Garden Grove Police Department

At Frank Santos' Garden Grove Family Barbecue, the Police Brought the Pepper Spray and Handcuffs

Letters

'Don't be such a dick!'

The Tale of No Tape

A self-appointed Minuteman-watcher says he had some video of a police traffic stop—but not for long

Anthrax Schmanthrax

A self-appointed Minuteman-watcher says he had some video of a police traffic stop—but not for long

Jaramillo Busted

Announcement pending on charges against ex-No. 2 man in OC Sheriffs Department

To Protect and Swerve

Garden Grove police say their chaplain, a man with ties to neo-Nazis, is no problem

Welcome to the T-Zone

Garden Grove police say their chaplain, a man with ties to neo-Nazis, is no problem

Babysitting Boyfriend Arrested After 2-Year-Old's Death

Courtesy of Garden Grove Police DepartmentLae Thongphun​A Long Beach man has been arrested on suspicion of felony child abuse following Friday's death of his girlfriend's 2-year-old son in Garden Grove.Lae Thongphun, 27, was detained after Garden Grove police officers and paramedics had arrived sh ... More >>

Crime Time: Ho' Attacker, Hammer Head, Bushman Packing Heat, Monkey Off the Market and Ryan Seacrest

It's the Weekly's weekly round-up of local police calls--now with more ho' attackers, hammer heads, short robbers, skateboarding nazis, bloody bandagers, bushmen packing heat, baseball bat-wielding robbers, monkeys that are not for sale and Ryan Seacrest.Center photo by Melinda Nagy/Dreamstime.comBE ... More >>

2009 Postseason Throwdown: Think and Drive

DUI-OrangeCounty.comWhat pen, officer?​As this keyboard is being drooled over, the Angels have taken a 4-0 lead over the Yankees in the first inning of Game 5 of the ALCS. ​ If the lead held by the time you read this, that means there will be no need to drown season-ending sorrows and go drivin ... More >>

Feeling Slutty? Let Us Dress You Up as OC's Scariest People!

DUI-OrangeCounty.comWhat pen, officer?​As this keyboard is being drooled over, the Angels have taken a 4-0 lead over the Yankees in the first inning of Game 5 of the ALCS. ​ If the lead held by the time you read this, that means there will be no need to drown season-ending sorrows and go drivin ... More >>

78-Year-Old Man Arrested for Kicking Cop in the Nuts (Twice)

​What began as a routine traffic stop Wednesday ended with the arrest of a 78-year-old Garden Grove man for allegedly battering a much younger police officer--an attack the cops say included grandpa kicking the patrolman in the nuts. Twice!

Fraudster Who Fooled Grandmas and Grandpas Sought

​Garden Grove police are seeking an alleged fraudster who has been pouncing on grandmas and grandpas.

Cops to Be Out in Force Throughout OC This Weekend, "Black Friday"

​Various Orange County communities are going to be crawling with extra cops this weekend as pre-Thanksgiving pushes are made to get drunks, druggies, the unlicensed and unsafe motorcyclists off the road and to ensure everyone is buckling up.R. Scott Moxley blogged earlier today about the Orange Co ... More >>

Garden Grove DUI Checkpoint Produces Arrests, Citations, Impounds and a Wanted Parolee

​You were previously informed (or warned) here about the Garden Grove Police Department's DUI/Drivers License Checkpoint Nov. 21 at 13752 Harbor Blvd. Here are the results:-601 vehicles screened-6 DUI suspects arrested -1 illegal drug suspect arrested -46 citations issued-6 vehicles Impounded for ... More >>

'Tis the Season to Bone Nonprofits, Fa La La La La, La La La La

​Above is the logo on boxes like those stolen this past Thanksgiving weekend from the United Labor Agency of Orange County in Garden Grove, where 20,000 pounds of food, more than $25,000 worth of donated toys and other items for the benefit of underprivileged families were taken. Total estimated l ... More >>

Garden Grove Holds Yet Still More DUI Checkpoints and Laguna Beach Joins in the Fun

​Garden Grove Police had such a swell time at its Dec. 4 DUI checkpoint that it will have its officers "saturate" the city looking for drunks behind wheels on Friday before conducting another checkpoint on Saturday. Hick.

[UPDATED WITH ARRESTS:] Just Another Orange County Murder: Anh Tuan Nguyen

Courtesy of Garden Grove Police DepartmentMurder suspect Khanh Van Le​A social gathering at Saigon Towing, 13921 West St., Garden Grove, turned ugly around 8 p.m. Sunday, when an agitated man who'd twice been asked to leave stabbed another man to death, according to the Garden Grove Police Departm ... More >>

79-Year-Old Arrested for Kicking Cop in the Nuts (Twice) Threatens to File Civil Rights Complaint

​Remember that "78-Year-Old Man Arrested for Kicking Cop in the Nuts (Twice)" in October?Two things: 1) He's 79. b. He claims to be the victim of "horrible injustice," that he "was treated like an animal" and that he will file seek "justice" via a federal civil rights complaint.

Garden Grove Residents Reminded of $1,000 Firecracker Fine as Tet Nears

​Little Saigon's Tet Festival is Friday through Sunday (the actual Vietnamese New Year), so the Garden Grove Police Department issued a reminder to the community that the city imposes a $1,000 fine on those who set off illegal fireworks.

DUI Checkpoints in Costa Mesa Tonight, Cypress and Garden Grove Saturday

​It's DUI checkpoint weekend again.YAY!* Costa Mesa Police Department conducts one, where they will also be doing drivers license checks, from 8 tonight to 2 a.m. Saturday at Bear and Baker streets.* Garden Grove Police Department will also be checking for drunks and unlicensed drivers from 9 p.m. ... More >>

Richard Nguyen, Phillipe Zamora and Wendell Lemond Learn Bloody Fates

Courtesy of Garden Grove Police DepartmentRichard Lam Nguyen​A Garden Grove man who choked his elderly mother to death because she wanted him to study medicine instead of pharmacy was convicted of manslaughter this morning.Prosecutors wanted murder.They did get it for a North Carolina man who help ... More >>

One Clerk Too Busy to Help Would-Be Armed Robber, Second Speaks No English

​The Garden Grove Police Department released the photos you see in this post as they seek the public's help in identifying a serial armed robbery suspect.The chap in the powder blue cap has hit both pedestrians and businesses, according to police.His first known victim was a motorist at Dale ... More >>

UPDATED: Fake Police Squad Barges into Home, Kidnaps Resident

Courtesy Garden Grove PDPablo HernandezOriginally posted May 5 at 3:04 p.m. Update, May 6, 2:14 p.m: the police believe Hernandez has been released. More info at bottom of post. ​The group of three to six white males who burst into a Garden Grove residence this morning, carrying knives and what lo ... More >>

Christina Marie Munoz Gets 16 Years to Life for Murdering Her 84-year-old Great-Grandma

​Killing your mom is bad, your grandmother is worse and your great-grandmother . . . jeez, are you sick or something? Christina Marie Munoz, 29, of Garden Grove, was sentenced today to 16 years to life in state prison for murdering her great-grandmother by stabbing the 84-year-old five times in t ... More >>

Stephen Kadlec Popped for Being '07 Wedding Crasher Who Stole Gift Box With $1,800 Inside

​He doesn't have the distorted nose of Owen Wilson, the infectious smarm of Vince Vaughn or the $209,255,921 domestic total gross of their 2005 mega-hit Wedding Crashers, but Stephen Kadlec did manage to slip in uninvited to a Garden Grove wedding reception in 2007 and, according to police, walk a ... More >>

There's a Different Water Crisis Going on Here

​The so-called worldwide water crisis is being linked to current and future wars, disease and populations shifts.In fact, today's Huffington Post reports on a study showing water shortages will impact 70 percent of U.S. counties by 2050.But, back here in 2010, a different kind of water crisis has ... More >>

Kevin Raney, Who Started as a Garden Grove Police Cadet, is Named Chief of Police

​Kevin Raney has been named the city of Garden Grove's 11th chief of police.Currently the deputy police chief, Raney will replace Chief Joseph Polisar, whose retirement becomes effective in December.

[UPDATED:] Cops Want What's in Your Medicine Cabinet

​UPDATE: We missed probably the biggest collection point of all (updates throughout) . . . Local police want what's in your medicine cabinet today.No, government budget cuts have not been so deep that the forced confiscation of citizen medications has replaced cops' prescription drug plans. This i ... More >>

Jesse Andrew Green, Garden Grove Cop, to be Arraigned for 2 Alleged Sexual Assaults

​Jesse Andrew Green, who has been a Garden Grove police officer since 2006, is expected to be arraigned Wednesday on charges he forcibly sodomized two women on dates, one of whom he met online and the other he met through a friend.Currently on administrative leave from the Garden Grove Police De ... More >>

Garden Grove Police Hold DUI Checkpoint Tonight, With More on the Way

​The first of four DUI/drivers license checkpoints conducted by the Garden Grove Police Department is tonight at 13201 Magnolia St.The operation begins at 9 p.m. and continues until 3 a.m. Saturday.The goal, says the department, is to reduce the number of people killed and injured in alcohol-invol ... More >>

Is There a Boy Scout Badge for Nabbing Trailer Thieves?

​Jeez, no one is safe from the sticky-fingered these days, not even Garden Grove Boy Scout Troop 75.The troop's 2005, dark-blue, enclosed 15-foot trailer, which was secured in the First Presbyterian Church parking lot with a cable through the tandem wheels and axle, has been stolen, as has the $5, ... More >>

[UPDATED: Shooting Victim Was 16] Garden Grove Cop Stabbed, Suspect Shot & Killed

​UPDATED, JAN. 28, 10 A.M.: A second Garden Grove police press release (which amazingly also got the date of the incident wrong)  states that the three suspects involved in the shootout were "16-year-old juveniles" with criminal records. The updated press release confirms that the suspects we ... More >>

[UPDATED] Garden Grove Police DUI Checkpoint Results

​UPDATE, FEB. 22, 8:18 A.M.: Despite on and off rain, Garden Grove police did operate a sobriety checkpoint Friday night. Police Sgt. Carl Whitney of GGPD's Traffic Division says four drivers were arrested for DUI and 15 vehicles were impounded, with 15 citations doled out to drivers for DUI, bei ... More >>

19-Year-Old Man, OC Homicide No. 7: Dies at Hospital from Gunshot Wound

​Garden Grove police received a call shortly before 2:30 a.m. Sunday of shots fired near Harbor Boulevard and Westminster Avenue. As officers searched the area, a 19-year-old man who had been shot arrived at a local hospital.He was immediately pronounced dead by hospital staff.

Robert Gonzales Arrested for Alleged iPhone Scam, Spurs Cops to Issue Warning About Buying Goods Through Craigslist

​The Garden Grove Police Department recently received a theft report from a man who was selling his iPhone through Craigslist but had it stolen by another man who responded to the ad. Coupled with other reports of someone using counterfeit money to buy used iPhones through Craigslist, the cops dec ... More >>

[UPDATED With Charges, Arraignment Date] Miguel Lerma Jr., Border Patrol Officer, Held in Sexual Assaults of Women in Garden Grove and Long Beach

​UPDATE, APRIL 4, 3:24 P.M.: U.S. Customs & Border Protection officer Miguel Lerma Jr. has been charged with one felony count each of forcible rape, sodomy by force and forcible oral copulation for allegedly attacking a woman in Garden Grove, plus one felony count of rape by use of drugs f ... More >>

Richard Vu Nguyen Accused of Beating Female Roommate with Down Syndrome

​"Hello, Hell Intake Center?"Okay, so Richard Vu Nguyen is not guilty of anything until deemed so by a judge or jury of his peers.But, if the 44-year-old Garden Grove caretaker is ultimately found guilty of what the Orange County District Attorney's office (OCDA) accuses him of--beating his ... More >>

[UPDATED with Victim I.D.:] Scottie Bui, OC Homicide No. 7: Dies at Hospital From Gunshot Wound

Benjamin Dinh Nguyen​UPDATE, APRIL 21, 11:55 A.M.: Garden Grove police have identified the 19-year-old who died from a gunshot wound March 20 as Scottie Bui.He was shot during a confrontation involving three Asian gangs at Harbor Boulevard and Westminster Avenue, where a juvenile was also wounded ... More >>

Thanh Van Tran Convicted of Murdering Lunar New Year Partier Outside Little Saigon Restaurant

​A man who fatally shot a Lunar New Year celebrator outside D Saigon restaurant in Garden Grove in 2009 was found guilty by a jury today of second-degree murder.The jury also found true the sentencing enhancement for the personal discharge of a firearm causing death against Thanh Van Tran. The ... More >>

Craigslist Deal Turned Robbery in Garden Grove, Police Still Looking for 1 Suspect

Laron James​I think I smell a sequel to the Craigslist Killer movie here. An appropriate title: the Hellacious Heist in Garden Grove.​​Garden Grove police arrested two robbery suspects--and are still looking for a third man--after a cell-phone sale initiated on Craigslist w ... More >>

Emanuel Pennington, OC Homicide No. 28: Stabbed in Street Outside Family Party

​Garden Grove police officers were on their way to the 8200 block of Acacia near Fern Street, where reports had come in of three or four people fighting in the street just after midnight, when a dispatcher informed over the radio that someone in the middle of the altercation had been stabbed. Cops ... More >>

Bong Soo Kim, Korea Times Ad Rep, Busted for Allegedly Embezzling $140,000

​Garden Grove police today arrested a Korea Times advertising representative for allegedly having businesses write checks in his name that were deposited into his personal account--to the tune of more than $140,000 over the past two years. Bong Soo Kim, 52, was booked into Orange County Jail on su ... More >>

[UPDATED with Arraignment Continued to Sept.:] Catherine Kieu Becker Cut Off Hubby's Pecker and Tossed It in Garbage Disposal (Allegedly)

​UPDATED, JULY 22, 4:22 P.M.: Orange County Superior Court Judge Debra Carrillo in Westminster agreed to continue Catherine Kieu Becker's arraignment until Sept. 23.The 48-year-old Garden Grove resident's public defender, Frank Bittar, asked Carrillo to bar the media from covering the proceedings ... More >>

[UPDATED with Sentence:] Thanh Van Tran Guilty of Murdering Lunar New Year Partier Outside Little Saigon Restaurant

​UPDATE, JULY 29, 3:02 P.M.: 29-year-old Thanh Van Tran, who a jury found guilty last month of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a Lunar New Year celebrant leaving a Garden Grove restaurant in 2009, was sentenced today to 40 years to life in state prison.Co-defendant and fellow Garden ... More >>

Garden Grove, Stanton and Villa Park Start Anti-Booze Patrols Tonight

​Garden Grove Police Department's DUI Enforcement Team is deploying officers for special saturation patrols tonight and Saturday night to crack down on drunken drivers. The Orange County Sheriff's Department is also holding the patrols tonight in Stanton and Villa Park.With saturation patrols, pol ... More >>

[UPDATED with No Attempted Murder Charge:] Marcos Gonzalez Caught After Allegedly Using Car to Run Over Motorcycle Cop

​UPDATE, NOV. 7, 2:15 P.M.: The Orange County District Attorney's office (OCDA) announced today it is charging  Marcos Gonzalez with one felony count of assault of a police officer with sentencing enhancements for causing great bodily injury and having a prior conviction for possession for ... More >>

[UPDATED with I.D.:] Jason Nunez Shot and Killed by Garden Grove Police

​UPDATE, NOV. 21, 2:42 P.M.: A man who was reportedly chasing people down a street with knives before being shot and killed by at least one Garden Grove police officer has been identified as 31-year-old Jason Nuñez.Police say an argument escalated into Nuñez giving chase to people who were not i ... More >>

[UPDATED with 2nd Arrest:] People are Sought (and Found) in Violent Circle K Beer Robbery

The suspects​UPDATE, JAN. 10, 4:03 P.M.: A 17-year-old boy was arrested this morning for allegedly being the second robber who participated in a violent beer theft from a Circle K market in Garden Grove last week. Like the 16-year-old suspect who turned himself in Monday, the second arrestee is n ... More >>

Garden Grove Prostitute Killer Learns His Punishment

Gomez​A Los Angeles gangster, undocumented alien and pimp who beat and then strangled a 24-year-old prostitute to death in her Garden Grove hotel room in 2009 tilted his head to the right and then to the left but said nothing when Judge William Froeberg pronounced punishment this afternoon: life i ... More >>