Recently in Courts Category

A new study from Harvard looks at the changes in the Los Angeles Police Department over the last nearly 20 years. Today, 53 percent of new graduates were Latino, compared with 45 percent in 1990.

dailynews.com

On Monday evening a man was killed in the parking structure at the Beverly Center. Los Angeles Police Department homicide detectives are investigating the murder.

On May 18, 2009, at 3:11 p.m., officers from Wilshire Area responded to a call for service at the Beverly Center, located at 8500 Beverly Boulevard. When they arrived, the officers found an adult male suffering from several gunshot wounds.

The Los Angeles Fire Department was notified and transported the victim to a local hospital where he died a short time later.

During the investigation, homicide detectives identified the suspect who left the scene before the officers arrived. The suspect, Aubrey Louis Berry, a 23-year-old male, from Georgia was arrested for the murder at the Los Angeles International Airport. Berry is being held on $1 million bail.

Wilshire Area homicide detectives are handling the investigation and are still looking into the motive for the murder.

The victim's identity has not yet been confirmed, pending verification from the Los Angeles Coroner's Office. The victim was identified by friends, family and his publicist as the rapper Dolla, whose real name was Roderick Anthony Burton II.

Anyone with information about the incident is encouraged to contact Wilshire Homicide Detective Frank Carrillo at (213) 473-0446. During off-hours, calls may be directed to a 24-hour, toll-free number at 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (527-3247). Callers may also text "Crimes" with a cell phone or log on to LAPD and click on Web tips. When using a cell phone, all messages should begin with "LAPD." Tipsters may remain anonymous.

Sometimes you gotta wonder what people are thinking.

VAN NUYS - A man accused of firing several rounds from an assault weapon into a parking lot following a domestic dispute pleaded today, the District Attorney's Office announced.

Deputy District Attorney Isidoro Baly of the Van Nuys Branch Office said Amir David Tamado Nejad, 28, of Woodland Hills pleaded no contest to two counts of assault with an assault weapon and admitted special allegations of personal use of an assault weapon. The defendant also admitted a prior strike, a 1998 conviction for conspiracy to commit a drive-by shooting.

Judge Richard Kirschner ordered the defendant to return for sentencing on June 15 in Department G of Van Nuys Superior Court. Nejad is expected to be sentenced to 26 years and eight months in state prison.

Following a domestic dispute between Nejad and his girlfriend on May 25, 2008, the defendant fired five rounds into a parking lot where his girlfriend and a security guard stood. During a search of his apartment, police discovered 12 firearms and more than 200 pounds of ammunition.

A 46-year-old man accused of stealing $100,000 from the Union Rescue Mission, then setting a fire to cover up the crime, pleaded, six days into his on-going jury trial.

Deputy District Attorney Sabrina Corsa said Alvin Synder pleaded no contest to one count each of first-degree residential burglary, grand theft of personal property, arson of property and attempt to burn a structure.

The defendant additionally admitted the allegation that a person was present in the dwelling at the time of the burglary and that the dollar-amount of property taken exceeded $65,000. Synder also admitted one prior strike conviction and four prison priors.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Monica Bachner ordered the defendant to return for sentencing on June 30, 2009, in Department 129 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center. The defendant remains in custody and is being held without bail.

Synder pleaded open to the court, meaning the plea agreement was not part of a negotiated settlement with the District Attorney's Office. The defendant faces a maximum prison term of 21 years.

The charges stem from an incident on December 2, 2007, during which Synder broke into a safe in the cashier's office of the Union Rescue Mission and took $100,000 in cash and jewelry. A fire was set in a backroom of the office to destroy evidence, according to authorities. The defendant was arrested the next day.

The Union Rescue Mission - a homeless shelter, temporary residence and church for hundreds of individuals and families - houses a safe where clients deposit money and jewelry for safekeeping. The Union Rescue Mission accommodates up to 800 people on a given night.

An anticlimactic end to a violent incident went down yesterday when a man who had just shot and mortally wounded his ex-girlfriend led police on a pursuit that started in the San Fernando Valley and ended with his arrest in Corona.

On Wednesday, May 13, 2009 at around 12:05 p.m., Mission Area Patrol Officers were dispatched to a radio call of a shooting that had just occurred in the 8300 block of Van Nuys Boulevard. Officers found the victim, a female, Hispanic, 27-years-old, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

Witnesses described seeing the suspect, identified as 27-year-old Jasper Stallings, force the victim into a red Dodge Ram pickup truck that was parked in the Rite-Aid parking lot in the 8400 block of Van Nuys Boulevard. They then heard gunfire as the truck drove away, across the parking lot. As the truck neared the 24-Hour Fitness Center the victim either fell, or was pushed out of the truck. Witnesses heard at least one additional gunshot.

Stallings drove away headed south through the parking lot, got onto the Hollywood Freeway, and eventually headed to Corona. There, the suspect stopped and was arrested.

During the investigation detectives discovered that the truck Stallings was driving had been taken in a kidnapping/carjack incident that had occurred earlier in the day in the northeast area of the San Fernando Valley. The victim of that incident was forced at gunpoint to get into the passenger seat and was driven to Victorville where he was robbed and left at the side of the road, unharmed.

The shooting victim, whose identity is being withheld until her family can be notified, was pronounced dead at a local hospital at about 2:50 p.m.

Stallings was booked into jail on a murder charge and is being held without bail. He faces charges including, domestic violence, kidnap, robbery, and carjacking.

Anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact LAPD Mission Detective Jim Freund at (818) 838-9810. After hours and on weekends, calls may be directed to a 24-hour, toll-free number at1-877-LAPD-24-7 (527-3247). Callers may also text "Crimes" with a cell phone or log on to www.lapdonline.org and click on Web tips. When using a cell phone, all messages should begin with "LAPD." Tipsters may remain anonymous.

PASADENA - A truck driver charged with vehicular manslaughter last month in connection with a fatal traffic collision on Angeles Crest Highway faces new charges today, the District Attorney's Office announced.

Deputy District Attorney Carolina Lugo of the Pasadena Branch Office said Marcos Barbosa Costa, 44, was arraigned and pleaded not guilty today to three new counts of reckless driving causing specified injury.

Costa was originally charged on April 3 with two counts of vehicular manslaughter.

The complaint alleges that the defendant killed Angelina and Angel Posca, father and daughter, while driving a vehicle in the commission of an unlawful act with gross negligence.

The complaint further alleges that Costa unlawfully drove a vehicle upon a highway in willful and wanton disregard for the safety of persons and property and caused great bodily injury to three additional victims.

The defendant is due back in court on June 19 in Pasadena Superior Court.

Police announced the arrest of a man and an accomplice believed responsible for the murder of a 24-year-old man named Victor Solis.

Solis was killed May 2, 2009, at 1:45 p.m. at Pepper Street in Cypress Park. He was discovered shot inside a vehicle. He was taken to a local hospital but he died.

Detectives identified two suspects, 21-year-old Adrian Martinez and 18-year-old Joshua Ricardo Galindes. Both men were believed to be gang members. Detectives believe Galindes was the triggerman.

Martinez late last week. Police found Galindes Monday afternoon in an area he was known to hang out in and saw him getting out of a car carrying a gun. Galindes tossed his weapon and tried to run away but was caught a short time later. His gun was also recovered, although it was not the same caliber as the weapon used in the killing, police said.

Police are asking that anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact LAPD Northeast Division detectives at (213) 847-4261. After hours and on weekends, calls may be directed to a 24-hour, toll-free number at1-877-LAPD-24-7 (527-3247). Callers may also text "Crimes" with a cell phone or log on to www.lapdonline.org and click on Web tips. When using a cell phone, all messages should begin with "LAPD." Tipsters may remain anonymous.

A Florida woman is accused of making more than $8.5 million from an online prostitution business that claimed to employ porn stars and fashion models.

Michelle Braun appeared Monday in federal court in Orange County and was allowed to remain free pending her next pretrial hearing next month.

The Boca Raton woman is accused of charging clients $50,000 or more to spend the night with adult film stars, models, and actresses. Prosecutors say she used her travel business, Global Travel Network Inc., to launder the money.

pasadenastarnews.com

A 44-year-old Glendale man on probation for arson pleaded no contest today to arson in connection with a series of fires in Griffith Park last year, the District Attorney's office announced.

Gary Allen Lintz pleaded no contest to one count of arson of a structure or forest and admitted the special allegations of great bodily injury to a firefighter and of having a prior arson conviction, said Deputy District Attorney Frances Young with Target Crimes.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Norm Shapiro sentenced Lintz to 16 years in state prison. In return for his plea, three felony counts of arson in Griffith Park were dismissed.

Lintz was arrested Aug. 23, 2008 after hikers allegedly saw him near Griffith Park Drive shortly after a brush fire had broken out. He was charged with four arsons that occurred on July 27, Aug. 4, Aug. 16 and Aug. 23 in the park. At the time of his arrest, he was on probation for a 2007 arson fire conviction.

Relatives of a 17-year-old youth slain by an illegal alien -- sparking an unsuccessful drive to put what became known as "Jamiel's Law" on the city ballot -- have sued the county for wrongful death.

Burbank police just released results that clears two of their officers who were involved in a recent shootout with a man who opened fire at them a couple months ago at Foy Park:

On March 8, at 9:20 p.m., officers Neil Gunn and Ryan Benavidez contacted a suspicious subject in Foy Park. As the officers maneuvered the patrol vehicle toward the subject, he began firing at them with a 357 magnum. Officer Neil Gunn returned fire and the subject was taken into custody a short time later on Hollywood Way.

Rashammond Mapp, 32, of Burbank, was booked for the attempted murder of two police officers. His bail was set at $1 million. The suspect was arraigned on March 11. His preliminary hearing is set for July 27.

Burbank Police Department policy requires that a shooting board be held regarding the discharge of firearms by our officers. The board was comprised of a captain, a sergeant, the department training coordinator, and the senior rangemaster.

After a thorough examination of the evidence, reports, and exhibits, the board determined that the shooting was within policy as the officer was defending himself from death or serious injury from an armed attack.

A Canoga Park man faces arraignment later this month on a murder charge stemming from the alleged fatal shooting of his older brother, whose body has not been found, the District Attorney's office announced.

Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman of the Major Crimes Division filed the case on Monday against 34-year-old Hossein Shirazi. Shirazi was charged with one count of murdering his 49-year-old brother, Mohammad Shirazi, sometime between April 12, 2008, and May 2, 2008. The complaint alleged Hossein Shirazi personally used a handgun to commit the crime.

Authorities alleged that Hossein Shirazi shot his brother at the family home in Canoga Park while the men's parents were on vacation in Iran.

Silverman said Hossein Shirazi is scheduled to appear for arraignment on May 13, in Department 100 of Van Nuys Superior Court. He is in custody on $2 million bail.

The defendant was arrested by detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department's West Valley Division on April 30. The case was filed on Monday and the arraignment postponed after a brief court appearance in Van Nuys that day.

If convicted, the defendant faces a possible life-with-parole sentence.

This afternoon at 12:30, Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo is holding a press conference to announce his latest crack down with a gang injunction against Barrio Van Nuys.

"BVN or Barrio Van Nuys gang is as dangerous or as potent as MS-13, 18th Street or any gang in the city," Delgadillo said Wednesday after filing paperwork seeking the injunction in Los Angeles Superior Court.

San Fernando Courthouse
• Trial status conference in the case of Kimberly Carter, Northridge woman charged with murder.
• Preliminary hearing setting for Pedro Ortiz, charged with Valley child molestations.

Van Nuys Courthouse
• Preliminary hearing setting for Marquis Dejon Jiles, a man charged with murder in a hit-and-run crash.
• Preliminary hearing setting for Amir David Tamado Nejad, a Woodland Hills man charged with attempted murder.

San Fernando Courthouse
• Preliminary hearing setting for George Miller, a former priest charged with sexual molestation.

San Fernando Courthouse
• Preliminary hearing setting for Robert Ramon Gasca, a Pacoima man charged with shooting four people.

Pasadena Courthouse
• Jury trial in the case of Ezel Ethan Channel, a Nickelodeon employee charged with child molestation.

Antelope Valley Courthouse
• Pretrial conference in the re-trial of Raymond Lee Jennings, charged with murder.

Criminal Justice Center
• Preliminary hearing in the case of Michael Henschel and Alan Mitchell, Valley businessman and an associate charged in a widespread real estate fraud case.

San Fernando Courthouse
• Trial status conference in in the case of Kimberly Carter, a Northridge woman charged with murder.
• Testimony in the trial of Roberto Mendez Alba and Edwardo Medina, charged with kidnapping for ransom.
• Arraignment for Ernesto Romero, Ritchi Palomo, Eddie Alvirez, Oscar Abdiez Andia, Victor Torres, Ronald Ruiz and Erik Viveros charged in a gang-related kidnapping for ransom.
• Jury trial in the case of James Anthony Rojas, a Mission Hills man charged in widespread real estate foreclosure fraud case.

Antelope Valley Courthouse
• Sentencing in the case of Christopher Anthony Hall, a Palmdale RV driver charged with murder and attempted murder.

Van Nuys Courthouse
• Status hearing in the case of Jesse Bernard Winnick, a man charged with fatally stabbing his mother.

San Fernando Courthouse
• Pretrial conference in the case of Jacquelin Linaras, charged in the death of an infant.

Van Nuys Courthouse
• Preliminary hearing in the case of Kevin Lamont Thomas, a former coach at Birmingham High School charged with sexually molesting four teenage girls in a private basketball camp he ran.
• Pretrial conference in the case of Bennett Ira Goldberg, a man charged with animal cruelty after his dog died in a hot car.

Pasadena Courthouse
• Jury trial in the case of Ezel Ethan Channel, a Nickelodeon employee charged with child molestation.

My colleague, Larry Altman, over at the Daily Breeze in Torrance got the scoop today of a ring of burglars busted in some 40 cases from the South Bay to Tarzana. Check out the Crime and Courts blog for more.

San Fernando Courthouse
• Jury selection in the case of Roberto Mendez Alba and Edwardo Medina, charged in kidnapping for ransom.
• Pretrial conference and motions in the case of Antonio Rodriguez and Debby Saravia, charged with child abuse, murder in death of 5-year-old girl, alleged abuse of 6-year-old boy. Saravia and Rodriguez were arrested in November 2004 after paramedics were called to a home in the 28000 block of Sturbridge Drive in Castaic and found the girl in convulsions, sheriff's officials said shortly after the two were taken into custody.

Van Nuys Courthouse
• Preliminary hearing setting in the case of Pedro Ortiz, who was charged in San Fernando Valley child molestations.

Van Nuys Courthouse
• Pretrial conference in the case of Jay Selznick, who was charged with carjacking.

Pasadena Courthouse
• Mental competency report in the case of Song Nam Chang, who was charged with the murder of his son.

Pasadena Courthouse
• Pretrial conference in the case of Ara Grigoryan, who was charged with murder.

San Fernando Courthouse
• Pretrial conference in the case of Jacquelin Linaras, charged in the death of an infant.

San Fernando Courthouse>
• Pretrial conference in the case of Anthonio Llerenas, accused of using a child as a shield.

On the 40th anniversary of Robert Kennedy's slaying at a Los Angeles hotel, The San Francisco Chronicle writes about the conspiracy theories that abound in the case.

Examples:

-- Sirhan fired his .22-caliber revolver from a few feet in front of Kennedy, according to police, yet Los Angeles County coroner Thomas Noguchi reported that the fatal shot was fired less than one inch from Kennedy's head, behind his right ear. Of the four shots fired at Kennedy, all came from the rear. None of this was raised at Sirhan's trial because his defense was based on the theory that he suffered from "diminished capacity" rather than on any challenge of prosecutors' evidence.

-- Sirhan's revolver held eight rounds; a radio reporter's tape recording of the shooting has sounds of what one audio expert describes as 13 shots. Sirhan never had a chance to reload before bystanders tackled him. Two of the sounds on the tape are what forensic experts call "double shots," which means two shots so close together that they couldn't have come from the same revolver.

-- Several witnesses saw a security guard just behind Kennedy draw his revolver, and one reported seeing him fire it.

-- Over the years, Sirhan has told investigators who interviewed him in prison that he was in a hypnotic trance during the shooting and can't remember it at all. He said he could not remember writing, "RFK must die." He did not respond to an interview request for this story.

sfgate.com

Our sister paper, the Long Beach Press-Telegram analyzed arrests of juveniles in Long Beach. They find that while the country has been seeing a decline in juvenile crime, Long Beach has been steady, among other findings. I haven't gotten through it all yet, but check it out here.

A Superior Court judge on Monday upheld the murder charge against Ara Grigoryan, the man charged in the July 2007 hit-and-run death of Elizabeth Sandoval. Grigoryan's defense team had sought to reduce the murder charge before going to trial, arguing that prosecutors made certain assumptions about the incident and had overblown the 20-year-old's prior driving infractions to infer a "wanton disregard" for human life -- a key finding for murder.

Rocky Delgadillo is cracking down on prostitutes and pimps by using the same kind of enforcement he uses with gang injunctions. Here's the press release.

Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, the City's chief prosecutor, today joined with representatives of the Los Angeles Police Department to announce the filing of a groundbreaking lawsuit seeking to prevent five pimps and 36 chronic prostitutes from operating in the Figueroa Corridor. He is also unveiling a diversion program to educate prostitutes and "Johns" about the legal consequences, health risks, and community impact of their illegal conduct.

"We're launching the injunction for chronic offenders and the
diversion program for first-time offenders at the same time because
fighting crime in the 21st Century means getting smarter - not just
tougher - with our public safety initiatives," said City Attorney
Delgadillo.

The Pimp and Prostitution Injunction

The nuisance abatement action brought by the City Attorney's Safe
Neighborhoods Division seeks to exclude five pimps and 36 chronic
prostitutes from the Figueroa Corridor - an area defined as 100 yards
to each side of Figueroa Street between Vernon Avenue and El Segundo
Boulevard in South Los Angeles. The defendants have repeatedly returned
to the Figueroa Corridor despite law enforcement efforts to stop them.

All 36 prostitutes named in the injunction have been convicted at least
twice for engaging in prostitution in the Figueroa Corridor, and account
for 127 prostitution arrests in the Figueroa Corridor and more than 300
prostitution arrests throughout Southern California.

Four pimps named in the injunction are affiliated with gangs including
the Shotgun Crips, Front Hood Crips and Denver Lane Bloods.

Pimps named in the injunction are excluded from the Figueroa Corridor
and are prohibited from associating with or assisting prostitutes; using
intimidation; interfering with traffic or possessing weapons. They must
also report any vehicle and residential information to law enforcement.
Prostitutes named in the injunction are also excluded from the Figueroa
Corridor. Violations of the injunction could result in criminal
prosecution.

We have included within this injunction an opt-out provision which
provides those who can demonstrate they are no longer engaging in
criminal activity - and have met certain court-ordered requirements --
with a way out.

The Prostitution Diversion Program

The City Attorney also today announced the launch of the Figueroa
Corridor Prostitution Diversion Program. The program is designed to
reduce the number of prostitutes and "Johns" along the Figueroa
Corridor.

The Diversion program is open to first-time offender prostitutes and
"Johns" who have no prior convictions for drugs or violence.
Program participants must enroll in, and complete, an eight hour seminar
and must submit to an AIDS test and follow-up support services. If the
offender completes of the seminar and appropriate referral services, no
charges will be filed.

The Figueroa Corridor suffers more from the harmful actions of pimps,
prostitutes, and those seeking prostitutes than any other part of the
City. The LAPD has devoted vast resources to attacking this problem,
including conducting undercover operations, and providing dedicated
patrols and foot patrols. Since 2002, more than 1,000 prostitutes have
been arrested in the Figueroa Corridor and prosecuted by City Attorney
Delgadillo's Neighborhood Prosecutors. The City Attorney targeted 20
nuisance properties for abatement because of vice and drug activity
linked to prostitution, resulting in the reduction of
prostitution-related crimes at these locations by 65%.

Deputy City Attorney Dan Whitley is the City prosecutor assigned to the
litigation and Neighborhood Prosecutor Sonja Dawson created the
prosecution diversion program in cooperation with LAPD and our service
provider partners.

U.S. border authorities no longer apprehend illegal immigrants only as they enter the country. Now they're catching them on the way out. At random times near the Tijuana-San Diego border, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have been setting up checkpoints, boarding buses destined for Mexico and pulling off people who don't have proper documentation, latimes.com.

SAN DIEGO -- Authorities say a woman who escaped from a Detroit prison 32 years ago has been arrested in San Diego, where she was a wife and mother living under a false name. U.S. Marshals say 53-year-old Susan Lefevre was taken into custody Thursday in the Carmel Valley area.

An inter-agency police auto theft task force uncovered a cache of machine guns, stolen cars and motorcycles and a hunting dog breeding operation run out of a home in Sylmar and didn't publicize it when the story broke in 2006.

Here's the story in a nutshell, given to me by the good folks from the Task Force for Regional Auto Theft Prevention (TRAP) - West Team. TRAP is a team of cops which investigates commercial vehicle theft and fraud countywide.

The case began July 27, 2006, at 9 p.m. when LAPD Mission Division patrol officers found a stolen Nissan Altima parked in front of a home in the 13000 block of Parkland Circle in Sylmar. The thief had stolen the car by stealing someone's identity from a lost wallet. And the suspects used his information to purchase vehicles.

The next day, at 8 a.m., TRAP detectives saw the suspect, identified as Don Park, leave his residence, get into a Nissan Maxima - which turned out to be stolen - remove the sun shade and back out of the driveway.

Detectives confronted Park and later determined that five other vehicles at the residence were also stolen.

Park faces auto theft, making a false financial statement and identity theft charges at a court hearing set for next month.

A search of Park's residence turned up 45 firearms, large amounts of ammunition, ballistic vests, police scanners, and 11 automatic assault weapons/machine guns in an upstairs bedroom that had been converted into a storage room.

Police found an additional cache of ammunition in the living room cabinet. Additional weapons charges were also filed against Park.

In the garage of the home, detectives discovered three stolen motorcycles, taken from a locked motorcycle dealership on Hollywood Way in Burbank. The suspects had cut the chain to a locked gate in August 2004 afterhours.

Police also found that Park had been allegedly illegally breeding hunting dogs at his residence and had previously been cited by Animal Regulation officers for the activity.

Eleven dogs were confiscated and held pending the investigation.

Park has a prior felony conviction for robbery with a gun and was sentenced to 92 months in the state prison. Park had previously been deported to Korea after completing his sentence. Park entered the country and illegally set-up residence, police said.

Wonder what this guy's nickname's going to be in prison ...

A Long Beach man has been convicted of federal smuggling charges for bringing into the United States several extremely rare iguanas after stealing them from a nature preserve in the Republic of the Fiji Islands.

Jereme James, 34, was found guilty yesterday of one count of smuggling and one count of possessing the endangered animals. The evidence presented during a three-day trial showed that James stole three hatchling Fiji Island banded iguanas (Brachylophus fasciatus) and brought them to the United States in violation of federal and international law.

dailynews.com

The operator of two English language schools was charged Wednesday with running a scheme that allowed foreign nationals, including several Russian prostitutes, to fraudulently obtain student visas to enter and stay in the United States, The Los Angeles Times writes. Bezhad "Ben" Zaman, 50, of Beverly Hills, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Iran, was arrested by federal agents without incident in what investigators believe is the largest student visa fraud scheme ever staged on the West Coast, authorities said. He was charged with seven counts of fraud and misuse of visa, one count of conspiring to money-launder and six counts of concealment for money laundering.

Here's a few headlines from the Daily News crime pages ...

• I'm chasing down some more details on a homicide from Sunday night in North Hollywood. Here's what we have so far. A man was fatally shot as he sat in the passenger seat of a car parked outside a liquor store, authorities said Monday. The shooting occurred about 9:30 p.m. Sunday at Sherman Way and Lankershim Boulevard, said Officer Sara Faden of the Los Angeles Police Department's Media Relations Section. North Hollywood has seen more than five homicides so far this year, appears to be the the highest number in the Valley. dailynews.com

• In case you missed it, I wanted to throw some props to my colleague Troy Anderson who wrote about court security problems as threats against judges and other officials has skyrocketed.

  Even as Los Angeles County's sprawling court system seeks to mete out justice, security is becoming a growing concern as the number of threats against its 600 judges, commissioners and referees has more than doubled in the past two years. Threats against court personnel surged from 99 in 2006 to 267 last year, according to court records. And as violence and threats have risen, security costs have soared from $132 million three years ago to $169 million.

  dailynews.com

• And a promotion at the LAPD ... Terry S. Hara became the highest ranking Asian- American in Los Angeles Police Department history as he was promoted to the rank of deputy chief during a ceremony at the Police Academy.

LAPD officer Manuel Tarango uses a microscope to look at a .380 bullet shell casing at the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center/LA Regional Loboratory. The shell casing comes from the gun of a suspect in a shooting in the Valley.

Rachel takes us into the offices of the LAPD's ballistics unit for a story about how cops piece together bullet fragments and shell casings found on the streets to the people responsible for pulling the trigger.

She writes that the unit is the backbone of law enforcement and can make or break cases.

dailynews.com

If you want to know what's going on crimewise in the South Bay, check out our partners in crime at the Daily Breeze, our sister paper's new crime and courts blog. The bloggers are staff writers for the Daily Breeze veterans Denise Nix and Larry Altman. Nix has spent most of the last dozen years in the courtroom. Altman has covered crime in the South Bay since 1990. Glad to have them as our partners in crime. Welcome to the world of blogging.

Imagine this scenario: You're fast asleep. You hear rustling coming from outside your home. You grab a knife and step outside your home, prepared to fend off an intruder and protect your family. Only, instead of a criminal, you find yourself face-to-face with SWAT officers pointing assault weapons at you.
What the hell's going on?
You've been "swatted."
Turns out, somebody thought it would be a kick to make a fake 911 "I just killed somebody in my house" call. Using Internet technology, they're able to fool the dispatcher into believing they're making the call from your home, instead of thousands of miles away.
Read "Swatting" here.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that when you have pot and cash at unsecured businesses - pot clinics - you're going to have a cottage industry of takeover robberies. The violence is making life hell for pot clinic employees, giving police more work, and in return forcing taxpayers to fork over more money to combat the problem. Talking with Joe Esquivel, a LAPD North Hollywood Division robbery detective, this morning, he gave me the tip about this latest pot clinic heist in Studio City.

STUDIO CITY - Police today were searching for two men involved in an armed takeover robbery of a Studio City medical marijuana dispensary that netted the crooks $4,500 in cash and an unknown amount of pot, police said this morning.

Two men, described as African American, one armed with a shotgun, the other with a pistol, entered Wellness Caregivers on Ventura Boulevard about 1:30 yesterday, and ordered three employees to the floor, said Los Angeles Police Detective Joe Esquivel. One gunman tied up two employees with duct tape and locked them in a back room, while the second gunman took the manager room-to-room, seizing cash and pot, before taking off, Esquivel said.

No one was injured in the heist and no description of the gunmen was available. Nobody saw a getaway car. Police were hoping to retrieve surveillance video today.

dailynews.com

This has been a case that I've been tracking for a while. Talking with the robbery detectives over at the North Hollywood division this morning looking for news, I got the tip that arrests were made in a violent robbery that left a jewelry store owner injured in October. The male and female suspects are from South Los Angeles and came up to the Valley allegedly to commit their crime. They are now facing robbery and assault charges. The female suspect apparently told cops that her male accomplice recruited her into the scheme. Here's the story in full today.

STUDIO CITY - A male and female duo from South Los Angeles were in custody this morning in connection with a violent jewelry store robbery that left the owner injured and the suspects with $30,000, police said this morning.

Eric Jackson, a 37-year-old convicted robber, and Tranika Rispress, 20, were being held on robbery and assault charges at the Los Angeles County Jail.

They are believed responsible for the Oct. 11 robbery at Dana Kathryn Jewelry on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, police said.

The suspects allegedly entered the store about 4:30 p.m. and began to browse and ask questions about jewelry inside the cases, police said. Five minutes later, the male suspect pulled out a blue steel pistol and pointed it at the face of the 17-year-old son of the owner while the female suspect grabbed his arm and pushed him against the wall, according to a police report.

The suspected gunman then ran behind the jewelry case and began punching and kicking the female owner in the face and neck, knocking her down, after she tried to trigger the silent alarm, police said. He then hopped the case, used the butt of the gun to smash it, and took a bracelet from inside, police said.

Both suspects then ran to the back of the store, grabbed a box of jewelry, ran out the front door and across Ventura to a Staples parking lot. There, they were seen getting into a silver Dodge Charger with tinted windows and after-market rims, police said.

The 46-year-old female store owner suffered injuries to her head and neck and was taken to a hospital. She has since recovered, police said.

In early November, police put out images from surveillance video taken at the store to the news media. In December, an anonymous caller identified the suspects, said Los Angeles Police Department Detective Mark O'Donnell.

Rispress was arrested at her home Thursday. She told police she grew up in the same neighborhood as Jackson and he recruited her to participate in the scheme, O'Donnell said.

Jackson was already in custody Jan. 26 in connection with violating terms of his parole in connection with an earlier robbery conviction when police served him with a warrant in connection with the Studio City robbery, O'Donnell said.

Police in Glendale and Whittier are combing through robbery reports to see whether these two were involved in other similar cases, O'Donnell said.

dailynews.com

There was a gang-related homicide in North Hollywood Friday night. I just spoke with Detective Rich Wheeler, a supervisor over at the Los Angeles Police Department's North Hollywood station about it. No arrests have been made. Here's what I've got so far.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - A 31-year-old man with no apparent gang ties was fatally wounded Friday night in a drive-by shooting two blocks away from his North Hollywood home, police said.

Alvaro Ely Calderon was on his way home from an am/pm mini market with a 40-ounce bottle of Miller Lite when somone inside a white vehicle fired shots, striking him at least four times before 11:40 p.m. on Bellaire Avenue near Blythe Street, said Los Angeles police Detective Rich Wheeler.

Calderon died later at a local hospital.

The gunman was inside possibly a Honda or Nissan car with as many as four people in it, Wheeler said.

Calderon, who is divorced and has a child has no known gang ties, nor any gang-related arrests, Wheeler said. He was living with his mother and father who were asleep at home at the time their son was shot.

"This is a murder you hate to get," Wheeler said. "There's not a lot of good, juicy clues to follow up on."

Anyone with information is asked to call Wheeler or Detective Martin Pinner at (818) 623-4075.

dailynews.com

I got this story late Friday and expect to be checking with the District Attorney's Office today to see whether or not charges are being filed. Stay tuned.

NORTH HILLS - A former employee with the Penny Lane Family Center in North Hills has been arrested in connection with having unlawful sex with a 16-year-old girl, police said this evening.

Eugene Portis Jr., 37, of Victorville, was arrested Jan. 15 at the North Hollywood Division police station in the 11600 block of Burbank Boulevard, according to the arrest blotter. Details about the arrest were not immediately available.

Portis was booked into the Los Angeles County Jail on suspicion of having unlawful sex with a minor and has since bailed out of jail after posting $20,000 bond. No charges have yet been filed, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. But they could come before his sheduled court appearance on Feb. 5, Gibbons said. Since he has bailed out of jail, she said, police have more time to file their case with the D.A.

In a press release released Friday night, police said that Portis was previously employed by Penny Lane's Foster Care/Foster Family Agency. A 16-year-old Latina reported to police that while seeking drug counseling, Portis engaged in a sexual relationship with her, said Los Angeles Police Detective Karen Crawford. No other details were immediately available.

No one answered calls to Penny Lane late Friday.

It appeared Portis had been working at Penny Lane for about three years, according to a spring 2005 Penny Lane online newletter.

Police are asking that anyone who has information about Portis to call LAPD detectives Makarenko or Kimrey at (818) 623-4090.

dailynews.com

I got this story about the conviction of a man for a botched kidnap for ransom case that has been dragging out over the last six years. It was prosecuted out of the organized crime section and was handled by Glendale cops. I posted the story onto dailynews.com late last night. But here it is in full, in case you missed it. I'll try to tease out a few more details when I get settled in again tonight as I'm covering for a colleague.

GLENDALE - A 40-year-old ex-con has been found guilty of orchestrating a botched kidnapping for ransom conspiracy that backfired when both the intended target and the would-be kidnapper engaged in a gun battle and were wounded on the streets of Glendale six years ago.

In a downtown Los Angeles Superior courtroom, Arutyun "Gordo" Khrayan was found guilty Tuesday of three counts, including conspiracy to commit kidnap for ransom, attempted kidnap for ransom and assault with a semi-automatic firearm, said Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Marcia Daniel. Khrayan, who has been in jail since his June 2003 arrest, faces life in prison with the possibility of parole when he is sentenced March 28.

It was an unusual scheme concocted in the most unlikely of places by two men who were recovering drug users at the Tarzana Treatment Center in January 2002.

It began when an associate of Khrayan asked a parolee and admitted heroin user if he would kidnap an Armenian businessman in exchange for a new car.

It ended when the would-be kidnapper, James Patlan, and his intended target, Armen Mkrtumyan, were injured in a gunbattle on Los Feliz Boulevard in Glendale, court records show.

In an odd twist, after the shootout, both victim and assailant were taken to the same hospital for treatment of gunshot wounds. Oddly, Mkrtumyan happened to see Patlan being wheeled by his room and identified him as his assailant to police, Daniel said.

Mkrtumyan, who was in the bread distribution business, was legally carrying a gun the night he was attacked, Daniel said. He had a permit to carry a gun between his business and his car because he was the victim of a previous kidnap attempt a few months earlier, Daniel said.

Khrayan's associate Karapet "Gary" Davtyan was at the Tarzana Treatment Center as part of a court-ordered visit when he met and befriended Patlan, Daniel said.

Patlan admitted in court testimony that he was voluntarily at the center and the only reason he checked out was to join Davtyan in a criminal enterprise, Daniel said.

Phone records linked Davtyan with Khrayan. Davtyan has been convicted previously in the conspiracy and is serving a state prison sentence, Daniel said.

Khrayan was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 1992 and joyriding in 1994, officials said.

"It was a difficult case in that my star witness had been a state prison inmate who was an admitted heroin addict and then to connect the defendant to the crime itself absent the identification by James Patlan was all primarily circumstantial evidence," Daniel said. "Yet the jury followed my request to reject the unreasonable and accept the reasonable in their findings that Arutyun Khrayan was indeed the man known only to Patlan as "Gordo" who had directed him on the night of the kidnapping to get the victim into the car using the gun."

GLENDALE - A Glendale man accused in a hit-and-run crash this summer that left a 24-year-old woman dead pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and other charges, officials said.

Ara Grigoryan, 21, entered his plea yesterday in a Pasadena courtroom. He also pleaded not guilty to one count each of vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run involving a death in connection with the July 10 crash that left Elizabeth Sandoval dead.

Grigoryan was driving a black Mercedes-Benz S430 at highway speeds when he hit Sandoval at 9:40 that night at South Glendale Avenue near Windsor Road, police allege.

Four days after the crash, by activating the vehicle's tracking device, police found the Mercedes-Benz near a Van Nuys body shop, with signs of fresh body work on the vehicle, police said.

The car was registered to a relative of Grigoryan's and he became the subject of a weeklong international manhunt that ran through Tijuana before he was arrested July 18 in Mexico City. He was detained while trying to flee without proper travel paperwork to Spain, Glendale police Chief Randy Adams said at a news conference when he announced Grigoryan's arrest.

Spain was believed to be a pit stop on the way to Russia, then Armenia, where Grigoryan was born, police spokesman John Balian said.

Grigoryan has been cited for seven traffic violations over two years while driving the car, police said. They include failure to yield to pedestrians and three incidents of speeding.

Grigoryan is in jail, awaiting another court hearing set for Feb. 13.

dailynews.com

Earlier

Here's the latest on that bar fight that left a man dead at the Red Square bar from November:

WOODLAND HILLS - Two Hoover High School friends were charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of a man who suffered fatal head wounds in a fracas that was sparked when someone accidentally broke a man's necklace while dancing at a Woodland Hills nightclub, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said today.

Sidney S. Singleton, 19, and Dimitri Hermozshamoun, 19-year-old friends from Hoover High School, pleaded not guilty to the charge in a Van Nuys courtroom yesterday, officials said. Hermozshamoun posted $50,000 bail and was freed from jail. Singleton remains in jail. The men are expected in court again on Jan. 24.

dailynews.com

Doing my routine checks of all the arrests from overnight around the city, I got the story of a drug rip off crew with a back story that gets real murky and involves a drug sale to a teen girl who overdosed this summer. This is the top of the story.

Three men have been charged and a fourth was being sought in connection with a semi organized dope-rip off ring that targeted dealers in the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood.

The latest arrest came Wednesday when one of the suspects, Fatshi A. Touresian, a 21-year-old North Hollywood salesman, showed up in a Van Nuys courtroom to appear on an earlier case of vehicle tampering. He was booked into the Los Angeles County Jail on charges stemming from a pot rip off in April at Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Mulholland Drive that went bad when Jeffrey Jenkins, 25, was shot in the neck and survived, said Los Angeles Police Detective Martin Pinner. Bail was set at $626,570.

dailynews.com

GLENDALE - A man enraged at a group of men who were looking at his female relative tried to run them down with his van during a soccer game at a Glendale sports complex, police said today.

Seroj Zadorian, a 53-year-old plumber, is accused of trying to run down four Armenian men, ages 25 to 40, who were standing on the sidelines of a game at The Glendale Sports Complex in the 2800 block of Fern Lane, said Glendale Police Officer John Balian.

They were among a group of up to 70 spectators who scattered as Zadorian's white plumbing van, complete with a Sergio's Plumbing sticker affixed, began lumbering toward them on Tuesday, Balian said. No one was hit.

After trying to run the men over, Zadorian drove off, Balian said. Police were summoned and when they found the van, it stopped and the suspect tried to hide in some bushes before he was arrested without a fight, Balian said.

He is expected to appear at a Dec. 20 arraignment hearing where he will face charges of two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

dailynews.com

24-year-old Yuliya Kalinina turned to the Internet in search of a husband, she made it absolutely clear what she was looking for in a relationship: "Green Card Marriage -- Will pay $300/month. Total $15,000," the Russian national living in Los Angeles wrote in an ad placed on the Craigslist website. "This is strictly platonic business offer, sex not involved." She and her husband were arrested in connection with a federal case of sham marriage. Scott Glover in the Los Angeles Times

Summertime is traditionally what cops call the killing season, when kids are out of school, temperatures are hot and things get a little buggy in the big city. But last night there was a double killing in Van Nuys. Not a whole lot of details yet, but stay tuned. So far here's the skinny:

VAN NUYS - Police sought the public's help today in the search for whoever fatally shot two men on a sidewalk near an apartment building in Van Nuys.

The shooting occurred last night in the 7000 block of Hazeltine Avenue, just south of Sherman Way, said Capt. Jim Miller of the Los Angeles Police Department's Van Nuys Station.

Police received calls around 10:15 last night reporting that shots had been fired near Sherman Way and Hazeltine Avenue, but officers dispatched to the area could find no evidence of a shooting, he said.

About 10 minutes later, however, a caller reported two males on the ground in the 7000 block of Hazeltine Avenue, and there - on the grass by a sidewalk adjacent to an apartment building - the officers found two victims with gunshot wounds to the upper body, he said.

One victim was pronounced dead at the scene, and the second died later at a hospital, he said, adding that both victims appeared to be adults. Their identities were not immediately released because family members had not been notified, said Los Angeles Police Detective Mike Coblentz.

"We have no witnesses to the shooting so we are asking for the public's help," Miller said.

"It's just a whodunit," Coblentz said.

dailynews.com

A polygraph machine used in the 1950's by the Los Angeles Police Department is on display at Parker Center. (Tina Burch/Staff Photographer)

When leads dry up or the truth is murky, LAPD detectives end up here, on the fourth floor of downtown's Parker Center, headquarters of the Polygraph Unit. In these tattered 10-by-10-foot rooms, lies were exposed that cracked a Manson murder case and opened a trail to a stolen $3.5million Stradivarius cello. dailynews.com

Rick Coca writes today about the high percentage of folks who flee from a scene of a crash in the San Fernando Valley, where car crashes are about as common as the sun coming up in Southern California everyday. Last year, nearly half of all 16,792 Valley traffic collisions were hit-and-runs, and investigators solved just 54percent of the cases, LAPD Valley Traffic Bureau officials said.

dailynews.com

I bet there are a few happy cops out there saying that justice is sweet. A thorn in the side of LAPD and other local police agencies, Stephen Yagman was sentenced to three years in prison for tax evasion.
Apparently, Yagman, who made a career out of suing law enforcement, was sporting some serious theatrics in court.

From LA Times:
In an unusual courtroom hearing that spanned three days, Yagman and his attorneys painstakingly went over the evidence in the case and accused the U.S. attorney of targeting him because of his long and confrontational history with the federal government.

Wearing a blue suit and a sailboat-decorated tie, Yagman also quoted from, or referred to, Woody Allen, Abraham Lincoln and Socrates during more than four hours of oration. At times, he was remorseful, but for the most part, he was defensive.

Quick one here on the rappin' gangster of Toonerville. Mr. Castro's on the trial trail, once again.

Convicted multiple killer Timothy Joseph McGhee might have received a reprieve on a date with the death penalty Friday when a mistrial was declared in the penalty phase of his trial.

His autobiographical notebook of gang lyrics, in which he boasted about his crimes, proved vital in the conviction - which is not affected by the mistrial in the penalty phase.

Here's the whole thing.

Also, Mr. Blackmoore weighs in with some choice words that we're not allowed to use in the newspaper.

Just about every bomb scare plays out like this: suspicious package turns up, people freak out, the bomb squad comes out, then someone's gym bag/backpack/briefcase gets examined or blown up. Most turn out to be nothing, thank goodness. And, given the stakes if you get it wrong, I'm all for an overabundance of caution-- better to have a laugh about the "bomb" that turned out to be someone's dirty laundry rather than the "dirty laundry" that turned out to be a bomb.

With that in mind, this was really pretty funny.

SAN FERNANDO - A forgotten sandwich, an alleged Sylmar explosives maker and an anonymous bomb threat brought the San Fernando Courthouse to a halt, police said Friday.

At the end of September, we had the sad story about Canoga Park High School teacher Hadas Winnick, who was allegedly stabbed and killed by her son, Jesse. We set up a Reader Reaction blog to allow people to share their memories. Most were kind words from former colleagues and students, but we got an unexpected post from Amy Winnick, Hadas' daughter, the other day.

I doubt anyone will read this since it's "old news" at this point - but it will never be old news to me. This was my family. Jesse and my mom were my best friends. Because of his savage, idiotic, selfish, disgusting act of violence, I no longer have either of them. There is no excuse. My mom was not brutal. Opinionated, yes. But perhaps the fact that Jesse told her she was fat, ugly, worthless, pathetic, deserved to die, was the reason she was so sad? Can you imagine having to go through that every day, whenever Jesse had a bad day or just felt like dumping on her? She was a beautiful woman, dedicated beyond belief to her children, students, and friends. She was the best mother she could have ever been. I wake up missing her more and more each day, but also thank God more and more each day for the time I did get to spend with her. So, to you, SKT - I pity your close-minded, ignorant views. And to everyone else, especially Paula, thank you. Mom and I love you dearly.

I can't imagine how painful it must have been to write those words. Our hearts go out to you, Amy, and to everyone else touched by your mom's life. Hang in there and good luck.

Mr. Bartholomew has an amazing, heartbreaking story of a terrible West Hills murder in today's paper.
Using his unique, masterful touch, he sets it up like this:

WEST HILLS - She was the bubbie who could turn matzo balls - and nearly everything else - into gold. He was the grandpa who couldn't get enough cuddling with his grandkids.

Gregory Douglas Miner, 32, faces life in prison without parole if convicted on two counts of murder, with special circumstances of committing robbery and burglary.

For the whole thing, click here. The whole thing gives me the shivers.

Authorities recorded a record number of arrests of criminal aliens and fugitives this year in the Los Angeles area, federal officials said today.

Some 2,667 immigration violators have been taken into custody between Jan. 1, 2007 and Sept. 31, 2007 - a 63 percent increase over last fiscal year, according to the latest statistics available. Of those arrested, 576 had criminal histories in addition to being in the country illegally.

Among the criminal aliens taken into custody recently by the Fugitive Operations Teams was a Maywood man convicted of beating another man to death here more than a decade ago. Luis Medina Gonzalez, 34, was arrested Oct. 24 at his home and deported to Mexico the following day.

Medina was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in August 1996 on charges stemming from a fist-fight that left another man dead. He was ordered deported based upon his criminal conviction, but failed to comply with the immigration court's order. Medina also has a prior conviction for narcotics charges.

"As a country, we welcome law-abiding immigrants, but foreign nationals who violate our laws and commit crimes against our citizens should be on notice that ICE is going to use all of the tools at its disposal to find you and send you home," said Jim Hayes, Los Angeles field office director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention and removal operations.

ICE established its Fugitive Operations Program in 2003 to eliminate the nation's backlog of immigration fugitives and ensure that deportation orders handed down by immigration judges are enforced. Today, ICE has 75 Fugitive Operations Teams deployed across the country. In fiscal year 2007, those teams accounted for more than 30,000 arrests nationwide.

This year, for the first time, the nation's fugitive alien population showed a decline, officials said. Estimates now place the number of immigration fugitives in the United States at slightly under 597,000, a decrease of more than 35,000 since October 2006.

Here's three quick ones before I head off to court....

A man whose blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit when his large SUV slammed into a car on Pacific Coast Highway, killing film director Robert Clark and his son, is scheduled to be sentenced today.

Clark directed numerous movies, including the holiday season standard "A Christmas Story" in 1983 and "Loose Cannons" in 1990. He also directed, wrote and produced the teen cult films "Porky's" and "Porky's II: The Next Day." His son studied music at Santa Monica College.

Elsewhere on dailynews.com, we have another story of street racing.

SUN VALLEY - A young man who had been taking part in a multi-vehicle street race suffered serious injuries today when he slammed a subcompact into a utility pole as he was being pursued by Highway Patrol officers in Sun Valley, police said.

The vehicle was totally destroyed, Dunnet said, adding that investigators are trying to determine whether the Civic had been stolen.

You'd think that with all the horrible news we've heard about racing in the street in the last week, they'd learn. Don't get me wrong, I'm a car guy and I understand the need to go fast, but not if it's going to endanger innocent people.

And finally, Mssrs. Bartholomew and Gutknecht offer us this package on cat hoarding gone horribly awry.

NORTHRIDGE - Los Angeles police Officer Jenny Potts crawled under a house Thursday through the refuse of 70 sick cats.

Armed with a search warrant, the task force arrested Ron Mason before 6 a.m. Thursday as he walked out to feed the cats.

Mr. Dobuzinskis relayed a wild crime tale brought to light in a trial that concluded today:

A jury on Friday convicted a 37-year-old man of robbing a Woodland Hills businessman and then killing him during an escape from police.

"They are completely relieved," Silverman said. "This has been an eight-year-long struggle for them .... to get the second guy, and for them this is a tremendous relief knowing that the guy who terrorized their son is going away for the rest of his life."

Read the whole thing here.

It sounds like a crazy case, involving fraud, fake Beatles and Marvin Gaye recordings and the folks from America's Most Wanted.

A federal indictment unsealed today accuses a fashion designer, Anand Jon Alexander, of luring 20 teenage girls and women to L.A., then sexually assaulting them. The charges against Alexander, 33, include 54 felony and five misdemeanor counts, including forcible rape, sexual battery by restraint, lewd acts upon a child, sexual penetration by a foreign object, using a minor for sex acts, forcible and attempted forcible oral copulation, assault with intent to commit a felony, possession or control of child pornography and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He is accused of having committed the between November 2002 and March of this year. His attorney, Anthony Brooklier, said, “We think that there was collusion. We think this is made up whole-cloth, the entire case." Alexander, who is being held in custody without bail, is set to be arraigned Oct. 25.

A former sheriff's deputy convicted of killing his wife was sentenced this morning to 25 years to life in prison. dailynews.com

Two gang members have been charged in a January driveby killing that left a 17-year-old rival dead. Edilberto Olivares, 19, of North Hollywood and Mardoqueo Guevara, 23, were being held at the Los Angeles County Jail on murder charges in connection with the Jan. 31 slaying of Daniel Martinez.

PALMDALE - A 15-year-old boy has been charged as an adult in the attack on a 14-year-old girl who was found unconscious on an elementary schoolyard in Palmdale last week. Brandon Deon Audinett was charged with one count each of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and forcible rape. The complaint alleged the defendant used a "length of metal zipper material" in the attack on Sept. 6. Audinett faces a possible state prison sentence of life with the possibility of parole if convicted of the charges. Authorities said the victim was beaten and sexually assaulted. The Sheriff's Department investigated the attack and arrested the defendant on Sept. 7.

The second suspect wanted in the stabbing death of Daniel Edward Koch has been arrested. On a tip, cops found him camping on Isla Vista near the University of California, Santa Barbara. A cop was passing out fliers and apparently someone said they saw him camping on the beach. L.A. police went up late last night, early this morning to bring Justin Thalheimer into Los Angeles County custody. Here's the latest scoop. dailynews.com

This is still developing, but cops were out in force this morning in predawn raids across the San Fernando Valley, a task force of police is cracking down this morning on gang members, career criminals, parolees and probationers in "Operation Heatwave." dailynews.com

A judge today sentenced two gang members to 15 years to life in prison for the beating death of a 17-year-old Glendale boy. dailynews.com

In addition to keeping an eye on unusual neighborhood personalities and crime, I also cover the porn beat, which is not quite as lurid as you'd probably suspect. On Friday, I caught up with the folks from Evil Angel, who've been wrangling in court for several years with some accused Canadian movie bootleggers.

Here's what we ran in Business:
VAN NUYS — After three years of legal wrangling, adult film producer Evil Angel won an $11.2 million court victory against Canadian pirates on Friday.

The Van Nuys-based studio and its co-plaintiff, Jules Jordan Video, accused distributor Alain Elmaleh and his subsidiaries, Kaytel Distribution and Leisure Time Canada, of selling fake movies to retailers. After more than a week in court, the jury found Elmaleh and the others liable for ripping off 31 Evil Angel titles and 13 of Jordan's movies.
In addition to the $11.2 million awarded to Evil Angel, the defendants owe Jordan around $5 million.

"It's a good day — a very good day," said EA spokeswoman Karen Stagliano, wife of EA owner John Stagliano. "Of course, we were nervous. We felt we had a solid case, but we were afraid we'd get tripped up on some little legal detail. Now, everybody's overjoyed."

An accused West Valley area gang member has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, and gang and gun charges in connection with a 2004 shooting that injured a Canoga Park Alabama gangster in a rivalry. dailynews.com

LAPD Detective Ronald Cade had a rough night at home on July 2, 2006, according to court testimony presented today. Yolanda, his wife of one month at the time, allegedly angry over suspected infidelity, shot him with his own gun, then packed her teenaged kids and grandchild into the family's SUV and tried to run Cade down. He survived. The 39-year-old woman is facing three counts of attempted murder and two counts of child abuse and 70 years to life in prison.

Read more, courtesy of our gifted young colleague Brandon Lowrey.

Happy Friday. Click below for the day's crime news. And thanks for reading.

My colleague Alex Dobuzinskis guest blogs here today. He has been covering a murder trial of John Racz. Here's his post:

She was a soccer mom before the phrase even came into vogue. Ann Mineko Racz disappeared 16 years ago. Now her husband, John Racz of Valencia, is on trial, charged with killing the woman whom friends and family members describe as a devoted mom, always taking her kids to soccer practice or helping out at their schools. The trial is taking place in San Fernando, but it's on hiatus this week.

The couple's three children are expected to testify next week. An important aspect of the case is that despite more than 30 searches, authorities have never found the body of Ann Racz, which contributed to the delay in charging John Racz. Although the Daily News has covered every day of the trial, with so much estimony and legal maneuvering by the two sides we haven't been able to fit all of it in our print articles. Here are some points that got left out:

Click below for the day's crime news.

Time magazine has this story today about a raging gang war going on in Rio de Janeiro. Over 1,000 cops armed with assault weapons got into a gun battle with gangsters in a one of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods, killing 19 suspected crooks, the story says. With the raid, the cops officially break their non-aggression pact with the gangs, after years of giving the traffickers free reign to live in the neighborhoods as long as they don't cause any trouble. The gangs apparently weren't holding up their end of the bargain. time

Click below for a full plate of crime news.

Click below for the surreal, the grim, the wacky crime news of the day.

Click below for this morning's latest crime news ...

Click below for a full plate of crime news this morning.

Click below for your morning dose of crime news to get your day started.

The Washington Post today writes a dramatic piece on former Death Row Records rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight, who's not doing to badly even as he claims he's $137 million in debt. The Post leads the story off like this:

Five-star hotel, poolside cabana. Marion "Suge" Knight Jr., dethroned rap mogul, ex-con, self-proclaimed penitent, is kicking back with his crew: Personal assistant. Trusted friend from back in the day. Young Life, a rapper just starting out, stops by for a huddle.

An automatic mister spritzes cool water in the air. The hotel chef pops in for a chat, while a beautiful Brazilian massage therapist serves up complimentary foot rubs. Suge -- pronounced like the first syllable in "sugar" -- unties his blindingly white sneakers, stretching out his 6-foot-3, 315-pound body on a lounge chair.

Rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight Jr. and Death Row Records, the label he co-founded that helped bring gangsta rap to mainstream audiences in the early '90s, have been no strangers to controversy.

Follow the ups and downs of Knight's career, from his time atop the rap music world to the allegations and arrests that led to his label filing for bankruptcy in 2006.

"Everybody here loves Mr. Knight," the masseuse says, after he peels a bill from a fat wad. She hugs him. "He's so generous."

washingtonpost

Click below for all the crime news in the area ...

Click below to read the crime and mayhem stories from around the horn.

This morning I thought I'd try something different. I'm doing a round-up of all the crime and cop related stories locally, then taking a look at gang stories from around the world to give you a sense of just how widespread this issue is.

Click below for the stories.

The Sacramento Bee today says part of the blame for the early release of Paris Hilton from Los Angeles County Jail could be attributed to an overcrowded California prison system.

The Bee reports:

As of May 30, Los Angeles County was housing between 1,200 and 1,400 state prison inmates in its overcrowded facilities in which the 26-year-old Hilton is now residing. Tens of thousands of inmates, meanwhile, are getting early releases from the Los Angeles jails that are accommodating those state-sentenced inmates, whom the California prison system otherwise can't house.

sacramentobee.com

Rev. Al Sharpton speaking to media in front of Sherman Block Sheriff's Headquarters Building in Monterey Park Monday, June 11. Rev. Al Sharpton met with Sheriff Lee Baca, to discuss alleged preferential jail treatment for Paris Hilton. (SGVN/Photo by Walt Mancini/LANG)

So reading all this hoopla over the Paris Hilton roller coaster ride through Los Angeles County's overcrowded jail system has sparked an idea. Could the legacy of the 26-year-old blond celebrity be that her case becomes the one that prompts the powers that be to fix overcrowded conditions at the nation's largest jail system? Unlikely? The Rev. Al Sharpton, who met with Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca on Monday, thinks this case points up a serious bias in the justice system.

dailynews.com

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, meanwhile are expected today to ask for a report on why Hilton was sent home from jail last week. Supervisors Mike Antonovich and Yvonne Brathwaite Burke will ask the Sheriff’s Department to provide a report next week on Hilton’s early release from her 45-day sentence from the Century Regional Detention Center in Lynwood. Sheriff Lee Baca has denied accusations of favoritism. In fact, he says, Hilton is being treated more harshly than a member of the general public. Not true, say experts. A judge has ordered her back in jail.

UPDATE at 3:11 p.m.: My colleague Troy Anderson writes that the supervisors have called for an investigation into whether Baca's decision to release Paris Hilton from jail early was justified. Also, civil rights leaders are calling on the celebrity heiress to become the spokeswoman for improving medical and mental health care provided to female inmates.

From the Board of Supervisor's Agenda Highlights:

Supervisors Yvonne B. Burke and Michael D. Antonovich request that Board ask sheriff to report on 6/19 on reasons for the premature release of Paris Hilton from jail, including why she was not placed in an appropriate medical facility. APPROVED 4-0

dailynews.com

Earlier officer.com argued that keeping Hilton in custody was a waste of time and money.

Officer.com

Here are a couple of national stories that could bode well for death-penalty proponents.

One reports that there's scientific evidence that says executing convicted murderers deters other homicides:

The studies' conclusions drew a philosophical response from a well-known liberal law professor, University of Chicago's Cass Sunstein. A critic of the death penalty, in 2005 he co-authored a paper titled "Is capital punishment morally required?"

"If it's the case that executing murderers prevents the execution of innocents by murderers, then the moral evaluation is not simple," he told The Associated Press. "Abolitionists or others, like me, who are skeptical about the death penalty haven't given adequate consideration to the possibility that innocent life is saved by the death penalty."

Read full text here.

The story makes no mention of the scores of convicted defendants who are later found innocent.

Crime riddle of the day: Is it possible to deter innocent people from killing innocent people they never intended to kill?

A New York Times story says that last week's Supreme Court ruling allowing prosecutors to dismiss jurors who are opposed to the death penalty in capitol punishment cases will increase the number of white, conviction-prone jurors on such cases.
Prosecutors argue that they need jurors who are going to follow the letter of the law and not their own interpretations.

Good point ... They might want to pass that thought along to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, considering all the heat he has been under from both sides of the aisle for dismissing prosecutors, apparently for political reasons.

The National Geographic Channel will retell the infamous North Hollywood bank shootout from a decade ago. This was one of the biggest shootouts in U.S. history. Larry Phillips and Emil Matasareanu in heavy body armor and armed with AK-47s and other weapons injured nine cops and wounded two civilians. The gunmen were killed. If there are cops out there reading this blog that were involved in the shootout and would like to share your experiences, we'd like to hear from you.

Hollywood Reporter via reuters.com

Show starts Tuesday at 9 p.m.

Click here for details.

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You've got to check all these crime stories. Click below.

Why do folks go all "Falcon and the Snowman"? Who knows.

Seems like a Southland family got busted attempting to give naval submarine secrets to China.

Two brother and their spouses, as well as one son, were convicted or pleaded guilty to among other things, "failing to register as an agent of a foreign government." Appears China was very interested in getting their hands on a CD full of military info a couple of the family members tried to sneak onto a plane before they got popped.

No clues as to why they did it -- money? fame? infamy? -- in this account from the United States Attorney's Office. Just the facts, ma'am.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and LAPD Chief William Bratton were up in D.C. pleading with Congress to approve a bill that would toughen federal penalties for gang-related violence and provide more than $1 billion for anti-gang programs over five years.

Since 2001 more than 4,000 have been killed in gang violence in California, Villaraigosa told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"That's more lives than we lost in Iraq," a statement Villaraigosa's office released said.

Since launching an anti-gang initiative nearly six months ago, gang-related crimes in Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley have dropped as much as 30 percent in the first five months of the year.

But critics have said despite the efforts, Villaraigosa has not developed enough intervention programs. The federal legislation would provide some of that needed money but would also federalize some gang street crimes.

Two weeks ago, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced a $48 million anti-gang initiative to treat convicted gang leaders like sex offenders by using satellite tracking devices.

Click below for all you wanted to know about Los Angeles crime.

If you haven't yet, you've got to pick up a copy of the book "Into the Kill Zone, A Cop's Eye View of Deadly Force" by former Los Angeles Police Officer David Klinger, now a criminology professor at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. In his words, Klinger began the journey of his book years ago when as a young officer in L.A., he killed a man to save his partner's life. His gripping book is told from interviews with unnamed officers who've had to use their weapons in the line of duty and who explain how they feel about what they did.

Good morning. Got news here. Click below.

Click below for a full plate of crime news and assorted mayhem ...

Click below for your news on LAPD May Day melee and a bunch of other crime-related news.

Los Angeles Police Lt. Corina Smith, 41, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against the department, saying she was denied a promotion to the rank of captain after a false rumor was circulated that she threatened suicide.

She claimed the rumor led fellow officers to call her "psycho," caused a miscarriage and made her the target of a stalker ... The rumor alleged Smith was despondent over a breakup with a fellow officer 18 years ago when she stood nude on a diving board at the couple's Glendora apartment complex and put a gun to her head, the suit said. Three LAPD internal investigations concluded the rumor was false.

Associated Press via mercurynews.com

• The alligator hunt ends. Reggie is captured.
  dailynews.com
  
• The View From a Loft blog writes about the swearing in of Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Sergio Diaz, who was promoted after the May 1 melee in MacArthur Park, and other officers.
  viewfromaloft
  
• Joel John Roberts, the chief executive officer of People Assisting The Homeless and publisher of L.A.'s Homeless blog writes an op-ed in the Daily News about frustrations over the cat-and-mouse saga of lawsuits between the police and civil-liberties advocades over homelessness.
  dailynews.com
  
• Police identified the woman accused of running a red light yesterday and killing a 70-year-old pedestrian as Julia Elena O'Connor of Canyon Country.
  dailynews.com
  
• In case you missed it, if you've committed a low-level felony, you can book a room for about $3,000 for a weekend stay at club Glendale Jail.
  

Good morning ... A little crime news with your coffee ...

• No charges were filed against two suspects in the April 26 murder of Marat Manukyan, killed after a beef over "disrespect."
  dailynews.com
  
• Guilty pleas in a case of food stamp fraud ...
  

  The owner of several markets in the “skid row” area of downtown Los Angeles has pleaded guilty to defrauding the federal Food Stamp Program out of more than $6 million by purchasing benefits for 50 cents on the dollar. Tigran Malkhasyan, 42, pleaded guilty to five criminal charges Tuesday morning before United States District Judge S. James Otero. Malkhasyan specifically pleaded guilty to conspiracy, wire fraud, food stamp fraud, money laundering and making false statements to the United States Department of Agriculture.

  
  U.S. Attorney's Office
  
• USA Today does a profile of Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton as he faces an uphill battle to reform his department and seeks a second term.
  

  Crime and violence are down under Bratton's watch. But gangs still grip neighborhoods with fear in this sprawling city, racial tensions are taut and drug problems fester. And by his own acknowledgement, Bratton still wrestles with one of his biggest tasks: reforming the character and culture of a police department that continues to make headlines for use of force with the public it is there to protect.

  
  usatoday.com
  
• My colleague Rick Coca gets the story on a trench rescue yesterday afternoon. He writes that Los Angeles Police first responded to what proved to be an erroneous call about an assault with a deadly weapon involving men with shovels, were the first emergency workers on scene, but found that two men were buried up to their shoulders in dirt. They got out OK.
  dailynews.com
  lafdblog
  

Good morning from the dark corners of the county you live and work in ... Morning report -- May 23, 2007

• The Los Angeles Police Department blog notes the untimely death of one of its Top-10 most wanted gang members. Apparently there was a way out for Rudy Magana, a Compton Tortilla Flats gang member, who took his own life as Sheriffs deputies with the gang unit attempted to arrest him in Long Beach. Magana was wanted for the Jan. 20 shooting death of his sister's former boyfriend. The sister and victim had been arguing over the custody of their son. Magana became angry with the victim and shot and killed him.
  lapdblog
  There is a San Fernando Valley connection. Turns out Magaña had been living with his sister at an apartment in the 9500 block of Van Nuys Boulevard.
  Earlier

• A Ukrainian man was sentenced to life in prison for his part in a kidnapping-for-ransom scheme that resulted in the killing of five people - three from the San Fernando Valley - whose bodies were found in a Northern California reservoir. He didn't get the death penalty because he said the Russian mob threatened to kill him and his family if he didn't take part.
  Associated Press via dailynews.com

• My colleague Alex Dobuzinskis writes about a Santa Clarita man and his wife being sentenced to 22 years in prison for their role in an insurance scam that staged crashes on freeways.
  dailynews.com

• No soup for this guy ... A 21-year-old Palmdale man was arrested at Vons. Apparently he told workers he was going to "pull out his gun and shoot" when he was asked to leave for eating soup from the deli bar. At a Jons market, a woman was arrested for stealing more than $400 in liquor.
  glendalenewspress.com

• Marion "Suge" Knight is back in the news, this time with money woes. From The Smoking Gun ...
  

  ... the bankrupt rap music titan expects to soon downgrade to a $10,000-a-month rental ... While the majority of his monthly nut is listed as "Support," other records indicate that Knight has not been paying court-ordered child support payments (for four children by three women) and is in arrears for $545,681.

  
  thesmokinggun.com