The Bail Bonds Blog!: December 2012

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Rocket launchers turned in during L.A. gun buyback not functional! - BailNowLA.com

Police say the launchers appear to be antitank weapons. Authorities collected more than 2,000 weapons in exchange for supermarket gift cards.

Two rocket launchers turned in to the Los Angeles Police Department as part of the city's gun buyback event appear to be antitank weapons from the military, experts said.
Police said the people turning them in at the buyback told officers they had family members who were at one time in the military and "they no longer wanted the launchers in their homes."
Several military experts said one of the weapons was probably a version of the AT4, an unguided antitank weapon. It's a single-shot weapon that a soldier fires and then the tubing is discarded.
The two launchers — long metal tubes that were once capable of propelling rocket grenades — were turned in along with 2,037 weapons at a gun buyback Wednesday, and exchanged for supermarket gift cards.
Det. Gus Villanueva said the launchers were "stripped-down shells" without the technical parts needed to discharge a projectile. "They don't have capability to discharge anything anymore," he said.
Los Angeles police gun experts will be checking the origins of these weapons with the U.S. military to see if they were ever stolen, he said.
Villanueva said officers could not provide details on the models.
Among the 2,037 firearms were 75 assault weapons, officials said. The total was nearly 400 more weapons than were collected in a similar buyback earlier this year.
Police Chief Charlie Beck said he's used to military-style weapons being turned in at such events. He noted that neither of the launchers had rockets in them, and they did not pose a danger.
Still, he said assault weapons have no place on the streets of L.A.
"Those are weapons of war, weapons of death," Beck said. "These are not hunting guns. These are not target guns. These are made to put high-velocity, extremely deadly, long-range rounds down-range as quickly as possible, and they have no place in our great city."
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the collection at two locations was so successful that the city ran out of money for supermarket gift cards and got a private donation through the city controller to replenish the pot.
The gun buyback was moved up from its usual Mother's Day date in response to the massacre Dec. 14 that claimed the lives of 26 people, including 20 students at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
"As you can see to my right and left, these weren't just guns that weren't functioning anymore," Villaraigosa said at a news conference Thursday morning. "These were serious guns — semiautomatic weapons, guns that have no place on the streets of Los Angeles or any other city."

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Friday, December 28, 2012

O.C. man charged with killing girlfriend's 18-month-old son

An Orange County man has been charged with killing his girlfriend's 18-month-old son by physically abusing the boy when he baby-sat him, prosecutors said.
Cheyenne Mateo Fuimaono, 21, is set to be arraigned Friday on one felony charge each of first-degree murder and assault on a child with force likely to produce great bodily injury resulting in death, according to a statement from the Orange County District Attorney's office.
Prosecutors said that, if convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in state prison.
Fuimaono, who lives in Buena Park, is being held on $1-million bail.
Prosecutors said that on the afternoon of Nov. 30, Fuimaono was allegedly watching the child at the home Fuimaono and his girlfriend shared with his parents. Prosecutors said that Fuimaono is accused of assaulting the child, and shortly after 1:20 p.m., called authorities to report that the baby was not breathing.
Paramedics arrived to find the child lying unconscious. Prosecutors said the responders performed CPR on him, although the boy remained non-responsive and was taken to a hospital. Doctors at the hospital could not revive him, so he was transferred to Children's Hospital of Orange.
Prosecutors said that doctors there noticed unusual marks and discolorations on the child, including bite marks on his arm and bruising on his neck. The doctors contacted Buena Park police, who began an investigation.

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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Holiday DUI arrests, fatalities up in California, CHP says

Photo: CHP vehicle. Credit: California Highway Patrol

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Drunk driving arrests and fatalities over the holiday increased compared to last year, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Between Dec. 21 and Dec. 25, the CHP recorded 1,170 DUI arrests on roads its patrols, compared to 980 in 2011. Fatalities during that period were 39, compared to 14 in 2011.
Statistics from other California police agencies were not immediately available.
Police announced a series of drunk driving sobriety checkpoints earlier this month designed to catch drunk driving during the holidays.
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, 17 people were killed in traffic collisions and more than 800 people were arrested on suspicion of drunk driving in cases handled by the CHP.
The statewide fatality count was up from the same period last year, which had 14 such traffic deaths. But the 840 drunk driving arrests by CHP officers dropped from last year's 903.

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Saturday, December 22, 2012

San Diego jury awards $7.7 million to man hurt by falling tree

A San Diego jury Friday awarded $7,675,000 to a man whose legs were crushed when a 60-foot tree on public property toppled on him.
The Superior Court jury earlier had declared that the city was responsible for the injuries suffered by 58-year-old Michael Burke when he was hit by a palm tree in front of his home in 2010. Burke is now a paraplegic, has had 14 surgeries and may need to have his legs amputated.
Burke said that he wishes the city would take responsibility for the incident and resume inspecting and caring for trees on public property, a service that the city curtailed during its recent financial problems.
"Until then," Burke said, "anyone who lives in San Diego, works in San Diego, or visits San Diego is at risk to be hurt or killed by a tree that topples without warning."
Jonathan Heller, spokesman for City Atty. Jan Goldsmith, said city lawyers would discuss the jury verdict with the City Council and the city's insurer. "The case is far from over at this point," he said.
Burke and his wife, Edith, were represented by attorneys Browne Greene and Ivan Puchalt with the Santa Monica firm of Greene Broillet & Wheeler, and Daniel Balaban and Andrew Spielberger of the Los Angeles firm Balaban and Spielberger.

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Thursday, December 20, 2012

'Laguna Beach' reality star pleads guilty to DUI - BailNowOrangeCounty.com

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One-time "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County" reality TV star Talan Torriero has pleaded guilty to drunk driving and has been sentenced to three years' probation, court records show.
Torriero, 26, of Laguna Beach, entered a guilty plea Dec. 10 to misdemeanor driving with a blood alcohol level of .08% or more, according to Orange County Superior Court records. The former reality star will serve three years' informal probation, pay a $390 fine and enroll in a first-offenders program, record show.
Torriero was arrested about 12:30 a.m. Sept. 1 at Brooks Street and South Coast Highway in Laguna Beach. A Laguna Beach patrol officer said he spotted Torriero driving south on South Coast Highway and then making an illegal left turn.
The officer said he pulled over the actor and noticed he appeared to be intoxicated. Torriero was arrested after failing a field sobriety tests.
According to IMDB, Torriero tried his hand at acting with appearances in several films after the cancellation of the hit MTV show.

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Monday, December 17, 2012

Woman apparently stabbed to death with BBQ fork, LAPD says

Los Angeles police are investigating the death of a woman in the San Fernando Valley who appeared to have been stabbed repeatedly with a barbecue fork, a department official said.
Officers were called to the 11100 block of Rincon Avenue about 9 a.m. and paramedics pronounced the woman dead at the scene, said LAPD Lt. Paul Vernon.
A man believed to be the victim's grandson was arrested at the scene.
The suspect, 22, lived with his grandparents at the home, Vernon said. Although Vernon stressed the investigation was still unfolding, he said the slaying was preceded by an argument Saturday night between the suspect and his grandparents.
On Sunday morning, while the suspect's grandfather was away, there was another argument, Vernon said. This time, the suspect allegedly began beating his grandmother, who called a relative for help.
When that relative, who was not identified, arrived at the residence, she saw the suspect bloody outside the home, Vernon said. She then called police.
Vernon said investigators had confiscated several possible weapons at the scene including the barbecue fork.
Neither the victim nor the suspect were immediately identified.

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Thursday, December 13, 2012

Oakland Police Department placed under court control

Oakland police square off against Occupy protesters in May. Credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

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A federal judge has placed Oakland Police Department reform efforts under his direct control, citing nearly a decade of inadequate attempts to comply with a legal settlement in a case that unmasked systemic police brutality and racial profiling.
U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson on Wednesday signed off on an eleventh-hour agreement reached last week between the city and plaintiffs’ attorneys under which he will appoint a full-time “compliance director” with sweeping powers to dictate changes related to the case.
That director will have the ability to order expenditures of up to $250,000 without city approval, revamp police policies pertaining to required reforms, demote personnel or order other staffing changes. With Henderson's approval, the director would even be able to fire Police Chief Howard Jordan if progress to revamp the department stalls.
Plenty of police departments have faced federal consent decrees and mandated reforms, but this marks the first known instance in recent decades in which a judge has stepped in to take over an agency's key decision-making authority when reforms failed, plaintiffs' attorneys said.
The case pertains to a group of officers known as "The Riders" who framed and beat suspects in West Oakland. The city paid $10.9 million to 119 plaintiffs in the case, and a settlement agreement was implemented in 2003 mandating a host of specific reforms to department culture and practice.
The city has complied with a number of them. Years later, however, key changes have not occurred, including an early-warning system to detect problem officers, a revamping of the internal affairs division and the collection and analysis of data to avert racial profiling.
In a joint statement, Jordan, City Administrator Deanna Santana and Mayor Jean Quan applauded Henderson's approval of the settlement and said officials were "re-energized in our efforts to improve public safety while building greater trust between the community and the police department."

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Monday, December 10, 2012

O.C. murder suspect's ex-fiancee implicates him in jail interview

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Hours before he played the romantic lead in a community theater play opposite his real-life fiancee, authorities allege Daniel Patrick Wozniak shot and killed his neighbor.

Not long after that evening’s performance, he slipped out of the Costa Mesa apartment he shared with his then-fiancee, Rachel Buffett, 25, and killed a second person , according to police, prosecutors and Buffett's account of events.
Authorities say that when they questioned Buffett, she lied to protect Wozniak, who is now facing double murder charges.
More than two years after the May 2010 crimes, Buffett was charged with being an accessory to murder after the fact. It is a charge she disputes.
"I'm innocent, and he's guilty, and he confessed to that," she told the Daily Pilot in a jailhouse interview. She said Wozniak told her that he confessed to police that he killed the two victims.
She said she's always been honest and forth-coming with police and doesn't understand why she is now facing felony charges and a possible prison sentence of more than three years.
"You go over it in your mind, 'How could I possibly give someone wrong information?' " she said. "I was trying to be helpful and give them every conception in my mind."
Police, however, say their investigation, which included interviews with Buffett and multiple witnesses, indicates she wasn't truthful.
"She told us a story we know not to be true," said Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Ed Everett. "We waited that long basically because we didn't want to prematurely arrest her for accessory and find out she was complicit in the homicides."
Police said Wozniak killed his neighbor Samuel Herr in the theater of the Joint Forces Training Center in Los Alamitos before dismembering his body and leaving his head and hands at the nearby El Dorado Nature Center in Long Beach. Authorities allege that Wozniak then killed Herr's friend and tutor, Juri "Julie" Kibuishi, 23, in Herr's apartment, then staged the crime to make it look like a sexual assault.
Wozniak reportedly told detectives he was motivated by money. He and Buffett had planned to marry soon. Authorities said Wozniak killed Herr to secure his ATM card. Herr had saved money from his time in the military.
Wozniak remains in Orange County Jail on murder charges. If convicted, he could receive the death penalty.
Buffett faces three felony charges of accessory to murder after the fact. She faces a three-year, eight-month, sentence if convicted.

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Thursday, December 6, 2012

San Diego Hells Angel enforcer gets 21 years on drug conviction

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A Hells Angels enforcer has been sentenced to 21 years and 10 months in federal prison on a drug charge linked to the gang's use of violence to dominate the sale of methamphetamine in San Diego neighborhoods.
Michael Edward Ottinger Jr., 43, still faces charges of murder, attempted murder, mayhem, assault with a deadly weapon, robbery and criminal threats. Before the drug charge conviction, Ottinger's criminal record included seven felony convictions.
Ottinger was the sergeant-at-arms of the San Diego chapter of the Hells Angels. According to testimony during his trial in federal court, the Hells Angels had awarded Ottinger the "Filthy Few" and "Thug Crew" patches, given only to members who use violence on behalf of other Hells Angels.
Among the charges still facing Ottinger is a murder charge involving the stabbing death of a rival motorcycle gang member, Fernando Fernandez of the Mongols.
Ottinger was considered the "highest-value" target of a yearlong undercover investigation into the Hells Angels by the FBI Violent Crime Task Force that resulted in the indictment of 36 people.
According to court documents, the Hells Angels were determined to control the distribution and sale of meth, particularly in the Ocean Beach and Point Loma neighborhoods.

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Monday, December 3, 2012

LAPD officers fatally shoot a knife-wielding man in Van Nuys

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Los Angeles police shot and killed a man in Van Nuys on Saturday night after he allegedly held a woman at knifepoint.
The shooting took place near the intersection of Saticoy Street and Tobias Avenue in the San Fernando Valley around 8 p.m. after officers responded to a 911 call about an assault with a deadly weapon, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
When the officers arrived, sources said, the suspect was holding a knife to a woman's throat. The suspect refused to drop the knife after being ordered to do so by officers, at least one of whom opened fire.
No officers were hurt in the confrontation, according to the sources who said the investigation was still unfolding.
Specific details about the shooting were not immediately available. The identity of the dead man was not released.

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