All northbound lanes of the 710 Freeway were shut down Monday night after a fatal accident involving a big-rig truck and another vehicle that overturned, authorities said.
The accident was reported about 9:25 p.m. near Slauson Avenue, the California Highway Patrol said. Northbound traffic was being diverted at Florence Avenue.
The CHP said it was unclear when the freeway would reopen. The cause of the accident was under investigation.
— Robert J. Lopez
A convicted sex offender who had traveled to Cambodia allegedly to have sex with a minor was returned to the United States to face trial in Los Angeles, the FBI said Monday night.
Michael James Dodd, 59, who taught English in Cambodia, had sex with a 14-year-old girl and was seen with her on several occasions in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, according to an affidavit for arrest filed in federal court.
In 2002, Dodd pleaded guilty in Saipan to five counts of sexual abuse of a child after he was accused of inappropriately touching 13 female students at an elementary school where he taught, an FBI agent said in the affidavit. Dodd served time in prison and was placed on probation for 15 years.
Agents in the FBI’s Los Angeles office handled the case because they are working with the Cambodian government and non-governmental agencies to identify and prosecute U.S. citizens who travel to that country to have sex with minors, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.
Dodd is expected to appear Tuesday before a magistrate in federal court in Los Angeles.
— Robert J. Lopez
Photo: KTLA
Los Angeles police are seeking the public’s help in identifying a "dressed for success" robber who brandished a handgun and took off with money from a Harvard Heights liquor store.
The man entered the business Feb. 5 in the 3100 block of Pico Boulevard, pulled out a gun and demanded money, the Los Angeles Police Department said.
When an employee opened the cash register, the man grabbed an undisclosed amount of money and fled, police said.
The suspect is described as African American, 6 feet tall, 200 pounds and wearing a gray jacket, red shirt, black tie and black pants. Police said the suspect was well-groomed, with short hair and a trimmed mustache.
The robber was "dressed for success" as if headed to a job interview, according to the LAPD.
Anyone with information is asked to contact LAPD Det. Sean Kim at (213) 382-9493.
— Robert J. Lopez
Photo: Surveillance footage of a man suspected of liquor store robbery. Credit: Los Angeles Police Department
A La Quinta doctor who treated AIDS patients was sentenced Monday to 15 months in federal prison in a case involving "subdosing" patients, authorities said.
George Steven Kooshian, 59, was also ordered to pay $660,955 in restitution to 18 insurance companies for patients who were only given partial doses of medication, the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles said. Kooshian had submitted billings for complete doses, prosecutors said.
Kooshian pleaded guilty last year to two counts of healthcare fraud and two counts of making false statements relating to healthcare matters, the U.S. attorney said.
Kooshian operated clinics in Garden Grove, Laguna Beach and Long Beach. He was charged with submitting false billings for medications to treat patients with AIDS, HIV and hepatitis, the U.S. attorney said.
During treatments, patients received partial medication or sometimes just saline, according to prosecutors.
— Robert J. Lopez
The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said Monday that it settled an antitrust and unfair competition case involving scuba diving on Catalina Island.
John W. Mello, immediate past owner of Catalina Diver Supply, had been accused of colluding with another scuba shop owner in an attempt to fix prices of scuba-diving tours in Avalon, the district attorney said.
Without admitting liability, Mello agreed to pay $11,000 in legal costs, civil penalties and other costs stemming from the case, according to the district attorney.
Under the terms of the agreement, Mello is prohibited from engaging in any conduct involving fixing or attempted fixing of scuba business prices or soliciting other competitors to agree to fix prices, the district attorney said.
Kathleen Tuttle, deputy in charge of the district attorney’s antitrust section, said the case was a "textbook example of attempted price fixing, among the most egregious forms of anti-competitive conduct."
— Robert J. Lopez
A Santa Ana mechanic charged with setting fire to a 64-year-old homeless man and his possessions was sentenced Monday to five years in state prison.
Hector Manuel Medina, 32, pleaded guilty to one count of arson causing great bodily injury with an enhancement for using a flammable fluid to light the fire, the Orange Count district attorney’s office said.
Prosecutors objected to the five-year sentence. They had sought an 11-year sentence based on the injuries suffered by Ruben Sandoval, who was attacked in an alley Jan. 2 behind an auto repair shop in the 100 block of South Main Street in Santa Ana, the district attorney said.
Medina was accused of dousing Sandoval’s shopping cart with gas. Some of the fluid splashed onto Sandoval.
Medina then set fire to the cart, burning all of Sandoval’s clothing, food and blankets. Sandoval’s beard caught fire, and his hands and face were burned, according to the district attorney.
Sandoval suffered second and third-degree burns. He remains hospitalized and cannot breathe without a respirator, the district attorney said.
Medina was allegedly angry because he had caught Sandoval sleeping in Medina’s car on a rainy day in December and warned him not to return to the area, the district attorney said.
— Robert J. Lopez
To the uninitiated eye, the 18-year-old man with the dark mountain bike could have passed for another bicyclist crossing the busy border checkpoint at San Ysidro.
But in fact, federal authorities said, the man was allegedly involved in an unusual smuggling attempt: His tires were filled with plastic bags of marijuana.
As the man crossed the pedestrian checkpoint from Tijuana last week, customs officers felt something unusual when they squeezed the bike tires, the Department of Homeland Security said Monday.
The officers ran the bike through an X-ray machine and found packages filled with 2.5 pounds of marijuana. The drugs’ value was estimated at $1,300, the Homeland Security department said.
The biker was described as a U.S. citizen who lives in Tijuana. He was being held at San Diego county jail, the department said. His name was not released.
— Robert J. Lopez
Photo: Bike with marijuana hidden in tires. Credit: Department of Homeland Security
A man was killed in a head-on collision with another vehicle Thursday night in El Sereno, police said.
The accident occurred about 10:30 p.m. on Eastern Avenue near Huntington Drive. One of the vehicles spun out of control and wrapped around a tree, killing the driver, the Los Angeles Police Department said.
Two people in the other car suffered injuries.. Lt. Richard Thomas of the LAPD’s Hollenbeck Division said the injuries weren’t life-threatening.
He said an LAPD gang unit in the area heard tires screeching and drove toward the sound to find the accident scene.
The accident is being investigated by the LAPD’s Central Bureau traffic unit.
— Robert J. Lopez
Authorities began making calls Thursday night warning residents in high-risk mudslide areas of La Cañada Flintridge and La Crescenta that they will need to evacuate their homes by Friday afternoon in advance of a rainstorm expected to batter the region.
"We’re giving them advance notice," said Nicole Nishida, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
She said that the evacuation orders will affect about 200 homes and that residents will be expected to leave by 4 p.m.
A second round of calls is scheduled to be made about noon Friday. In addition, deputies will be going door to door to inform residents of the evacuation orders, Nishida said.
The storm will bring rain and snow Friday afternoon and is expected to last through Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. A second storm is forecast to arrive Sunday night and last into Monday.
— Robert J. Lopez
A state appellate court Thursday overturned a high-profile Los Angeles Fire Department harassment and discrimination case in which a black lesbian firefighter was awarded $6.2 million after she was allegedly forced out.
The 2nd District Court of Appeal concluded that firefighter Brenda Lee failed to exhaust her administrative remedies regarding a claim that she was not permitted to return to work. The case was remanded to Los Angeles Superior Court.
In issuing its ruling, the court agreed with city attorneys who had argued that Lee did not use all the administrative remedies available to her.
Lee’s 2007 jury award was one of several harassment and discrimination cases that roiled the Fire Department and cost city tax payers millions of dollars to settle.
In 2007, an investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found that the department violated civil rights laws by subjecting African American and female firefighters to a "pattern and practice" of discrimination, harassment and retaliation.
Allegations of harassment, retaliation and discrimination helped prompt the 2007 retirement of former Fire Chief William Bamattre.
— Robert J. Lopez
A woman was slain and a man was critically injured in a stabbing attack Thursday morning in a Long Beach apartment, police said.
Mireya Lopez Medina, 50, was found stabbed to death by a relative at the apartment in 1900 block of Cedar Avenue, the Long Beach Police Department said.
A male victim, in his 50s, was also in the apartment with stab wounds to the upper body. He was taken to a hospital and was listed in critical condition, police said.
Since January 2007, at least 138 homicides have been recorded in Long Beach, according to a Times database.
Detectives
are investigating this as a possible domestic incident. Anyone who may have
any information regarding it are asked to contact Dets. Mark McGuire or
Greg Krabbe at (562) 570-7244.
–Robert J. Lopez
Photo: Dots showing Long Beach homicides since January 2007. Credit: Los Angeles Times Homicide Report.
The wife of faith healer and televangelist Benny Hinn has filed for divorce in Orange County Superior Court.
Suzanne Hinn filed her divorce papers Feb. 1, according to the court website. Her attorney, Sorrell Trope, could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon. The couple married in 1979 and have three daughters and a son, according to a biography on posted on the website for Benny Hinn Ministries.
The silver-haired Hinn is one of the world’s most financially successful faith healers.
He lives in a multimillon-dollar home near Salt Creek Beach Park in Dana Point. And he has flown around the world in a leased Gulfstream jet to lead his "Miracle Crusades," during which tens of thousands of followers have packed stadiums and auditoriums to hear Hinn preach about the Gospel and God’s healing powers.
Hinn has been a pastor for more than 30 years but remains committed to "winning the lost at any cost," his website says.
Hinn’s ministries are headquartered in Grapevine, Texas, and operates a television studio in Aliso Viejo.
— Robert J. Lopez
Photo: Faith healer Benny Hinn during a 2003 Miracle Crusade at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim. Credit: Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times.
La Puente Mayor Louie Lujan pleaded not guilty Thursday to one count of perjury, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said.
Lujan, 33, allegedly committed the perjury in connection with an official report he submitted that failed to fully detail all funds received and disbursed from his campaign account, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
The complaint charges Lujan with committing the perjury on or about Feb. 2, 2009. Lujan could not be reached Thursday afternoon for comment.
A graduate of USC and Loyola Marymount University, Lujan was raised in the San Gabriel Valley and was first elected to public office as a member of the La Puente Valley County Water District, according to his his biography on the La Puente website. He was elected to the La Puente City Council in March 2001.
–Robert J. Lopez
Photo: Mayor Louie Lujan. Credit: City of La Puente.
Millions of dollars worth of watercraft and marine products will be on display starting Thursday at the 54th Annual Los Angeles Boat Show.
The event, held at the Los Angeles Convention Center, will continue through Sunday. Among the craft on display will be amphibious aircraft and a solar-powered catamaran that can be assembled in less than a day, according to event organizers.
Water enthusiasts will also have a chance to win a Bayliner 225
Bowrider boat by guessing the six-digit combination to a safe, event
organizers said.
Additional information can be found on the boat show’s website.
— Robert J. Lopez
Photo: Bayliner 225 Bowrider. Credit: Dan Klass / Hipp Marine
Border Patrol agents seized $766,000 worth of crystal methamphetamine and marijuana during three separate stops on the 5 Freeway near San Clemente, authorities said Wednesday. The first seizure was on Saturday, when two Mexican citizens in a Chrysler sedan were stopped at the San Clemente vehicle checkpoint. Agents found 36 pounds of crystal meth hidden in a false compartments in the car, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The drugs and two suspects, ages 26 and 38, were turned over the Drug Enforcement Agency.
In the second seizure, also on Saturday, agents found 126 pounds of marijuana hidden in a Jeep Cherokee. The drugs and the driver, a 26-year-old man who is a U.S. citizen, were turned over to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, the Homeland Security Department said.
On Monday, a 46-year-old woman was found with 16.5 ounces of crystal meth in her Toyota Corolla. The woman, a U.S. citizen, was turned over with the drugs to the DEA, the Homeland Security Department said.
–Robert J. Lopez
Photo: Crystal methamphetamine hidden in a Chrysler sedan. Credit: Department of Homeland Security.
An Irvine woman who was ice-skating at Orange County Great Park has died after suffering a head injury during a fall at the rink, authorities said Wednesday.
Cherlynn Tang, 49, died Tuesday night at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, according to the Orange County coroner’s office.
Tang had been skating with her teenage children Sunday afternoon and was leaving the Great Skate rink at the end of a 45-minute session, according to Irvine city officials. She slipped and fell backward.
Park staff members called 911, and Orange County Fire Authority paramedics responded. Rescuers treated Tang at the rink and took her to the hospital.
Irvine Mayor Sukhee Kang said in a statement that the city Department of Public Safety was investigating the accident.
"In a community where we place such high value on family, a loss of this nature brings on a special kind of heartache and sadness," Kang said.
— Robert J. Lopez
A swarm of small earthquakes struck near Redlands in San Bernardino County on Tuesday, but there have been no reports of damage, officials said.
The most recent quake, a 1.7-magnitude temblor, was recorded about 10 p.m. three miles south southwest of Redlands, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
In all, more than 20 quakes have been recorded in the area since shortly after 1 a.m. Tuesday, the survey agency said. The most powerful was a 3.2-magnitude temblor recorded at 9:04 p.m.
The Redlands Police Department said there were no reports of damage.
— Robert J. Lopez
A Redlands man has been charged in the slaying of a Westminster woman and the injury of her boyfriend, authorities said Tuesday.
Pasqual
Raul Loera, 32, was charged with one felony count of special
circumstances murder and one felony count of attempted murder, the
Orange County district attorney’s office said. The special
circumstances are a result of an alleged murder committed during a
robbery and burglary.
Julie Palasko, 48, was fatally shot Sunday
and her boyfriend, Dennis Koire, 49, was seriously wounded by the
gunfire after an intruder came to their home to inquire about buying
their vehicle, which was advertised for sale, according to the district attorney.
Loera
allegedly stole the vehicle and left for Las Vegas, where he attracted
the attention of security personnel at a casino Sunday, the district
attorney said. Fleeing security personnel, Loera left the scene and
crashed the car in a ditch.
Las Vegas police responded and
discovered that the vehicle was registered to the Westminster address
where the couple lived, authorities said. Westminster police were
alerted and responded to the home, where they discovered the victims.
Koire was in critical condition Tuesday, the district attorney said.
Loera is being held in Las Vegas pending his extradition to Orange County.
— Robert J. Lopez
Crews were working Tuesday night in Studio City to repair a broken water main that has left about 30 homes without water, officials said.
The problem began after an 8-inch line broke near 7809 Torreyson Drive about 4:30 p.m., the Department of Water and Power said.
Crews from the DWP shut down the water main and are expected to be working all night to fix the break, DWP spokeswoman Terry Schneider said.
— Robert J. Lopez
Lane and ramp closures will occur on the 405 Freeway between the 10 and 101 freeways for about a month beginning Tuesday.
The closures, from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. on weeknights, will affect portions on the northbound and southbound lanes on alternate days, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The closures will allow workers to place concrete barriers on the right shoulders of the freeway as part of a project to build a 10-mile northbound carpool lane, the transportation agency said.
Motorists can find details on the closures at the MTA’s project web page and Twitter account.
— Robert J. Lopez