Email Author MATT COKER

Awards

• 2011 - Southern California Journalism Awards/LA Press Club, published February 4, 2010

  "Douchebag Does Sundance"

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2011 Stories by MATT COKER

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  FEATURED STORY

  [UPDATED with Weekly Role in Discovery:] George P. Shultz's Head is Found in Trash, But Ronald Reagan's is Still Missing

  published Dec 13, 2011

  UPDATE, DEC. 13, 12:22 P.M.: The recyclables searcher who found the head of George P. Shultz in a Huntington Beach garbage bin told his son in Oregon about the find, which led junior to search the Int... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Derek Reeve, SJC Councilman in News All Year for Knuckleheadedness and Plagiarism, Scoffs at Integrity of His Middle Eastern Students

  published Dec 13, 2011

  Lawyer, educator and San Juan Capistrano City Councilman Derek Reeve has been called out this year for advocating guns in city parks, naming a family dog after the Islamic prophet Muhammad and plagiar... More >>

• John Arthur Walthall, Who Tried to Be Invisible, Guilty of Defrauding Elderly Couple Out of $5.5 Million and Still Faces Fugitive-With-Gun Count

  published Dec 13, 2011

  A La Habra fugitive who was caught in a small Nevada town with a book titled How to Be Invisible has been convicted in federal court of evading arrest and defrauding an elderly couple out of $5.5 mill... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Ramon Diaz, a Killer at 16, Gets 50 Years in Prison for Murder of 13-Year-Old Rodrigo Valle

  published Dec 12, 2011

  A mother told a judge she doesn't understand why her 13-year-old son was taken from her.The shooting death of Rodrigo Valle near Santa Ana High School was more than another case of a gang member getti... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Alexa Johzen Polar and Robin Antonella Pabello Accused of Stealing $285k for Lavish NYC Trip

  published Dec 12, 2011

  Two Garden Grove roommates are accused of stealing a check from a Newport Beach law firm and changing the value to more than $285,000 that they spent on a lavish trip to New York that included privat... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Ahmad Mabrok Accused of Being Naked Hummer Limo Thief

  published Dec 12, 2011

  A thief was fully clothed when he stole a Hummer limo at gunpoint in Irvine Saturday night.But, as a helicopter officer informed after the man who led cops on a bi-county chase jumped out of the stret... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Paul Kim, Church Enforcer of Family Discipline, Accused of Beating Teen with Metal Pipe

  published Dec 12, 2011

  A man portrayed as a church enforcer of discipline on the children of church members has been arrested for allegedly beating an Irvine teen with a metal pipe at least a dozen times.Paul Kim, 39, of Ch... More >>

• [UPDATED with Correction:] Revenge of the Electric Car ALREADY ROLLED Into Long Beach

  published Dec 12, 2011

  CORRECTION, DEC. 12, 9:50 A.M.: No, it was not a bank of dead batteries that prevented filmmaker Chris Paine and his new documentary Revenge of the Electric Car from showing up as advertised (by . . .... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Jana Marie Spires Gets Jail, Rehab, Probation to Avoid Prison for Being Irvine's Serial Arsonist

  published Dec 09, 2011

  Jana Marie Spires, a 39-year-old Irvine resident, convicted serial arsonist and previous Weekly Ugly Police Mugshot of the Week model, has been sentenced to a year in jail, a year in a residential dru... More >>

• Luis Rosales Rivera, Looks Like Machete But Used Sledgehammer, Gets 26 Years for Killing

  published Dec 09, 2011

  Gardener and potential Machete II stand-in Luis Rosales Rivera was sentenced today to 26 years to life in state prison for murdering his sleeping roommate not with a machete but a sledgehammer.A Santa... More >>

• Lydia Delrio Montelongo, LA Airport Cop's Wife, Cops to Falsely Claiming She Was Divorced and Taking $118,000 in Public Assistance

  published Dec 09, 2011

  A Fullerton woman is spending nine months in jail, serving five years of probation and paying $118,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to having received that much in public assistance while fals... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Backyard Skeptics' "Treaty of Tripoli" Billboard Advocates Separation of Church and State

  published Dec 09, 2011

  Having screwed the pooch on a billboard with an atheist-friendly misquote from Thomas Jefferson has not stopped Fountain Valley-based Backyard Skeptics from going to the inkwell again. This time, abov... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  [UPDATED with God Smack:] Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson Coming to the Angels

  published Dec 08, 2011

  UPDATE, DEC. 8, 2:50 P.M.: Step aside, Rick Warren, Robert Schuller and Bishop Tod Brown: the next great Orange County Christian soldier may very well be Albert Pujols. Christian author Scott Lamb, wh... More >>

• Bill Targeting Nonprofits That's Inspired by Jerry Sandusky-Penn State Scandal Gets Legs

  published Dec 08, 2011

  In the wake of the Penn State-Jerry Sandusky controversy, a California assemblyman has answered a Newport Beach attorney and retired state senator's call for legislation targeting the tax-exempt statu... More >>

• Octomom Nadya Suleman Account of Flight from Hell Disputed by Actress Kristen Johnston

  published Dec 08, 2011

  Kristen Johnston, who starred in NBC's Third Rock From the Sun, recently appeared on The Wendy Williams Show to promote her new sitcom, The Exes on TV Land. But besides talking about appearing on the ... More >>

• Long Beach Parolee Held in Home Invasion of 90-year-old Rossmoor Lady

  published Dec 08, 2011

  A Long Beach parolee was arrested this morning in Wednesday's Rossmoor home invasion that had a 90-year-old woman held at gunpoint, tied up and robbed.The names of those involved have not yet been rel... More >>

• Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Santa Ana Has Fire by Baptism

  published Dec 08, 2011

  This is so weird: just a few weeks ago I was walking around the new construction to reach the sanctuary at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Santa Ana.This morning, those portions being remodel... More >>

• Gay Davidson-Shepard, Retired Surf City Teacher and Former Union Chief Accused of Underage Sex, Held for Contacting Victim

  published Dec 07, 2011

  Gay Davidson-Shepard, the retired Huntington Beach teacher and former teacher association president accused of sexually tag-teaming a 17-year-old male student with her retired teacher husband, was arr... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Sloane Steven Briles' Tossing-Son-in-Harbor Case Rejected by Veterans Court

  published Dec 07, 2011

  If you blinked, you missed Sloane Steven Briles' time in a special court for military veterans dealing with mental-health issues.Orange County's Veterans Court has decided not to hear the case against... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  [UPDATED with I.D.'s, More Details:] John Kristopher Altamirano, OC Homicide No. 60: Found Dead in Truck

  published Dec 07, 2011

  UPDATE, DEC. 7, 5:10 P.M.: When sheriff's deputies found a dead John Kristopher Altamirano in his white pickup parked in front of his Laguna Niguel residence Monday afternoon, the 34-year-old had cuts... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  [UPDATED with More Details:] Brenda Romero, OC Homicide No. 58: Shot Dead in the Head

  published Dec 07, 2011

  UPDATE, DEC. 7, 4:33 P.M.: 20-year-old Brenda Romero was walking back home after dropping off food to her boyfriend around 6 p.m. Thursday when she met her end, according to Santa Ana Police.Witnesses... More >>

• Gabrielle Nestande, OC GOP Heavyweight's Daughter, Has Powerful Legal Foe in Death Case

  published Dec 07, 2011

  As Gabrielle Jane Nestande left her second court appearance in Texas related to charges she failed to stop and help a nanny mowed down by the 24-year-old's car, the scion of a powerful Orange County R... More >>

• [UPDATED with Arraignment Continued:] Bobby Ray Rainwater Jr., OC Homicide No. 57: Body Found Outside His Mobile Home

  published Dec 07, 2011

  UPDATE, DEC. 7, 12:41 P.M.: 34-year-old Robert Eugene Vasquez is being held without bail as his defense attorney got his arraignment continued to Jan. 6 in the alleged special circumstances murder of ... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  John Steven "Sinjin" Burgess Gets Out of Jail Early for Dumping Donna Jou's Body in Pacific

  published Dec 07, 2011

  A Rancho Santa Margarita family and their supporters are protesting outside the Criminal Justice Building in Los Angeles this morning over today's scheduled release of an inmate who only served half h... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Original Russo's Pet Experience Now Targeted by Puppy Mill Foes

  published Dec 07, 2011

  Animal rights groups claiming Russo's Pet Experience sells puppies raised in mills managed to pressure the Irvine Co. to end the pet store's lease at one Irvine shopping center and the Irvine City Cou... More >>