Crime and Law

Related Search

Blogs
October 20, 2011
Bryant Phillip Islas, Gang Banger on Parole, Walks Away from Prison Rehab and Tries to Kill a Guy: Cops
A parolee who was supposedly under the watch of a Garden Grove rehab center obviously wasn't on Aug. 31, according to Santa Ana police officials who have linked 28-year-old Bryant Phillip Islas to the attempted murder of a man heading to Taco Bell for lunch that day. Islas is accused of walking a ... More >>
Blogs
October 21, 2011
[UPDATED with Borja Denial:] Odon Borja, Who Killed Strawberry Picker Over Family Blood Feud, and Robert Lee Carney Jr., Who Murdered Teacher for $30, Seek Paroles Today
UPDATE, OCT. 21, 1:16 P.M.: Parole was also denied today for Odon Borja, who is serving a 25 years to life sentence at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego for the 1986 murder of a strawberry picker in a Cypress field over a family blood feud.Borja, 56, is next eligible for a ... More >>
Blogs
October 28, 2011
[UPDATED with Suspect's Family Blackmailed?] Saeid Boustanabadi Maralan, Husband, Father, Rug Store Manager and Sex Offender, Now Has 11 Females Claiming He Flashed and/or Sexually Assaulted Them
UPDATE, OCT. 28, 12:03 P.M.: The publisher of an Irvine-based Persian magazine threatened to blackmail the family of Saeid Boustanabadi Maralan, the Laguna Beach rug store by manager and registered sex offender facing up to 60 years to life in state prison for allegedly sexually assaulting and/or ... More >>
Blogs
October 25, 2011
[UPDATED with Dead Man's I.D.:] Santa Ana Man Held in Stabbing Death of One and Wounding of Another Outside Fourth Street Dive Bar
UPDATE, OCT. 25, 12:42 P.M.: The 28-year-old man who was stabbed to death early Saturday outside Fern's Bar on Fourth Street in Long Beach has been identified as the incredibly named Tommy Buck Whitson IV of Long Beach. Police have yet to identify the other 28-year-old, who suffered non-life thre ... More >>
Blogs
October 25, 2011
Curtis James Hill, in Prison for Veterans Day Robbery and Attack of WWII Vet, Faces Life for Victim's Death
Trial is scheduled to begin Wednesday afternoon in Santa Ana for one of two men who have already spent years in prison for robbing and assaulting a World War II veteran on Veterans Day 2003 but were later slapped with murder charges when the man died after three years in a coma brought on by the ... More >>
Blogs
October 25, 2011
Andrew Urdiales, Camp Pendleton Serial Killer, and Pasqual Raul Loera, Accused Double-Murderer of Westminster Couple, Both Face the Death Penalty
Andre UrdialesThe Orange County District Attorney's office announced today it will seek the death penalty for two men: Navy deserter Pasqual Raul Loera, who allegedly slayed a Westminster couple under the pretense of buying their car on Valentine's Day 2010, and Camp Pendleton serial killer Andre ... More >>
News
October 27, 2011
Kevin Taylor: The Missing Defendant in the Chamberlain Murder
Five former inmates will likely spend the rest of their lives in prison for the jailhouse killing, while the man who many say instigated it wasn't even charged
Blogs
October 29, 2011
[UPDATED with Laguna Hills Council Connection:] Todd Sousa, Irvine Swim Coach, Backstroking to Prison for Unlawful Sex with 15-Year-Old Girl
LautenschleUPDATE, OCT. 29, 9:54 A.M.: Swim instructor Todd Robert Sousa, who was sentenced Friday to prison time and a sex offender tag for unlawful sex with a 15-year-old girl he taught, is the son-in-law of Laguna Hills City Councilman Joel Lautenschleger. Sousa has children with Lautenschlege ... More >>
Blogs
November 1, 2011
Curtis James Hill Convicted of Murdering World War II Vet Cecil "Lucky" Warren on Veterans Day
Courtesy of OCDACurstis James HillCurtis James Hill was convicted today for the beating-murder of a World War II veteran on Veterans Day 2003.The 81-year-old victim did not actually die until three years later.And Hill had been scheduled to be released from prison in August for the robbery and as ... More >>
Blogs
November 2, 2011
[UPDATED with Denial:] Jose Luis Villanueva Tries to Accomplish What His Brother Couldn't: Get Paroled
UPDATE, NOV. 2, NOON: As happened to his brother Juan Manuel Villanueva on Tuesday, parole was denied this morning for Jose Luis Villanueva, who is imprisoned for the same 1994 stabbing-murder and attempted murdersThere was one difference: Juan, 35, will have a chance to go before the state parol ... More >>
Film
November 3, 2011
'Tower Heist' Is a High-Rise Robbery
Stealing from the rich to . . . oh, whatever. Funny is the message in this Ben Stiller flick
Blogs
November 3, 2011
[UPDATED with Jason Bitz was Unarmed, May Have Not Been Stealing Car:] Santa Ana Off-Duty Cop Shoots and Kills a Guy
UPDATE, NOV. 3, 3:09 A.M.: Los Angeles County sheriff's investigators say Jason Richard Bitz was not armed when a Santa Ana police officer fired four times and killed the Long Beach 23-year-old in Lakewood Monday morning. The unidentified officer, who has been placed on administrative leave, had ... More >>
Blogs
November 3, 2011
Ernest Arthur Peralta, Who Murdered a Man in 1982 by Beating Him to a Pulp and Firing a Rifle into His Bloodied Body 13 Times, Loses Parole Bid
Perhaps the news is not that parole was denied this morning for Ernest Arthur Peralta, who is locked up at California State Prison in Corcoran for a 1982 Santa Ana murder.Perhaps the news is that the 51-year-old who beat a guy to a pulp while on parole then took a rifle and fired 13 times into th ... More >>
Blogs
November 7, 2011
Paul Crowder, Who Killed Star Student-Athlete on Her Prom Night, Has Parole OK Reversed by Gov. Brown
As his predecessor Arnold Schwarzenegger did last year, Gov. Jerry Brown has reversed a state parole board decision to release from prison Paul Crowder, who was convicted in 1991 of murdering a brilliant student-athlete from Anaheim's Crescenta Valley High School on her prom night.But Brown stil ... More >>
Blogs
November 9, 2011
Oscar David Duenas, Accused of Raping 3 Prostitutes, Could Get Life After Trial Opening Today
A Santa Ana man accused of forcibly raping three prostitutes is scheduled to go on trial this morning--with a possible life sentence handing over his head.Oscar David Duenas, 29, is charged with three felony counts of forcible rape, two felony counts of forcible oral copulation, and one felony ... More >>
Blogs
November 14, 2011
[UPDATED with Conviction:] Prospero Guadarrama: Baby-Faced, Cold-Blooded Killer
UPDATE, NOV. 14, 5:42 P.M.: A jury today agreed Prospero Guadarrama's baby face is attached to a cold-blooded killer.Now 21, he was convicted of joining other Santa Ana street gang members as a 16-year-old in the execution-style murders of a 14- and 15-year-old while leaving a 16-year-old shot in ... More >>
News
November 10, 2011
The Chamberlain Files
The inside story of covering—and becoming part of—the county's most disturbing jailhouse murder case
Blogs
November 14, 2011
Martha M. Escutia, Retired Legislator-Turned-Newport Beach Lawyer, Targets Tax-Exempt Status of Abuser Nonprofits in Wake of Penn State Scandal
After East Los Angeles-born Martha M. Escutia served in both houses of the California Legislature from 1992 through 2006, she helped found the private law practice The Senators (Ret.) Firm in Newport Beach, where she specializes in representing abuse victims and their families.In the wake of th ... More >>
Blogs
November 17, 2011
Quick Ruling for Gay Marriage in California Expected Despite Today's Prop 8 Ruling
The California Supreme Court ruled today that gay marriage foes can fight the reversal of Prop 8.Because the offices of the governor and state attorney general refuse to defend the same-sex marriage ban, legal scholars such as UC Irvine School of Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky had opined that Prop 8 ... More >>
Blogs
November 23, 2011
Pancha Keophimone, Recruiter of Patients in $154 Million Insurance Scam, Cuts a Deal
A woman who was a "capper"--one who illegally recruits healthy patients to undergo unnecessary and often dangerous surgeries so medical practices can earn health insurance payments--was sentenced today to a year in jail for her role in what prosecutors call "the largest medical fraud prosecution ... More >>
Blogs
November 29, 2011
[UPDATED with Scott Evans Dekraai Insanity Plea Predicted:] 6 Women and 2 Men, OC Homicides Nos. 45-52: Massacred at Beauty Salon
UPDATE, NOV. 29, 12:30 P.M.: During today's arraignment hearing, where Scott Evans Dekraai pleaded not guilty to murdering eight people and critically injuring a ninth, Deputy Public Defender Scott Sanders objected to press photographers being in the courtroom, saying this kind of media coverage ... More >>
Blogs
November 28, 2011
Sandra Jessee: Accused Murderous, Pot Smoking Granny Takes Witness Stand
Sandra Jessee: Were those tears real today?Accused of hiring hit men to murder her husband while she shopped at Walmart and Burger King for a fake alibi, Sandra Jessee declined to take the witness stand in her first trial and saw herself and co-defendant, Thomas Aehlert, come within one vote of s ... More >>
Blogs
November 29, 2011
[UPDATED with Denials:] Luis Carlos Escobar, Fleeing Coke Parolee Who Killed Motorist, and Alberto Aguilera, Bar Fight Murderer, Seek Paroles Today
UPDATE, NOV. 29, 5:50 P.M.: The Board of Parole Hearings, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation meeting at California State Prison in Corcoran denied parole today for Luis Carlos Escobar, 51, who murdered a motorist in a crash while fleeing from agents busting him in an underc ... More >>
Blogs
November 29, 2011
John David Hines, Drunk-Ass Fire Capt. Who Mowed Down Cyclist, Gets Jail, Probation and $102k Restitution Bill
John David Hines, the 39-year-old Long Beach Fire captain convicted in September for severely injuring a cyclist in a mid-day hit-and-run crash while driving with a blood alcohol level of .24 percent (three times the legal limit), has essentially received a sentence of some jail, lots of probat ... More >>
Blogs
November 30, 2011
[UPDATED with Continuance:] Gregory Matthew Miley, Accomplice of "Freeway Killer" William Bonin, Seeks Parole
Miley in '80UPDATE, NOV. 30, 2:07 P.M.: Realizing that parole would be denied, "Freeway Killer" accomplice Gregory Matthew Miley agreed to a three-year continuance of his request until 2014.The 50-year-old is serving a 25 years to life prison sentence in Corcoran for the kidnappings, sexual assau ... More >>
News
December 1, 2011
The Boy Scouts' Police Problem
Dozens of teenage Explorers have been sexually abused by cops. Should the Scouts share the blame?
Blogs
December 6, 2011
Robert Duston Strong and David Michael Knick, Presumed Killers of Sheriff's Sgt. Ira Essoe Jr., Must Be Freed
Orange County Superior Court Judge Craig Robison has ruled that the presumed killers of an Orange County sheriff's sergeant must be released immediately. Compelling legal twists led to Robison's ruling for Robert Duston Strong and David Michael Knick, the strongest being the lack of judicial supp ... More >>
Blogs
December 9, 2011
Catholic League Bashes Gustavo for Pedo-Priest Articles; Gustavo Responds!
Donohue: Lace-curtain IrishThe Catholic League always struck me as one of those antiquated organizations--like the Iowa clubs of Southern California that held those cool picnics in Long Beach decades ago, or the Grand Army of the Republic--that might've had a place and cause at some point in o ... More >>
Blogs
December 9, 2011
Luis Rosales Rivera, Looks Like Machete But Used Sledgehammer, Gets 26 Years for Killing
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 Ana jury in October had found the Stanton 59-year-old guilty of one felony count of murder with ... More >>
Blogs
December 12, 2011
Ramon Diaz, a Killer at 16, Gets 50 Years in Prison for Murder of 13-Year-Old Rodrigo Valle
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 getting off'd by a rival gang member. It was another case of babies killing babies in Santa Ana. Ramo ... More >>
Blogs
December 14, 2011
Aida Arroyo, Michael Burgin, Adam Weick: Final Defendants in Wild Gang Crime Spree
ArroyoThe beginning of the end of an Orange County crime ring came with the late August 2009 arrest of a man, who was hiding near a shed in Oceanside, for being involved in a Laguna Beach jewelry store robbery. What authorities did not know at the time was he would be tied to another robbery earl ... More >>
Blogs
December 16, 2011
Ali Achekza, International Man of Serial Rape, Convicted
Ali Achekzai's New Year's resolution may involve ways to self improve over the next 80 years.That's how much prison time the so-called "international serial rapist" faces at his Jan. 27 sentencing in Santa Ana, following the 33-year-old's conviction Thursday of six felony counts including forcibl ... More >>
Blogs
December 16, 2011
Curtis James Hill Gets Life in Prison for Death of World War II Vet Beaten on Veterans Day
Curtis James Hill was sentenced today to life in state prison without the possibility of parole for the Veterans Day 2003 beating-murder of a WWII veteran who was left in a coma and died more than three years later.A jury last month found the Huntington Beach 29-year-old guilty of one felony cou ... More >>
Blogs
December 16, 2011
Prospero Guadarrama, Baby-Faced Gang Banger, Gets Life for Executing Rivals
Baby-faced gang banger Prospero Guadarrama was sentenced today to life in state prison without the possibility of parole for murdering two rivals and leaving a third in a coma after an execution-style gang shooting eight days before Christmas 2006. Sixteen at the time of the shootings, Guadarr ... More >>
Blogs
December 16, 2011
Douglas Nissan Part Owner Frank Ignacio Urbano and 2 Desk Managers Get Jail and Probation in Huge Loan Fraud Case
Marwan Abdellatif, a former Douglas Nissan desk manager accused of stealing the identities of unsuspecting customers and defrauding banks in the sale of used cars, remains a fugitive from justice. But his whereabouts being unknown did not stop the Orange dealership's part owner and two other de ... More >>
Blogs
January 25, 2012
[UPDATED with $5,000 Reward Paid:] Itzcoatl Ocampo, Troubled Former Marine, Accused Orange County Serial Killer
UPDATE, JAN. 25, 10:58 A.M.: Before the arrest of Itzcoatl Ocampo, the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the capture and conviction of a serial killer preying on homeless men. Union president Tom Dominguez is scheduled to hand Donny ... More >>
Blogs
January 4, 2012
Charles Craig Clements, Bank Teller Kidnapper, Gets Life Due to Handcuff Keys Up His Ass
Charles Craig Clements: golf fan, assmanOn his way to court Dec. 20 to be sentenced for kidnapping a pregnant bank teller from her home so she could open her Anaheim bank's vault, Charles Craig Clements fell down, injuring himself. That delayed the court hearing, but the 50-year-old's medical tre ... More >>
Blogs
January 10, 2012
[UPDATED with Victim I.D., Arraignment:] Dolores "Arias" Fagan, OC Homicide No. 1: Parolee Ean Keith Brown Held for Her Murder
UPDATE, JAN. 10, 9:56 A.M.: Third-strike parolee Ean Keith Brown is scheduled to be arraigned in Santa Ana this morning for the strangulation murder of Dolores "Arias" Fagan, who was visiting relatives who live in the same Huntington Beach neighborhood as the defendant when she went missing and l ... More >>
Blogs
January 10, 2012
Gary Samuel Cochran, Who Filmed Video of 8-year-old Girl Having Sex, Gets 26 Years
Gary Samuel Cochran, a registered sex offender who was among 55 men nabbed after a multi-agency probe into child pornography exchanged via peer-to-peer networks like Limewire, was sentenced Monday to 26 years in federal prison. The 53-year-old had agreed in September to a plea deal after federal ... More >>
Blogs
January 10, 2012
Ahmad Siddiqi, Marine Afghanistan Interpreter Accused of Killing DoD Interpreter Soraya Faroqi and Her Unborn Child, to be Arraigned
Cpl. Ahmad SiddiqiAn Orange County District Attorney's office statement on Wednesday's scheduled arraignment of Ahmad Siddiqi fills in some holes about the murder of Soraya Faroqi and her unborn child.Currently, the Marine who spent several months in Afghanistan before the slaying faces a minimum ... More >>
Blogs
January 10, 2012
Aida Arroyo, Michael Burgin and Adam Weick, Gang Members Who Hit OC Jewelers, Convicted
Three more members of a San Diego street gang have been convicted for their roles in two Orange County jewelry store robberies, with two learning their fate from a jury today and the third having entered a guilty plea mid-trial. Aida Arroyo, 29, faces up to 15 years in state prison after pleading ... More >>
Blogs
January 12, 2012
Richard J. Patterson, Drunk Off-Duty Cop Hurt with Wife in Motorcycle Crash, Draws Jail Time
My former (sniff) colleague Marisa Gerber first reported on Richard J. Patterson, a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy, being up on multiple charges related to his drunkenly ramming his motorcycle into a vehicle, injuring his wife and himself while off duty. Today, the 38-year-old Covina residen ... More >>
Blogs
January 16, 2012
James Ernest Bledsoe, Child Molester-Turned-Serial Rapist, Gets 129 Years
It was easy to lose amid all the serial killer coverage, but late last week serial rapist James Ernest Bledsoe, 30, of Huntington Beach, was sentenced to 129 years to life in state prison for sexually assaulting four women in his apartment and surreptitiously videotaping the rapes without the v ... More >>
Blogs
January 24, 2012
Erwin Johnny Sanchez Gets 29 Years to Life for Murder of Man Who Died of Pneumonia
Erwin Johnny SanchezNineteen-year-old Scott Sittler lived another 15 years paralyzed and on a respirator after Erwin Johnny Sanchez shot him in the head on a quiet Santa Ana street in 1994. But after Sittler died of pneumonia in February 2009, the district attorney's office filed murder charges. ... More >>
Blogs
January 25, 2012
John David Hines, Boozing Fire Captain Who Mowed Down Cyclist, May Trade Jail for Prison After Allegedly Getting Hand Sanitizer Drink On
Here's another one I missed while out: Remember Long Beach Fire Captain John David Hines, whose 4 1/2 year prison sentence for boozing and mowing down a cyclist was stayed pending completion of a year in jail, five years of probation and $102,000 in restitution to his victim? He now faces the pos ... More >>
Blogs
January 27, 2012
Ali Achekzai, International Serial Rapist, Gets 61 Years to Life
International serial rapist Ali Achekzai, who was convicted of six felony counts last month after Orange County authorities had the 34-year-old extradited from Austria, was sentenced today to 61 years to life in state prison. Before the former Ladera Ranch resident learned his fate, one of three ... More >>
Blogs
February 8, 2012
[UPDATED with Arraignment Now Thursday. Maybe:] Kyung Namgoong, OC Homicide No. 5: Ruben Gurrola, Wrong-Way Driver, Held for Murder
Courtesy of OCDARuben GurrolaUPDATE, FEB. 8, 2:12 P.M.: The Orange County Jail's Adult Correctional Health Services put another medical hold on Ruben Gurrola, so the Orange County District Attorney's office now estimates the 23-year-old will be arraigned Thursday at 10 a.m.UPDATE, FEB. 6, 4:41 P. ... More >>
Blogs
February 6, 2012
3 of 10 Most Wanted Robbers Hit OC Banks
In announcing that the 287 Southern California bank robberies in 2011 maintained a downward trend in such crimes--there were 2,600 reported in the same region in 1992--the FBI also listed its 10 most wanted serial robbers of SoCal banks.Three of the 10 who have struck multiple times included Oran ... More >>
Blogs
February 9, 2012
Rodney Alcala Can Be Extradited to New York: Judge
A judge in Northern California has ruled Rodney Alcala, the serial killer sitting on Death Row for killing a 12-year-old Huntington Beach girl and four women in Los Angeles County in the 1970s, can be extradited to New York to stand trial for two murders there.Alcala is currently scheduled to be ... More >>
Blogs
February 13, 2012
Christopher Ryan Smith, Missing Man Said to be Murdered by Business Partner, Subject of Search That May Have Yielded Clues
Christopher Ryan SmithOrange County authorities say items found during the search for the body of Christopher Ryan Smith in southern San Diego County over the weekend may be evidence tied to the Laguna Beach 31-year-old's murder in 2010.Edward Younghoon Shin, Smith's 32-year-old business partner, ... More >>
More >>

Find A Coupon

Popular Coupons

10% off all food items w/ the mention of the OC Weekly

Second Floor -

126 Main Street
Huntington Beach, CA 92648
20% off!

Belle Vie

2473 Park Ave.
Tustin, CA 92782

More Popular Coupons »

Browse Voice Nation

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

News

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Film

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

News

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

News

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Blogs

Most Popular Stories

for free stuff, news info & more!

Find A Coupon

Popular Coupons

Now Click This