Recently in Criminals Category

Foreclosure fraud is hitting the San Fernando Valley hard, said a LAPD detective recently at a community meeting in Porter Ranch. Scammers read through public default notices and contact people by mail or in person.

Scammers take advantage of homeowners who are already feeling vulnerable as they face default, the detective said. Read the full article in the San Fernando Valley Sun.

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

Police arrested a 26-year-old man in connection with attempting to kidnap a girl.

José Maldonado was arrested at his house in the 13000 block of Montague Street in Arleta.

He tried to snatch a girl at knifepoint in Arleta, on May 18, 2009, at 4:30 p.m.

The victim told police she was walking home when the suspect got out of a parked car and approached her, wearing a white T-shirt that obscured the lower portion of his face. According to the victim, he then grabbed her, threatened her with a six-inch folding knife and told her to get into the car. At that point, a struggle for control of the knife ensued.

From a distance, the victim's father saw what was happening, so he began yelling and running toward the scuffle, which caused Maldonado to stop what he was doing, get back into his car and drive away.

Detective investigation and resources led to the identification of Maldonado, and he was arrested without incident. He has been booked for attempted kidnapping and is being held on $1 million bail.

Anyone with more information about the incident or who has been a victim of a similar crime is urged to contact Mission Division Detectives Bishop or Gonzales at (818) 838-9810. After hours or on weekends, 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 www.lapdonline.org and click on web tips. When using a cell phone, all messages should begin with "LAPD." Tipsters may remain anonymous.

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.

Los Angeles police detectives are asking for the public's help in identifying the suspects responsible for the shooting deaths of 25-year-old Alejandro Robleos Perez and 19-year-old Javier Cordero Gonzalez.

The men were killed Saturday, May 16, 2009 about 4:30 a.m. near 2909 West Hyde Park Boulevard. The victims were standing on the sidewalk when the suspects approached them. The suspects suddenly began shooting multiple rounds, killing Perez and Gonzales.

Detectives have not determined whether the shooting is gang related.

Anyone with information regarding this murder investigation is asked to contact Criminal Gang Homicide Group Detectives Kenneth White and Refugio Garza at (213) 485-1383. After hours or on weekends, calls may be directed to a 24-hour, toll-free number at 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (527-3247) or by texting CRIMES (274637) and beginning the message with the letters LAPD. Tipsters may also submit information on the LAPD website: www.lapdonline.org. All tips may remain anonymous.

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.

Paul M. Weber, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, issued the following statement today regarding the release of the SWAT report to the media:

Our legal advisors have expressed serious concerns over the LAPD's decision to release to the news media such a detailed report containing opinions of officers' performance and describing in detail safety tactics used by our officers during this tragic event. Nevertheless, the report from the Chief of Police supports what the LAPPL has always said about the February 7, 2008 SWAT incident in West San Fernando Valley - the officers involved are heroes in every sense of the word. Their bravery and courage under fire epitomizes what it means to be a police officer and it is no wonder the President of the United States recognized these officers.

The Times' Joel Rubin follows the inquiry into last February's fatal killing of LAPD SWAT Officer Randal Simmons during a standoff in Winnetka.

An internal investigation found that the officers involved acted appropriately, the officers were not perfect, LAPD Chief William J. Bratton said.

Although the officers' conduct, including their decision to use deadly force, was within department rules, the review panel and Bratton expressed concern about some aspects of the response. For example, communication among the officers was imperfect at times, as inaccurate information about the situation was relayed to responding SWAT officers.

L.A. Now.

Read the Daily News' complete coverage of the incident.

LAPD Chief William Bratton put out a press release responding to proposed cuts by a Los Angeles City Council committee that proposes spending for police hiring beginning July 1, 2009.

He writes:

I am gravely concerned that the City Council's Budget and Finance Committee approved a proposal late today that calls for an end to police hiring beginning July 1, 2009. While I appreciate the severity of the city's financial situation and the difficult decisions city council members will be forced to make, it is shortsighted to consider stopping all police hiring, including hiring to replace retiring LAPD officers. Public safety should never be sacrificed.

If the entire city council approves this proposal, there is a strong potential that the eight straight years of crime decreases the LAPD has worked so hard to achieve, could come to an end.

The Department has proven that cops count, police matter. Sufficiently resourced, we can and do save lives and make the city of Los Angeles safer.

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.

The city of Los Angeles is offering a $50,000 reward to help locate a murder suspect.

On January 25, 2008 about 11:30 p.m., Alvaro Ely Calderon was walking near the intersection of Strathern Street and Bellaire Avenue in North Hollywood when someone shot him. Witnesses saw a white, four-door Toyota, Honda or Nissan speed away from the scene.

Cops are asking that anyone with information about this crime call North Hollywood Homicide Detectives at (818) 623-4075. After hours or on weekends, calls may be directed to the North Hollywood Watch Commander at (818) 623-4016, or a 24 hour toll-free number at 1-877-LAPD-24-7 or by texting CRIMES (274637) and beginning the message with the letters "LAPD." Tipsters can also submit information on the LAPD website www.lapdonline.org. All tips may remain anonymous.

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 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.

Forty one officers died in the line of duty in 2008, according to statistics released today by the FBI.

The FBI broke the stats down by region - 20 police officers were killed in the South, nine in the Midwest, nine in the West, and three in the Northeast.

The number of officers killed was 17 fewer than in 2007.

The FBI is on Facebook. The official page shows updates on cases and seeks information on unsolved cases. Check it out here.

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.

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is asking for the public's help for any information leading to the arrest of a crew of burglary suspects targeting businesses in Koreatown.

On various dates, several commercial business burglaries have occurred between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., when the businesses are closed.

Suspects have been captured on surveillance cameras in possession of burglary tools and wearing hooded sweatshirts, scarves, gloves and headgear designed to cover up their faces. Suspects are able to gain entry by using pry tools and various entry points such as rear and front doors, windows and from the roof. These suspects are in the business of searching for basic, hand-carried valuables such as cash or jewelry.

Note: The LAPD would like encourage all business owners to review their security plans and determine the best methods of operation for their own business in order to minimize the chances of overnight burglaries.

Anyone with information regarding this series of business burglaries or other crimes is encouraged to contact Olympic Burglary Detective Adrian Chin at (213) 382-9440. 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 www.lapdonline.org and click on Web tips. When using a cell phone, all messages should begin with "LAPD." Tipsters may remain anonymous.

Souce: Los Angeles Police Department

Database produced by Jason Kandel, Los Angeles Daily News

Good morning. Here's what's new in crime this morning.

• Los Angeles police detectives are looking for clues in a North Hollywood weekend shooting that left one man dead and another behind bars. dailynews.com

• A Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy was arrested on Monday night, accused of attacking his wife and her male acquaintance. abc.com

• Two people were sent to the hospital after a wild pursuit and crash in the Athens area of Los Angeles. abc.com

Cops put out this release about a homicide in Pacoima.

Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) detectives are asking for the public's help to find the persons responsible for the shooting death of 19-year-old Samuel Trujillo of Pacoima.

On Wednesday, September 10 at about 8:40 p.m., Foothill patrol officers responded to a radio call of a shooting that occurred in the 11600 block of Woodcock Avenue in Pacoima. When officers arrived, they found a victim of a gunshot wound.

The victim was transported to a local area hospital where he later died of his injury.

Investigators believe that unknown suspects approached Trujillo and exchanged words concerning gang affiliation. The suspect, who was accompanied by several others, shot the victim.

The suspects are described as male Hispanics, in their 20s, wearing dark clothing.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Foothill Homicide Detectives Jose Martinez and Joshua Byers at 818-834-3115. After hours and on weekends calls may be directed to the 24-hour, toll-free number, 1-877-LAW-FULL (529-3855).

This morning a man stabbed a man in Sunland. Details are still trickling in. Here's the skinny.

SUNLAND - A man in his 20s was found stabbed this morning on Sherman Grove Avenue in Sunland and a man in his 50s surrendered to police in connection with the assault

dailynews.com

Police tonight are going to hold a press conference about the arrest of a sexual assault suspect.

On August 14, 2008, Miguel Angel Barrera, 44, a resident of Chino Hills, was arrested for multiple sexual assaults which occurred in the North Hollywood Area. To date, Barrera is known to have committed sexual offenses against three victims over the past two years.

The female victims are 14 through 23 years old. Barrera met his victims as they walked along the street in both the North Hollywood and Hollywood areas. He offered them high dollar employment as models for magazines and commercials. Barrera often spoke of his connection with movie studios while displaying business cards and photography equipment. After the victims agreed, they were taken to motels in Studio City where they were initially photographed before Barrera sexually assaulted them. Barrera is an Argentinean with black hair and light colored eyes, 5-10, 190 lbs. He speaks with an Argentinean accent, dark complexion, and wears his hair slightly long.

Barrera has been associated with two different vehicles. A white 4-door sedan and a red 4-door, 2005 Dodge truck, license number 7P17947.

Barrera's mug photo along with a photograph of his truck will be made available during the news conference.

The Los Angeles Police Department is interested in speaking with anyone who may have information on Barrera. All inquiries may be made to North Hollywood Detective Karen Crawford at (818) 623-4090.

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.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies shot and killed a man last night in Lennox. Sheriff's officials say the shooting occurred shortly before midnight Wednesday, and the suspect was pronounced dead at the scene. No deputies were hurt. Officials would not yet say what prompted the shooting. Lennox is an unincorporated area, about 10 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles.

Channel 4 news is reporting that the man, tentatively identified as Christian Cortillo, who is between 33 and 35-years-old was not armed, but possibly had been reaching under a seat for something when at least three deputies approached his vehicle.

The deputies were investigating a narcotics dealer who was selling drugs on the street when they saw the suspect sitting in his car. When he reached under the passenger seat, a deputy thought he was reaching for a weapon and fired at least one shot, striking the man in the upper torso.

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.

The FBI gathered investigators, psychologists and crime analysts from across the country to come up with profiles of serial killers.

Their study released today from the Behavorial Science wing of the bureau is supposed to help cops detect those killers. Along the way it busts some of those myths that serial killers are freaky loners like Hannibal Lecter, or that they simply want to get caught, like the Zodiac Killer.

It's an interesting read, with background on where the phenomenon of serial killers began and even a letter from Jack the Ripper.

Dear Boss I keep on hearing the police have caught me but they wont fix me just yet. I have laughed when they look so clever and talk about being on the right track. That joke about Leather Apron gave me real fits. I am down on whores and I shant quit ripping them till I do get buckled. Grand work the last job was. I gave the lady no time to squeal. How can they catch me now. I love my work and want to start again. You will soon hear of me with my funny little games. I saved some of the proper red stuff in a ginger beer bottle over the last job to write with but it went thick like glue and I cant use it. Red ink is fit enough I hope ha. ha. The next job I do I shall clip the ladys ears off and send to the police officers just for jolly wouldn't you. Keep this letter back till I do a bit more work, then give it out straight. My knife's so nice and sharp I want to get to work right away if I get a chance. Good luck. Yours truly Jack the Ripper

Here's the report.

......And a few "myth busters" from the press release:

1) Serial killers are not all dysfunctional loners: some have had wives and kids and full-time jobs and have been very active in their community or church or both.
2) Serial killers are not all white males: the racial diversification of serial killers generally mirrors the overall U.S. population.
3) Serial killers do not want to get caught: over time, as they kill without being discovered, they get careless during their crimes.

You'll like this one. Cops in a small Georgia town are charging motorists caught in a police pursuit a surcharge to help cover the police officers' fuel costs. They hope to genterate an additional $26,000 a year. Apparently this isn't the only police force changing habits due to high gas prices. Other agencies like Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, are getting out of their cars and hoofing it or hopping on bikes.

In South Fayette, also in Pennsylvania, officers have been told not to sit parked up with air conditioning on.

The local police chief told his patrols: "If you want to stay cool, park under a tree."

A check a while back to see if the LAPD has followed suit. Nope. LAPD officers have not gotten out of their cars due to the rise in gas prices. But stay tuned. The city still is in a big budget crunch.

If you haven't checked out our new Valley Crime Map, you should. It's a list of 92 significant crimes - from homicides, to assaults to shootings, to robberies and burglaries - in the Valley since May. I've been compiling the data and uploading it into a new online database that maps the crimes out by street and allows you, the viewer to, search by neighborhood and get up-to-date information about crime near you.

Thanks to the Los Angeles Police Department's Valley Bureau, the information comes to me about daily. I'd like to know what you think about the map and how we can make it more useful. E-mail me with your thoughts.

So I updated the Valley Crime Map, compiling a month's worth of information provided by the LAPD's Valley Bureau. You can search by neighborhood to see what crimes have been going near you. Check it out here. And tell me what you think.

The spokesman for the state's Justice Department forwarded me the state's significant cases for May. Included are big weapons, drugs and fraud cases. Enjoy.

CACHE OF WEAPONS AND AMMO FOUND IN PROBATIONER'S RESIDENCE

Special Agents with the Bureau of Firearms (BOF) checked the Armed Prohibited Person System and noted that a subject, Tom Powell, was listed as owning three firearms; however, due to previous criminal conviction he is prohibited from possessing and owning firearms. When agents determined that Powell was on searchable probation out of San Benito County, they conducted a search of his residence and located over 1,300 rounds of ammunition and a large gun safe. Powell told officers he had sold all of his weapons but he could not produce any records regarding the sales. A locksmith was called to the residence and opened the safe where agents retrieved five rifles, four handguns and one shotgun. Powell was arrested while other agents continued the search of the house. Located in the attic were additional weapons, including an unregistered AR-15 assault weapon, a 12-gauge shotgun and a revolver.

COMMERCIAL BRIBERY SCHEME AT CAL CASINO

While Special Agents from the Riverside Office of the Bureau of Gambling Control (BGC) were investigating several management employees of the Pechanga Resort and Casino, the Agents uncovered evidence that floor supervisor, Kathy Zhou, who was recently suspended from her job, was charging casino job applicants $3,000 each to falsify their job applications to secure employment. Agents monitored a telephone conversation between Zhou and one of her "customers," during which she instructed the individual not to say anything to DOJ agents. Zhou admitted to the witness during this conversation that she lied to the agents when they questioned her, and was admonishing everyone involved to "keep their stories straight." Zhou was arrested on charges of commercial bribery and obstructing a criminal investigation.

The New York Times today has a story about how the medical marijuana law is unintentionally allowing big-time pot growers a good cover.

Good morning. Cops are looking this morning for a hit-and-run driver who killed a 9-year-old boy in East Los Angeles.

Jesus Sanchez and his family were crossing Ford Boulevard just south of Cesar Chavez Avenue at 12:04 a.m. Sunday when a vehicle going northbound at a high rate of speed struck him, CHP Officer Luis Mendoza said.

The red, late 1990s to early 2000s two-door Honda with tinted rear windows and a spoiler with brake lights did not slow or stop after hitting the boy, Mendoza said. The car then ran a light at Cesar E. Chavez Avenue at Ford and turned left.

dailynews.com

This just in, from Foothill Division ...

PACOIMA - A suspected carjacker got a taste of his own medicine Tuesday morning after stealing a GMC truck and crashing it into parked cars including a mail truck, before being beaten and detained by citizens on the street, police said.

dailynews.com

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.

NPR is taking a deep look at rising gang violence in Los Angeles, starting out in South L.A. during a ride-along with veteran LAPD Sergeant Herb Cirilo. npr.org

Good morning. Here's the latest plan on gang crackdowns - evicting gang members from apartments and seizing cars. Reminds me of a plan that City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo had for people who street race.

In an effort to crack down on gun violence that last year alone killed or wounded more than 2,000 Angelenos, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and top law enforcement officials unveiled a plan Thursday that would allow officers to evict gun-wielding gang members from apartments and seize their cars.

dailynews.com

Read the story I wrote in 2003 about the city's plan to seize cars of street racers.

We had a story today about a spike in gas thefts from cars, a la the trend that hit back in the 70s during the days of gas rationing. I wanted to tell you that I was a victim years ago. Someone sucked the gas out of my pickup truck. Pretty ticked off I drove over to Pep Boys to get one of those locking gas caps and haven't had a problem since. But, now, it seems that the crooks are going further by busting into gas tanks, bypassing the gas caps. Desperate times, my friends.

At the top of the dailynews.com list today, Brandon has a story about officers being honored for their bravery.

It began just like any other ordinary traffic stop in North Hollywood.

Just before midnight on July 12, 2005, near Sherman Way and Woodman Avenue, Los Angeles police Officer Humberto Franco pulled over a Nissan with three people inside for driving with high beams on.

Franco saw them trying to hide something - maybe drugs or a weapon, he thought - so he flagged down a passing patrol car for backup.

When the officers ordered the three out of the car, one of the passengers pulled a gun, fired at them and ran into a busy street toward a hotel.

dailynews.com

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.

Update: Video footage of suspect and his vehicle available for download at www.lapdonline.org-"Solve a Crime" Navigation bar on home page

Los Angeles Police Department have released a sketch of a man who attempted to sexually assault two young girls in separate incidents.

The first assault occurred on April 30, 2008, at around 7:30 a.m., when a Latino man approached an 8-year-old girl walking in the 600 block of Burlington Avenue. The man lured the girl into a secluded area of an apartment building located at 625 South Burlington Avenue and attempted to sexually assault her.

On February 29, 2008, at 9:00 a.m., the same suspect approached a 9-year-old girl walking near James M. Wood Boulevard and Hoover Street. The suspect initiated a conversation with the girl and pulled her into an apartment building where he attempted to sexually assault her.

The suspect is described as Hispanic, 25-30 years of age with black spiked hair. He's about 5 feet six inches tall and weigh 170 pounds. He was last seen driving a blue unknown make and model vehicle. A composite sketch of the suspect is available through Media Relations Section.

Anyone with information is asked to call Rampart Sexual Assault Detective Sofie Toledo at (213) 207-2031 or Robbery Homicide Detective John Wong at (213) 485-2921. After hours and on weekends, please call the 24-hour Detective Information Desk at 1-877-LAW-FULL (529-3855).

Here's a few more of LA's coldest cases from the turn of the century...

July 10, 1901
Craiton, H.R., Emp. 2nd hand store, So Main St. - Returning from visit to his girl, 2 this a.m.,; front of Horace Bell's place Figueroa St., was shot at from ambush, behind shrubbery.

July 10
Compfort, L.B., Driver of milk wagon - Shot in back, while on his wagon, 21st & Toberman, abt. 3 this a.m. Taken to Cal. Hospital, 4:30 a.m.

July 14
Macchiaroli, Cano, 829 Yale St. - Shot at 8 this a.m., West Glendale by Antonio Pellegrine, living at 729 Castellar.

Aug. 21
Bachelors, Body of man, to't to be Bachelors, found in Westlake. Kelly and Quinn.

Sept. 3
Rasche, Fred, Foreman, baker, Ebingers Bakery, 3d and Spring St. - At or near 9th and Wall St., 3:30 this a.m. on way home from work, shot in right side (flesh wound). Was a non-union man. Susp. Stevan Faviamovich, union baker, arrested by Sergeant Williams.

Oct. 7
Chow Youck Toy, C----
Shot and killed, Chinatown, abt. 7 this p.m. by Wong Bing arrested at Pasadena by Ritch, this eve.

Nov. 19
Wilcox, Abram P., wife and child - Found murdered in their ranch house near Downey; probably killed night of 16th inst.

Dec. 19
Neilson, Carl, Chatsworth Park Tunnel - Held up by three men, just above S.P. yds., this evening, and compelled to lie down while they committed sodomy on him. Says his companion, W. McGrew was with him. (Captain Hensley).

Dec. 3
Sampson, John - Shot and killed his wife at 4th and Spring St. on sidewalk, this p.m. Immediately arrested by crossing officer O.T. Walker.

Feb. 19, 1902
Wiley, Mrs. H.S. - Shot at her rooming house, (about noon) At The Columbia, 512 So. Broadway by D.C. Kent. He shot her twice in right side and once in left arm, then shot himself in forehead, only making a flesh wound; then cut throat with razor. Kent was her partner in lodging house (and lover). Kent committed suicide by taking carbolic acid in receiving hospital on March 12, 1902.

Wong Ung Wong - Murdered, about 1 this a.m., at Simons Brick Yard, 825 Boyle Ave. by On Ling Sing, who was arrested in San Francisco April 4th, and returned to Los Angeles by Hawley. Hawley, Auble, Steele & Kelly on case.

Police today are going to offer a reward in conjunction with the killing of a Northridge homeless man.

At 8 a.m. at the Devonshire Community Police Station, 10250 Etiwanda Ave., Northridge, Los Angeles City Councilman Greig Smith, and Los Angeles Police Department homicide detectives will ask for the public's help to identify a suspect who accosted an elderly homeless man, causing him to suffer fatal head injuries. For additional information, contact Matt Myerhoff, Communications Director, Council District 12, Cell: (818) 613-2248. Matt.Myerhoff@lacity.org.

A Latino in his 20s punched Harold Gene Loftis, 69, at Roscoe and Reseda boulevards about 10 p.m. April 14

Earlier, I wrote about some of Los Angeles' oldest murder cases from the turn of the century. In one of them, a man named John Slovinski shot himself with a shotgun. He had been arraigned in a case involving attempted extortion through what was called a badger game. And I put out a call to readers asking if they knew what that was, to weigh in. Well, thanks to Mick O, who found the description on good ol' wikipedia.

Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is asking for the public's help to identify a hit-and-run suspect who killed a bicyclist in the Hollywood area.

On March 16, 2008, at around 6:45 a.m., 72-year-old Artine Zarkarian was riding his bicycle northbound on Western Avenue when an unknown vehicle struck the rear of his bike just south of Elmwood Avenue and failed to stop.

Ejected from his bicycle, Zakarian landed on the street and sustained serious head injuries. He was transported by Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics to a local hospital and eventually died from his injuries on April 29.

Anyone with additional information about the incident is encouraged to contact Detective Acosta at the LAPD West Traffic Division, (213) 473-0234. During off-hours or on weekends, calls may be directed to a 24-hour toll free number at 1-877-LAWFULL (529-3855).

Earlier we posted a story that talked about LAPD Chief William Bratton taking a consultancy job to help drop London's crime rate. Bratton responds ...

There have been several recent news articles indicating that I have been approached and accepted a position to act as an advisor to the new Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

I have had no conversations with Mr. Johnson, I have not spoken with any members of his administration and I have not been approached to act as an advisor as it relates to matters of crime reduction.

As a law enforcement executive I am often asked to share my thoughts and opinions on reducing crime and making communities safer. I have long supported the "Broken Windows" theory of policing that by focusing on minor crimes, more serious offenses can be prevented.

In the past I have provided advice to former Mayor Ken Livingston and have consulted for both the city of London and the national government. I would certainly be willing to do so, if asked, for the new Mayor in my official capacity as Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department.

William J. Bratton
Chief of Police
Los Angeles Police Department

Gunmen killed the head of Mexico's federal police force early Thursday in a brazen hit against the man who had become the public face of the country's war on drug cartels.

What's wrong with this picture?

Police right now are holding a press conference, announcing the arrest of a child sexual predator identified as Pedro Ortiz has allegedly sexually assaulted at least two juvenile victims and investigators believe there could be others. For further information, contact LAPD Media Relations Section, (213) 485-3586. More to come.

This just in from John Balian, Glendale Police Department spokesman:

The Glendale Police Department has arrested two suspects in connection with several residential burglaries and thefts in the City of Glendale where elderly victims where targeted. After a month-long investigation, Glendale Police Detectives arrested Christopher Nicholas and Mary Dell on 05/04/08 in Riverside, CA. Nicholas and Dell would gain the confidence of elderly victims in order to gain access to the victim's home. Once inside the victim's home, one suspect would distract the victim, while the other suspect ransacked the home for cash, credit cards, jewelry and other valuables.

Both suspects are suspected of committing similar crimes in the cities of Long Beach, Pasadena, Crescenta Valley, and have ties to Las Vegas, Nevada. If you believe you may be a victim, please contact: Det. Keith James at (818) 548-2097 OR Sgt. Vahak Mardikian at (818) 548-4047.

NICHOLAS, CHRISTOPHER
A.K.A.'s:
Miller, Chris / Nichols, Christopher /
Nicholes, Christopher

DELL, MARY ANN
A.K.A.'s:
Stevens, Janet Laura / Evans, Janet /
Evans, Mary / Marks, Janet

A Glendale man was taken for $100,000 by a scam artist in return for a deed of trust in the home at 5541 Calera Avenue in Covina. Frank Girardot, over in the San Gabriel Valley, has the scoop.

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.

More on the death of a 14-year-old boy, Alejandro Villa ...

PACOIMA - In one of the last photos taken of Alejandro Villa before he was shot to death less than a block from his home, he is smiling, sitting in the back of a limousine.

The snapshot is from a quinceañera, where the 14-year-old boy danced so much and had such a good time that he promised to dance more often, his sister said.

And for months, he had been telling his mother he was going to stay out of trouble. He even had joined a boxing class through the gang intervention group Communities in School.

But Alejandro teetered on the edge, sometimes mixing with the wrong crowd. And in the end, his words to his family weren't enough.

dailynews.com

Officer Ryan Whiteman is in the vanguard of a push to target hard-core gangs, not with sweeping paramilitary force but with aggressive, targeted enforcement by officers who know the players in the hood, the The Times reports.

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.

From the LAPD. A homicide in South L.A.

On April 19, 2008, at about 4:15 a.m., 31-year-old Charles Corey was in front of his apartment building at the 3200 block of West 60th Street when a suspect in a tan, newer-model car, possibly a Toyota Corolla, drove by and fired multiple gunshots. Corley was hit several times and collapsed on the street. The vehicle and suspects proceeded eastbound on West 60th Street toward 8th Avenue.

Los Angeles Fire Department personnel responded to the incident and the victim was transported to a local hospital where he underwent surgery and was placed on life-support systems until his recent death on April 23, 2008, at 12:50 p.m.

The motive for the murder is unknown and the suspects, their vehicle and weapons remain outstanding.

Anyone with information is asked to call South Bureau Homicide Detectives Bill Ritch or Bertha Durazo at (213) 485-1383. After hours and on weekends, calls may be directed to a 24-hour detective information desk at 1-877-LAW-FULL (529-3855).

Woman kills live-in boyfriend ... This from the LAPD ...

Los Angeles police have arrested a woman who murdered her live-in boyfriend yesterday afternoon in South Los Angeles.

Just before 4:30 p.m., Reginald Wilson, 44, and Elizabeth Shields, 52, were involved in a heated argument at their residence in the 5200 block of south Van Ness Avenue. The dispute turned violent when Shields picked up a kitchen steak knife and brutally stabbed Wilson in the chest, authorities said.

After the victim staggered to the living room area where he subsequently collapsed, the suspect called 911and waited for police to arrive.

Paramedics rushed the victim to a local hospital where he died of his injuries, and Shields was taken into custody and charged with murder. Her bail was set at $1 million.

Both the victim and the suspect have been involved in an ongoing feud, investigators said.

Anyone with information is asked to call South Bureau Homicide Detectives Roger Guzman and Eric Crosson at (213) 485-1383. After hours and on weekends, please call the 24-hour Detective Information Desk at 1-877-LAW-FULL (529-3855).

This morning you read about a man who held up a McDonald's in the Valley, now we've got the great Karaoke thieves. A little robbery potpourri.

Los Angeles police are looking for two men who were caught on a surveillance camera robbing a Karaoke business at gunpoint on April 14.

The robbery occurred in broad daylight, shortly after 3 p.m. when the pair entered the DJ Karaoke Box located at 4121 West Olympic Boulevard. One of the bandits approached the counter posing as a customer and acted as a lookout. Moments later, the other bandit walked up to a female employee standing behind the counter, showed a handgun, and demanded she open the cash register and turn over the money. The cashier complied with the suspect’s orders because she feared for her life, police said. The suspect grabbed an undisclosed amount of cash, a carton of Marlboro Light cigarettes, and a personal cell phone, and placed them in a white shopping bag with handles.

After taking the personal items and cash, both suspects walked out the back door and fled in a 2002-2005 grey, four-door Nissan Altima.

The gunman was described as a 20-25 year old Korean, and was wearing a white long- sleeve shirt and black pants. The second suspect, also described as Korean, was wearing a blue flannel shirt that he used to shield his face and conceal his identity.

No shots were fired and the cashier was not injured.

Surveillance footage and still photographs of the suspects are available through Media Relations Section.

Anyone who recognizes the suspects is asked to contact Wilshire Robbery Detectives Tae Hong or Webster Wong at (213) 922-8205/8231. During weekends and off-hours, call the 24-hour toll free number at 1-877-LAWFUL (1-877-529-3855).

ENCINO - There was a robbery at a McDonald's in Encino overnight and cops were looking for the culprit who dropped some of the loot on a nearby sidewalk as he fled from the scene, authorities said.

The robbery in the 15700 block of Ventura Boulevard near Haskell Avenue was reported around 11:10 p.m. Wednesday, a sergeant from the Los Angeles Police Department's West Valley Station said.

dailynews.com

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.

Cops are going to hold a press conference this afternoon to alert the public about crooks who are posing as DWP workers and ransacking houses. Today at 3:30 p.m. at Louise Park, which is on the southeast corner of Louise Avenue and Sherman Way, in Van Nuys, LAPD Deputy Chief Michel Moore, the Valley's top cop, Capt. Jim Miller, who heads Van Nuys Division, and Lt. Steve Harer, who heads detectives at Van Nuys, will join the city's aging chief, James Don, to raise awareness about the issue.

LAPD investigators want to reveal how these suspects are operating. They also hope to enlist the public’s help in apprehending them. The suspects’ mode of operation is as follows: Two men show up at the front door of a residence claiming to be from the LADWP with a need to check exterior electrical wires. As the victim and one of the suspects remain outside for the alleged wire check, the other suspect enters the victim’s home and removes property.

I wrote a story about this late last year ...

A walk through history as told through LAPD photographs ...

The Los Angeles Police Department has embarked on an ambitious plan to catalog and preserve nearly one million photographic negatives accumulated during decades of police service in the city of Los Angeles. The images constitute a visual record dating primarily from the early 1920s to the late 1960s. “Our agency has a rich heritage that parallels and reflects the history of the city,” said Mary Grady, Public Information Director for the LAPD, whose Entertainment Trademark Unit will coordinate the undertaking. lapdblog

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

Some people have money. Others might never have it. Here's a couple accused of stealing other people's money, going 'shopping' and then getting caught in a police sting. Now, we all pay for their stay in jail. It's the American way.

A husband-and-wife were in custody in connection with operating a organized crime ring that stole credit card information, created forged credit cards and going on a trans-continental U.S. shopping spree, buying computers, other high-tech devices and gift cards, police announced this morning.

dailynews.com

Calling around to the Mission Division yesterday, cops told me the story of a group of young gangsters who went on a robbery spree in Sylmar. The youngest suspect is 16 and he's accused of wielding the weapon during the hold-ups. It wasn't some gang initiation rite either. They were doing it for the thrill.

SYLMAR - Five suspected gang members, including a 16-year-old boy, were arrested in connection with a string of at least seven street robberies over the last couple of weeks in the Sylmar area, police said today.

Sunland residents, Miguel Ramos Jr., an 18-year-old auto bodyshop worker, and Melissa J. Graciano, also 18, were arrested April 8 after a hold-up at a Sylmar smoke shop, said Los Angeles Police Officer Christine Mondell. They are accused of stealing a vaporizer used to smoke pot, Mondell said. Both allegedly are members of the Toonerville gang, police said.

They and three others, Francisco J. Carranza, a 20-year-old gardener from Sylmar, Sylvia Medina, 21, a customer service rep from Pacoima, and an unidentified 16-year-old boy are accused of ripping off a couple thousand dollars from at least seven people at gunpoint on the streets of Sylmar over the last two weeks. The 16-year-old is accused of wielding the gun during the heists, Mondell said. He is an alleged member of an up-and-coming gang known as 2XL.

dailynews.com

All the talk recently about the thefts of classic cars and I spotted this old column from The Los Angeles Times about an unusual used car customer who wanted a custom sports coupe with Corvette engine, and he wanted it now. The Daily Mirror

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.

Cops busted a classic car theft ring, arrested its ringleader, recovered six cars and trucks, including the Chevy, left, and exposed what looks to be a new trend. Cops accuse Jerry Thompson of stealing the vehicles, switching out the vehicle identification numbers and reselling them. They are worth 10s of thousands of dollars. One car that police recovered, a 1957 Chevy Belair, that was worth $150,000, belonged to rapper Mack 10.

There are a couple of good Web sites that address this issue. Check them out: wsati.org and livecarshows.com

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.

Cops in Athens-Clarke County, Ga., arrested a suspected career robber who allegedly robbed a convenience store Wednesday after filling out a job application. Demetrius Robinson, 28, was arrested about 2 a.m. Saturday at a friend's apartment, about a block from the Golden Pantry store Robinson allegedly robbed, according to a police report. Robinson filled out the job application to pass time until he and the clerk were alone in the store, according to police. After the last customer left, about 11:20 p.m. Wednesday, he went behind the counter, pressed a steak knife into the clerk's side and made off with the contents of her register, police said. Robinson left his real name on the application along with his uncle's phone number, police said.

onlineathens.com

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

The Los Angeles Times today has a piece chronicling the life of a part of South Los Angeles reeling from violence, a neighborhood where shootings occur, where residents try to get cops to tackle the problem of mobile prostitution vans and to crack down on unscrupulous landlords who run slum apartments where many of his students live in dangerous and unsanitary conditions. One resident doesn't bother calling the cops. "No one does, she explained, not so much because the police are feared but because you will become a target yourself if you are known to have ratted out a criminal."

latimes.com

Congresswoman Jane Harman (D-Venice) wrote yesterday in the LA Times about the frequency of rape within the military ranks and the lack of prosecution.

Here's a few excerpts from the story.

The stories are shocking in their simplicity and brutality: A female military recruit is pinned down at knifepoint and raped repeatedly in her own barracks. Her attackers hid their faces but she identified them by their uniforms; they were her fellow soldiers. During a routine gynecological exam, a female soldier is attacked and raped by her military physician. Yet another young soldier, still adapting to life in a war zone, is raped by her commanding officer. Afraid for her standing in her unit, she feels she has nowhere to turn.

.................

My jaw dropped when the doctors (at West Los Angeles VA Healthcare Center,) told me that 41% of female veterans seen at the clinic say they were victims of sexual assault while in the military, and 29% report being raped during their military service. They spoke of their continued terror, feelings of helplessness and the downward spirals many of their lives have since taken.

.........

At the heart of this crisis is an apparent inability or unwillingness to prosecute rapists in the ranks. According to DOD statistics, only 181 out of 2,212 subjects investigated for sexual assault in 2007, including 1,259 reports of rape, were referred to courts-martial, the equivalent of a criminal prosecution in the military. Another 218 were handled via nonpunitive administrative action or discharge, and 201 subjects were disciplined through "nonjudicial punishment," which means they may have been confined to quarters, assigned extra duty or received a similar slap on the wrist. In nearly half of the cases investigated, the chain of command took no action; more than a third of the time, that was because of "insufficient evidence."

For more go to the story.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel held a press conference yesterday to announce that her office, local residents in the North Hollywood area and police have helped increase the number of graffiti paint outs and cut gang-related crimes as part of a year-long community empowerment plan.

"Last year our valley neighborhoods saw graffiti rise, gang crime increase and illicit activity spread," Greuel Greuel said, joined by LAPD Deputy Chief Michel Moore and local residents. "We launched an aggressive campaign to take back our streets. One year later our success is clear. Thanks to an unprecedented level of community engagement and an influx of city services, we are keeping our streets safe and clean."

Greuel noted that since March 2007 the program has helped increased graffiti removal in her district by 52 percent and kicked up the number of Neighborhood Watches by 25 percenty.

Gang-related assaults in the southeast San Fernando Valley dropped by 46 percent in the first three months of 2008 compared to the previous year, she noted, without providing the data. As part of her effort to clean up neighborhoods, Greuel has sponsored seven town-hall style meetings on public safety, that saw over 1,000 residents and a mural program for 300 elementary and middle school students.

In addition, she has led residents to adopt over 40 graffiti hotspots, sponsored, installed 100 new street lights in alleys and secured funding for 10 cameras.

Greuel kicked-off her public safety campaign after LAPD announced that gang crime had risen in the San Fernando Valley by 40 percent over the previous year and graffiti had increased 300 percent in Council District 2.

The "Broken Window" theory states that in order to fight violent crime, it is necessary to also crack down on minor crimes like vandalism. All urban blight contributes to the progressive deterioration of neighborhood safety, but no vandalism is more inherently tied to violence and gang activity than graffiti, she said.

"We know that the safest neighborhoods are the most engaged neighborhoods," said Moore, the Valley's top cop. "Councilwoman Greuel and her engaged residents have provided critical support to our police work in the Valley."

New Neighborhood Watch signs for the Teesdale Neighborhood Watch were put up. It became one of the 24 Neighborhood Watches under the effort. Since its inception in early 2007, the Teesdale Neighborhood Watch has worked with Councilwoman Greuel to purchase and install a Q-star camera in a nearby graffiti hot spot, condemn a local abandoned building, eliminate illegal dumping in local alleys and increase graffiti reporting.

"This neighborhood has really turned around in the last six months thanks to the community's work and the support of Councilwoman Greuel," said George Characky, a founding member of the Teesdale Neighborhood Watch. "We used to have huge issues with illegal dumping and graffiti. Now my wife and I drive through the neighborhood and we are just thrilled."

As part of her effort to reduce gang violence across the City of Los Angeles, Councilwoman Greuel recently introduced measures that will implement the Controller's reforms of the City's anti-gang efforts. The recommendations include institutionalizing evaluation criteria to measure the success of city-funded anti-gang programs, re-procuring all current gang prevention contracts and re-programming $19 million of City funds to more effective gang prevention programs.

From yesterday's LAPD incident report, a man jewelry carrier was robbed yesterday at 3:45 p.m. at Ventura Boulevard and Matilija Avenue in Sherman Oaks as he was walking from an unknown store to his car when two men - no descriptions were immediately available - drove, simulated a handgun, smashed his rear window and took jewelry that was in backpacks before disappearing.

Detective Dan Nee, who specializes in these kinds of heists tells me that could be part of an ongoing trend of Colombians and others from South America who have been targeting jewelry salesmen and stealing their jewelry. Nee said it appears to be the same M.O. although he will need to see the crime report before he can make a more educated guess.

Nee is investigating at least two other recent incidents nearby, one in Studio City and one in North Hollywood. I wrote about them earlier this year.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - A burglary from a car recently at a gas station in North Hollywood has been tied to a South American jewelry theft ring that has been targeting the San Fernando, San Gabriel valleys and Los Angeles areas in recent years, a detective said today.

The latest incident took place just before 11 a.m. on Jan. 31 at a gas station in the 12500 block of Ventura Boulevard, said Los Angeles Police Detective Dan Nee. Two men, described as Latino, and one wearing a hat pulled low on his head, smashed through a vehicle window and stole from the backseat a case containing between $40,0000 and $50,000 in finished gold jewelry.

They had likely targeted the jewelry salesman and followed him from his home as he set out on his sales calls in the downtown Los Angeles Jewelry Mart for the day, Nee said. It wasn't the first time the victim had been targeted. Last year about the same time, thieves stole about the same amount of jewelry from him, Nee said.

"As a result, he's retiring from the business," said Nee.

No suspects have been arrested. A surveillance video from the gas station caught two suspects in a late 90s Nissan Maxima with no license plates.

Nee said he believes the thieves are among one of several crews from Colombia targeting the San Fernando Valley. Trained as pick-pockets in their home country, then graduating to jewelry thefts, Nee said he has seen several groups follow jewelry salesmen from their homes then rob them for 10s of thousands of dollars in loot.

A jewelry salesman was robbed in December outside a Starbucks in the 12800 block of Ventura Boulevard in Studio City.

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.

I've had my share of gut-wrenching nightmares about finding an empty parking space where my car's supposed to be.

But imagine how a Saugus woman felt tonight when, while she was on her way home from reporting her 1996 Acura stolen at the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's Station, she realized she was stopped at a light behind her stolen car.

She used her cell phone to call the sheriff's station, giving updates as she trailed the car thief to a nearby Best Buy, said sheriff's Lt. Larry Gump.

"We're just surmising that (the car thief) heard the approaching sirens, because he just ditched it in the parking lot and ran off on foot," Gump said.

He didn't get very far.

Deputies arrested Jonathon Blankenship, a 26-year-old Newhall resident, at about 6:55 p.m., only about 20 minutes after the car was reported stolen, Gump said.

And the kicker: Deputies found a bunch of other stolen items - including electronics and a woman's purse - leading them to believe Blankenship used the stolen car to burglarize a house.

It was an oddly eventful Saturday night in suburban Santa Clarita - in less amusing news, a man was shot in the chest at a Canyon Country trailer park. The man, whose identity and condition were not immediately available, was rushed to a local hospital.

SCV deputies are looking for two suspects - one of whom is a 16-year-old Hispanic boy - who fled in a gray, four-door 1989 Honda Civic. It could be gang-related.

For more on that, see the news story.

If you have any info on this, call the SCV sheriff's station at (661) 255-1121.

CLARIFICATION: The SCV deputies sent out a press release that may have caused a bit of confusion. Actually, a male and female who co-owned the car and lived together came to the sheriff's station and filled out a report. The two of them then spotted the car after leaving, and the man was the one who made the call.

A man takes off to Peru then comes back to Arleta for some reason recently, into the awaiting arms of a fugitive task force tracking the movements of a dope rip off ring that left a drug dealer for dead and supplied a lethal dose of drugs to a minor last summer.

The noose tightens around the suspects.

Here's the latest story.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - The suspected triggerman in a violent dope rip-off ring that left a drug dealer for dead and supplied a lethal dose of drugs to a 15-year-old girl was arrested this week after resurfacing from his native Peru where he is suspected of hiding out for six months, police said this morning.

Oliver Rene Franco, 25, was arrested at his Arleta home on Monday. He was being held on attempted murder charges at the Los Angeles County Jail, said Los Angeles Police Detective Martin Pinner.

Franco had been the center of an international manhunt by members of an FBI and LAPD fugitive task force tracking the movements of a violent L.A.-based ring that arranged meetings with drug dealers, then robbed them of drugs and cash.

"Unchecked this would have resulted in other people being injured or killed," Pinner said.

Franco admitted shooting Jeffrey Jenkins in April at Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Mulholland Drive during one of these drug rip offs, Pinner said. Jenkins was shot in the neck and survived. The suspects took Jenkins' Jaguar that contained a duffel bag full of marijuana, Pinner said.

Patrol officers found the abandoned car the next day parked near one of the suspect's homes at Oxnard Street and Whitsett Avenue in North Hollywood, Pinner said. Police recovered the revolver believed used in the case in December from a home in South Los Angeles and are awaiting the results of fingerprint tests to determine whose prints are on the weapon, Pinner said.

Four other men have been arrested in the case and two others are being sought.

Rafael Barlev, 21, and Alfonso Bardales, 27, of Sherman Oaks, have been in custody since July.

Vatche Touresian, 21, of North Hollywood, was arrested Dec. 12 when he showed up in a Van Nuys courtroom in connection with an earlier case of vehicle tampering.

Juan Carlos Balarezo was arrested in July but was released due to a lack of evidence. He is now wanted for questioning, along with the owner of the Audi that the suspects are believed to have driven to the scene of the Jenkins shooting, Pinner said.

Police are also searching for Arcesio Escobar, a 49-year-old laundry cleaner worker, who is accused of supplying drugs to juveniles, one that resulted in the overdose of a 15-year-old New York girl.

The partially nude body of Jennifer L. Elias was found June 27 in Escobar's North Hollywood converted garage, officials said.

The coroner said she overdosed from a combination of morphine, heroin and other drugs. Escobar called 911 to report her death while on the run 36 minutes after she died, court records reveal.

The FBI traced Escobar's cellphone calls to Tijuana on June 29 and south of Valley De Las Palmas on Route 3 on July 8 at 2:29 p.m., court records show.

On July 3, police had a warrant issued for his arrest, charging him with one count of selling or furnishing a controlled substance to a minor and furnishing marijuana to a minor.

dailynews.com

Here's an update to yesterday's post about the Green Skeleton Bandit being shot in North Hollywood by a U.S. marshal.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - Police this morning identified the man shot to death by a U.S. marshal outside an auto-parts store. Lawrence Dean Smith Jr., 24, of Palmdale was the robber local police called the Green Skeleton Bandit, responsible for six holdups in the North Hollywood area since Feb. 28.

Smith was fleeing the scene of a robbery holding a knife and $600 in cash Tuesday evening when he was shot by a marshal escorting a Central American official into AutoZone, police said.

dailynews.com

So it appears the activities of the Green Skeleton Bandit come to an end. Cops say a U.S. marshal shot him as he was running out of an AutoZone. The marshal was escorting a Central American official in town for a gang summit and who happened in on the shop when the heist occurred. Weird timing, huh?

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - A United States marshal shot and killed a man believed to be the "Green Skeleton Bandit," responsible for six robberies in the North Hollywood area since Feb. 28, police said this morning.

The man happened to be fleeing the scene of a robbery holding a knife and $600 cash Tuesday evening when he was shot by a marshal who was escorting a South American official into an auto parts store, police said.

The man, who has not been identified, was taken to a local hospital with unspecified injuries where he later died, police said.

The marshal was one of two U.S. marshals escorting a police official from the Central American country of Belize who was in town for a gang summit.

They stopped in at the AutoZone, in the 5100 block of Vineland Avenue, about 5:45 p.m. because the Belize official wanted to shop there.

"Basically, he walked into a robbery," Harding said of the marshal. "He sees a man walking out with a large amount of cash and a butcher knife."

A source close to the investigation said the man was the "Green Skeleton Bandit" who robbed North Hollywood fast food restaurants and mini-markets since Feb. 28. He was responsible for taking possibly as much as $689. In one heist, the source said, he took $9 from an H&K Mini Market on Sherman Way. In two others, he wasnt' able to get anything because the clerks could not get the cash registers to open, the source said.

He was dubbed the "Green Skeleton Bandit" because he was seen on at least one surveillance camera with a sweatsuit with a green skeleton outline on front and back and a hood with an outline of a green skull that zipped up to conceal his face.

dailynews.com

This is one of two homicides that were recorded over the weekend in North Hollywood. The total number of homicides in North Hollywood so far is five. One is solved.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - Police continued this morning to search for the men responsible for a weekend Hollywood Freeway road rage shooting that left a 26-year-old man dead.

Police said the incident started about 2 a.m. Saturday on Hollywood Boulevard near the Hollywood Freeway when a group of men in a black Chevrolet Monte Carlos asked a group of Asians in a Honda, "Where's the party, boys?"

One of the males in the Honda, accused of being drunk, responded by shouting profanities at the men in the Monte Carlo and the Monte Carlo began tailgating the Honda.

The Monte Carlo followed the Honda onto the northbound 101 Freeway, driving onto one side of the car, then another, before getting in front of the Honda, forcing it to pull off to the shoulder near Barham Boulevard, said Los Angeles Police Detective Rich Wheeler.

Once the cars pulled over, the Honda then went around the Monte Carlo and tried to drive away. The Monte Carlo followed again. As the Monte Carlo pulled alongside the Honda's driver's side, someone inside the Monte Carlo fired a shot, shattering the left-rear passenger's side window.

A bullet struck Bunthan Roeung in the upper left back, Wheeler said. The passenger sitting on his right was cut by glass.

The victims in the Honda did not see where the Monte Carlo went. They pulled off the freeway at Lankershim Boulevard and drove to Hesby Street, where they called paramedics.

Roeung was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where he died at 2:29
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a.m.

At the time of the 911 call, Wheeler said, the friends of Roeung thought he was going to be OK. He was talking and coherent. Wheeler commented that the case was extremely unfortunate because the person who instigated it was in the victim's car and was not the person who ultimately paid the price.

"This is another wasted life, a needless homicide," Wheeler said.

Initially, police believed the four black men they were looking for were in a newer Chevy Impala. Now police say the car is a black 2005 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

Anyone with information is asked to call North Hollywood homicide detectives at (818) 623-4075.

A year after Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and LAPD Chief William Bratton declared gangs public enemy No.1, crime has plummeted, homicides are at 30-year lows, and for the first time cops are working with hard-core gang interventionists to quell rivalries. Despite the gains, though, some of the boldest initiatives of Villaraigosa's anti-gang plan are barely getting off the ground, while other efforts that have been touted as "successes" aren't so clear-cut. A gang czar appointed in June who was supposed to bring the problems into sharper citywide focus so far has little power.

dailynews.com

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - A burglary from a car recently at a gas station in North Hollywood has been tied to a South American jewelry theft ring that has been targeting the San Fernando, San Gabriel valleys and Los Angeles areas in recent years, a detective said today.

The latest incident took place just before 11 a.m. on Jan. 31 at a gas station in the 12500 block of Ventura Boulevard, said Los Angeles Police Detective Dan Nee. Two men, described as Latino, and one wearing a hat pulled low on his head, smashed through a vehicle window and stole from the backseat a case containing between $40,0000 and $50,000 in finished gold jewelry.

They had likely targeted the jewelry salesman and followed him from his home as he set out on his sales calls in the downtown Los Angeles Jewelry Mart for the day, Nee said. It wasn't the first time the victim had been targeted. Last year about the same time, thieves stole about the same amount of jewelry from him, Nee said.

"As a result, he's retiring from the business," said Nee.

No suspects have been arrested. A surveillance video from the gas station caught two suspects in a late 90s Nissan Maxima with no license plates.

Nee said he believes the thieves are among one of several crews from Colombia targeting the San Fernando Valley. Trained as pick-pockets in their home country, then graduating to jewelry thefts, Nee said he has seen several groups follow jewelry salesmen from their homes then rob them for 10s of thousands of
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dollars in loot.

A jewelry salesman was robbed in December outside a Starbucks in the 12800 block of Ventura Boulevard in Studio City.

dailynews.com

A purse snatcher is now a attempted killer after he squirted pepper spray at her in Westminster. She's on life support. at a hospital and police are looking for the culprit, a woman about 20 wearing a gray sweater or sweatshirt.

The victim at first seemed OK, police said, then she had a stroke.

On top of it all, the would-be purse snatcher grabbed a bag that contained the woman's lunch.

Anyone with more information was asked to call Detective Kevin MacCormick at (714) 898-3315, ext. 340.

dailynews.com

My competitor over at The Times, Richard Winton, a prolific writer and stand-up all around guy, wrote a story today about a raid in which Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies nabbed a prolific tagger said to be responsible for over $100,000 in vandalism. In this photo above is Sheriff‘s Deputy James Johnson leading Gustavo Romero, 23, to a patrol car. The arrest warrant named Romero in 72 acts of vandalism, resulting in $108,000 of property damage.

latimes.com

This one could go under the heading, "Stupid Crooks Stories:"

The guy pictured is accused of impersonating a cop, and of all things, falsely pulling over a motorist who turned out to be a real cop.

"That one-in-a-million scenario actually occurred over the weekend, Fairfax County police said yesterday, resulting in the arrest of a 19-year-old man at his Annandale home and relocation to the Fairfax jail with no bond and no court date for two months."

washingtonpost.com

We've had our own cop impersonators:

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

The James Gang

Here's one worth reading from USA Today about how the negative influence of family members has and can lead to criminal activity.

ANGOLA, La. — The fates of the three Caston brothers may well have been fixed at their births.

Obsessed with the lore of the outlaw James Gang, James "Tokie" Caston decided that his first two boys would bear the names of his heroes: Jesse and Frank James. By the time the third son, Sonny, arrived in 1967, the boys' futures were clear. At an early age, Frank Caston recalls, most people in tiny Lake Providence, La., referred to the brothers not as the Castons, but as the "James Gang."

"To be named after the worst outlaw in the country, I think you put a stamp on a person," says Jesse James Caston, 42, who was on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list in 2000. "We never had a chance."

Their names were symbolic of a troubled upbringing that Jesse and Frank Caston say was marked by abuse and neglect. Today, all three brothers are convicted killers serving life sentences at Louisiana's state prison.

Their story is extraordinary but emblematic of what social scientists and law enforcement officials see as an increasingly complex and persistent problem: people who become criminals in part because of the influence of family members.

Read full story here.

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

Busy day on the crime front. This was a case I originally wrote about in August after reading the LAPD blotter.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - A 34-year-old convicted forger and health care fraudster and his accomplice pleaded guilty to identity theft and other charges in connection with a case in which they used stolen credit card information to try to wire themselves cash from Western Unions at several 7-Eleven stores in North Hollywood.

dailynews.com

Here's an update to an earlier post from last week.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office declined to file murder charges against a 20-year-old man who was arrested in connection with a suspected gang-related shooting that left a 31-year-old man dead and wounded another man this summer.

dailynews.com

Dennis McCarthy pens a piece today about a man named Kenneth Russell, who died at age 27 two months ago when a driver of a dark-colored Jeep Grand Cherokee slammed into Russell's motorcycle. Russell was on his way home from a job he had just finished at a Santa Ana mall. He was a lighting technician and had just put the finishing touches on a 30-foot-tall Christmas tree welcoming in the holidays at the shopping center. After he made sure all the lights worked, he headed home to Arleta. He never made it past North Hollywood.

Detective Doug Larkin is frustrated.

"Witnesses said the driver looked back when he hit him," says Larkin, shaking his head. "He knew what he had done, but he still had the callousness to accelerate and leave the scene.

"We had numerous leads, but nothing panned out. Witnesses didn't get as good a look at him as they thought they did. It's extremely frustrating."

dailynews.com

The cops threw the book at these guys.

Five people have been charged with attempted murder and other counts in connection with a takeover robbery of a San Fernando Valley medical-marijuana dispensary that sparked renewed concern about the safety of the facilities and forced the owner to shut down out of fear.

dailynews.com

Two cops this morning saved a baby from the clutches of a man high on meth who dangled her over a railing. This is the kind of thing cops tell me all the time that they get into policing for in the first place.

SYLMAR - Officers Jake Fernandez and Ruben Gonzalez were patrolling the south end of the Mission Division early this morning when a call of a kidnapping attempt in progress came out at 1:05 a.m. up in Sylmar.

Initially the two officers didn't think much of it. Routine call. They get them all the time.

But then they read over their squad car computer that the suspect was dangling a baby over a railing and the call took a more ominous tone.

"This is going to be more serious than we thought," said Gonzalez, four months on the job.

Fernandez, a training officer, prepped Gonzalez on what to expect. Taser ready, they were the first ones to arrive at the scene, the Del Monico Motel, 13055 San Fernando Road, six minutes after the call came out.

On a second-floor balcony was a man wearing only boxers and possibly high on meth, Gonzalez said. He was dangling over the railing an 18-month-old baby girl wearing a pink jumper, the officer said.

dailynews.com

GLENDALE - A 23-year-old Glendale man dubbed the "Zorro Bandit" has been arrested for six bank robberies, the Glendale Police Department said today.

Luis Miguel Corado was arrested yesterday at his Glendale residence without incident, police said. Corado was dubbed the "Zorro Bandit" because of his facial features. Corado was in jail, awaiting an arraignment hearing today. Corado was identified when Glendale Police Department's Forensics Unit lifted a print from a demand note used in a bank robbery in the city of Los Angeles, said Glendale Police spokesman John Balian.

dailynews.com

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

Pretty fluid situation right now. I think the cops do now have someone in custody on this one. Stay tuned and I'll update you later.

Here's how the case began:

A rookie LAPD officer twisted or broke his ankle this morning during a confrontation with an indecent exposure suspect who disappeared somewhere in the wash of the Los Angeles River, prompting a search on the streets around the Ventura Freeway near Woodman Avenue, police said.

The drama began before 9 a.m. as the probationary officer and his partner responded to a call of a man described as a heavyset Latino in a blue jacket at Stern Avenue and Valleyheart Drive, which abutts the L.A. River.

The man resisted, and somehow the officer twisted his ankle on a fence, prompting a call for paramedics. The officer was taken to a local hospital. Police didn't immediately know the status of his ankle.

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

This is the big story this morning. Out of North Hollywood, an 11-month old was allegedly kidnapped from a North Hollywood home by her 28-year-old father, a fugitive recently profiled on America's Most Wanted and being sought for alleged spousal abuse, rape, kidnapping and torture, authorities said today. Shortly after 9 last night, Raul Carillo Alderete took the child from the home of his ex-girlfriend -- the infant's mother -- near Sherman Way and Lankershim Boulevard, said Sgt. Kenneth Henkle of the Los Angeles Police Department's North Hollywood Station.

dailynews.com

NORTH HILLS - Leaning against her rake in her front yard, Augustina Cervantes peered toward the end of the block across from North Hills Park, where just a few months ago heroin addicts roamed like zombies looking for a fix and violent brawls were commonplace as children played. Now Cervantes feels safe enough to come out at 10 p.m. and rake leaves in front of her small house festooned with Christmas lights. Crime dropped 29 percent. dailynews.com

Wally Fay over at In The Hat, has a good editorial today about the lack of outrage over the recent killing of a Mexican deputy police chief by drug gangs in a case he goes out on a limb to say qualifies as terrorism. And that if we continue to turn a blind eye toward what's happening south of the border, we could be facing bigger problems than just street and prison gang crime.

I've always been cautious about using the T word. And I'll still refrain from applying it to U.S. based street gangs and their associates in organized criminal enterprises. But what's happening south of the border absolutely qualifies as terrorism.

The difference between us and them isn't subtle. Criminal gangs and organized groups in the U.S. generally speaking are not trying to change institutions like LE agencies, the media and the authorized civilian authorities. There are exceptions like Cudahy that still need to be addressed.

The latest proof of the criminal cartels' intent of literally destroying civilian authority is the machine gunning of Tecate's recently appointed deputy chief of police, Jose Juan Soriano Pereira. He was shot fifty times while asleep in bed next to his wife. This is just one more step in Mexico's suicide spiral into total anarchy. When a dope dealer kills another dealer, it's just business. When they start killing cops, newspaper editors and writers, priests and entire families it's not just business anymore. It's an attempt to destabilize the entire edifice of civil order.

Check out the rest of it here.

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

Unfortunately, these kinds of things can turn out badly. This one turned out OK, despite the fact that the one of the guys was stabbed. He's expected to survive. This one comes from out Simi way.

SIMI VALLEY - A 36-year-old Simi Valley man was stabbed eight times and survived in a bar fight at Judge Roy Beans bar.

Sean Swearinger was stabbed at about 20 minutes after midnight this morning at the bar at 2780 Tapo Canyon Road.

He was taken to a local hospital where he was expected to survive. Police believe there were up to five individuals involved in the fight, but no arrests have been made.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Simi Valley Police Department at (805) 583-6929.

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

GLENDALE - A pre-Christmas shopping spree ended with the arrests of two men accused in a case of trying to buy $70,000 in Rolex watches from a Ben Bridge Jeweler at the Glendale Galleria using phony credit cards and stolen IDs, police said this morning.ht (Nazaryan is the one of the left. Vlasov is on the rig.)

Pavel V. Vlasov, 23, of Tarzana (the one in the photo to the right) and Zekar Nazaryan, 24, who gave police a P.O. box address, were arrested Tuesday at the Galleria's Ben Bridge Jeweler on Central Avenue in Glendale, said Glendale Police Officer John Balian. Both were being held on charges including burglary, ID theft, credit card theft, and forgery, Balian said. Bail for both men was set at $50,000.

The men allegedly used a ficticious identity to create at least three phony credit cards in the last several months and went on a shopping spree, Balian said.

The name on the cards matched the name on the driver's license, Balian said.

They allegedly tried to buy two Rolex watches worth a total of $70,000, including a $50,000 18 karat platinum Daytona, Balian said. They happened to be in the store returning another watch, worth $2,800, that they allegedly purchased earlier using the phony card, Balian said. They were arrested after a clerk became suspicious and notified mall security.

"They didn't get far," Balian said. "They got arrested."

Police were looking into the possibility that the suspects committed other similar heists around the area, Balian said.

"They were going for high-end, quick money items," Balian said.

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

Hey folks,

After a few weeks of sporadic posts, I wanted to let you know that I'm moving back into the fulltime general assignment pool of reporters. While I'll miss pitching in on the crime beat, you're in very capable hands with Jason, Rachel and Rick. It's been a pleasure blogging here and I hope you've found it interesting and informative. I know I certainly had a blast.

So thanks for reading and keep those tips coming-- there's never a shortage of skullduggery, troublemaking, or people who find a way to fight back against that cycle. I'll look forward to seeing what the team and you readers come up with.

Adios,
Brent

The San Fernando PD caught a rapist Sunday night because of an odd clue he left behind at the crime scene: ladies' fashion magazines.

SAN FERNANDO - Richard Ruelas allegedly almost got away with rape, but police said his fondness for graffiti and ladies' fashion magazines landed him in jail.

Around 4:45 a.m. Saturday, police received a call from a man who'd been talking to a friend who was on her way home from a party. She suddenly screamed and the line went dead. The caller, then the police dispatcher, tried reaching the woman, to no avail.

If you read on, you'll run across Nichole Hanchett, who showed up on It's a Crime back when she made sergeant a few months back. She helped Vairo and the others link Richard Ruelas to the previous tagging arrest and the theft of the magazines.

She was describing the scene where they actually showed up at the suspect's house, with Lt. Jeff Eley drawing down on Ruelas and her grabbing and hooking him. As I pointed out to her, that must have been a weird, weird sight to see.

Eley, recently promoted to take Lt. Tony Ruelas' spot when the l-t moved to patrol (and yes, the similarity in last names between the lieutenant and the suspect is purely coincidental), is a gigantic guy with a football player's build.

So the suspect sees this bear of a cop with a gun and a 6-foot-tall, red-haired female sergeant racing toward him. He gave up.

"Walking him down the street to the car was quite gratifying," Hanchett said.

More than half of rapes go unreported, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, and more than a quarter of them come from strangers to the victim, like Mr. Ruelas. Thankfully, due to his strange fixation with tagging and magazines, the victim can have some small measure of closure.

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

Keeping you up to speed on a police pursuit that traveled through the Valley this morning. On TV news, you could see the guy jump out of the stolen car at one point, hop over the Ventura Freeway center divider near Laurel Canyon Boulevard and manage to run across several lanes of freeway traffic before hopping into some underbrush, and then getting caught by police in an anticlimactic ending to something that could have gone badly.

Here's the story.

STUDIO CITY - A suspected carjacker reportedly driving at more than 100 mph led police on a freeway chase in the San Fernando Valley today before he abandoned his vehicle, ran across lanes and was finally captured, authorities said.

The suspect, who was driving a maroon Toyota Camry, was going east on the Ventura (101) Freeway when he ran over a median near the junction with the 134 Freeway, then abandoned the car near Vineland Avenue, according to a live TV broadcast.

dailynews.com

Wow. I can't imagine what it would be like to put together a story like this.

Even after Addie and I split, I would still drop in on Li’l Mike. When he saw me walk in the door, he’d get this really big smile on his face, rush over and punch me in the leg. But eventually the visits faded, and the last time I saw Mike he was maybe 6 or 7 years old. Then last summer, Addie called. I hadn’t spoken to her in years. Michael, now 19, had been arrested and charged with a gang-related murder.

Michael Krikorian, formerly of the Times, now an aspiring novelist, wrote this searingly memorable first person piece in the New York Times Magazine about his ex-girlfriend's son who turned out not to be his kid. It's a hell of a story, but I'm sure glad I'm not writing it. Well done, Mr. Krikorian.

I saw this one in our regional roundup today and it left me scratching my head.

STEVENSON RANCH - Deputies found one man dead and another suffering from critical stab wounds in a parking lot in the 25200 block of Steinbeck Avenue early today, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said.
Witnesses say the stabbings happened after a melee involving 10 to 15 men.
Deputies were responding to a report of an assault about 12:15 a.m. when they found the victims, officials said. They identified both victims only as white men. Paramedics pronounced one dead at the scene and rushed the other to a local hospital.
Deputies ask anyone with information on the assault to call the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500.

I didn't make the call, so I'm not sure what spurred this, but golly, that sounds like a big fight for a sleepy, little subdivision. I had a girlfriend in college who lived up there and all her neighbors were cops.... I'll see if the sheriff's deputies would care to share more later on when this fire calms down a bit.

6:05 p.m. UPDATE- (or lack thereof)... Nope. I talked to Lt. Gump and a deputy down in homicide. The investigators are still on scene and have no updates. If we get anything more, I'll post it here later.

The headline above came from a long-ago three-day weekend, where a copy editor judged the death toll to be somewhat minor. I thought it was an interesting phrase at the time, cut it out and taped it to my old desk. It's probably still there with all the other stuff I left when they moved me over with the rest of the Metro folks.

A news item out of El Sereno caught my eye and reminded me of that odd concept. I'll paste it below.

A 27-year-old man turned himself in to police early this morning after allegedly shooting his brother-in-law to death following a Thanksgiving celebration, according to a detective.

Formal murder charges were pending, Smith said.

This is apparently not all that uncommon. Hans and I rode with the Southeast gang unit for a story around this time last year and the officers were remarking at the time that holidays are magnets for homicide.

I suppose it's not that hard to fathom. You're packed together with your relatives, there's holiday stress, old family arguments and a new boyfriend, aunt, brother, whomever to change the family dynamic. Add in some alcohol and, pretty soon, shouting turns to pushing, then pushing turns to punching. Then someone grabs a knife, someone else goes for their gun and, all of a sudden, you have one of the most horrible things you could imagine.

Even if the killings are infrequent and the holiday seems relatively untragic, that doesn't matter if it's your relative who got toe-tagged and taken to the morgue. Our condolences, as always, go out to the Gutierrez family. Talk about a rotten way to remember the holiday every year going forward.

Something looked unusual as LAPD Sgt. Christopher Crosby swung 19 George 80 down Nordhoff Street onto Columbus Avenue. The streets once prowled by homeboys were now walked by women, strolling unaccompanied down the street with groceries and strollers.

"Man, look at that -- ladies walking their dogs," Crosby marveled. "You never used to see that."

Long a problem area, even with the federal and city-funded Safer City Initiative officers on patrol, North Hills was quiet Tuesday night. Crime rates leaped earlier this year in spite of the dozens of extra officers, but as Crosby pointed the Crown Victoria left on Rayen Street, then right on Kester Avenue, things looked downright placid.

"We came by here," he said, pointing at the Sepulveda Recreation Center, "late last night, around 2, and people were playing tennis. Tennis! But if we don't keep it up, the gangs will come right back."

Crosby, a surfer, martial artist and dog enthusiast, serves as the Mission Division's gang sergeant. He's friendly, laid-back and looks pretty much like you'd expect a cop to look.

As a kid, he was a trim baseball player, but at 18, he grew five inches to his present 6-foot-3 and hit the weight room. He topped out at 285 pounds and in his vest, gunbelt and blues, he cuts an imposing figure.

The streets were pretty empty and the radio was all but silent as Crosby eyed dark streets and peered into cars. Shrugging off the cold that blanketed the late November air, he stopped for a cup of coffee.

"I'm gonna order the manliest drink there is," he said, voice dropping an octave.

A few minutes later, he had his peppermint Frappuccino, with extra mint and whipped cream, in hand and his slick-top was headed northeast toward Sylmar. He called out the demarcation between Astoria Garden Locos and San Fer territory along the way, pointing out the liquor stores and motels they use to meet and scheme.

There was a call of a 459 Hot Prowl on the outer edge of the 28-square-mile division and the gang units headed up to see what was afoot. Turned out to be nothing. As did a door knock on a Paca with a drug charge who wasn't home. Up and down the streets, all around the territory, everything was sleepy.

By 10:15 p.m., the soccer games back on Columbus had died down, but the cars kept churning, looking for anything suspicious. A few gaunt, wild-eyed men scurried around, couples kissed goodnight and men tried to jump start their cars back into working order.

Eventually, a Valerio Street gangster turned up on Kester and Rayen. He was 19 and skinny, known as Silent. He wore a Saints jersey, Raiders jacket, baggy jeans and low-top Reeboks. A pair of young gang officers, just off their probation in 77th, had him hooked on the edge of the soccer field. Everyone was calm.

"So what's going on, man?" Crosby asked.

"Nothin'," Silent said. "Just tryin' to visit my kid."

His high school girlfriend and baby son lived across the street. He'd run from the cops before and they'd busted him for meth possession in the past.

"Are you on probation?" one officer asked him.

"Not that I know of," Silent replied.

"You don't recognize us?" the cop said. "That hurts."

"Man, and we were the ones who arrested you, too," his partner said.

"Your name's all over the neighborhood," Crosby chimed in. "Why do we see 'Silent' on the walls?"

"I don't do that no more," Silent said. "Since I got out. Since my son was born."

"Oh, well is there another Silent?" Crosby asked. "A Big Silent? A Little Silent? How about Very Silent?"

While awaiting for a probation officer attached to the unit to arrive, Crosby shot the breeze with the gangster, advising him to go back to school and find a career. He slipped in questions about VST's activities, asking who was beefing with who and who was friendly. Silent did not live up to his name.

"If you guys were to take me in for some reason, could you take me to say goodbye to my girl and my son?" he asked.

"Absolutely," Crosby told him.

Silent shifted and yawned nervously in the cold, his eyes a little watery. The gangster's cell phone rang and his girlfriend wondered why he was taking so long. But he came up clean, with no outstanding warrants or drugs in his pockets, so they searched him and Crosby wished him a good night.

A couple blocks later, the unit pulled over a couple more gangsters. They claimed they were on their way to church, but, given the fact that the clock was close to midnight, it seemed rather unlikely. One ended up in a squad car and by the time the cops and probation searched his home for a weapon, his father was very, very disappointed in the way his son's evening finished out.

By the time the unit circled back to the station, things were even slower. No shootings, no foot pursuits, barely even any lawbreakers out on the streets. And that seemed just fine with all involved.

Photos by Hans Gutknecht, staff photographer

Every gangster I've ever met, repentant or otherwise, tells variations on the same story. Usually, they're poor, their parents are either split up or both working and they have no one to look out for them after school lets out. And so, without anyone to fill the void, they hang out with a bunch of other kids, get into trouble and, pretty soon, it's too late to get out of the lifestyle.

Ten years ago, after a particularly sad gang shooting that killed a little girl, the City of Los Angeles tried to step in where parents could not. It funded the Bridges program, a series of after school programs to help kids who might fall in with gangs. Rather than hanging out and getting in trouble, they brushed up on their studies, played sports and went on trips.

There are basically two kinds of stories told about programs like this:
1.) "I could have joined a gang, but instead I joined a team," said a student.
2.) "This is a waste of my taxpayer dollars," complained someone somehow connected to politics.

I joined the long list of chroniclers when I went to Sutter Middle School on Thursday night. I'm not sure where my story fits in the cavalcade of pieces over the years, but I hope it showed that the program got through, at least to some of the 3,000 or so kids who've passed through it over the years.

And I will say this: after a long day at the office, dealing with not-very-cooperative people on the phone, crimes and corporate greed, it was nice to see a bunch of kids having a good time. Will programs like Bridges cut off gangs' recruiting base for the next generation? Probably not all on their own, but it certainly seems like a good start.

The rice has fallen, the doves have flown away, The Wedding March has faded away and the Newlywed Bandits will rob no more.

Mr. Blackmoore at LA Noir caught this off CBS-2: it seems that Rayceana and Paul's alleged crime spree has come to an end.

The so-called Newlywed Bandits, suspected in five Los Angeles-area bank robberies in a three-week span, were arrested in Las Vegas at the end of a police pursuit, authorities said.

Rocha, who was driving, crashed the vehicle and was taken into custody at the scene. Meyercamp was taken into custody following a brief foot pursuit, she said.

As Mr. Blackmoore so aptly puts it: who says romance is dead?

Mr. Becerra at our downtown competitor went cruising with the South Bureau gang unit in Southeast division.

Saturday night, July 21, and it's been slow in South Los Angeles, scary slow. Two Los Angeles police officers stop a pair of young gang members for jaywalking, a good excuse to ask some questions.

The gang member, a lanky 20-year-old who goes by the name Mally, chews coolly on a toothpick. A large gilded crucifix dangles from his neck as he and a friend slouch, handcuffed, against a rusting gate on a street corner just west of the Nickerson Gardens projects.

Much like the night itself, the full story starts slowly and builds in dramatic intensity when violence breaks out. It's a great piece, well worth the time to read the whole thing. Rick Loomis compliments the words nicely with some great photos.

The most chilling moment to me didn't come during the actual shooting, however, but when a 14-year-old tries to confess to possessing a gun, so his big homie won't get arrested. I always want to believe in people's ability to turn themselves around, but if you're volunteering to pick up a case at an age where you should be still learning algebra, the future does not look bright.

And Mr. Becerra does a great job of showing exactly that.

Hans and I spent some time in the Southside while working on our series on Kristina Ripatti and Tim Pearce and Mr. Becerra's account rings true on many levels.

There are a lot of guns and there's a lot of anger down there. It's not surprising. When you're stacked into rundown apartments and your neighbors were shooting at you, it's not hard to see why you might be tempted to pick up a gun. Then a fight breaks out, another young kid who happens to be walking past gets killed and the cycle begins anew.

The thing that's most striking is the crowds that gather 'round. The story and its companion slideshow capture that really well. Cops wade into these disputes, sometimes with a kid bleeding his life away in the middle, and they're surrounded by dozens and dozens of onlookers.

Some are just curious, some have more malicious intents. Even on minor traffic stops, you can have 50 people clustered around, watching and offering commentary. And yet, when it comes time to ask who pulled the trigger, miraculously, no one saw nothin'. Some other mother's son goes to the morgue and everyone else goes on with their lives.

Three Pacoima gangsters have been charged and a fourth person was being sought in connection with an hours-long carjack and robbery spree that spanned the northern part of the San Fernando Valley, police said this morning.

The case began Nov. 3 when the suspects took a car at gunpoint in the 16900 block of Devonshire Street in Granada Hills, then crashed it, police said. They then tried to steal another car, but failed and instead robbed the victim, said Los Angeles Police Department Detective Dave Peteque. They then robbed somone else before going to a gas station where they approached three women in a Mitsubishi Montero, and asked them if they wanted to party before ordering them at gunpoint them to drive to another location where they picked up a friend, Peteque said.

dailynews.com

Brent wrote a tale of a modern-day Robin Hood, Julio Cesar Rodriguez, an Arleta man who purportedly told cops he stole from banks since 2004 to pay himself cash and to take some of it to Skid Row in downtown L.A. (Yeah, that's what I'd tell the cops too if I were facing more than dozen counts of bank robbery.) You know, Al Capone once described himself as Robin Hood too, even donating money to soup kitchens during the depression.

dailynews.com

Jason beat me to the punch in posting this item on Victor Tovar, who traded what he saw as a dead-end life as a gangbanger for a more comfortable future as a firefighter. I wanted to take a couple minutes to expand on it, though.

I heard about Mr. Tovar through Paul Vinetz at a San Fernando Valley Coalition on Gangs meeting a few months ago. It took us awhile to connect, but it was well worth the wait. Vinetz filled me in in advance, then introduced me to Mr. Tovar last week when he spoke in front of a group of kids who'd gotten in trouble.

I've met a lot of guys who cliqued up when they were young, regretted it later, but couldn't pull themselves out. But Mr. Tovar really seems to be something different. He doesn't have the swagger or the gangster's cadence anyore. If he didn't talk about his past, you'd have no idea he came from the lifestyle. But when he talks about the trouble he used to get into, his voice has the deadly serious tone of someone who's known that fear.

We talked for a good amount of time after he addressed the kids and I asked him why kids join gangs. He offered a few thoughts: lack of parental supervision, a breakdown in the traditional family structure, kids who watch too many violent movies. Then he turned it around and asked me my thoughts.

Here's what I told him: anytime people don't have hope, they're gonna start looking at ways to get into trouble. While there's always going to be incorrigible troublemakers who will never go straight, I think most people will play by the rules so long as they believe they'll get treated fairly. It's when they can no longer see a point to going to school, working a job and obeying the law, that's when they'll start reaching for that strap or looking at a bag of meth as a means to pay the rent.

And I told him that guys like him are an important part of that equation. I don't know if he got through to any of those kids in the audience, or anyone who read his story in the newspaper, but if anyone saw themselves in his story and dreamed for something better, then he succeeded. Guys like him show that just because you messed around in your youth, just because you grew up in rough circumstances, doesn't mean you have to live life as a screw-up.

We tell terrible stories all the time, news about death and drugs and ruthless gangs who do rotten things to innocent kids. They're sad, but they're necessary. But we've got to keep looking for the Victor Tovars, too, to remind people that there's a different, better way.

I was traipsing through the Internet this morning, looking for a phone number for Operations Valley Bureau, when I found it turned up in a very odd place. Lt. Gary Nanson, who coordinates gang efforts for OVB, showed up in an article in a Canadian newspaper, criticizing his north-of-the-border counterparts' handling of a homicide.

"They're using traditional ways of solving a homicide," said Lt. Gary Nanson, head of the LAPD's Valley Gang unit. "They're actually embarrassing themselves."

(Cpl. Dale Carr, spokesman for the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team) took exception to the comment, saying Nanson "has absolutely no basis to make a comment like that. That's an uninformed, unresponsible quote from him."

Nanson seems to have either really ticked off the Canucks or inspired equal agreement that they don't know what they're doing.

I've interviewed the lieutenant a few times and it sounds exactly like something he'd say. He's an intense, outspoken guy who will go on at length about what he sees as the failures of law enforcement to respond to gang violence. He foresees a future where gangs will evolve into sophisticated, more organized operations relying on financial crime, rather than traditional stuff on the street. As such, he'd like to see more gang intelligence and detectives, rather than uniformed officers doing suppression.

My only question is: how the hell did the newspaper find him? Whatever the case, the veteran cop probably won't be enjoying any Labatts courtesy of the IHIT next time he's up in Surrey.

Our blogging counterpart, Mr. Girardot at Crime Scene got a story on a terrible murder-suicide in Monrovia last week. I'd heard about this third-hand and asked him on Friday-- turned out to be true and worse than I'd thought.

MONROVIA - A man shot and killed his girlfriend in front of her children minutes before killing himself in the woman's apartment, authorities said Friday.

"We have a personal connection to this case," Lee said.

Read the whole thing here. It's really, really sad.

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.

Jeffrey Scalf admits John Dillinger had flaws, but he prefers to remember him as a quick-witted charmer who was part playboy and part rebel. Scalf says he has proof his great-uncle did not kill a cop in 1934.
(Photo by AJ Mast / For The Los Angeles Times)

Check out this great story by a former colleague of mine, P.J. Huffstutter, over at the Los Angeles Times. She writes about a man named Jeffrey Scalf who is on a crusade to watch for those who profit off the name of his deceased and infamous great uncle, John Dillinger, the bank robber the FBI once dubbed Public Enemy No. 1. Scarf says you can call him a robber, but he was no killer.

He was charged with gunning down Police Officer William Patrick O'Malley during the January 1934 robbery of the First National Bank of East Chicago, Ind. But the case never went to trial. Dillinger was killed before the jury was selected.

snip

Since 2001, Scalf has filed lawsuits or threatened legal action against those who blame his great-uncle for the police officer's killing, including cafe owners, museum organizers, historical societies and rural township officials. He has demanded that anyone using the name sign a waiver promising not to portray the bandit as vicious or mean-spirited.

"John did some bad things. He lived a tragic life," says Scalf. "But he was no killer."

The Times has been all over this one and we pretty much missed the boat, since it happened so far away. But, as a sad reminder of how interlinked this city is, this fight down on Slauson and Western killed a lady with Valley ties.

A deadly and highly unusual melee among 30 young women in South Los Angeles was triggered by a dispute over a man who dated two of the female combatants, Los Angeles police said Tuesday.

On Tuesday, authorities announced that they had taken the driver into custody and booked her on suspicion of murder. According to police, the driver, Unique Kiana Bishop, 21, fled the scene but showed up at the 77th Street Division station with her mother. Police officials said Bishop told them that she struck the crowd by accident.

Read the whole thing here.

As always, our condolences go out to Ms. Blanche's family. Regardless where this happened, or why, it's terrible to lose someone so young.

Earlier in 77th, Will Beall- Packing heat and a pen.
The neon lights aren't so bright on the Broadway -- Another trip to 77th.
Solving murders in 77th.

After I picked on newspaper op-ed pages the other day, I should say that I understand some of their dilemma. Every time I write a story with the word "gang" somewhere within, the phone calls start up, nice and early. People offer their opinions, generally at loud volume and often spiced with racist diatribe, rarely having the guts to put their name to it.

Now, under the veil of Internet anonymity, it gets even more extreme. Monday's piece about community attempts to clean up the Dronfield Villas was the latest to inspire the yakking.

For example, an ex-Sylmar resident wrote to suggest that the real problem was that the community allowed Mexicans to move in. His suggestion: deport everyone of Mexican ancestry and the gang problem would magically disappear. When I pointed out to him that nearly everyone involved in the effort to oust the gangs, from the cops, to the residents, to the community-based organizations, was Latino, he launched into an even more vile screed.

So here's the dilemma: On one hand, I feel like I should hold people like him up for the public to see. On the other, I don't want to give the loudly vocal minority (I hope) a platform for their extreme views. While It's a Crime isn't exactly Speakers' Corner, I still don't want it to turn into an "I can yell louder than you can" contest. Now I understand the dilemma faced by the newspapers' letters editors.

Here's what I settled on-- folks who offer some sort of constructive suggestion or legitimate points about the topics we cover, comment away. Those of you who just want to rant endlessly, I'm sure the talk radio stations would love to hear your theories.

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.

An update from the previous posting in which police were looking for a man who stabbed a woman leaving her injured during a botched home invasion robbery.

Here's the latest.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - A suspect was in custody today in connection with the stabbing of a North Hollywood woman in her third-story apartment, authorities said.

Los Angeles Police Department officials from the North Hollywood Station plan to hold a news conference at 2 p.m. to discuss the suspect's arrest, LAPD Officer Mike Lopez said. No information on the suspect was immediately available.

Police found the 33-year-old woman outside her apartment in the 11500 block of Magnolia Boulevard, near Colfax Avenue, about 6 a.m. Sunday, Lopez said. Her name was withheld.

An LAPD statement said the woman "had been stabbed multiple times and was bleeding profusely." She was hospitalized in stable condition this morning, the LAPD reported.

The suspect was trying doors in the apartment building and found the high school teacher's door unlocked, Fox11 reported. Police said neighbors heard the commotion, ran into the man and attempted to question him. One neighbor followed him, but he got away, Lopez said.

The assailant reported took some items from the woman's apartment, including a laptop computer.

Police today released this composite sketch of a man believed to have stabbed a woman in the head during a botched home invasion robbery early Sunday just before 6 a.m. in the 11500 block of Magnolia Boulevard.

The unidentified woman suffered a stab wound to the head. She was said to be listed in stable condition at a local hospital.

Police say the man entered through the victim's apartment through an unlocked front door and confronted the her before demanding property. She told the man to take what he wanted before he stabbed her in the chest, face and head areas. The suspect also grabbed a laptop and struck her on the head several times before taking off and being chased by witnesses to an unknown location.

The Suspect was able to escape from the witnesses.

Police found the woman slouched at the front door of her third story apartment unit, bleeding from stab wounds, said Los Angeles Police spokesman Mike Lopez.

Witnesses described the man as Hispanic and about 20 to 26 years old, about 5 feet, 8 inches tall and 150 pounds.

Anyone with information was asked to call detectives at the LAPD's North Hollywood station at (818)623-4045.

Normally, I don't pay a whole lot of attention to the arguments in newspaper opinion pages. While I think we've got a good crew over at Friendly Fire (and I think Mr. O'Connor's blog is really, really cool), in most publications, the opinion page is a snapshot of what's wrong with political discourse today.

Generally, the columns and the letters to the editor on any subject, from taxes to the war to immigration, are just variations on "Conservatives are good and liberals are bad!" with "Liberals are good and
conservatives are bad!" as the counterpoint. Whatever the issue, it seems to inevitably devolve into a war of bumper sticker slogans where conservatives tell us that Bill Clinton was a pervert, while liberals will counter with the claim that George W. Bush either isn't very smart or he's a liar. Both sides point fingers, play loose with the facts and generally seem uninterested in actually fixing whatever the dispute is, preferring instead to belittle anyone who doesn't agree with them. And that gets us absolutely nowhere.

This is all a long-winded way of setting myself up to get sucked into the same nasty game.

This morning, while enjoying some peppers and eggs, I happened across a column in our own pages by Doug McIntyre, normally a radio host for KABC.com. The headline "Gangs have our libraries under siege" caught my eye, so I continued on.

First, let me say that I'm not a talk radio listener, so I don't know a whole lot about Mr. McIntyre or his show. Judging from his biography and some of the things he has posted on his Web site, it sounds like we agree on some issues and part ways on others. I will give him credit for having a nuanced variety of opinions you don't normally hear from commentators, nor does he seem to be as shrill as some of his contemporaries.

So, with that in mind, I have to respectfully disagree with his argument. Mr. McIntyre throws out some stats about how Los Angeles has recorded 1,500 incidents in the past 18 months, with "an obscenely high number of serious assaults by gangbangers, including robberies, beatings and shootings." It appears that he's basing his outrage on this recent article by John L. Mitchell in the Times. He keys in on Mr. Mitchell's descriptions (at least I'm guessing that's where he got it, since he doesn't attribute his facts) of the Mark Twain Library, which he describes as "a free-fire zone, caught in the sinkhole of a city capitulating to gang culture." He likens the situation to Nazi book burning, the Taliban destroying the Buddhas of Bamyan and the destruction of Garfield High's auditorium, allegedly caused by an arsonist.

That's where his facts start to slide, as he blames it on multiple "arsonists," rather than a single, 16-year-old freshman who was apparently upset with a teacher. He says there was "usual public hand-wringing... and little else." I suppose the benefit concert headlined by Garfield alumni Los Lobos at the Gibson Amphitheatre a few weeks ago was just hand-wringing, but that's not the main point of my argument.

It's also worth noting, when you click the link on Mr. Mitchell's article above, that most of the incidents mentioned involve things that are merely unpleasant, such as people with bad body odor, creepy, such as public masturbation, or crazy patrons. There are several gang crimes cited-- and they're certainly horrible-- but the article also says that after a bad attack on a Twain patron in August, the library posted a couple security guards and the problem kids moved on.

After setting up this introduction, Mr. McIntyre hits this thesis: "The city of Los Angeles has surrendered to the gangs. There are still some small pockets of resistance, a few isolated yelps of protest, but we have largely accepted the degradation of colors, tagging, banging and bling."

And, in addition to his library example, Mr. McIntyre hangs his argument on the Anthony Sena mural that Rick wrote, blogged about and video-ed the other day. He insults Mr. Sena, a murdered spray-painter and tattoo artist by referring to him as an "artist" (quote emphasis his) and suggests that the controversial mural represents the full-on invasion of gangsters.

He even takes graffiti expert Ed Moreno to task, writing "It saddens me to read LAPD Officer Ed Moreno of the West Valley Division's Gang Impact Graffiti Detail to tell the Daily News he has come to passively accept the unacceptable. Describing the Sena mural, Moreno said: 'Nothing on that wall says gangs.' Everything on that wall says gangs! Everything in Los Angeles says gangs!"

Now I've met and spoken with Officer Moreno several times and I know that he's a sharp, respected cop and that he did his homework on the mural before speaking to Rick. He interviewed Jeff Measles, the primary artist behind the display, and received assurances that if the mural gets tagged over, there will be no reprisals.

Here's a fuller context Moreno's comments from Rick's article that Mr. McIntyre omits:

Meanwhile, some support for the mural comes from an unlikely source: graffiti experts, including LAPD Officer Ed Moreno, who works with the West Valley Division's gang impact graffiti detail section.

Despite criticism that it glorifies gang culture, Moreno said, "Nothing on that wall says gangs."

Mr. Sena, known by the moniker 'Ohjae,' doesn't sound like a perfect citizen, but, if you read Rick's well-balanced piece, you'll see that he'd moved on to achieve success as a legitimate artist. As much as critics want to deny that art can come from a spray can, I've seen it used to sell cars at the LA Auto Show and videogames at E3. In the same way that tattoos migrated from biker gangs' arms onto the backs of squeaky-clean college girls, graffiti art has moved from its strictly sketchy past into the mainstream.

That aside, Mr. McIntyre's argument that gangs have taken over all of Los Angeles is simply not true. Looking at the LAPD's most recent stats, there were 5,758 gang-related crimes in Los Angeles through September. While that sounds frightening (Egads! Around 21 each day!), it's also 200 fewer than the city recorded the year before, a 3.4 percent reduction in gang crime. In the West Valley area where Officer Moreno goes after actual taggers and gangsters with cans of Krylon, gang-related crimes dropped 3.1 percent since last year.

Don't get me wrong, any gang crime is unacceptable. And it's an especially emotional sort of law-breaking because gangsters tend to be big, scary-looking guys who operate under seemingly alien codes of conduct. Whenever their bullets miss one another and end up in an innocent neighbor or child playing nearby, the wounds sting even harder because it's unpleasant to think that these guys with tattoos on their faces live in our communities.

But if we're going to work together to fight back against gangs' influence, we need reasoned debate, not rhetoric such as this:

When schools and libraries become free-fire zones and young lives are snuffed out in front of tattoo parlors with cutesy-pie names making light of smack (Needle Pushers, get it?) and it's considered an honor to have your life memorialized in spray paint on a liquor-store wall, the canary in L.A.'s coal mine is on life support.

If the people of Los Angeles don't act, we'll take our place alongside those who accommodated the book burners in Germany and the Taliban Buddha bombers. We have a choice - library cards or toe tags. What's it gonna be?

Cops from Chief Bratton on down will tell you that the key to combating crime is an informed, involved community. If we're going to have that, to really rise up against the gang lifestyle, the community needs to arm itself with facts instead of hysteria. Scaring people out of the library because it's an alleged hotbed of gangsterism, a supposition not borne out by fact, playing up arguments over a painting instead of focusing on real crime and attacking a cop whose expert opinion doesn't square with a narrow thesis will not help bring us any closer to a real solution.

As always, we welcome your thoughts and comments on this clearly sensitive subject. Perhaps I'm totally off-base on this, but I'm curious to know what y'all think.

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.

So Tony Castro has filed an early dispatch from the courthouse on one of L.A.'s most wanted fugitive gang members, who now faces the death penalty for three killings and four attempts. Here's the top of the story.

in three murders One of Los Angeles' most feared gang leaders with a penchant for writing rap lyrics about his killings was convicted Thursday of murdering rival gang members for control of a lucrative drug trade -- and now could face the death penalty.

Timothy Joseph McGhee, 34, leader Toonerville gang in Atwater Village, was found guilty of three counts of first degree murder and four of attempted murder in a case in which prosecutors were heavily aided by an autobiographical notebook in gang lyrics in which he boasted about his crimes.

"I am why you lock your doors. I am why your daughters are whores " McGhee wrote in one set of lyrics that authorities said underscored his murderous rampage for which McGhee came to be called the Monster of Atwater, with cops even comparing his murderous nature to Charles Manson.

The three murder convictions and two of the attempted murder counts - involving attempts to kill peace officers - carried special circumstances charged upheld by the jury and qualify McGhee for the death penalty.

Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry immediately set penalty phase hearings to begin Friday morning.

Check out the rest of the story by clicking here

So this one comes out of West Hills. A man apparently itchy to light something on fire is accused of trying to torch a hillside - only at a time when the whole region of Southern California is going up in flames.

Here's the story.

As wildfires ripped through Southern California, a 41-year-old Sun Valley man was arrested on suspicion of arson after quick-thinking West Hills residents allegedly saw him lighting a fire and called 911, police said this morning.

West Hills residents saw a man lighting a fire then walking away about 4:30 yesterday on a hillside near Del Valle Street and Ponce Avenue. After calling police, the residents followed him to a restaurant and waited for police to arrive.

Police booked Catalino Pineda, a day laborer from Sun Valley, into the Los Angeles County Jail where he was being held on an arson charge. Bail was set at $75,000.

Pineda is a native of Guatemala. He is currently on probation for making excessive false emergency reports to law enforcement, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call West Valley Area detectives at (818) 374-7730. On weekends and after hours call the 24-hour Detective Information Desk at 1-877-LAW-FULL (529-3855).

Greetings, dear It's a Crime readers. You may recall, a few months ago, we met up with Paul White of the West Valley Leadership Academy. He tipped me to the story of Dantae Livingston, an ex-gangster who renounced his gang ties in favor of schoolwork. Last I hear, Mr. Livingston was still doing well, working and attending classes.

Anyhow, White's back with an editorial on The Huffington Post, Stopping and Preventing Gangs: There's No Right Way to Do the Wrong Thing.

Paralleling the nation-wide growth of criminal gangs, is the growth of so-called gang prevention groups run by "former" gang members. The most well-known organization of this kind is Homeboy Industries of Los Angeles. Sacrilegious as it may seem to some readers, this venerated group of gangsters and its iconic leader, Father Boyle, are actually part of our (growing) gang problem.

While I don't share White's opinion (I think both Homeboy and Communities in Schools, whom White also criticizes, provide an important component to gang intervention-- so does the LAPD, for that matter), it's an interesting piece and he can speak with authority, given his results. Read on and let us know what you think.

Here's a pair of unusual ones out of our friendly rivals downtown.

First off, check out Ms. Leovy's interview on Gangsters Anonymous at The Homicide Report.

"It's a 12-step program, based on Alcoholics Anonymous. We are recovering gangsters who meet to help each other stay crime-free. We believe the gangster mentality is a disease--a mental disorder. We are sick. We suffer from a criminal mentality. But recovery is our responsibility. " - Kenny Mitchell, 44, longshoreman and founder of Gangsters Anonymous.

And when you finish that, pour yourself a drink, kick back and treat yourself to The exotic dancer, the police chief and the dividing line by Peter H. King. It's an absolutely phenomenal read, telling the crazy tale of a cop, his stripper wife and two feuding towns on the Utah/Nevada border. Not in my wildest dreams could I imagine such a bizarre set-up.

WENDOVER, UTAH -- Sylvia, for whatever reason, needed another pair of shoes. So, on a late Wednesday night in mid-August, police chief Vaughn Tripp headed across town in his red Chevy pickup, hauling high heels to the club where his wife performed as an exotic dancer, stage name "Ecstasy."

"I don't smoke cigarettes, I don't drink alcohol and I don't do drugs. Never have," he declared, not long after he'd been battered by the tabloid whirlwind created when his wife was arrested on narcotics charges.

And it only gets better from there. King really knocks this one out, capturing the sadness and craziness with a great tone. As strange as the story becomes, he never loses the emotions of the characters. Well done, sir.

From Dailynews.com:

SANTA CLARITA - A sting targeting parking lot cheaters netted 19 citations for fraudulent disabled person parking placards, the Department of Motor Vehicles announced Thursday.

"Those that righteously had the placards were very appreciative," he said. "Those who got caught copped some attitude. The usual, `Don't you have anything better to do?' In many cases, they were downright defiant, like, `How dare you challenge me?"'

That attitude reminds me of a girl named Olga, with whom I went to college. While the rest of us were riding the bus, or, if lucky, drove beat up, 15-year-old cars (go Datsun Pulsar!), Olga had a brand new BMW. Her dad bought it for her. He also got her a shiny blue placard with a white icon of a person in a wheel chair.

He was a doctor. She had no disabilities, aside from a massive sense of entitlement.

Our dorm, the fun but uncomfortable Sproul Hall, had a handful of meters out front and one or two spots reserved for people with disabilities. On most days, she took up one of them so she'd be spared the indignity of actually having to pay for parking or walk any distance. Whenever I saw a person struggling up the hill on crutches or in their wheelchair because she swiped their space, I became convinced that Olga was bound for a special place in hell.

We should have said something, aside from telling her she was a rotten person. I think my buddy Tony let the air out of her tires once, but we never actually turned her in. Which is a shame, because UCLA ended up getting quite a bit more careful about tracking down folks like her. Gee, I wonder why?

James Anthony Rojas

As if the housing market wasn't fraught with enough drama these days, I ran across this story yesterday. If it's true, it's a pretty dastardly way to make a buck.

SAN FERNANDO - James Anthony Rojas' attempts to cash in on the foreclosure market ran him afoul of the law, police said Wednesday.

Anyone with information about the case can call the San Fernando Police Department at (818) 898-1267.

Midway through an extremely long day on the job, I dropped in on Lt. Tom Smart of LAPD's West Valley Gang unit. He loaded up his slick-top hybrid and toted me around for awhile and we got to chatting.

It was a quiet, slow day and the conversation meandered from the old days of policing "when you just had your stick and your mouth to protect you" to Lee Harvey Oswald to gangster etiquette. That led us to how gangs recruit.

"If they don't get affection, kids go and look for it with the gang instead of Little League or piano lessons," he said.

But not all of them-- plenty of kids who grow up in jacked-up households reject that and go onto become upstanding, law-abiding citizens. Even the gangsters often dream of holding down respectable jobs, sometimes more unusual ones than you'd think.

"Almost every single guy you arrest says they wanted to be a cop," he continued. "'Oh, yeah, I was gonna do that, then I got the whole felony drug thing.' They wanted to do it for the same reason they join the gang-- the camaraderie, the family, the sense of belonging."

So what's the solution? How do we get kids to become the next generation of police officers instead of their "clients?" What makes some get into trouble while others stay straight? And for that matter, what makes cops sometimes go bad? Or gangsters sometimes go straight?

I wish, dear readers, that I had those answers for you. But I fear that it's quite late and I'm not quite as keen an observer of human nature as the lieutenant. So we'll save that for another time, when I'm sure I'll be able to decipher all the mysteries of the human soul. In the meantime, just make your kids read Harry Potter. Little League and piano lessons might not be a bad idea, either.

Los Angeles Police Lt. Steve Sambar out of West Valley Division today called me back about a case involving a man who was beat with a hammer and robbed of the $6 he had in his wallet. Here's the story:

Police were searching for three men who beat a man with a hammer then while he was on the ground bleeding and unconscious and took his wallet containing $6.

The attack occurred Oct. 12 about 9 p.m. in the 6700 block of DeSoto Avenue in Canoga Park. Three males, described as Latino between 20 and 25-years-old, approached a 37-year-old man, asked him for a smoke, then hit and kicked him, said Los Angeles Police Lt. Steve Sambar.

The victim fell to the ground and a third man attacked him with a hammer before taking his wallet. A witness yelled out that he was going to call police when the attackers got into a white four-door car and disappeared.

The victim was taken to a hospital where he was treated for a fracture to an eye socket and released.

"That's pretty low," Sambar said. "That's pretty sad. But the absolute wonderful thing is that a witness in the area helped stop the attack."

Rosario Gambino, a cousin of the dead mob chief Carlo Gambino, is in the news today. In federal custody on a heroin trafficking conviction, the Italian government wants to extradite him to face charges there, and a federal judge has denied the request citing the risk of torture. latimes.com

Just two months ago, Sandra Ruiz was the victim of a shocking, senseless attack that wounded her and killed her son, Sev'n. On Friday, she thanked the people who've helped her through this horrible time. Rick attended and wrote a very moving piece.

THOUSAND OAKS - Two months removed from a vicious attack that took her young son's life and left her near death, Sandra Ruiz stood behind a church lectern Friday, remarkably composed and strong.

Ruiz was so touched by the outpouring of support from the community that she decided to have a memorial for her son, which also featured touching words from family members, school officials and church leaders.

For the rest, please click here
Previously, Cleaver attack kills 6-year-old, part 1.
Cleaver attack, part 2.

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.

Not the stolen ice cream
With all the drama as of late, I thought we could use something a little lighter. And, luckily, the always-entertaining folks over at the San Fernando Police Department happened to have something.

SAN FERNANDO — It seemed like a cool caper, but the case of the stolen ice cream cone left the perpetrator with a bitter aftertaste.
When Eric Dewayne Dennis, 39, ambled into the Baskin-Robbins on Maclay Avenue on Monday morning around 11:30 a.m., the San Fernando Police Department allege he had more than 31 flavors on his mind. The transient stepped up to the counter, ordered a triple — strawberry, in a cone.
But when the scooper rang up the $4.98 tab, Dennis allegedly declined to pay. He took off, cone in hand, the 20-year-old employee in hot pursuit.
“She had a little spunk to go after him,” said Detective Anthony Vairo. “She tried to recoup the cost of that ice cream cone.”

I'll hit you with a full link later on. Right now, I'm sorely in need of some dinner and quality time with my wife. Adios for now.

Robert Becerra
Here's the latest on the Simi shooting.

SIMI VALLEY -- Police formally identified Robert Becerra today as the gunman in a mysterious Tuesday shooting that left a customer dead and two workers at Tire Pros franchise wounded. Becerra, 29, of Simi Valley allegedly then took his own life with a shot to the head.

Becerra also got a speeding ticket this year on Feb. 14, but had no other criminal contact with the department.

Here's the latest on the case of the robbers who were foiled when a safe at the Albertson's store in Mission Hills failed to open over the weekend. Not only were they foiled, but they were caught on the store's surveillance tapes. You can read the story by clicking here. They might want to try a new line of work.
Earlier

To get your morning started, check out this story about would-be robbers who tried to open a safe that wouldn't budge.

Two employees at a Mission Hills supermarket were tied up and pistol-whipped today during a robbery attempt that failed because the safe could not be opened, police said. The incident occurred at the Albertson's store at 16201 San Fernando Mission Boulevard, near Woodley Avenue, about 1 a.m., said Sgt. Steve Carmona of the Los Angeles Police Department's Mission Station. Two masked gunmen entered through the rear of the closed store as it was being stocked and tied up two employees, Carmona said. The gunmen pistol-whipped the employees and demanded the safe be opened, but apparently no one in the store was capable of opening it, he said. The victims suffered minor injuries and were treated at the scene, Carmona said. The would-be robbers fled the store empty-handed, he said.

Richard Winton, over at the Times, had a great piece yesterday that's both very well-written and weird. Read on below:

It was 1:30 a.m. on a July morning in 1994. On 5th and Crocker streets in the heart of skid row, a woman nicknamed "Chocolate" was slinging dope.

It was never really clear what caused their fight. But it ended when Chocolate, whose real name is Shelia Burton, shot Anderson in the back as he ran down the street.

The Times takes a look at rent and taxes today, and not the kind paid for your apartment and on your 1040EZ form. Like many forms of gang crime, though it initially only affects a small slice of the population, it can spill over violently to hurt innocent folks unconnected to the business. Most recently, this had tragic consequences for a .

Looks like the updated story revised the official number downward a bit to 28....

In the largest operation of its kind in the San Fernando Valley, 240 federal agents on Friday rounded up 29 foreign nationals belonging to more than a dozen gangs that prey on the immigrant community, officials said.

"The key thing is to recognize we're dealing with people with criminal histories," Schoch said. "They're really threatening our immigrant communities."

Full story's here.

Earlier, ICE comes knocking.

Southbound Sureno

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, working with the LAPD, mounted up early this morning to grab 37 non-citizens suspected of criminal involvement. Here's a quick bit from Dailynews.com, which I believe was a joint effort between Rick and Rachel. (He got the fun task of hitting the street at 6 a.m. alongside the cops).

In the continuing crackdown on illegal criminal immigrants, 37 foreign nationals face federal criminal charges or deportation following the second of two major enforcement operations within as many weeks by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement targeting aliens with ties to violent street gangs in the San Fernando Valley.

"The people targeted in these operations are career criminals who often prey on members of the immigrant community," said Robert Schoch, special agent in charge for the ICE office of investigations in Los Angeles. "We want to send a clear message to foreign national gang members that ICE intends to deal strongly with those who ignore our immigration laws and place our neighborhoods at risk."

If you're looking for more, check out the full story here.

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.

There were a couple of robberies overnight, the Los Angeles Police Department reports.

The first one occurred at 10:15 p.m. in the 5400 block of Cromer Place. Three men armed with a gun and a knife got into a man's car and held him up, police said. One pointed a gun at his head. Another man grabbed the victim from behind and held a knife to his throat and the other two demanded the victim’s property before taking off. The victim later returned, could not find his vehicle and believes it was stolen.

The second incident went down at midnight at Saticoy and Oso. Someone struck a man with an uknown object and possibly broke his skull. Three men were believed to have been involved and they took off with the
victim's property. The victim was taken to a local hospital.

Here's the crime story of the day, so far.

It wasn't the tasty Egg McMuffins that two Vineland Boys gangsters were after yesterday morning at the local McDonald's fast food restaurant. They had their eyes on the pair of $130 Nike Air Jordans worn by an unsuspecting man coming out of the restroom.

The men beat the 26-year-old victim, knocked him down, pulled off the blue and white tennis shoes, and then went on a mini crime spree before police caught up with them and took them into custody, police said. Nobody was seriously injured.

The drama began about 9:30 a.m. yesterday at the restaurant at Vineland Avenue and San Fernando Road. Carlos Silva, 20, and Edgar Lopez, 18, both documented members of the Vineland Boys gang, are accused of punching and kicking Tony Gudino as he came out of the McDonald's restroom and stealing his shoes, police said. Gudino was treated at a local hospital for bruises on his face and head and released.

After the attack the men then went to Sun Valley Park nearby, took a purse off a park bench, rifled through it and then when the owner's boyfriend grabbed it back, took a hammer out of a man's shopping cart and threatened him with it.

Read the rest here.

While rounding out the Saturday shift, Mr. Tong and I got into a great discussion about that classic of American crime cinema known as Point Break. Since I know all devoted readers of It's a Crime have already seen this great movie, with Special Agent Jonny Utah tracking the insidious gang of bank robbers known as "The Ex Presidents," I won't get into the specifics. If you haven't seen it, you owe it to yourself to do so as soon as possible. You can thank me later.

I will, however, direct your attention to this important fact that I located in the "goofs" section of the IMDB post.

Factual errors: While staking out the bank, Angelo (Gary Busey) reads the newspaper and makes a comment to the effect of, "That Calvin and Hobbes sure are funny!" However, it is evident that he is reading the Los Angeles Daily News, which did not carry Calvin and Hobbes.

Now that I know the Daily News played a role, I only appreciate this great film all the more. I mean, how can you go wrong with great dialog such as this?

Bodhi: It's basic dog psychology, if you scare them and get them peeing down their leg, they submit. But if you project weakness, that promotes violence, and that's how people get hurt.
Roach: Peace, through superior firepower.

I got an interesting call yesterday from Marta Wilson, who's married to Irish Mike, a minor character in the David Steinberg murder case. She told me that her husband, mentioned briefly in my story on the trial's opening statements, was back in jail and having a rough time. Apparently, some inmates had gotten ahold of the paper and thought he was involved in the trial as a snitch. She told me he'd gotten in a few fistfights over it.

This is a potentially very serious issue, given that Tony Shane Wilson, another witness known as "Shankster Gangster," got stabbed in the face with a razor after he agreed to testify against his alleged crime partner Steinberg.

Though I haven't been back since the first day, I would like to set this straight: Irish Mike didn't testify against Steinberg. His wife described an incident where Steinberg came to their house and threatened another man known as Joey, but Irish Mike wasn't called as a witness, nor did her testimony have anything to do with the actual murder charge. So while I don't know if it'll make a difference for him in the can, I hope that things get straightened out and he's not roughed up just because the DA mentioned his name in her opening statement.

David Hans Schmidt
Here's an odd twist to the David Hans Schmidt case... after agreeing to plead guilty to trying to shake down Tom Cruise for a million bucks for stolen wedding pictures, Schmid appears to have killed himself.

Here's the full text:

PHOENIX - A man who agreed to plead guilty in a plot to extort more than $1 million from Tom Cruise for the actor's stolen wedding photos was found dead in his home, authorities said.

He also claimed to have brokered deals to sell a sex video of Dustin Diamond, who played Screech on "Saved by the Bell," and a video of skater Tonya Harding's wedding night, according to published reports. He also claimed to have obtained topless shots of rescued U.S. Army POW Pfc. Jessica Lynch.

Earlier:
As promised, more Cruise intrigue.
Sleaze sultan screws up while scamming sexy Scientologist.
The Smoking Gun story.

From our sister paper, the Long Beach Press-Telegram, we offer you this flat-out bizarre story of a man, a cop, no clothes and an arrest.

LONG BEACH - The belligerent, naked man accused of assaulting a Long Beach police officer near a popular Westside delicatessen last week is a Los Angeles County probation officer, authorities said Friday.

Officials with the Los Angeles County Probation Department were unavailable to comment Friday, but Long Beach Police Cmdr. Laura Farinella confirmed that Walton was a "new probation officer" assigned to the Los Angeles area.

For the rest, click here.

I don't know what circumstances led to Mr. Walton's alleged adventure, but whatever the case, it sounds like he had one heck of a bad birthday.

This one popped up this morning and I'm still scratching my head. We may have more or this later, but in the meantime, here's the story:

WOODLAND HILLS -- Narcotics investigators uncovered a suspected ecstasy lab at a home in the 20700 block of Martha Street belonging to an Amgen scientist, the Los Angeles Police Department reported today.

Officers arrested 37-year-old Stefan Schmiedberg, who works at Thousand Oaks-based biotech giant Amgen Inc. on suspicion of conspiracy to manufacture drugs.

I'll post updates later, but in the meantime, click on this link to get the story on DailyNews.com.

Our colleague Ms. Maeshiro has a wild tale out of Lancaster which I'll excerpt below. What really got me was the headline: "Salsa-slayer gets 11 years behind bars."

LANCASTER - A 19-year-old Lancaster man has been ordered to serve 11 years in prison for throwing a bottle of salsa that fatally injured a volunteer collecting donations for the homeless.

Peterson pleaded no contest Wednesday to voluntary manslaughter after prosecutors agreed to dismiss a charge of murder. He was sentenced to 11 years.

The whole story's here.

It just reminds you how fragile life can be, where an innocent guy tries to do the right thing and gets killed over some candy and a bottle of sauce. That's a true tragedy.

I stumbled across this one yesterday morning and it turned out to be a pretty unusual story...

PACOIMA - Long before they arrested Ali Shahryarinejad on Thursday, Department of Motor Vehicles investigators suspected that he gave a customer the ultimate hard sell.

"Al goes behind his desk and gets an assault rifle," Ortiz said. "He racks it, points it at him and says, `You know who I am?' The guy thinks he's going to die."

For the rest, click here.

Now I've been in some tough negotiations over money and cars in my life. One involved my dad and some fake tears that got him a substantial discount on a used Honda. The last involved me almost getting tossed out of a guy's office because I offered a price he found to be insulting. I ended up getting several thousand knocked off in repairs and got a free, though rather crummy, stereo out of the deal.

But never have I seen gunplay used as a way to talk someone's price down. If the DMV investigators are correct in their allegations and the case holds up, Mr. Shahryarinejad won't be employing an assault weapon as a bargaining chip again.

I have a feeling this is going to be a grim day. Rachel's got the early news:

CALABASAS- A 20-year-old man was arrested today on suspicion of stabbing his mother to death in her home, authorities said.

He was booked at Lost Hills Sheriff's station on suspicion of murder.

I'm headed to Canoga Park High, where she taught, and Rick's going to head to the scene. More to come as soon as we get it-- sounds like a tragic day for the family, all around.

Ahh, the weekend fun continues! AP gets us another interesting piece, this one via PoliceLink.com. Read on:

HOBBS, N.M. - Some Lea County inmates set fires and broke toilets and windows after being told they would be allowed only one sausage at dinner. Jail officials said the inmates began yelling and banging on their doors in what they described in a news release as a "temper tantrum."

Some 33 prisoners were involved, Warden Jann Gartman said.

While I'm sure the sausage was very, very delicious, lighting your cell on fire doesn't seem like the best way to offer your compliments to the chef.

While most of our posts on foolishly criminal behavior focuses on inept crooks, they sadly don't have a monopoly on dumbness. That, tragically, extends to members of law enforcement at times, as well. The Associated Press gives us this bit, out of Muncie, Indiana.

Prosecutors have filed two misdemeanor charges against a former police officer who authorities say crashed a squad car while showing off for three female college students riding with him.

Lyons, a six-year veteran of the police force, resigned this month after being suspended over the Aug. 28 crash along a street outside a Ball State University residence hall complex.

For the rest, visit Officer.com.

From the files of "Gee Whiz, Wasn't That a Bad Idea," our sister paper, The Contra Costa Times gives us this story of a robbery gone horribly wrong.

ANTIOCH -- Antioch police unwittingly surprised two hapless burglars Tuesday night when officers -- and their dogs -- arrived for a training exercise at an abandoned building where the pair were attempting to steal copper wire.

To the burglars' dismay, the officers arrived at 6:12 p.m. at the 40,000-square-foot building at 1700 West 4th St.

Via Officer.com.

In my always entertaining tenure as the Saturday reporter, I've written many variants of cop briefs that involve "police are searching for a man" or "deputies seek a suspect." Never, my friends, have I run across this.

From the files of Dailynews.com, enjoy this story of how sheriff's deputies didn't even have to leave their office to pop a second suspect in a car burglary ring.

LOST HILLS - Sheriff's deputies arrested a suspected car burglar today after he showed up at the station seeking the wallet he left in among recovered stolen goods..

The investigation is currently underway, but Chew said several people reported their cars had been ransacked overnight. Information about the pair of suspects was limited to "they're two guys who've done this before... they're definitely familiar with the legal system."

Perhaps they ran across some of our earlier acquaintances, such as The Iguana in the Leg Mastermind or The Orange Glove/Fake Gun/Trashmouth Bandit or the Razr Robber, and felt a need to challenge them for the title of Dumb Criminal of the Day.

OK, I realize that I frequently tell people (particularly my long-suffering editor) that a particular story is either "The Best Story Ever" or "pure gold." Well, dear readers, this is the best pure gold story ever. In fact, it's so good, I'll upgrade it to The Best Pure Gold Story Ever!

Courtesy of Dailynews.com:

A Southland man who allegedly smuggled rare iguanas in his prosthetic leg while traveling from Fiji was indicted today, officials said.

James has been charged with one count of smuggling. If convicted, he faces a maximum of five years in prison.

Well, well, well, where to go with this? The suspected villain with a missing appendage, a la The Fugitive? The possibility that the alleged crook could be a pirate? Or the fact that this dude could get more than $10k a pop for iguanas?

Now if he's guilty of these crimes he's accused of, that's clearly terrible and wrong for him to be carting these poor lizards around in his fake leg, but I do have to admire his ability to generate return on investment. While a good prosthetic leg can run tens of thousands of dollars and plane tickets to Fiji aren't cheap, he made at least $30,000 bucks on this scam-- if he hadn't made the key mistake of bragging to an undercover fed, he'd have paid for his leg and gotten a couple trips to Fiji out of the deal.

But instead, he's in court and facing five years in prison. And something tells me if he goes to the slammer, the authorities will want to have a very, very close look at his leg before he heads to his cell.

Greg Hernandez, speed demon.

Our good friend and colleague Mr. Hernandez of Out in Hollywood seems to have a bit of a lead foot. Whilst on his way to Palm Springs, our man in Hollywood got caught by a cop with a radar gun. And while all my experiences getting pulled over have ended in tickets and general bad humor within my car, Herny actually found a way to enjoy the experience.

The enigmatic "Officer Studly"

Way to go, Greg. Let's hope that's the last time you run afoul of the law on vacation....

Greg behind the wheel.

Boy, did I head some strange things downtown the other day. My editor sent me to check in on The People vs. David Michael Steinberg. Mr. Steinberg, who does not appear to be unfamiliar with the legal system, stands accused of murdering his ex-friend and roommate, Chris Walsh. They were set to be co-defendants in a case involving shooting at an off-duty sheriff's deputy in Chatsworth, but Steinberg allegedly got fed up with Walsh and his old pal ended up stuffed in a trash can.

It was a strange day, shall we say. Rather than re-hashing the story, I'll put up a few quotes to see if they can capture the bizarre nature of the testimony. Keep in mind, this trial involves people named Mouse, Irish Mike, Shankster Gangster and Mr. Gadget. The prosecutor also promised to put a "porno queen" (from Canada, no less!) on the stand, but alas, I wasn't there for that excitement.

City officials are getting serious about graffiti in the Valley area, and they're getting pretty high tech. Kinda like a mini-me version of RoboCop, small cameras have been put up in the middle of the Valley to tell taggers to step away from the wall and leave the area, that according to a story written by our colleague Alex Dobuzinskis. It's called the FlashCam. It's solar-powered and not only talks using a recorded voice, but shines a light on you. Whoa! The city is putting three new FlashCam cameras in Councilwoman Wendy Greuel's East Valley district, where graffiti crews' work has tripled this year. She is putting up $35,000 in matching funds to help buy an additional 10, with residents and businesses expected to put up another $35,000 to buy those cameras. dailynews.com

There were a couple of significant events that occurred over the weekend, the Los Angeles Police Department reports. On Friday just before 2 p.m. a guy was shot in the leg in the 14700 block of Burbank Boulevard in Van Nuys. Apparently, the suspect and the victim had been arguing when the suspect retrieved a revolver from an unknown location and fired a round into the victim’s lower left leg. The victim was transported to Valley Presbyterian.

On Sunday, police took a report of a burglary. The crime occurred at 9:30 a.m. in the 7200 block of Matilija Avenue. The victim and his daughter were at home when the daughter heard noises near a window. She told her father, who came into the living room, as the suspect entered the house through the unlocked front door. The suspect looked at the victims and said he was looking for someone else and fled in unknown direction. When the victim looked outside the house, he found the screen to a window had been pried off the frame.

Wednesday night was a lovely evening to be out and about, unless you had a warrant out for your arrest. As the early fall sky, clear and pretty, spread out in a gorgeous sunset, the San Fernando Police Department set out to spoil the relaxation for folks who'd run afoul of the law.

On their list of the accused: a scamster who had some outstanding traffic warrants, a felony drunk driver, a perjurer, a vandal, a hit-and-run driver and the wife of an alleged drug dealer.

As promised, Rick's got the updated news on the BHS shooting arrests.

VAN NUYS - Police arrested two gang members Friday on suspicion of shooting a man Monday outside a restaurant near Birmingham High School, authorities said.

Montes, a North Hollywood resident, and the other man arrested, Walter Oswaldo Guerra, 18, of Van Nuys are both members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, police said.

For the full story and a map, click here to read the rest at Dailynews.com.

Rick's on the scene as we speak, but here's a quick link to Jason's early post on the arrest of two Mara Salvatrucha members for a pair of shootings near Birmingham High School in Van Nuys.

Here's the top:

In that shooting, a 23-year-old man was shot in the leg and elbow by two Latino males who approached him as he sat at a Jack In The Box Restaurant on Vanowen Street, just east of Balboa Boulevard, near Birmingham High School, said LAPD Sgt. Teresa Wilson.

Read the rest at DailyNews.com and we'll try to get ya more as soon as we can.

Gee, it's been a few months since OJ Simpson has made his way into the news. Well, he's back, listed as a suspect in a hotel room break-in involving some of his own(?) sports memorabilia.

From the A.P. story:
LAS VEGAS - Investigators questioned O.J. Simpson and named him a suspect today a break-in at a casino hotel room involving sports memorabilia.

Simpson was released after he and several associates were questioned, but he is considered a suspect in the case, Montoya said. He is believed to be in Las Vegas.

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

Our colleague Pat Aidem out of Santa Clarita had a fascinating piece today about the arrest of an accused rapist of two women who were held at knifepoint in their homes. The arrest of Adrian Arriano, 29, twice deported to his native Mexico, sent jitters through one of America's safest cities. He was arrested after allegedly trying to break into a Newhall woman's apartment. DNA evidence is being processed, with results due in two weeks. dailynews.com

Gunmen held up a Pizza Hut last night, jumping the counter and taking almost a few hundred bucks from the register. It went down at 10 last night at 23717 Victory Blvd. It looks like it might be connected to a robbery at a Kentucky Fried Chicken at 19200 Ventura Blvd., in Tarzana on Sunday. Yeah, you read it right. A Sunday. The men apparently bought some food in both cases, then pulled out a blue steel pistol and demanded cash. In the KFC heist, the men made off with a couple thousands dollars, said Los Angeles Police Detective Larry Dolley.

In the pizza caper, the men also ordered food and when they went to pay, approached a clerk working the cash register, while one man pointed a gun at the clerk and demanded money. A second man jumped the counter and took the money out of the register before taking off. Nobody was injured.

Both men were described as black. One was 5 foot 6, 200 pounds, aged 20-25. He had a quarter-inch scar under his right eye. The second guy is 6 foot 2, 160 pounds, 20-25-years-old. He had a blue steel pistol. No getaway car was seen.

Police were searching for a male and female duo who have been posing as sheriff's deputies - complete with khaki colored clothing, "Sheriff's' cap, and realistic-looking badge - detaining pedestrians in the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles and making off with a couple thousand dollars in cash since July. 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.

The fine folks at PoliceLink offer up this story of a alleged toe-licking robber in St. Paul.

According to the story, originally reported by AP, a guy robbed a woman as she left work around 1 a.m. on Saturday. He's accused of demanding her cell phone, her keys, and, to top it all off, that she take off her shoes. The 27-year-old assailant then got down on the ground and licked her toes. He took off running and cops caught him four blocks away.

Commander Kevin Casper termed it "weird sexual behavior."

At the time of the report, the suspected licker was in custody but had not been charged. One wonders what the crime would be: lewd, lascivious conduct upon a toe? Whatever the case, let's chalk this up as revolting.

PANORAMA CITY - A reputed member of a Van Nuys tagging crew called Notorious Criminals tried to flee police on a Razr Scooter the other day after he and an accomplice allegedly held up a man for his beer, police said. dailynews.com

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.

It's late, but I didn't want to let the day escape without directing your attention to Rick's excellent story on Rebecca Ramirez's long-simmering anger over the alleged murder of her daughter. He crafts the beginning with a compelling hook that snared me and kept me for the entire story:

SHERMAN OAKS - Rebecca Ramirez lives with anger. You can see it burned into her eyes, hear it in the tension in her voice - it consumes her.

"He's going to pay for what he did to my daughter," Ramirez said. "All she did was love him."

Now that, dear readers, is good writing. Our condolences go to Ms. Ramirez along with our wishes that Victoria's killer will be brought to justice soon.

But every once in a while you hear about these kinds of stories where the thief shows up to the crime scene after committing the crime. Well, here's one of those, allegedly - a little higher profile than many because of who the victim was. A 50-year-old homeless man was arrested at the same location he is accused of burglarizing over two weeks ago - the offices of Congressman Xavier Becerra on Sunset Boulevard in West Los Angeles, a detective said this morning. dailynews.com

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

In case you missed it yesterday afternoon, here's the latest on the Porter Ranch park stabbing that occurred over the weekend of Aug. 25-26. I found out by searching through arrest reports that one of the two men wanted in connection was arrested for possession of a heroin needle sometime after the killing, released and then arrested later in connnection with the slaying.

Here's the story I wrote yesterday.

NORTHRIDGE - An 18-year-old Northridge man accused in the grisly park stabbing death of a 33-year-old homeless man was arrested in the hours after the murder in connection with possession of a heroin needle, but was released.

The suspect was arrested later on murder charges in West Los Angeles after trying to run from police.

Quinn Alexander Marez, a student, was arrested at 7 p.m. on Aug. 26 on the possession charge at his Northridge home, about seven hours after police found the bloodied body of Daniel Edward Koch laying face down in a creek. Marez was released from custody on that misdemeanor offense the next day on a written promise to appear in court.

Police said that when he was released on the misdemeanor charge Marez was a "person of interest" in the murder investigation, although they wouldn''t give specifics about the time line, said Los Angeles Police Lt. Tom Murrell. At some point, they said they had witnesses who could identify the men as suspects.

Police believe Marez and another man, Justin Thalheimer, 18, of Northridge, stabbed Koch after an argument late Aug. 25 or early Aug. 26 at Limekiln Canyon Park. The three apparently knew each other and had been drinking when an argument broke out, police said.

Police arrested Marez at 10 p.m. Tuesday after spotting him get off a bus in West Los Angeles. He was booked on suspicion of murder into the Los Angeles County Jail with bail set at $1 million. Prosecutors filed murder charges against him today. A judge issued an arrest warrant for Thalheimer, who is on the run.

At the time of Marez's arrest on Tuesday, he was out on bail in a case from July. He was due to appear in a Van Nuys courtroom yesterday to face charges of driving without the owner's consent, receiving stolen property, and narcotics possession, according to the court. A warrant was issued for his arrest when he did not show up in that case because the court was apparently not aware that he was already in custody in connection with the murder case.

Cops today were looking for the culprits behind what appears to be a distraction theft in Woodland Hills. A woman rang the doorbell Wednesday about 11 a.m. at a house in the 5500 block of Valerie Avenue. When the victim opened the door, the woman said she was from an unknown company and then her partner pulled a pistol out of his pants and pointed it at the victim.

Frightened, the victim slammed the door and ran out back to her neighbor’s house. And the thieves took off.

A few months back, I reported about a string of similar crimes - distraction thefts - occurring in the San Fernando Valley. Groups of two or three people pose as workers for the Department of Water and Power or act like they are neighbors who lost their cat and lure the victims to the backyard while their accomplices go through the house, stealing jewelry, cash, purses, whatever valuables they can find. Don't know if this one is connected yet, but my hunch is that it is not because in most cases the thieves don't pull guns. Most cases are not violent. Regardless, folks should be vigilant about not opening doors for anyone, unless you are expecting someone, of course.

Sometimes you gotta wonder what these crooks are thinking. Someone broke into the offices of state Senator Xavier Becerra's office on Sunset Boulevard and stole a laptop computer, video and digital cameras. Apparently the guy pried through the door to get in, and, get this, signed in on a lobby roster indicating he was going to visit an office on the seventh floor, but craftily went to the fifth instead. He also tried to break into another office on the sixth floor, but failed. cbs2.com

This one's a few weeks old, but still oh-so-entertaining. From our friends at the Associated Press, by way of PoliceLink.com we've got this entertaining bit of news about a Georgia woman who called the cops when her crack turned out whack.

It seems that Juanita Marie Jones, 53, of Rochelle, Ga., purchased $20 worth of coke from a dealer. After smoking one portion of the rock, she determined it to be of subpar quality and became frustrated. Unfortunately, the dealer didn't offer a money-back guarantee, so she felt motivated to call the authorities to get her money back.

Now I've heard of gangsters trying to get the cops to intervene in their beefs before, but this one reaches new levels of ridiculousness. I mean, c'mon, we all know that when you get bad drugs, you're supposed to call the customer service hotline printed on the package to lodge a complaint. Let's use a little common sense here, folks.

Lt. Tony Ruelas
As astute It's a Crime readers could probably surmise from the increase in San Fernando PD posts in recent weeks, we've been spending a lot of time getting to know the folks over there. They're definitely an interesting bunch. Today's piece tells their story, or at least a slice of it.

Here's a little of the back story on how the piece came together...

Detective Anthony Vairo, center, prepares the SFPD raid team for entry to a suspected drug dealer's home.
SAN FERNANDO _ The cops shifted around, loading and checking their guns, joking with each other as the sun splayed out across the Thursday morning sky. The colors above them shifted from grey to silver to yellow to baby blue as they zipped their protective vests and strapped on helmets.

"If these guys resist or give you problems, I have no problem with you using force," said Lt. Tony Ruelas, the San Fernando Police Department's commander of detectives. "Some guy resists, says 'F--- you,' take him down. All right, now just for S&G, let's pretend Bill takes a hit. What do we do?"

Here's an updated link for the story Jason and I collaborated on about the stabbing death of Danny Koch, who was found dead in a creek in Limekiln Canyon Park last Sunday. The watch commander told me later that they suspect Koch used to buy Marez and Thalheimer beer and that they got into some argument over the weekend.

I thought Det. Fesperman made a good point that we often forget: every homicide victim has a family. While it's easy to dismiss Danny Koch, since he lived in a park and didn't have a regular job. But in speaking to his parents and family members yesterday, it was clear that he meant a lot to them. Here's hoping they'll be able to find some closure soon and that his killers will turn up quickly.

Police today sought two men in connection with a brutal stabbing of a 33-year-old homeless man whose body was found in a creek Sunday afternoon. dailynews.com

But he looked like such a normal guy....

Paul Addis was like a lot of people who dig Burning Man. He journeyed out to the Nevada desert, painted his face up with all kinds of crazy designs and looked forward to ceremonially lighting the namesake statue on fire. Unfortunately for the thousands of other attendees, Addis allegedly couldn't wait for the last one.

The statue was supposed to burn in four days, but sheriff's deputies say Addis sped up the clock by lighting the immense effigy up himself early Tuesday. He was arrested and booked in the Pershing County, Nev. jail on suspicion of arson, illegal possession of fireworks, destruction of property and resisting a public officer.

Now who'd have thought that the combination of neo-hippies in costume, free spirits, drugs and a giant, flammable statue would end badly? Whatever the case, this dude, a 35-year-old performance artist from San Francisco, is so totally not invited to the next incarnation of Woodstock.

This can't top Jason's post on the Mary Kay G-ride, but I thought it was pretty darn amusing.

Our friends at L.A. Noir shared this tale of a man, a home, a too-large posterior and a too-small chimney. It seems that this would-be Santa Claus attempted to turn a fireplace out in West Covina into a door. Unfortunately for him, as he crept down toward the living room, he became firmly ensconced.

Residents heard him thrashing around, called the cops and had him removed, first from the chimney, then from greater society.

Mr. Blackmoore, who has a tremendous knack for digging up these weirdo crimes, offers this:
Unfortunately for the homeowners they couldn't pull him back out again and had to dismantle the chimney.

Me, I'd have gotten onto the roof and dropped [we censored this for our more delicate It's a Crime readers, but Blackmoore employs a colorful metaphor for 'stuff'] on him 'til the extra weight popped him out the bottom. Bowling balls are good for that sort of thing. Hey, they're gonna take apart my chimney, might as well have some fun.

The gentleman was arrested on suspicion of burglary, and, perhaps a little time in jail, doing push-ups and sit-ups with his cellies, will do him good. Unfortunately, the story didn't provide details on whether eight tiny reindeer were found on the rooftop going click-click-click.

Elsewhere, CBS2.com posted the original link to the AP story.

A 32-year-old woman suffered fatal wounds from a stabbing on the patio of an alcoholics anonymous meeting and her alleged killer, a 23-year-old homeless man was in custody in connection with the case. dailynews.com

The Los Angeles Police Department launched its end-of-the-summer raids in North Hollywood on Friday.

More than 150 officers from the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, Los Angeles Unified School District Police, Burbank Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, California Department of Corrections and Los Angeles County Probation focused on gangs and tagging crews linked to criminal activity in the North Hollywood and Sun Valley communities.

The operation went down at 6 a.m.

The cops served probation and parole compliance checks, arrest and warrant searches at 58 locations. A dozen people were arrested, including four juveniles. The gangs and tagging crews targeted were the Vineland Boys, 18th Street, North Hollywood Locos, North Hollywood Boys and Clanton (C-14).

18th Street is listed as one of the department's top targeted gangs.

Cops recovered three firearms, two machetes, narcotics including methamphetamine and marijuana, and several shaved keys that are believed to be used to steal cars.

Cops also say they seized a wealth of intelligence on gang activity in the eastern corner of the Valley.

The raids come as police report that gang-related crimes have increased in North Hollywood by 24 percent over last last year to date. In a recent four-week period, police in North Hollywood reported a 54.5 percent drop.

As of July 30, gang crime in the Valley is up 5.9 percent, a total of 47-additional crimes. While gang homicides are down 4.3 percent -- 22 through July 30 compared to 23 during the same time period last year -- some of the increase in gang crime can be attributed to more assaults against cops. This time last year, there had been seven; so far this year there have been 22, an increase of over 200 percent.

Through Aug. 18 crime is down 1.7 percent. That includes a 24 percent reduction in homicides - 42 compared with 55.

Cops say that gang crime accounts for 22 percent of of all crime in the Valley.

Last time I went to court, the judge had a big sign on the wall prohibiting sandals and shorts in his courtroom. Well, thanks to our friends at the Associated Press in Dallas, we can share with you the story of a man who ditched the shorts, sandals and everything else.

DALLAS — A man stripped naked inside a Dallas County courthouse and tried to grab a weapon from an officer who attempted to subdue him, officials said.
A receptionist saw the 33-year-old man taking off his clothes on the 11th floor of the court building near the district attorney’s office on Thursday, authorities reported. She called for help, and a prosecutor chased the man into a stairwell.
An officer was trying to help the prosecutor when the man placed his hand on the officer’s weapon, officials said.
The man faces a charge of trying to take a weapon from a peace officer.

Ohhh-kayyyy.... No word on why he got buck naked or why he decided to allegedly grab the cop's gun. But whatever the case, I'm sure he'll have a very interesting time telling his side of things in court. I'd imagine the deputies will make sure his jumpsuit's zipped extra tight.

Jason and I had a fascinating talk with Tony Rafael the other day, who's both the author of the recently released The Mexican Mafia and moderator of In the Hat. I've only read the first few chapters, but so far, it's pretty riveting stuff.

I wanted to talk to Rafael for a project I'm working on regarding gang origins. In Southern California, Sureño territory, you can't really tell the story of street gangs without including the influence of the prison gang known as Mexican Mafia, also known by its Spanish initial, La Eme. I'll save the good stuff for later, but in the meantime, here's some interesting tidbits.

A follow-home robbery ended in a donnybrook Tuesday night when the victim fought with his assailant in a Panorama City home. dailynews.com

Here are a couple of interesting cop stories I found this morning that will get your day started off.

• Police are investigating whether two more hospitals may have dumped patients on Skid Row. AP via kfwb.com

  
  

• Former Deputy U.S. Marshal Richard Carl Eaton, a Burbank resident, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of passport fraud. burbankleader.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

Two guys apparently Jonesn' for a fix of OxyContin and Dilaudid held up a drugstore on Aug. 11. The problem was that they were being filmed by a store surveillance camera and now cops are looking for folks to help identify the men.

The drama began Saturday, around 11:40 a.m., when the men, described as black entered the AD-RX Pharmacy at 6240 Wilshire Boulevard. They walked past the front counter to the rear of the business. One man, armed with a gun, confronted three employees and then demanded the name brand pharmaceutical drugs OxyContin and Dilaudid. When workers informed the suspect that the drugs were not available, he pistol-whipped two of the employees.

The second suspect was not armed and served as a lookout.

The suspects stole Vicodin and Tylenol 3 before fleeing the pharmacy.

The first suspect was in his 40s, 5'7" tall, 200 pounds, with a light complexion. The second suspect was in his 30s, 5'10" tall, 170 pounds, also with a light complexion.

The store employees received minor injuries and did not require hospitalization.

Anyone with information is asked to call Wilshire Robbery Detectives at (213) 922-8205. On weekends and during off-hours, phone the 24-hour toll-free Detective Information Desk at
1-877-LAW-FULL (877-529-2855).

Courtesy of our friend, Mr. Kandel, we have this story:

RESEDA - Two men were injured early Sunday with a three-foot machete in a fight at a Reseda duplex and two men were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in the attack, police said.

Police didn't know what set the men off, but alcohol may have been involved.

Booze prompting a fight between roommates? I'm shocked.

I once had a roommate who left his dirty underwear in my bed and habitually kept all the lights in the apartment on at the same time, but even when he left his porn in my VCR while my girlfriend was visiting, I resisted the urge to attack him with a machete. Let's hope the accused and the victim are able to patch things up.

LAPD's vice squad snapped up 17 guys and gals while targeting hookers on my home street of Sepulveda Boulevard on Friday night. I've never been so glad to have been out of town.

And the johns weren't John Does, either. Wanna read the names of the accused? Oh, come on, you know you do: click here to see the official news release, complete with the names and communities of the folks who got caught.

A convicted sex offender wanted for questioning in connection with the disappearance of an Orange County college student is in Los Angeles police custody in on an unrelated charge. Police said that 35-year-old John Burgess was the last person seen with 19-year-old Donna Jou on the night that she vanished. knbc.com

A man severely beat a woman in a rape attempt in the courtyard of a Glendale church but was interrupted by a good Samaritan who stabbed him repeatedly with a pocket knife. dailynews.com

Calvin Sharp
Here's the updated post on the stomach-turning case of the cleaver-wielding killer. Rick ran out to get the details and I worked the phones. I can't even imagine how horrible the scene must have been for all involved. We heard a report, but couldn't confirm it, that the little boy stepped in between his alleged killer and his mother before he was butchered. When Sandra Ruiz stepped in to protect her child, she nearly suffered the same fate.

I see from the comments on the Ventura County Star's Web site that many people would have liked to see bystanders or the police kill Sharp, who's accused of these heinous crimes. I don't think any of us can honestly say what we'd really do in that situation, whether we'd rise up like the two neighbors who saved the day, or stand there fearfully. I hope I never have to find out. Whatever the case, the neighbors sound like the real heroes in this. Hopefully, we'll be able to update you on who they were and why they exhibited such courage under duress.

Elsewhere, the Times was also on the scene early and did a nice job with it.

Click below to read the whole thing.

Rick's on his way to the scene of this horrible homicide, so we'll get you the details as they materialize. In the meantime, here's the early version:

NEWBURY PARK — A Sunday night attack with a meat cleaver left a little boy dead, his mother severely wounded and Calvin Sharp under arrest, sheriff’s deputies reported today.
Neighbors said in news reports that Sharp screamed “Die! Die!” as he chopped the 6-year-old in the head with the blade, then attacked 33-year-old Sandra Ruiz when she tried to stop him.
Neighbors pounced on the 28-year-old man, knocking the butcher’s tool away and restraining him until the arrival of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.
Deputies shot Sharp with a stun gun several times and arrested him.
Ruiz is in critical condition at Los Robles Medical Center. A neighbor who helped in the struggle for the cleaver was treated for a cut to the face and released.

Elsewhere:
Ventura County Star
LA Times

Armando Eugene Sanchez?
The FBI didn't even have to come up with a clever name for this suspected bandit, opting instead for the one his mamma gave him: Armando Eugene Sanchez.

On August 7, Sanchez, 29, allegedly held up the Washington Mutual Bank in Camarillo and fled in a tan Ford Taurus that was later found abandoned on the 101 freeway. Employees and customers fingered Sanchez after looking over a photographic lineup. Prior to the alleged robbery, the Santa Ana resident registered as a sex offender and is now a parolee at large.

There's a federal warrant out for his arrest, so if you happen to notice a pudgy 5-foot-7 man who weighs around 195 lbs. and has brown hair and brown eyes with "Ruby" and "I'll Always Love My Mamma" tattooed on his chest, call the FBI. Agent Derrel Craig would love to hear from you at (805) 677-7348 or (805) 857-6429.

As a note on his tattoos (a subject we previously had much fun with Aryan Brotherhood member wears his heart on his face on an earlier post), do you suppose the mom he'll always love is proud that her son's a sex offender wanted for bank robbery? I think if I were her, I'd suggest he change to something like "I'll Always Love Mamma Mia!" or "I'll Always Love My Mamma's Cooking."

Police today were searching for two men who held up a Jon's Market and threatened to shoot one of the employees, before making off with $1,470 in cash and property. dailynews.com

I meant to put these up last night, but got waylaid by some carne asada that then sent me to an early sleep. My apologies and happy reading.

Tony Castro's got a sad tale of an LAPD-FBI probe that uncovered a baker's dozen of alleged perverts. Unfortunately, the Valley had more than its fare share and, as Deputy Chief Moore points out, they seem like normal guys.

"These are faces of a typical American," Moore said. "They approach this as if they are on a date with another consenting adult. They romance or pursue these individuals in such a manner, as well.
"And of course, as parents, we need to be mindful that these are people who are very effective in this pursuit."

And, in a happier note, Burbank has a new police chief. Our colleague Angie Valencia has the of Tim Stehr taking over the department where he's worked for 28 years. In the normally sleepy town, he got a hot welcome week with a triple fatal last Thursday. Hopefully, things will settle down a bit in weeks to come.

A Los Angeles police officer fatally shot a man Thursday night after he tried to choke another officer. latimes.com

Maribel Rodriguez Vasquez

The FBI announced today that it's in search of Maribel Rodriguez Vasquez, a fugitive on the lam for her role in a prostitution ring. According to the press release, the feds and the US Attorney's office accuse Rodriguez and her family of running a sex-trafficking ring from Guatemala. Now that she's on the run, the FBI believes she may have gone into the family business and begun working as a prostitute herself.

They also helpfully included the cheesy photographs of Ms. Rodriguez Vasquez, whom they describe as "in her early thirties, 5'2", approximately 130-140 lbs (though her weight is known to fluctuate). ... probably speaks English with a Spanish accent, and may have changed her hair-style/color." As a little note to myself, I'm gonna go throw out my old prom pictures, lest I ever be accused of a crime and have them distributed to ID me.

With a classy outfit like this, it's hard to believe she could be involved in prostitution

All kidding aside, if the things she and her family are accused of are true, it's pretty heinous stuff. If you know anything about it, the FBI would love to hear from you at (310) 477-6565.

Here's a early version of the story Eugene and Rick are chasing after. From the sound of it in the newsroom, things were pretty nasty.

San Fernando's usually a pretty quiet town, with little in the way of the violent crime that mars surrounding parts of the Northeast Valley. It's only had one shooting this year, but that was enough to get the City Council riled up earlier this week.

On July 2, a suspected gang member showed up in San Fernando and got into a beef with some locals. He disappeared for a few hours and returned to the 1100 block of Kewen Street slightly before 10 p.m. He lurked next to a dumpster, then popped out and drew down on two guys walking home from a nearby store.