument over whether to sell the house.

Police and prosecutors contend he killed her, saying she was a doting mother who never would have left her son and daughter behind.

During the hearing, Torrance police Detective James Wallace said Lubahn had engaged in an affair.

Torrance police arrested Clark -- who had changed his surname from Lubahn -- on April 13, 2011. He is held on $1 million bail.

Police and prosecutors say his story about his wife's disappearance varied during his 30 years of freedom, prompting the charges.

Lubahn last spoke to her mother the day President Reagan was shot. Lubahn, who was upset about the assassination attempt, was never heard from again.

A 14-year-old Carson boy killed his father -- a special agent with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement -- in a dispute over his grades, a prosecutor said Friday.

The boy, who allegedly stood outside a window and fired a bullet into his father's head as he watched television on Wednesday, was charged with murder Friday.

The teen will be arraigned Monday in Compton Juvenile Court, but prosecutors will seek to try him as an adult.

"There was a disagreement between father and son about grades," Deputy District Attorney Todd Hicks said.

In addition to the murder charge, the District Attorney's Office alleged the teen used a firearm -- his father's service weapon -- to commit the crime.

Myron Wendell Chisem, 42, right, was struck shortly after 9 p.m. as he sat watching television at his home in the 19300 block of Broadacres Avenue.

A Torrance native and U.S. Navy veteran, Chisem was pronounced dead at the scene.

Prosecutors will petition the judge to order that Chisem's son face charges in adult court. A juvenile court conviction would send the teen to a youth facility until the age of 25.

A conviction as an adult would send him to prison for at least 25 years to life.

The boy called 911 and met arriving sheriff's deputies. He was arrested early Thursday morning following hours of questioning.

Chisem worked for the ICE's Homeland Security Investigations unit at its Los Angeles office.

A body believed to be a 22-year-old man who jumped from the Redondo Beach pier two weeks ago has been recovered, police said Sunday.

Recreational divers discovered the body at 11:15 p.m. Friday about 60 feet in the waters west of the pier¸ Redondo Beach police Sgt. Shawn Freeman said.

The body is believed to be Redondo Beach resident David Thompson, who jumped off the pier with a woman on April 14. The woman made it to shore, but Thompson could not be found.

The body was turned over to the coroner's office for identification.

A shooting that wounded a man on the Harbor (110) Freeway is tied to a string of shootings believed committed by the same gunman in or near Carson, deputies said today.

The five shootings from April 18 to Thursday wounded two people. No one has died. The gunman used a shotgun and birdshot in each crime, Carson sheriff's Sgt. Mike Austin said.

Victims also have included a woman walking in a commercial area and motorists whose cars were struck by gunfire, Austin said.

The shootings began about 2:15 p.m. April 18 when a woman was shot in the arm as she walked in the 21300 block of Main Street.

Then, on Monday, a woman's car was struck as she drove south south on Normandie Avenue near Torrance Boulevard in the unincorporated county area.

On Tuesday, a shooting occurred at 8 p.m. on the Harbor Freeway near the Carson Street exit. No other details were available.

About 2:30 p.m. Thursday, a woman's car was hit with gunfire as she drove near Figueroa Street near and Lomita Boulevard.

On Thursday, a 21-year-old Placentia man was shot as he drove north on the Harbor Freeway near Torrance Street. California Highway Patrol officers said birdshot was fired into the driver's side window of his Honda.

The driver pulled over and realized he was struck in the ear.

"Preliminary investigations reveal that the shootings may have been committed by the same person or persons," Austin said.

Deputies had no description of the gunman and the motive was not known.

Investigators asked anyone with information to call the watch commander at Carson station at 310-830-1123 or call Crimestoppers at 800-222-TIPS

Police in Gardena are working to identify a sexual predator who grabbed a 12-year-old girl off the street, dragged her into a vacant house and raped her, officers said today.

The victim, who was assaulted sometime in October 2010, did not report the crime until last month, when she began having nightmares, Gardena police Lt. Uikilifi Niko said.

The victim confided with her guardian, who reported the crime to police.

The girl said the man snatched her from behind as she walked home from school and pulled her into a vacant residence with boarded up windows.

After he sexually assaulted her, he left her behind.

Police investigated the case, but the investigation has come to a standstill, Niko said.

The man was described as black, 20 to 30  years old, with short black hair, a mustache and goatee.

The girl helped police create a sketch of the man that shows he has two distinctive stars tattooed on his neck.

Investigators released it Wednesday, asking anyone who recognizes the man to contact Gardena police Detective Rich Reynaga at 310-217-9639.

A man yelled "Long Beach Insane" before firing several shots into a crowd outside the Zen Lounge in Hermosa Beach, police said today.

A bullet fragment struck one victim in the head, Hermosa Beach police Sgt. Mick Gaglia said.

The shots rang out at 2 a.m. Sunday when several men got into a fight outside the nightclub at 705 Pier Ave.

One man pulled a 9mm gun and fired six times toward the men.

A witness reported hearing one of the subjects yell "Long Beach Insane," a Crips gang name, before the shots, Gaglia said.

Police could not find any victims at the time of the shooting, but a man later sought treatment at a Long Beach hospital.

The victim told police he did not know the identity of the shooter or gang members involved.
Police asked anyone with information about the shooting to call Detective Mike Frilot at 310-318-0332 or mfrilot@hermosapolice.org

Police have arrested 18 men suspected of engaging in sexual activity inside a Manhattan Beach restroom that became a popular meeting spot in recent weeks, officers said today.

The crackdown hopefully put an end to lewd conduct inside the Marine Avenue restroom, where lifeguards noticed men going inside and staying for extended periods of time.

"It just started up probably the last week in February," Manhattan Beach police Officer Stephanie Martin said. "(Lifeguards) started noticing some questionable conduct."

Men, who normally would spend a few minutes inside a restroom, stayed sometimes for longer than an hour, and the same people returned. Lifeguards also found graffiti of graphic sexual images on restroom walls, and holes drilled through stall partitions, Martin said.

Such holes are commonly known as "gloryholes."

Lifeguards told police that instead of seeing one pair of feet in a stall, "sometimes they would see two or three."

"MBPD learned the public restroom was being used as a meeting place for sexual activity," Martin said. "Undercover detectives conducted a visual inspection of the restroom and set up surveillance of the location. Within minutes of their arrival, they made their first arrest."

Police checked Internet sites and chat rooms where they found discussions indicating the restroom had become a meeting spot for men to engage in sex, Martin said.

Officers soon conducted six undercover operations, posing as men seeking activity. Police made 17 more arrests.

The suspects were held on suspicion of offenses including soliciting or engaging in lewd conduct in a public place, loitering in and around a public toiler for the purpose of engaging or soliciting a lewd or unlawful act, utilizing a peephole in a restroom, invasion of privacy, resisting arrest and indecent exposure.

Police released their booking mugs and names to the media.

Lifeguards told police the operations appeared to be successful. No suspicious activity was discovered over the weekend, Martin said.

In addition, authorities removed the doors on the stalls to prohibit sexual activity in the stalls, Martin said.

Police cited 10 teenagers during a Saturday night "Party Patrol" operation to crack down on underage drinking in Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and El Segundo.

Officers sought out underage drinking parties and adults suspected of furnishing alcohol to minors, Manhattan Beach police Sgt. Chris Vargas said.

Police contacted several teens, citing 10. Five were cited for curfew violations, four for possessing marijuana, one for tobacco possession, four for possession of alcohol and three for possessing open alcohol containers in a vehicle.

The Redondo Beach Police Officers Association and Redondo Beach Firefighters Association will hold a fundraiser March 28 at a Red Robin restaurant to aid two children whose father killed their mother and committed suicide.

The event will run from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the restaurant located at the South Bay Galleria.

The restaurant will donate 20 percent of its profits from food purchases from customers who present a fundraiser flier to their servers.

Russell Goldberg, 49, shot his former wife, Margaret Duffy Goldberg, to death Feb. 22 in her apartment on Agate Street. He later killed himself when police spotted him driving on a Utah highway.

The couple are survived by a 13-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son.

The flier is available here.

Donations also can be made to the Goldberg Kids Fund charity account at the South Bay Credit Union, 2304 Artesia Blvd., Redondo Beach CA 90278, or at the SBCU Torrance Branch, 25360 Crenshaw Blvd.