Author: Nita Lelyveld

Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks had tears in his eyes Monday afternoon as he announced the arrest of a 20-year-old Ventura man in the stabbing deaths of a Faria Beach couple last year.

Joshua Graham Packer was arrested Sunday and has been charged with three counts of murder in the deaths of Brock and Davina Husted last May. The third count is because Davina was six months pregnant at the time of her death.

Brooks said the Sheriff’s Department identified Packer through a DNA match after he was arrested on felony charges in Santa Barbara and his DNA was entered into a federally funded identification system.

The match was made about two weeks ago, said Gary Pentis, a chief deputy for the Sheriff’s Department. Deputies arrested Packer on another, unspecified charge, then released him and kept him under surveillance in order to obtain more evidence in the slayings of the Husteds.

Packer also was charged with two counts of robbery. He is to be arraigned Tuesday in Ventura County Superior Court.

Authorities would not say what was taken from the Husteds’ home in the gated community. There was no indication, however, that the suspect knew the Husteds, said Pentis.

The Husteds, both 42, died of multiple stab wounds. Their two children, ages 9 and 11, were in the house when the killings occurred.

"This is a very huge milestone," said Scott Husted, Brock’s brother, who spoke at the news conference. He described Packer as "a sick individual who came to rob them. Something went wrong and he killed them."

Sheriff’s officials said they had found no connection between the slaying of the Husteds and the subsequent stabbing death of Wendy DiRodio in the Ventura Keys community two weeks later.

— Steve Chawkins in Ventura

Photo: Family photo

Authorities are investigating whether an early-morning fire Monday at a Hemet police shooting range is another in a recent series of attacks on the department.

The fire at the remote training facility off Warren Road broke out shortly after 2 a.m. Much of the building was destroyed in the blaze.

"In light [of] the incidents involving our department over the past three months, we are investigating the possibility that this is related," said Hemet Police Capt. Dave Brown. "But we will not speculate at this point until the investigators are able to complete their work." 

Officers have been on high alert in the wake of four attacks apparently targeting Hemet police and city property since January. The first was on New Year’s Day when someone redirected natural-gas lines at the offices of the Hemet-San Jacinto Gang Task Force, making an explosion possible.

A second incident featured a homemade firearm rigged to go off when the gate to the parking lot at the gang task force facility was opened. The bullet narrowly missed an officer.

The third involved what police called a deadly device affixed to the bottom of an unmarked police car that fell off before it could activate. And on March 23, four code-enforcement trucks were torched behind City Hall the day after someone threatened to burn a police car.

There is a $200,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever is behind the attacks.

— David Kelly

Photo: Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, center, attends a news conference Hemet Police Chief Richard Dana last month. Credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times

A former Los Angeles County assistant fire chief was sentenced Friday to 90 days in jail and three years’ probation after being convicted of beating a puppy so severely outside his Riverside home last year that it had to be euthanized.

Glynn Johnson, 55, will serve his jail time on weekends. He is also required to take anger-management courses and perform 400 hours of community service working with dogs. 

Johnson was found guilty in Riverside County Superior Court of animal cruelty and using a deadly weapon, a 12-pound rock, to beat Karley, a mixed-breed German shepherd.

The case has drawn wide attention, especially from animal-rights groups. For weeks leading up to Johnson’s arrest, protesters rallied in front of the district attorney’s office asking that he be prosecuted.

Johnson was accused of beating the dog after a long feud with his neighbors over various issues in 2008. Prosecutors said Johnson put dog feces in his neighbors’ mailbox with a letter warning them to keep their dogs off his property.

— David Kelly in Riverside

Photo: Retired Los Angeles County assistant fire chief Glynn Johnson,55, hugs his daughter Erica after he was sentenced to 90 days in jail and three years’ probation after being convicted of beating a puppy so severely outside his Riverside home last year that it had to be euthanized. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times

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A board member of Ventura County’s Rio School District pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that he sexually molested a young girl over a five-year period and fathered her child.

Brian E. Martin, 49, entered the plea during a brief session in Ventura County Superior Court.

A mechanic and electrician, Martin has been on the Rio district’s board of trustees since 2006. He has been active in many community organizations, including the El Rio Little League.

Prosecutors disclosed that they dropped a charge of sexual acts with a child under 10 because the statute did not take effect until September 2006, when the alleged victim was already older than 10. If convicted, Martin faces a possible prison term of about 25 years, Deputy Dist. Atty. Anthony Wold said.

Free on $250,000 bail, he is charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child and causing great bodily injury — a reference, Wold said, to the girl’s pregnancy. She reportedly was one of his wife’s relatives.

The Rio School District runs six elementary schools and two middle schools that serve the unincorporated area of El Rio and parts of Oxnard.

— Steve Chawkins in Ventura

Calling it a form of "urban terrorism," Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown and Riverside County officials asked Thursday for the public’s help in finding those responsible for at least three recent attempts to kill members of a gang task force based in Hemet.

They also offered a $200,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the suspects.

"It is incredible and even unprecedented for police officers here to be subject to terrorist attack," Brown said at a Riverside news conference. "We have seen it south of the border but not here yet."

All of the attacks on the Hemet-San Jacinto Gang Task Force involved some sort of booby trap.

In December someone redirected a gas line to flood the task force’s offices with gas so any spark would cause an explosion. In February, a handgun was hidden by the office gate. When a gang officer opened the gate, the gun went off, narrowly missing the officer. And two weeks ago a suspicious device was found near a task force member’s unmarked car.

On Wednesday, a countywide sweep directed against the Vagos motorcycle gang led to 30 arrests. Riverside County Dist. Atty. Rod Pacheco said the gang, which has a major presence in Hemet, had a history of attacking police officers. But he refused to publicly tie them to the recent incidents.

"It’s not that I cannot make a connection. It’s just that I am not here to do that today," he said.

Pacheco said the Hemet-San Jacinto area has about 2,000 gang members.

"Hemet has become ground zero for gangs in Riverside County," he said.

— David Kelly from Riverside

Photo: California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown. Credit: Ben Margot / Associated Press

The West Hollywood City Council is expected Tuesday night to approve an ordinance that would prohibit most sales of dogs and cats in pet stores.

The measure, which was unanimously approved at its first reading two weeks ago, is the city’s latest piece of animal welfare legislation.

About a decade ago, city leaders rewrote city statutes to replace "pet" with "companion" and "owner" with "guardian." In 2003, West Hollywood became the first city in the country to outlaw cat declawing.

The law being considered now — called the Ordinance Prohibiting the Sale of Dogs and Cats in Companion Animal Stores — would not be the nation’s first. Last year, South Lake Tahoe adopted an ordinance banning the retail sale of dogs and cats, which, like the West Hollywood law, was aimed at curtailing puppy mills.

If approved, West Hollywood’s ordinance would go into effect March 19. No businesses would be immediately affected, said Councilman Jeffrey Prang, because there are no pet stores that sell cats and dogs within city limits. [Updated at 2:14: A previous version of this post said there were no pet stores within city limits.] The ordinance also includes exemptions for humanely bred, reared or sheltered animals.

Prang said it was no coincidence that West Hollywood, a national hub of progressive politics, would approve such an ordinance.

"People who have compassion for human rights tend to have a similar compassion to all living creatures," Prang said.

Besides, he said, "We have many, many pet guardians in our city."

— Kate Linthicum

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Embattled Riverside Police Chief Russ Leach stepped down Thursday night three days after he crashed a city-owned car in an accident that remains under investigation.

According to a statement from Riverside City Manager Bradley Hudson, Leach, 61, will retire for "medical reasons" effective immediately.

Hudson said "a sweeping internal affairs investigation" into the Riverside Police Department’s response to the chief’s early morning crash is underway with oversight provided by former Riverside County Dist. Atty. Grover Trask.

A police report released Thursday said Leach was confused when stopped after the single-car crash, which occurred about 3 a.m. Monday. On the report, a box marked “HBD – impairment unknown” had been checked. HBD means “has been drinking” but there is no evidence Leach was given a field sobriety test.

Leach drove three miles on front tires that were burned down to the rims after his car jumped a curb and hit a fire hydrant and a light pole. Police said he was driving the wrong way down the street.

The accident is being investigated by the California Highway Patrol.

— David Kelly

Riverside Police Chief Russell Leach crashed a city-owned vehicle about 3 a.m. Monday, going off the road and hitting a light post and a fire hydrant, authorities said Tuesday.

"Chief Leach was driving on Central Avenue and allowed his car to drift off the road," said California Highway Patrol Inland Division Chief Jeff Talbot. "I understand that two of the tires were down to the rim."

The CHP is investigating the incident, but Talbot said it was too early in the investigation to determine the cause of the accident or whether alcohol was involved.

"As far as any impairment, I have no idea. We will have to rely on statements from the Riverside police officers who were at the scene. There was no arrest," he said. "We will have the vehicle in here tomorrow, and I have some officers going out to the scene."

Riverside’s city manager put out a brief statement Tuesday saying Leach had been involved in a single-car, non-injury crash. Leach has been placed on medical leave, the statement said.

Police spokeswoman Sgt. Jaybee Brennan would not comment except to say there had been an accident. She referred all questions to City Atty. Greg Priamos, who did not return calls for comment.

Talbot said Riverside Police Deputy Chief John De La Rosa contacted him Tuesday and asked the CHP to investigate the accident.

"He thought it would be in the best interests of everyone for us to do it," Talbot said. "They wanted us to come in because we are completely unbiased."

The CHP often handles such investigations when they involve other law enforcement agencies.

Leach recently helped lead a massive assault on the notorious East Side Riva gang in Riverside. And last Wednesday he warned against drinking and driving on Super Bowl Sunday.

"Designating a sober driver should be on the top of everyone’s Super Bowl party list," he said. "It’s just one of several easy steps to help save lives."

— David Kelly

Most people who get an MRI scan don’t arrive at the imaging center with two lifestyle coaches and a videographer in tow. But for Billi Gordon, simply having the usually routine procedure was a triumph.

Gordon, who was profiled in The Times last fall, had entered Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in September weighing 701 pounds and lugging around a huge and mysterious mass of skin that had been growing from his upper right thigh.

Too large to fit into an MRI machine for a scan of that mass, he embarked on a serious diet.

Five months of dieting later and 175 pounds lighter, Gordon, 55, finally had an MRI scan Tuesday at UCLA’s radiology center in Manhattan Beach. The bore of the machine accommodated the whole of Gordon’s 526-pound body.

"The bore fit like a mink," declared Gordon, a onetime comic actor who earned a doctorate to pursue research in neuroscience. Like many others who go through an MRI machine, his biggest problem was a touch of claustrophobia — that and a bit of a sore lower back. "I was lying there on my back thinking ‘I should have stretched more,’ " he said, recalling the advice of Jonathan Vakneen, one of the coaches who has been helping Gordon get fitter and healthier.

Although Gordon’s weight had dropped to the low 500s by last fall, other issues — health insurance approval, scheduling and another stay in the hospital over the Christmas holidays for an infection — prevented the procedure from taking place until Tuesday.

Results of the MRI will help his surgeon, Dr. Tim Neavin, decide whether he should operate. Meanwhile, Gordon has a reality TV series in the works about his life battling his food demons, among other things. "It’s going to be the hottest weight-loss show ever," he said with typical brio. "Not ‘The Biggest Loser.’ The biggest winner."

You can watch an audio slideshow of Billi Gordon here. 

— Carla Hall

Photo: Billi Gordon, left, with registered nurse Ade Ojelade in October 2009. Credit: Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times

An armada of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies swooped down on the leadership of Riverside’s most notorious gang Wednesday, making 50 arrests and seizing a small arsenal of weapons.

Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco, standing before a table with two caged rattlesnakes and a large number of guns and knives, said 650 officers targeted 100 homes throughout the neighborhood. The main target was the decades-old East Side Rivas, which has links to the Mexican Mafia and has been implicated in hate crimes. But members the 1200 Blocc Crips also were arrested. The two leaders of the East Side Rivas escaped.

The seized weapons including AK-47 assault rifles and armor piercing bullets.

"This unprecedented operation is part of my ongoing promise to bring hope and restoration to the people of Riverside," Pacheco said.

— David Kelly in Riverside

In a 9-3 vote, the Los Angeles City Council today gave its final approval to an ordinance that will shut down hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries and impose strict rules on the location and operation of the dispensaries that are allowed.

The measure passed quickly, without debate.

The ordinance, which the council first began discussing more than 4 1/2 years ago, will cap the number of dispensaries at 70 but make an exception to allow all those that registered with the city in 2007 and have remained open. City officials believe that number is around 150.

Hundreds of dispensaries have opened in Los Angeles as the City Council debated its proposed ordinance and failed to enforce a moratorium on new dispensaries. City officials believe there are more than 500 that will be required to close under the ordinance, but some are already preparing to sue the city and collect signatures to force a referendum on the ordinance.

The ordinance also requires dispensaries to be at least 1,000 feet from other dispensaries and so-called sensitive uses, such as schools, parks and libraries. Among other restrictions, dispensaries will be required to close at 8 p.m. and will not be permitted to allow marijuana use at the stores.

The ordinance will not take effect until after Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signs it and the City Council approves the fees that dispensaries will have to pay to cover the city’s cost of monitoring. City officials are studying those costs and expect to propose the fees soon.

Once the ordinance is in place, the city attorney’s office will send letters to affected landlords and dispensary operators telling them that they must close immediately. If the dispensaries remain open, the city attorney’s office likely will take them to court.

— John Hoeffel at City Hall

Related story, Los Angeles City Council approves medical marijuana ordinance that will shut down hundreds of dispensaries