Author: Tony Barboza

A civil rights group filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Veterans Administration, claiming the free speech rights of a 67-year-old Army veteran were violated when a U.S. flag he hung upside down was confiscated.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California filed the federal suit on behalf of Robert Rosebrock, one of a group of veterans who protested the VA’s land-use policies every Sunday for the last two years outside its West Los Angeles complex.

After protesting for more than a year with the U.S. flag hanging right side up on a fence outside the property, Rosebrock hung it upside down last June as a distress signal to bring attention to the group’s cause, according to a statement released Tuesday.

Rosebrock was cited six times for “unauthorized demonstration or service in a national cemetery or on other VA property," according to the ACLU.

Veterans Administration police demanded Feb. 28 that he take down the flag. When he refused, they removed it.

An associate director for the Veterans Administration e-mailed Rosebrock to say that he and other demonstrators “may not attach the American flag, upside down, in VA property including our perimeter gates,” the ACLU said.

The ACLU contends the government has no right to selectively enforce the display of the flag.

“The government cannot say it’s OK to hang the flag one way but not another just because the latter expresses a message that the government does not approve of,” ACLU attorney Peter Eliasberg said in the statement.

The Veterans Administration did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Rosebrock and other veterans have held their protests in a part of the complex that the Veterans Administration plans to lease as a park. But protesters argue that the space should be used for the benefit and care of veterans.

— Tony Barboza

Photo:  Robert Rosebrock, left, a 67-year-old Army veteran, and Ernie Hilger, a Army veteran, hold the U.S. flag upside down as a distress symbol, after a news conference at the Veterans Administration property in West Los Angeles, where the VA is planning to lease the area for use as a public park. Credit: Allen J. Schaben  / Los Angeles Times

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A man shot by Riverside police has been arrested on charges of grand theft auto, possession of a controlled substance and assault with a deadly weapon after he allegedly used a stolen car as a weapon against an officer.

Joseph Mango, 24, was shot Monday about 10:20 p.m. as he tried to back the car out of a motel parking lot. Two officers had approached Mango, who was sitting in the parked car with Melissa Martinez, 22, at a Motel 6 in the 3600 block of La Sierra Avenue, said Riverside Police Sgt. Derwin Hudson

When officers asked Mango to shut off the engine, he refused and tried to get away. He put the car into reverse, almost pinning one officer to a parked minivan, authorities said.

Both officers opened fire, hitting Mango in the upper torso. Martinez was unhurt.

Mango was taken to the hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries before being arrested.

“It was an intentional act to try to pin the officer between his vehicle and the minivan,” Hudson said.

Martinez was charged with possession of stolen property. Riverside police are investigating the shooting.

— Tony Barboza

A 14-year-old Costa Mesa Middle School student died Wednesday after collapsing while playing handball after school, authorities said.

Eighth-grader Eric Valdez collapsed about 4:30 p.m. on the campus handball court, where he was playing with his brother and a friend, said Laura Boss, spokeswoman for the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. Police and fire officials arrived and administered CPR before taking him to Hoag Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The coroner’s office has classified the case as an unexpected natural death, Boss said.

Crisis counselors were on the campus shared by middle school  and high school students Thursday, and students put up a memorial on a wall where friends could write messages of remembrance, Boss said. The school district posted a statement on its website mourning Valdez’s death.

Valdez’s brother, who was with him when he collapsed, is also an eighth-grader at the school.

In a statement, middle school Principal Aaron Peralta described Valdez as a good-natured, smiling young man who enjoyed handball and was beloved by his teachers.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Valdez family, and as a school community we will come together to support them in whatever way we can," Boss said. "It’s a very, very sad day."

— Tony Barboza in Costa Mesa

Federal agents have arrested a couple that ran an Irvine investment firm, saying they were the architects of a Ponzi scheme that cheated some 60 Korean American investors out of $8 million.

Euirang Hwang, 36, chairman of Pinupitu Inc., and his girlfriend, Sang Yi, 39, were arrested at a Corona house at 6:50 a.m. Tuesday on federal wire fraud charges.

The duo orchestrated a Ponzi scheme that targeted 60 Korean American investors throughout California, promising them annual returns of between 24% and 45%, according to the Feb. 3 four-count federal grand jury indictment.

A Santa Ana judge Tuesday ordered Hwang and Yi held without bail.

Hwang allegedly solicited business from the Korean American community from 2006 to 2009, recruiting trusted business people and church leaders and presenting himself as a billionaire with holdings in 60 real estate and computer and office equipment companies in Korea, Japan and China. He told them he generated income by buying up small companies and selling them for profit.

Hwang founded the company and operated its Irvine offices, which at one point claimed 20 employees, and Yi, a South Korean citizen, allegedly controlled its finances as president and secretary.

According to the U.S. attorney’s office, the firm used the money collected from later investors to wire hundreds of thousands of dollars to Yi’s mother in Korea, pay for luxury car leases, personal and office expenses and to pay returns to earlier investors.

“They were doing it in large part just to have the aura about them of being successful,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. Joseph McNally. “A lot of the money was used to put on this front of having a legitimate business.”

Yi’s attorney and Hwang’s public defender did not immediately return calls for comment.

It took agents several weeks to track down the Harbor City couple, who had moved to an acquaintance’s house since the FBI investigation began in April.

Pinupitu Inc. has had a troubled existence for the last several years, including unpaid taxes and several lawsuits alleging a scheme, the Orange County Register reported last year.

In July 2009, the state Department of Corporations ordered the firm to stop selling securities, saying Vice President Jin Sung Kim was not a registered stockbroker and had misrepresented the company’s financial data, including profits, losses and the risks of investment.

The firm closed shop sometime last year, authorities said.

Each count of wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.

–Tony Barboza

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Los Angeles has its much-contested pot dispensary ordinance. Now it’s Long Beach’s turn.

On Tuesday night, L.A. County’s second-largest city is likely to vote on its own sweeping medical marijuana regulations, which would cap the number of dispensaries at 18 — two for each council district — and require them to register and be licensed by the city.

Home to as many as 80 dispensaries, according to city estimates, Long Beach is the latest in a wave of cities across California that have tried to clamp down on medical marijuana distributors.

Under the ordinance, which is being considered for the first time in its entirety after months of debate, only medical marijuana dispensaries could grow the plant and would have to disclose their cultivation sites.

It also would require buffer zones of 500 feet to 1,500 feet around schools and bar dispensaries from operating within 1,000 feet of each other.
In practical terms, the law would drastically reduce the number of dispensaries, which are currently unregulated, and limit them to major boulevards or industrial areas, City Atty. Bob Shannon said. The ordinance would take effect 90 days after it passes.

In January, the Los Angeles City Council passed some of the state’s toughest restrictions to curb the hundreds of dispensaries that have spread throughout the city.

Medical marijuana advocates sued the city last week, saying the regulations were so limiting they would require the vast majority of dispensaries, even law-abiding ones, to shut their doors.

Long Beach officials said their ordinance was designed to be less restrictive than Los Angeles’. No dispensaries would be grandfathered in, but Shannon said the criteria for choosing which ones get to stay has not been decided.

Still to be worked out is whether the city will restrict cultivation to within city limits, as recommended by law enforcement officials, or extend that to Los Angeles County.

Councilman Robert Garcia said Tuesday that he has concerns with such a provision, saying the limitation could bring an unwanted swath of pot farms to the city.

Nonetheless, he said he would support the ordinance if it broadened cultivation to include all of California.

"We have to make it accessible and fair and make sure the patients have access to it," Garcia said "But we also have to make sure the collectives are being good neighbors."

— Tony Barboza

Gusty winds are blowing into Southern California.

The National Weather Service issued a high-wind warning from 9 a.m. Tuesday to 3 a.m. Thursday, saying gusts of up to 60 mph are possible, especially in the Antelope Valley and mountains of Los Angeles County.

Winds with sustained speeds of 20 to 35 mph could reach destructive levels as they strengthen and become more widespread through the morning, said officials with the National Weather Service.

Fierce winds on the Interstate 5 corridor and dust could make for limited visibility on Highways 14 and 138. Authorities urged drivers to use extra caution and to look out for debris in the road and downed power lines.

Forecasters also issued a high-surf advisory, saying a wind-driven swell along the Southern California coast will cause rip currents that will make swimming dangerous.

–Tony Barboza

A Corona del Mar couple must remove their barbecue, storage shed and thatched-roof palapa from a sandy area adjacent to a public beach, three Orange County appeals court judges have ruled, upholding the state Coastal Commission’s insistence that it was an illegal development.

The opinion, released Wednesday, was a defeat to retirees George and Sharlee McNamee’s decadelong crusade against the state agency.

The couple claimed that their property rights were under assault when the state in 2004 demanded they tear out the amenities from the beach portion of their property, down a long staircase from their bluff-top home and next to Corona del Mar State Beach. It included an outdoor shower, picnic tables, benches and a flower garden.

The state agency has maintained that the 1976 Coastal Act gives it the power to regulate the use of shore-front property, public or private, to protect the environment and ensure public access.

“It is visually obvious that the Commission’s decision was reasonable,” judge P.J. Sills wrote in a seven-page opinion, which includes a file photograph of the improvements (pictured above), calling them “sheer bulky clutter” with “plain unsightliness.”

The ruling cited provisions of the Coastal Act that allows the state to consider the scenic and visual qualities of the coast, including ocean views, when approving developments, saying there was “substantial evidence of the ‘visual impact’ of the McNamees’ shed (and storage lockers and barbecue).”

Paul Beard, an attorney for the property rights group Pacific Legal Foundation that represents the McNamees, vowed Thursday to appeal the case to the state Supreme Court.

“The decision effectively grants the Coastal Commission unprecedented discretion to control how an individual uses and enjoys his private property on an utterly subjective basis: aesthetics,” he said.

Coastal Commission attorney Jamee Patterson said the lengthy ordeal over what is essentially a picnic site had been overblown; the unpublished opinion has no bearing on other cases.

“The commission didn’t authorize any development on the sandy beach portion of their property, but it appeared,” Patterson said. “They can continue to use their property for picnics and barbecues. They just need to take their things back up the stairs.”

— Tony Barboza

Coastal Commission file photo

Yes, it’s a mobile home. But that doesn’t mean you should drive off with it.

Kern County sheriff’s deputies were on the lookout Tuesday for a mobile home that went missing from an office lot on Highway 14 in Mojave. Statewide Homes of Grass Valley was preparing to open the 50-foot-long, 11-foot-wide modular home as an office last month when someone drove off with it.

At least one eyewitness saw a tow truck lower the home from its stands and tow it away on the night of Feb. 18 – no small feat, considering it weighs 20,000 pounds, said Sheri Murray, the company’s president.

"They’re homes on wheels, but they’re not supposed to be that mobile," she said. After waiting patiently for nearly two weeks, the company decided to go public with an appeal for help. The mobile home is worth $45,000, Murray said, and it cannot be claimed by insurance until it is found.

Statewide Homes is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the whereabouts of the home, a tan-colored Fleetwood painted with green trim. It features a full-sized kitchen, bathroom, one bedroom and two porches.

“I’m thinking somebody is meaning to live in it,” Murray said. “So I’m hoping whoever has seen a new house move in will call.”

Anyone with more information may call the Kern County Sheriff’s Department at (661) 861-3110. Officials have already received several calls from people who think they’ve seen the mobile home in the area.

The 16-foot-tall home should be easier to spot than most stolen objects, such as electronics or jewelry, but there is not an overwhelming sense of optimism. It has been weeks since the crime

And besides, Murray notes, “they’ve got miles and miles of desert out there.”

— Tony Barboza

Photo credit: Statewide Homes

A series of light storms will move into Southern
California on Tuesday, bringing light rain and a slight chance of afternoon thunderstorms.

The storms will probably sprinkle only about 1/10 of an inch of rain over the Los Angeles area Tuesday, but
more substantial rain could fall by Wednesday, according to forecasters at the
National Weather Service in Oxnard.

A larger, colder storm system is expected to bring heavier
rain and mountain snow to Southern California over the weekend.

A high surf advisory will be in effect for San Luis Obispo and
Santa Barbara counties from 1 p.m. Tuesday to 8 p.m. Wednesday. Authorities are
warning of strong rip currents on the coast.

— Tony Barboza

The mayor of Barstow has been charged with sexual battery for allegedly touching a woman "for the specific purpose of sexual arousal, sexual gratification and sexual abuse," authorities said Tuesday.

Joe Gomez, 51, was charged Monday with a misdemeanor in the December incident in unincorporated Barstow involving an unidentified woman.

The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office did not release further details, and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department refused to answer questions about the case, citing an ongoing investigation.

Gomez addressed the subject at the Feb. 1 City Council meeting, denying the allegations and declaring his intent to defend himself, the Victorville Daily Press reported.

Gomez faces up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine if convicted, said Susan Mickey, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office. He is scheduled to be arraigned April 9.

Gomez was elected to the Barstow City Council in 2004 and elected mayor in 2008, according to the city’s website.

— Tony Barboza

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Fans decked out in futuristic garb formed a line early
Tuesday to see the return of the Michael Jackson film "Captain EO" to Disneyland
after a 13-year hiatus.

At 10 a.m., the 17-minute, science fiction-themed musical returns
to the Tomorrowland Theater for limited engagement. It replaces "Honey I Shrunk
the Audience," which closed Jan. 3.

"Captain EO" debuted at the height of Jackson’s fame in
1986, featuring director Francis Ford Coppola and  executive producer George Lucas. It cost a reported $30 million to make and ran as an attraction at
the theme park until 1997.

Fans began lobbying
for the return of the 3-D film soon after Jackson’s death last year, saying
it would honor the King of Pop.

The Times’ Brady McDonald, writing at the Daily
Travel & Deal blog, says the return of Captain EO “presents a
perplexing challenge to family-centric Disney: How to market a movie relic
starring a controversial character without appearing to capitalize on his
demise.”

The film stars Jackson as a captain leading a crew of
aliens, robots and "fuzzball" on a spaceship on a mission to deliver
a gift to a wicked alien witch played by Anjelica Huston.

A Disney spokeswoman told
KTLA that there was no timeline for how long the show would run, but said it
would stay for as long as it remained popular.

–Tony Barboza

Photo: "Captain EO" starring Michael Jackson thrilled Disneyland visitors from 1986 to 1997. The 3-D production reopens Tuesday at the theme park. Credit: Disneyland Resort

While Los Angeles vigorously debates improvements to its bike infrastructure and Long Beach aims for the title of “the most bicycle friendly city in America,” Pasadena has released its own bike plan, which calls for nearly 20 miles of new bike lanes and paths.

The $1.8-million plan would rely on federal and state grants to build 6.3 miles of new bike lanes and 3.3 miles of new bike paths, and provide paint, pavement and sign upgrades for dozens of miles of other bikes lanes and routes.

The plan includes less conventional ideas, such as “emphasized bikeways,” or preferred routes that take cyclists away from busy streets, and shared bike-car lanes called “sharrows.” It also contains an idea bound to be controversial: Taking out lanes of traffic to erect diversion barriers to make more space for bicycles.

The Pasadena blueprint comes on the tail of efforts by cities such as Long Beach and Burbank to give cyclists safer passage through their cities.

Pasadena’s overtures to cyclists are being greeted with cautious optimism by cycling advocates, who say the city is moving in the right direction in guaranteeing cyclists’ safety but falling short in calling for enough protected bike lanes

“It’s very good, and there’s some connecting of gaps,” said Dorothy Le, planning and policy director for the nonprofit Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition. “But now that there’s more cities trying to vie for more bike friendliness, Pasadena’s got to be a little more aggressive."

The bike plan will be released to the public Feb. 23 during a meeting at Pasadena City Hall.

— Tony Barboza

The San Diego Zoo ushered in Valentine’s Day with a bundle
of joy that’s not so little.

A male African elephant was born about 2 a.m. Sunday at the
zoo’s Wild Animal Park.

He and his mother Ndlula are reportedly doing well. Visitors
camping overnight at the zoo could hear the herd trumpeting in the early morning — a common
behavior when a calf is born, according to the Associated Press.

The elephant, which hasn’t been given a name yet, is the
sixth calf born to a herd that was brought to the park in 2003 from Swaziland.

Officials have not released the calf’s weight, but newborn African
elephants typically
weigh between 200 and 250 pounds and stand about 3 feet tall.

You don’t have to go to the zoo to catch a glimpse of the
dozen elephants at the park. Try spotting them on the zoo’s elephant cam.

[Updated at 10:58 a.m.: The calf weighed 224 pounds at birth, and he came into the world unexpectedly early, said Yadira Galindo, a spokeswoman for the Wild Animal Park. Zookeepers had anticipated a birthdate of later in the month, so they had not yet set up a 24-hour watch.

They learned about the birth after campers participating in the “Roar and Snore” sleepover program reported a commotion about 2 a.m.

“They heard all the trumpeting and all the noises, and when the sun rose they went out there and looked and saw the baby elephant out in the yard with the entire herd,” Galindo said. “The mothers were forming a protective circle around him, which is very natural behavior.”

By 7 a.m. Sunday, he was already up on his feet.

No word yet on a name.]

— Tony Barboza

Photo: The newest baby elephant at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park was welcomed into the African elephant herd shortly after birth Sunday. Credit: Ken Bohn / San Diego Zoo

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A search-and-rescue crew has found a Thousand Oaks couple
who were reported missing after going for a hike Monday afternoon in a canyon
near Malibu.

The couple, in their 20s, went for a hike in Newton Canyon about
3 p.m. Monday but didn’t return. Their roommate reported them missing just
before midnight, said Sgt. Greg Evans of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
Malibu/Lost Hills Station.

A six-person mountain rescue team set out to find them early
Tuesday morning. A sheriff’s department helicopter found a campfire that may
have been started by the couple, and rescuers located them just before 7 a.m.
Tuesday.

The hikers didn’t have any overnight gear with them. It
is unclear whether they were lost or intended to camp, Evans said.

— Tony Barboza

Photo: KTLA

More than 100,000 people have ascended skyward in Irvine’s balloon ride to get expansive views of Orange County, take panoramic photographs and even make the occasional marriage proposal.

But imagine the shock the pilot of the Great Park balloon must have felt just before 9 p.m. Sunday when, while high above the ground, the gondola shook and a young man parachuted out.

The orange-hued helium balloon had ascended to a height of 330 feet when one of the 12 passengers climbed up and out of the netting enclosing the gondola, unfurled a hidden parachute, threw it in front of him and jumped out, said Irvine city spokesman Craig Reem.

After landing on the tarmac about 100 feet away from the tethered craft, the unidentified man picked up his parachute and ran off, jumping over a fence to where a driver in a white Toyota Supra waited with the engine running. The two sped off before authorities could catch them.

"The idea of any balloon is to take people up and take them down safely, not to have them jump out at any height," Reem said. "What this guy did was pretty dangerous."

Irvine officials said they would like to find the jumper and are looking into whether the leap violated federal aviation rules against base jumping in populated areas, but they did not involve police because of the quickness of the getaway, Reem said.

Reem described the jumper as a man in his mid-20s, 5-feet-11 and 180 pounds, with blond hair. He was  wearing a black jacket and blue jeans.

"He knew how to use a parachute," Reem said.

It wasn’t the only incident to take place over the weekend at an attraction at the Great Park, which is being converted from a military airfield into a sprawling, 1,350-acre public park. Earlier Sunday, a 48-year-old woman was hospitalized after she slipped and hit her head in an old hangar being used for ice skating.

The balloon ride had been operating since July 2007 without any recorded accidents or incidents, Reem said.

"Our sincere hope is that no one tries this again," he said.

— Tony Barboza in Orange County

 

Intense thunderstorms were moving toward the foothills north of Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon after a flash flood warning was issued for the mudslide-prone burn areas, authorities said.

The winter storm, which has brought intermittent showers and some hail to Southern California, has started to travel northeast from Los Angeles and was expected to reach the Station fire burn area about 2:30 p.m., forecasters said.

The National Weather Service issued a flash-flood warning for foothill areas burned in the Station fire just after 1 p.m, saying trained weather spotters had recorded very heavy rainfall and hail around La Cañada Flintridge. The warning is in effect until 5 p.m.

Authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders Monday night for more than 500 residences in mudslide-prone areas in La Cañada Flintridge, La Crescenta and Acton. Sheriff’s deputies ordered residents to leave their homes by 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Patchy showers and isolated thunderstorms will come in two waves — one Tuesday afternoon and another Tuesday night — bringing at least a third of an inch of rain and as much as 2 inches, with snow falling as low as 2,500 feet, forecasters with the National Weather Service in Oxnard said.

As much as half an inch of rain is expected to fall throughout Los Angeles County and could cause widespread roadway flooding.

Small hail and coastal tornadoes called waterspouts are also possible, forecasters said.

A complete list of addresses under evacuation orders is available on the Department of Public Works Web page.

Evacuation centers have been set up at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, 2411 Montrose Ave., Montrose, and the Acton Community Center at 3748 Nickels Ave. in Acton, authorities said.

— Tony Barboza 

Photo: Javier Rendon constructs a new wall of sandbags on Ocean View Boulevard in La Cañada Flintridge, where residents braced for more heavy rain Tuesday. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

More photos

A winter storm is dousing Southern California with intermittent showers and some hail this afternoon, keeping hillside residents on guard for possible mud flows.

The National Weather Service issued a flash-flood warning for foothill areas burned in the Station Fire just after 1 p.m, saying trained weather spotters have recorded very heavy rainfall and hail around La Cañada Flintridge. The warning is in effect until 5 p.m.

Authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders Monday night for more than 500 residences in mudslide-prone areas in La Cañada Flintridge, La Crescenta and Acton. Sheriff’s deputies ordered residents to leave their homes by 10 a.m. today.

Patchy showers and isolated thunderstorms will come in two waves — one this afternoon and another tonight — bringing at least a third of an inch of  rain and as much as 2 inches, with snow falling as low as 2,500 feet, forecasters with the National Weather Service in Oxnard said.

As much as half an inch of rain is expected to fall throughout Los Angeles County and could cause widespread roadway flooding.

Small hail and coastal tornadoes called waterspouts are also possible, forecasters said.

A complete list of addresses under evacuation orders is available on the Public Works Web page.

Evacuation centers have been set up at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, 2411 Montrose Ave., Montrose, and the Acton Community Center at 3748 Nickels Ave. in Acton, authorities said.

— Tony Barboza

Photo:  Javier Rendon constructs a new wall of sandbags on Ocean View Boulevard in La Cañada Flintridge, where residents braced for more heavy rains, flooding and mudslides. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

Photos: Storms pound the Southland

Foothill areas north of Los Angeles are under a flash flood watch as another winter storm approaches, threatening burn areas with more mudslides and prompting mandatory evacuations for hundreds of homes.

Showers and thunderstorms are expected to drop between 1/3 of an inch to 2 inches of rain starting Tuesday afternoon through Tuesday night, said forecasters with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. Though the storm will be patchy and "showery," forecasters said it could dump more than a half-inch of rain an hour in some areas.

Los Angeles County authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders Monday night for more than 500 residences in mudslide-prone areas in La Cañada Flintridge, La Crescenta and Acton. Sheriff’s deputies are ordering residents to leave their homes by 10 a.m. Tuesday

A complete list of all addresses to be evacuated can be found on the Web page of the county Department of Public Works.

Evacuation centers will be set up at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, 2411 Montrose Ave., Montrose, and the Acton Community Center at 3748 Nickels Ave. in Acton, authorities said.

Crews are working to clear debris basins that filled up during the storm Saturday, when mud flows damaged more than 40 homes.

Some residents in La Cañada Flintridge have questioned whether the county’s emergency notification system worked properly. 

–Tony Barboza and Robert J. Lopez

Photo: Several homes were red-tagged on Manistee Drive in La Cañada Flintridge after weekend mudslides.  Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times.

More photos

How mudslides form after a fire