September 2007 Archives
Bogota, Colombia is a sprawling, traffic-choked city of 8 million nestled on a plain at over 8,000 feet in the Andes. The altitude can leave you short of breath. The weather is unpredictable. One minute it can be bright and sunny – the next cloudy and drizzly.
It’s a city of extremes. To the north are upscale neighborhoods with the finest restaurants and shopping malls. To the south are shantytowns with people living in cardboard boxes and under sheet-metal roofs.
From Sept. 22-28, my wife and I toured the city and all it had to offer. We walked through a massive underground cathedral carved in a salt mine in Zipaquira. We took in the Museo del Oro, which houses gold jewelry, masks, and ornaments crafted by ancient Indians. We sipped cold beer, some of the finest South American wine and enjoyed French pastries in a former Spanish colonial home-turned-restaurant in the historic core of La Candelaria. We took an ear-popping ride on a cable car to the top of Monserrate. We ate French cuisine at over 10,000 feet at Casa San Isidro, with the best views of the city.
This is a contrast to a city that has long been known as the cocaine capital of the world, where kidnappings were common and armed paramilitaries killed citizens en masse.
We were there because I was selected by the U.S. State Department to talk to Colombian journalists and press officials about my experiences covering crime at the Los Angeles Daily News. The government sought me out last year to speak to journalists in Albania after seeing my stories about Russian and Armenian organized crime.
The U.S. government is paying $20 million over five years to help Colombia transform its justice system. They are moving from an inquisitorial one in which judges or magistrates act as investigators, prosecutors and judges to an accusatory system like ours with prosecutors and defense attorneys arguing their cases in front of judges and juries in open court.
Through a translator, I spoke with 30 press officers on Tuesday and 30 journalists from papers, radio and TV on Wednesday.
Press officers said they were frustrated and ill equipped to properly manage the flow of information for a pushy, demanding, presumptuous, and inaccurate press. Journalists were frustrated and said they found it challenging to accurately report about a justice system they knew little about, especially when they face threats and receive inaccurate and untimely information from the government and sometimes have to pay money for it on top of it all.
I sympathized with them, talked about how our justice system works, gave them examples of the kinds of documents I have access to and talked about the importance of developing sources who can guide me to stories and help educate me about our complicated criminal justice system.
I didn’t have all the answers. But hopefully I was able to offer some encouragement and sense of hope that eventually they will be able to improve their working situations. They are not alone. America went through similar growing pains. And access to sources and paper has changed over time. I let them know that they are on the right track, talking about their work and how to improve. I suggested they push their government to make more documents and experts in their bureaucracies available to improve the situation.
Overall, it was a great experience and I was glad to take a part in it. I hope the journalists got as much out of it as I did and hopefully a chance to recharge their batteries. This can be a challenging job, but it is rewarding when something you put out gives someone a new perspective that they hadn’t considered before. I know that this experience has given me that and with that I wish my Colombian colleagues – Suerte!
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.
Investigators said it appeared David Hans Schmidt, 47, who was under house arrest and faced up to two years in federal prison, had committed suicide.
He was found dead in his townhouse around 3 p.m. Friday after police noticed a tracker placed on him had not moved and he had not checked in, said Lt. Anthony Lopez.
His attorney, Nancy Kardon, said she had spoken to Schmidt earlier this week and was preparing for an Oct. 11 hearing in federal court where he would enter his formal guilty plea to attempted extortion. She said she had planned to ask for probation.
"I was greatly saddened by his loss and I found him to be a very kind man," Kardon said Saturday.
He was arrested in July after federal authorities said a co-defendant obtained photos of Cruise's wedding to Katie Holmes in Italy last year from the event's official photographer, court documents show.
Starting in May, Schmidt had repeated contact with Cruise representatives and threatened to release the photos if he didn't receive between $1.2 and $1.3 million, authorities said.
Schmidt also tried to auction off Paris Hilton's diaries, along with photos of her in various stages of undress and other personal items that had been locked away in a Los Angeles-area storage locker until a few months ago.
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.
Jermaine Marcus Walton of Long Beach has been charged with assault on a peace officer, resisting an executive officer and two counts of felony vandalism. Charges were lodged Sept. 21 - Walton's 31st birthday.
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.
Here's another reason why "crack is whack:" longer prison sentences. Get caught with a little rock cocaine (AKA crack) and go to prison for a lot longer than somebody with lots more of the powdery stuff.
Long lambasted by black leaders for the way the stiffer sentence laws for the rock, written in the 1980s, unfairly target people in mostly poor, black communities, politicians haven't exactly lined up to deal with the disparity in sentencing guidelines.
Now, according to this article from the Houston Chronicle, new guidelines might be 'blowing' in the wind.
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.
On Thursday afternoon, agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the home on the quiet, residential street around 2 p.m. and called in LAPD narcotics detectives with the major crimes division. They found an inactive production operation, said Officer Kate Lopez, with chemicals and glassware associated with ecstasy. They did not find completed drugs, but continue to investigate.
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.
I'm working the morning online shift today, in place of Jason, who's gallivanting off in Colombia at the moment with his lovely wife. Similar to the weekend shift, it's an alternately dreary and extraordinarily exciting task, with long, slow expanses of nothing punctuated with brief moments of action and/or comedy.
This morning was a glacially slow bit of nothin'. The fun stuff happened yesterday, the cops didn't have the reports in front of them, people weren't answering their phones. I was so dead from working too long yesterday, I called the wrong station-- twice-- to get info on a traffic collision that they weren't even vaguely involved in. I wasted some officer's time and felt bad about it.
The only saving grace, aside from the sheriff's watch deputy in Santa Clarita telling me "there's nothing interesting unless you're a fan of boredom," was this brief conversation with a Burbank lieutenant. He didn't have anything good, but he was reading a warrant report at the time where the suspect had given the investigator a phony name. That reminded him of a funny story of an encounter he had with a crook long ago:
"He tells me his name is Ulysses Greene and I say, ok, could you spell that? He's trying and he's just butchering it. So I tell him, if you're gonna lie, at least lie with a name you can spell, like Joe Smith. So then my favorite part is that he spells Green. G-r-e-e-n-e. The last e is silent, he tells me. So he can't spell his first name, but he knows his last name has a silent e. I thought that was pretty funny."
So did I, Lieutenant. I wish I'd been a little more coherent at the time to chortle along with you.
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.
The case of Joseph Peterson started out as a relatively minor affair when he was accused of stealing M&Ms and Twizzlers from a discount store.
When Peterson fled with the candy, Charles Hairston, a 51-year-old homeless-group volunteer, tried to stop him, sheriff's officials said. Peterson threw the bottle, hitting him in the head. Hairston died three weeks later.
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.
After the DMV served a $2 million arrest warrant for the owner of Bank Repo Auto on Thursday morning, the unlicensed dealer went away in handcuffs.
Arrested on suspicion of 15 counts of grand theft for allegedly taking customers' cars on consignment and paying them with bogus checks, he also rang up a charge of assault with a deadly weapon for a July incident with another dealer.
DMV investigator Robert Ortiz said the other dealer had given Shahryarinejad $50,000 worth of cars on consignment. Shahryarinejad, also known as Al Nejad, allegedly refused to pay, the two argued and after a brief fight, things came to a head.
"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.
My apologies for not updating this sooner, but it's been a busy few days. We did get the full, first-day story on Hadas Winnick's tragic death, so I'll post the top here and provide links.
CALABASAS - Hadas Winnick lived and taught with passion, preaching the value of math to teenagers but trying to save her greatest life lessons for her troubled son, Jesse.
He seemed like a friendly guy, neighbors recalled, but hung out with troublemakers. No matter how hard his mother tried to straighten him out, giving him chance after chance, he kept letting her down.
Late Tuesday night, he allegedly stabbed the 55-year-old Canoga Park High School teacher to death with a butcher knife inside their Calabasas home. He plunged the blade repeatedly into his mother's chest, officials said, then called his sister, Amy, to confess.
"He told her she shouldn't come home because he killed Mom," Lt. Gil Carrillo of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said Jesse told Amy.
His sister, who declined to comment, called police about 11 p.m. Tuesday to report the slaying in the affluent, hillside community. It has seen just three homicides since its incorporation in 1991, most recently a decade ago.
For the rest of the story, click here.
We've also been getting some touching blog posts on our reader reaction site. Here's one:
For those who never met Hadas Winick, you really missed knowing an incredible woman. I met Hadas as a new teacher at Mulholland Middle School, where she took me under her wing, offering me advice and tips on managing my students. Hadas was high energy, outgoing, and full of life. While she was a strict teacher, her love of youth and teaching seeped through her pores, overriding any possible confusion that students might have of her intent. She loved each one of them and wanted them to succeed. You know, I can’t even begin to count the times that Hadas was there for me - to listen to me banter about my mundane life, pick me up when I was stranded with car issues – just be there for me . . . Example, a few months ago I was really feeling blue. I called Hadas to chat because she always knew what to say. About five minutes into our conversation she excused herself, saying that she would call me back in a few minutes. Fifteen minutes later, Hadas was on my doorstep to take me to dinner. Just like that. She saw a friend having a hard time and she wanted to help. Hadas was selfless, loving, open, honest – everything that a person would want in a friend. I am devastated by her departure, but her spirit will live on with the countless number of youth and adults whose lives she touched.
“Dassi” I love you and will miss you. I will cherish the time that we shared as friends, and will keep your countless words of advice close to my heart forever. The world has lost a very special person.
Posted by: PaulaG | September 27, 2007 04:11 PM
Here's the rest on Reader Reaction.
Elsewhere, The Ventura County Star has a short story (though it looks like it's based on an earlier wire story that misidentified Jesse Winnick's age as 20).
The Acorn has a staff piece.
And finally, KNBC-4 has video.
Man, what a tragic story-- it sounds like Hadas Winnick touched a lot of folks, as a teacher, relative and friend. Our condolences go out to the family and everyone else involved.
UPDATE. 3:30 p.m. on Friday: (I'm just cutting and pasting this from our Web site, sorry for the repetition)
VAN NUYS - The district attorney's office filed murder charges today against 25-year-old Jesse Winnick, who's accused of stabbing his mother, Hadas, to death in their Calabasas home on Tuesday night.
The Los Angeles Sheriff's department believes Winnick called his sister Tuesday night after he attacked the popular Canoga Park High School math teacher. Neighbors and friends described her as a loving, forceful parent who tried to straighten her son out as he struggled with personal problems.
Winnick is expected to be arraigned later today.
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.
Jesse Winnick called his sister Tuesday night after deputies believe he stabbed his mother, Hadas Winnick, 55, several times in the chest, said Deputy Luis Castro of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
His sister then alerted authorities of the slaying in the affluent neighborhood around 11 p.m. Tuesday not far from Mulholland Highway.
When Sheriff's deputies arrived at the home along the 3800 block of Declaration Avenue, they found a bloodied Hadas Winnick, but her son had fled.
He abandoned his car and jumped into another one. Deputies spotted the car and pulled it over.
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.
Shooting suspect still at large
A man in Watts shot his girlfriend while she was driving her SUV.
The man, Stephen Mark Picart, 33, had a history of domestic violence against the woman, Sharon Carter. Carter's two sons were in the vehicle when the shooting occurred in the 9600 block of South Compton Avenue in Watts.
The SUV hit two cars following the shooting.
Daily News
Free-spirited ex-boxer suffers same fate as idol
Please read Jason Kandel's excellent piece about an ex-boxer named Charlie Brown who died recently following a beating he took a year ago while walking a dog.
Maybe you or someone you know might have seen something to help put the killer behind bars.
I'm out of the office today, so all I can post is a a link to the sad news of two brothers dying shot in a Pacoima. Hopefully, we'll get some more for you soon.
PACOIMA - A gunman shot two middle-aged brothers on the street early Sunday morning, leaving one dead, police said.
Albert Rushing, 63, died not far from his brother, Monroe Brazill, 51, after being shot several times around 2:50 a.m. near the corner of Dronfield Avenue and Vaughn Street.
The shooting does not appear to be gang-related, said Sgt. Orlando Chandler of the LAPD's Foothill Division.
But police are looking for someone seen leaving the scene in a newer model black vehicle with tinted windows.
Anyone with questions or information is asked to contact Foothill Homicide Detective Martinez or Detective Brownell at (818) 834-3115 or (818) 756-8861, during normal business hours or call after hours at 1-877-LAW-FULL (529-3855).
UPDATED, Monday, 10:38 a.m
Whew, I misread the earlier post and, thankfully, it appears Mr. Brazill is not dead. My apologies for the mistake and our condolences for his brother and best wishes for his recovery go out to the family.
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."
Officers from the Lea County Sheriff's and Hobbs Police departments were called in to restore control, and the jail was locked down after Tuesday night's incident.
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.
Jason Lyons, 38, was charged in Muncie City Court with reckless driving and interference with reporting a crime. A preliminary arraignment was pending.
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..
A pair of Los Angeles Sheriff's deputies on patrol early Saturday spotted a car in Calabasas Park with a man inside wearing gloves and surrounded by what looked like stolen material. After arresting him on suspicion of burglary around 6 a.m., they found a wallet among the loot they believe belonged to one of his partners in crime.
Three hours later, the partner walked into the Malibu-Lost Hills station, demanding the return of his dough.
"Thank God they're not smart," chuckled Sheriff's Lt. Scott Chew.
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.
In New York that is.
While the debate over illegal immigrants driving without a driver's license rages in California and particularly Los Angeles, NY Gov. Elliot Spitzer announced today that residents could apply for licenses without regard to their immigration status. Eight other states currently allow illegal immigrants to obtain licenses.
The heated issue has been the subtext of many recent debates in Los Angeles where less than a month ago, the LAPD reversed a temporary moratorium on the impounding of vehicles for 30 days from those without a license.
It's estimated that thousands of motorists are driving Los Angeles streets illegally without ever even taking a driver's test.
The police union points to the high rates of hit and run suspects that are unlicensed driver.
Immigrant rights groups say the practice _which cost an unlicensed driver around $1200 _ targets illegal immigrants.
LAPD Chief William Bratton has come out in support of issuing illegal immigrant's licenses, calling it a matter of safety.
Our competitor Ms. Leovy at the Homicide Report posted something that caught my eye on the always touchy subject of Black-Latino tension today. I'll paste a bit, then jump back in....
"LAPD is not on the brink," of a major inter-racial crime wave, three University of California Irvine scholars have concluded after examining assault, robbery and homicide data in the city's southern police precincts.
The researchers said that, although some cross-racial crimes involving blacks and Latinos have been "sensationalized," the numbers suggest that offenders preying on people of their own race is a much bigger problem, and should remain the focus of police attention.
"It sort of goes against the more spectacular stories that have been dramatized in the media," another researcher, UC Irvine assistant professor John R. Hipp, said of the study's findings. "It's far more common to see [violence] going on within groups. We don't see any real trend here."
The study by Hipp and fellow UC Irvine criminologists George E. Tita and Lindsay N. Boggess compared aggravated assault, robbery and homicide cases between 2000 and 2006 in the four precincts of LAPD's South Bureau against 2000 Census data. It found that black offenders were nearly eight times more likely to kill another black person as to kill a Latino, and Latino offenders were nearly twice as likely to kill another Latino as a black person.
For the rest, click here.
I haven't read the study myself, so I can't offer much analysis, but it definitely goes against the oft-repeated idea that Blacks and Latinos are more likely to target one another for crime. That's not to say it's not a serious problem -- whenver race gets injected into an already emotional crime, it resonates much more deeply with everyone. And certainly, if you're the Black guy who gets shot by Canoga Park Alabama or a Latino randomly targeted by some Rollin' 60s looking for revenge, it's a serious problem.
As reporters, what are we to do with this? I don't know, it's a hard call. When it's a straightforward robbery or murder, where the crime went down because of greed or other typical criminal motivations, perhaps we over-report the racial angle. But if you've got La Eme ordering hits on Blacks to claim turf or vice versa, I think the media has a responsibility to report it as a hate crime. Any time that regular folks can get drawn into criminal beefs through no fault of their own, then it bears mentioning.
Ultimately, the final commenter (at least when I last checked) on Ms. Leovy's post has it right: "At the end of the day we all bleed the same color. Red." It kind of sounds like a t-shirt slogan, but it's right on. It'll be a long time, I'm afraid, until we put our racial issues aside. But until we do, we're going to keep seeing people lying face up in the church whose only crime was being born a different color than the man on the other side of the gun.
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.
After receiving a tip that Jereme James, 33, of Long Beach had several protected Fiji iguanas that are threatened with extinction, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service opened an undercover investigation, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the United States Attorney's Office.
While on a trip to Fiji in September 2002, James allegedly trapped three young iguanas from an ecological preserve and brought them back to the United States in a compartment he made in a prosthetic leg he uses, Mrozek said.
During the investigation, James told an undercover agent that he sold a trio of Fiji Island-banded iguanas four years ago for $32,000, Mrozek said.
Agents eventually executed a search warrant on James' house in July, where they found four of the rare reptiles.
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.
Here's an odd one for you, dear readers. Angie Valencia-Martinez and I teamed up on this story (and by teamed up, I mean that Angie did all the hard work and I sat in the relative comfort of my office chair and made phone calls) about a protest outside United Church of Christ in Simi Valley on Sunday. UCC's harboring a woman named Liliana as part of the New Sanctuary Movement and the anti-illegal immigration group Save Our State showed up to complain. No one got arrested and after three hours, both sides went home without much of an incident.
Here's the interesting twist: on Wednesday, the City of Simi Valley sent the church a bill for the use of the police. Save Our State met with the cops in advance to tell them of their protest plans, but neither side called 911 and it sounded like, as far as protests go, this was pretty mild.
Simi Valley's position is that the church invited the protest by proclaiming they were harboring the woman, so they should be responsible for whatever police costs come with the unwanted publicity. While I can see why they don't want to have to pick up the tab for either side of the protest's actions, this seems to be an unusual way of passing on the costs.
When people picket the Daily News (as they do, from time to time), we don't get a bill from the LAPD for publishing something that irritated our readers. As Simi residents have made quite clear, they don't want their city to become like Los Angeles, but it does seem like there's some legal issues involved here that aren't so cut-and-dry. I guess we'll see in coming weeks how the church responds and who ends up forking over the $40k the city wants to charge.
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.
The following arrests were made yesterday:
- 20100 block of Sherman Way, Winnetka: A 20-year-old Van Nuys man, a 43-year-old female house cleaner from North Hills, and a 24-year-old unemployed Van Nuys man were arrested on suspicion of commercial burglary.
- 9900 block of Canoga Avenue, Chatsworth: A 34-year-old painter from North Hollywood was arrested on suspicion of lewd acts with a child.
- 16900 block of Horace Street, Granada Hills: A 24-year-old female sales clerk from Granada Hills was arrested on suspicion of cultivation of marijuana.
- 5800 block of Ethel Avenue, Van Nuys: An 18-year-old student from North Hollywood was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter.
- 8100 block of Orion Avenue, Van Nuys: A 37-year-old house painter from Van Nuys was arrested on suspicion of attempted robbery.
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
Out with the O.J., in with the stalker
One of the two sports memorabilia collectors who accused O.J. Simpson and a group of armed men of robbing him has been arrested himself.
Alfred Beardsley was arrested on a parole violation Wednesday stemming from an earlier conviction for stalking.
Yikes, will the criminal hijinks ever end?
The following arrests were made yesterday:
- 9000 block of Remick Avenue, Arleta: An 18-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of rape by force. We're following up to get more details.
- 14800 block of Vanowen Street, Van Nuys: A 25-year-old cook was arrested on suspicion of indecent exposure.
- 300 block of South Union Avenue, Los Angeles: A 29-year-old clothes washer from Glendale was arrested on suspicion of robbery.
- 8800 block of Topanga Canyon Boulevard, Canoga Park: A 21-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of residential burglary.
- 14800 block of Roscoe Boulevard, Panorama City: A 20-year-old student from North Hollywood was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping. Cops are still sussing this case out. We'll know more a little later.
- Vineland Avenue, Sun Valley: A 19-year-old referee was arrested on suspicion of possession of a shuriken, which is a Japanese weapon that looks like a small blade in a star shape.
Good morning. Below is your occasional crime headlines from around dailynews.com.
Infant caught in barrage of gunfire
The city is offering a $75,000 reward for information on who shot to death a 3-week-old baby Saturday, authorities announced today.
The infant, Luis Angel Garcia, was killed in the shooting, which occurred near MacArthur Park. Francisco Clemente, 37, who police believe was the intended target of the three gunman, was critically injured in the attack.
Police say there were 50 to 100 people in the area when the 9:30 p.m. shooting occurred.
Anyone with information is asked to call (213) 485-2531 during normal business hours and (877) LAFULL after-hours.
The CSUN police department forwards us their crime reports. Here are the most recent reports:
- On Sept. 13, at Juniper Hall, a CSUN student grabbed another CSUN student from behind, touching her waist and arms. The victim was not injured during the attack.
- On Sept. 13 in the UPA 13 Laundry Room, an unknown suspect stole a CSUN student’s purse with its contents when she sat it on a dryer and left the area.
- On Sept. 13, in Lot F8, a CSUN police officer arrested 20-year-old Wilfredo Alexander Lovo for a misdemeanor warrant during an investigation of possible domestic violence. The suspect, not a CSUN student, was booked into custody.
- On Sept. 13, in the UPA 4, an unknown suspect activated the fire alarm by removing and discharging a fire extinguisher in the west stairwell. CSUN police and LAFD checked the building for smoke and fire once it was evacuated. The alarm was reset and CSUN students were permitted to return to the building. A fire watch was implemented.
- On Sept. 14 at University Hall, an unknown suspect stole a utility hand truck when a CSUN staff member left it unattended outside a work area.
- On Sept. 14 at Lindley/Vincennes, a CSUN police officer cited and released a 20-year-old woman for driving without a driver license during a traffic stop. The suspect is not a CSUN student.
- On Sept. 16 at 17950 Lassen, a CSUN police officer cited a 17-year-old juvenile for possession of marijuana during an investigation of the smell of marijuana during a traffic stop at the security check point. The suspect, not a CSUN student was escorted to his home and released to his parent.
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.
The following arrests were made over the weekend:
- Lankershim Boulevard, North Hollywood: A 25-year-old unemployed man was arrested on suspicion of sticking up a man for $20 cash and a leather jacket.
- 7300 block of Irondale Avenue, Winnetka: A 34-year-old construction worker from Canoga Park was arrested on suspicion of assault with a knife.
- 21700 block of Lassen Street, Chatsworth: A 38-year-old man from North Hills was arrested on suspicion of residential burglary.
- 23400 block of Friar Street, Woodland Hills: A 29-year-old florist was arrested on suspicion of violating her parole.
- 7650 block of Balboa Boulevard, Van Nuys: A 24-year-old barber was arrested on suspicion of robbery.
- 18100 block of Sherman Way, Reseda: A 37-year-old construction worker from Van Nuys was arrested on suspicion of robbery.
- 18400 block of Ventura Boulevard, Tarzana: A housewife from Encino was arrested on suspicion of theft.
- 6900 block of Remmet Avenue, Canoga Park: A 43-year-old stage technician was arrested on suspicion of violating his parole.
- 8700 block of Foothill Boulevard, Sunland: A 45-year-old plumber from Tujunga was arrested on suspicion of violating a parole hold.
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.
The men, and in some cases the gun used Monday, might be tied to several other shootings, including a July gang altercation at an adjacent restaurant that left a man shot in the head, said Capt. Jim Miller, commanding officer for the LAPD Van Nuys Division.
Monday's afternoon shooting, outside a Jack in the Box restaurant at Vanowen Street and Balboa Boulevard, sent teens running and left parents and school administrators concerned about student safety amid escalating off-campus gang violence.
Sanderson Montes, 18, one of the men arrested Friday in a series of early morning search-warrant raids carried out in North Hollywood and Van Nuys, is a former Birmingham High School student, police 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.
Hilary Gushwa
Who'd have thought a beauty pageant like Miss Ventura County could turn into a nasty legal brawl including charges of inebriated nuptials, a stolen tiara and improper use of a badge?
Mr. Bartholomew tops the paper today with this story:
For deposed 2005 Miss Ventura County winner Hilary Gushwa, beauty never got uglier - or messier.
The Camarillo beauty queen stripped of her crown over a drunken wedding has waged a tug-of-war with pageant officials who have accused her of stealing her tiara.
And she defended her honor Friday amid allegations that a rival beauty-pageant mom and contest official had abused her law enforcement privileges while trying to repossess the crown.
"I have survived much more difficult situations in my life than some angry beauty-pageant mother who is upset that her daughter lost a competition," said Gushwa, 24, a Cal State Northridge coed.
Keep reading here for the whole story.
The Orange Glove Bandit
The FBI hasn't assigned an official nickname for this sketchy character, so in the meantime, we'll refer to him as the Orange Glove Bandit....
SAN FERNANDO - Some bank robbers get caught red-handed, but the orange-gloved bandit got away and authorities asked for the public's help Friday to track him down.
On Sept. 8, the suspect barged into the Citibank at 456 S. Brand Blvd. brandishing an oversized, apparently phony pistol and demanding money. He wore a black shirt, dark pants, large sunglasses and blazingly orange gardening gloves.
His choice of props mirrored his skill at robbery, police said.
"He tries a takeover and he doesn't get anywhere with anyone," said San Fernando Police Department Detective Anthony Vairo. "He goes to a teller, but they're closed out. He goes to the vault and it's locked. I guess he just got frustrated and left."
Before his departure, the man, feed clad in combat boots, leapt over the teller's desk and roughed up an employee. As his frustration grew, he became even more agitated.
"We're treating him as armed and dangerous," said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller. "He was very aggressive, very intimidating and he used a very large amount of profanity during the robbery."
The suspect, described as a 5-foot-5, 160-pound Latino with a muscular build and dark, close-cropped hair, hopped into a black, late-model Chevrolet sedan and made his escape down Brand.
"He's definitely not a highly intelligent person," Vairo said. "But he's armed with a gun, even if we can't tell if it's real or not, so we've got to go after him."
Earlier:
Deja Vu and Magoo, too
The Armando Eugene Sanchez Bandit
Zorro leaves his mark
The Shark, the dope and the cop who cranks up the classical
Rita Chiang, 53, enjoyed a 21-year-career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but fell under suspicion of spying for the Chinese. On Jan 12, 2002, the feds took her badge and gun and kicked her out of the West LA office at the Federal Building on Wilshire Blvd. Accused of being a mole for Chinese intelligence, she failed a polygraph test but was cleared when her supervisor was accused of leaking the info, instead.
Though she later returned to work, Chiang said the incident ruined her career. According to a story that crossed the wire today, she now believes she was the victim of discrimination.