Results tagged “crime”

Alexandra Forbes Kerry, 36, was arrested early this morning in Hollywood for allegedly driving while drunk. Pulled over for a traffic stop around 12:40 a.m., Kerry failed a field sobriety test, but refused to take a preliminary alcohol screening test in the field, leading to her arrest and booking at the local area station. "Cops took her to the station and then conducted a formal blood alcohol test which showed a level of .06," explained TMZ.

The Los Angeles City Council right now is in the process of confirming LAPD Chief-designate Charlie Beck (you can tune in on Channel 35). Councilmembers are asking him questions before officially confirming him as Chief.

A man was shot in the leg this morning, south of Ventura Boulevard in the hills, by a man in a ski mask. Circumstances around the 5:49 a.m. shooting are sketchy, but the 35-year-old man's injury is minor as the bullet grazed him. Apparently, the shooting took place inside a home on the 3400 block of Longridge. Police are continuing to investigate this incident.

More details are coming out about the unfortunate murder in Mid-City last night in which a woman was murdered by her estranged boyfriend. According to an LAPD statement, 30-year-old Flor Medrano flagged down officers on patrol yesterday evening after she was threatened and assaulted the day before.

Fortunately, the former head of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tustin pleaded guilty in court today and could face four years in prison, says KPCC. Although Clifford Lewis Polston worked for the club for 30 years, between 2001 and 2007 he used $33,000 of the organization's money to pay off his credit cards, vacation rentals, plane tickets and parking. Not only that, he gave his wife a fictitious consulting job for $72,800. And if that was not enough... When the board of directors grew suspicious after an audit, he resigned, but not before changing the sick time payout policy in his favor. He then tried to sue them for $76,000 in accrued sick time.

Superheroes have feelings, too. Anger is sometimes one of them. Such was the case yesterday when Spiderman--one of three working Hollywood Blvd. for tips--lashed out and allegedly assaulted another person, according to the LA Times. It's not the only incident for Superheroes. Once, Freddy Krueger allegedly stabbed someone. And Chewbacca headbutted a guy. Add to that, the following aggressive begging arrests: Mr. Incredible, Elmo the Muppet and "the dark-hooded character from the movie 'Scream.'"

Police are calling a man who has robbed at least 13 places, mostly in South L.A., the "Left-Handed Eyeglass" Bandit. That name comes from his usual M.O.: he walks into a business, pulls out a small caliber revolver, holds wit with his left hand and demands money before leaving. He's described as an African America in his 30s, about 160 to 190 pounds and 5 foot 10 inches, according to police. And in addition to his sinistral tendencies, he also wears glasses.

The LAPD today released photos and information on 30-year-old Miguel Angel Herrera, who is suspected of horrendous crimes against his girlfriend on Halloween night. He allegedly restrained her, punched her, cut her with a knife, whipped her with an electrical cord and worst of all, raped and poured acid on her before letting her drive away. Why was Herrera so angry? She arrived at his place late. “This incident appears to be an isolated incident and it is believed that it’s not related to any other assaults in the area,” said Detective Eloy Ochoa. Still, Herrera is still on the lose and was last seen driving a red Nissan, Titan pick-up truck license plate number 8-K-5-5-4-6-9.

Out in Pomona, police arrested four young men who burglarized a home Friday night and left a trail of shoe prints that aided police in their quick capture. They were found nearby, "sleeping in a garage stacked with the stolen property, and with some of the ill-gotten goods in their pockets," according to ABC7. Items from other possible burglaries were also found. The four will be arraigned tomorrow.

The LAPD is on the lookout for a man who impersonates a police officer and robs them. He's struck at least four times--twice in the Rampart area and once in Olympic and Pacific--over the last couple of months in various neighborhoods around the city. Usually operating in the late morning or early afternoon, he approaches victims dressed as a plain clothes police officer, complete with badge and gun. He'll search the victim and remove cash and wallets.

It's been a week of mourning in Long Beach after the death of 16-year-old Melody Ross between last week's Homecoming football game and dance at Wilson High School. She was an innocent bystander when two alleged 16-year-old gangmembers shot bullets into a crowd meant for two men who were wounded. Those teens were identified today--Tom Love Vinson and Daivion Davis--because they were charged as adults, according to the LA Times.

What a crazy story! Via the LA Times: "When U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at the Port of Los Angeles opened a shipping container bound for the Netherlands, they discovered a 1965 Volkswagen bus stolen in Washington state 35 years ago."

Thousands of rape kits still remain untested, finds a follow-up to a year-old audit that revealed some 7,500 rape kits sat untested on the shelves of LAPD labs. City Controller Wendy Greuel plans to release the the full findings tomorrow morning. Her office said today that the backlog has been reduced to 65%. However, Greuel says the Department’s record keeping is inconsistent, making it difficult to give entirely accurate numbers. In early October, it was reported that 3,157 kits were left to go with the full backlog completion due in the summer of 2011.

Today is the big day. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will name our new Chief of Police. Per former Chief William Bratton's recommendation, the new LAPD leader is from within the department. The candidates are Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Charlie Beck, Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell and Deputy Chief Michel Moore.

It was the early morning on February 8th--Grammys night--when Chris Brown lashed out at his girlfriend Rihanna in Hancock Park. What exactly happened is unknown, but ABC says Rihanna will reveal publicly what happened on Good Morning America this Thursday and Friday (also on 20/20 on Friday evening) in an interview with Diane Sawyer. Brown eventually apologized publicly on YouTube after entering into a plea agreement. He was slapped with five years of probation and 180 days of community service. He also has to take a one-year domestic violence class and stay 50 yards away from Rihanna.

Crime Mapping is a website that "automatically retrieves data from a records management system," and tracks and maps the information for the public to view, explains KTLA. The San Gabriel Police Department has joined with about two dozen California law enforcement agencies to make use of the Google-powered mapping site so that are residents "can now track crime trends in their neighborhoods." The service for San Gabriel launched today, and marks the first time a police department within Los Angeles County is making use of the service, which "requires no man-hours from police."

Gunfire erupted outside Wilson High School in Long Beach at around 10 o'clock Friday night as about 200 students were inside the building enjoying their Homecoming dance. The bullets took the life of 16-year-old Melody Ross, a "popular honors student and athlete," and the "daughter of Cambodian immigrants," who died in hospital half an hour after the shooting, according to LA Now. Ross and friends had just left the Homecoming football game when the shots were fired. Police are working to determine who killed Ross and wounded two young men, but "said they have no suspects and no motive," and "don't have a description or many leads to go on."

Watch out, folks! As always, never, never, never, never drink and drive. Halloween weekend is no exception and the LAPD is keeping an eye out. Over at Sunset and HIghland, a sobriety and drivers license checkpoint will be set up tonight between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m. Since the beginning of the year, there have been 127 driving under the influence-related and 989 hit and run traffic collisions in the Hollywood area.

Travion Terrett Ford, 25, was sentenced Thursday to prison for 2nd degree murder in the fatal stabbing of a USC student in September of last year. Bryan Richard Frost, 23, was walking with two other students early morning on the September 18th near 28th Street and Orchard Avenue when Ford apparently approached and an argument turned fight. Frost was killed by his stabbing wounds.

Two men were shot as they headed into a North Hollywood temple for morning prayer early today. It was about 6:20 a.m. when the two Jewish men in their 30s were approached by a man who pulled a gun, which jammed at first, according to the LA Times. The men were shot in the lower torso and are listed in stable condition. Police do not believe it is a robbery and are investigating it as a hate crime. The synagogue is the Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic synagogue on the 12000 block of Sylvan Street. UPDATE: A man has been detained by police, but it is unknown if he is a suspect. Patrols have been kicked up around other synagogues as they determine of this was a solo or group effort.

   

Other than their celebrity, what do Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Audrina Patridge, Orlando Bloom, Rachel Bilson, Brian Austin Green, Ashley Tisdale and Megan Fox all have in common. They were all victims of burglaries apparently committed by the same group, mostly made up of teens.

We've seen our fair share of aggressive behavior while taking the Red Line, but this video, taken between Hollywood and Highland and Universal City, is pretty disgusting. Sure the kids are acting like total brats and rudely harassing the woman (called the "crackhead" in this video), but does one of them deserve mace in the eye?

UCLA officials are reporting that the 20-year-old female student who was stabbed and slashed earlier this month was released from the hospital on Sunday. The unidentified junior biochemistry major was said to be in "good condition."

Following the arrest of Alfonzo Landa earlier this month, officials today announced the identify of 23-year-old Ricardo Hernandez. A $50,000 reward for tips leading to the arrest of those involved was announced in late September, a couple days after the murder.

The suspected arsonist in the Old Fire that scorched some 90,000 acres of the San Bernardino Mountains was indicted by a jury on 5 counts of murder today. Six people died and 1,000 homes were lost in the October 2003 blaze. Months later on a rainy Christmas day, 14 people died when debris flows swept through a Church camp.

Fearing that she would turn him in, Joe Saenz kidnapped, raped and murdered the mother of his child, leaving her body at his grandma's house. That was in 1998, just days after he killed two rival gang members on the Eastside.

Yesterday morning, authorities in Larimer County, Colorado, revealed that they are pursuing a criminal investigation of Thursday's "Balloon Boy" incident, when the Heene family allegedly led the Sheriff's Department, the media, and stunned viewers all over the world, to believe their 6-year-old son Falcon was drifting over the countryside in a home-made weather balloon. While no charges have been filed yet, patriarch Richard Heene could face a hefty laundry list of accusations, including several felonies.

A standoff that began at around 10:40 last night ended just before 6 this morning outside an apartment building in North Hollywood where a man who'd been believed to have shot his wife was holed up. LAPD officers and members of the SWAT team and bomb squad units were "met by neighbor Nick Wilcox, who told them some bullets came through his apartment wall," at the building on the 6500 block of Simpson Avenue, according to KTLA.

Although his paintings were allegedly stolen fro his westside home last month, Richard L. Weisman waived the $25 million he could have gotten under his insurance policy, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Police are currently searching a Hollywood neighborhood after an after-school shooting near Helen Bernstein High School. At 1:55 p.m., police received a call about shots fired on the 1300 block of North Wilton Place. A 16-year-old girl was shot in the hip area, according to police. LAUSD officials say she is in stable condition.