Riverside County

Benjamin Felix Sanchez Held in Murder of Estranged Wife and Wounding of Her Lover

A Santa Ana man has been charged with first-degree murder and other felonies in Riverside County for the fatal shooting of his estranged wife and wounding of her lover.Benjamin Felix Sanchez, 45, was arrested hours after Saturday's violence in the woman's Corona home.

CorrectiveSolutions' Checkmate

Prosecutors nationwide team up with the San Clemente debt collector to terrorize consumers in ways both highly profitable and usually sketchy

Edder Giovani Nieves-Bera, Once Deported Tattoo Artist, Allegedly Plied 14 y.o. Girl with Drugs, Alcohol, Free Tattoo, Creepy Advances

A tattoo artist who was previously deported after serving time for child annoyance in Murrieta in 2004 was arrested Tuesday at Dana Point Harbor, where he thought he was meeting a 14-year-old girl he'd allegedly lured to his Mission Viejo home with promises of drugs, alcohol and free ink.Waiting ins ... More >>

Katherine Ann Heinzel, Ex-Newport Beach Cop Who Won Discrimination Case, is Prison-Bound

Katherine Ann Heinzel--a former Newport Beach policewoman who successfully sued the city for discrimination, won an $150,000 court award and was allowed to take disability retirement--is headed to state prison for nine years. The 51-year-old, who retired to the Riverside County town of Winchester ne ... More >>

Tony Angulo Jr., Already Popped for Thefts, Linked to Another Due to 5 y.o.'s Missing Poster

It's a Festivus miracle!A 5-year-old Corona boy has been reunited with his missing bike thanks to some dot connecting by Irvine Police Department investigators.

Frankie Jay Szabo, Alleged Casanova Conman, Moves Act from OC to Riverside County

As Frankie Jay Szabo was being sentenced to two years in state prison in the 1990s after pleading guilty in Orange County Superior Court to nine counts of grand theft, a victim predicted Szabio would surely con again.He has, according to Riverside County authorities now accusing the Menifee 55-year ... More >>

James Coley, Newporter Partying in Palm Springs, Held in Death by Drunken Driver

A Newport Beach man, who reportedly admitted drinking at a Palm Springs bar before allegedly driving into and killing a Cathedral City woman on a Riverside County roadway, was arrested for the killing over the weekend.James Coley, 49, was held because of what he told police and the fact that he repo ... More >>

James Lee Crummel's Death Row Suicide Gives No Closure to Family of Missing Victim

The families of those victimized and suspected of having been victimized by James Lee Crummel didn't lose any sleep upon learning the serial child molester and killer had hung himself in his cell on California's death row. But onetime Newport Beach resident Crummel's suicide caused at least one fami ... More >>

Marbel A. Para Gets Jail, Fine and More for Poaching Lobster from Protected Waters

In the first prosecution since federal Marine Life Protected Areas were established off the California coast, a Riverside County diver was ordered to give up his gear, spend seven days in jail, pay more than $20,000 in fines and promise to stay out of MLPAs for poaching lobster from Laguna Beach wat ... More >>

Jaime Robert Galvez, Sheriff's Community Service Officer, Cops to Threats to Jailed Ex-

An Orange County Sheriff's community service officer pleaded guilty today to violating a domestic violence protective order by making negative and threatening comments over the phone to a female inmate with whom he'd had a romantic relationship. Since she was in jail, all the threatening calls wer ... More >>

Joshua David Threlkeld, Master Myspace Perv, Sentenced to Life in Prison

Joshua David Threlkeld, the 35-year-old MySpace predator from Orange, will have a lifetime to socially network with other criminals. Threlkeld was sentenced Wednesday in Riverside County Superior Court to 29 years and eight months in prison, followed by 70 years to life after his March 14 convi ... More >>

Western Medical Center Anaheim to Shut Down Neonatal Intensive Care Unit; Nurses, Premature Babies Outraged

​Integrated Healthcare Holdings Inc. is no stranger to our pages, mostly because of its cutthroat business operations and corrupt management. In November, 2011 a Santa Ana-based law firm sued a majority stakeholder in IHHI, Kali P. Chaudhuri, for engaging in fraud and racketeering on Riverside Cou ... More >>

MySpace Perv Joshua David Threlkeld Facing Life Sentence For Luring 40 Girls Into Sending Him Naked Pics

​Joshua David Threlkeld, a 34-year-old pervert from Orange, was found guilty Wednesday in Riverside County Superior Court of kidnapping a 13-year-old Moreno Valley girl for sex and getting 40 girls to send him naked pictures of themselves. Threlkeld is scheduled to be sentenced April 11 ... More >>

Perry Anthony Pellegrini, Dirty Photographer, Poses for Ugly Police Mugshot of the Week

​Perry Anthony Pellegrini lives in Lake Elsinore, where he has a photography shop on Riverside Drive. But he also has a studio in Huntington Beach. Guess those who can't pose, shoot. Seriously, is one of dude's eyes lower than the other?The 50-year-old found himself on the opposite end of the lens ... More >>

Marbel A. Para Popped for Poaching 42 Spiny Lobsters from Marine Sanctuary

​A Riverside County man was cited Sunday for allegedly poaching 47 California spiny lobsters from Laguna Beach waters within Southern California's new marine sanctuary zone that went into effect Jan. 1.State Department of Fish and Game warden popped Marbel A. Para, 30, of Romoland, off Heisler Pa ... More >>

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

Pabello​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 private jet travel, multiple hotel rooms, and a shopping spree at Tiffany & Co. and Montbla ... More >>

Big Brother is Watching You ... Shop

​At least this can be said of the decision by operators of The Promenade at Temecula to track Black Friday shoppers via their mobile phones:At least they aren't using the technology only to track black people.Back in the day--but not anymore, right guys--African Americans were closely monitored at ... 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 >>

Dr. Kali P. Chaudhuri, Medical Tycoon, Sued By OC Firm For Using Doctors As Personal ATM Machines

Bob Aul​Just when you thought the U.S. health care system couldn't get any more screwed up, a lawsuit filed this week by the Santa Ana-based law firm Callahan & Blaine accuses a local medical tycoon with a controversial past and four Orange County hospitals to his name of wreaking havoc on hos ... More >>

Andrew Urdiales, Camp Pendleton Serial Killer, and Pasqual Raul Loera, Accused Double-Murderer of Westminster Couple, Both Face the Death Penalty

Andre Urdiales​The 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 >>

Jeffrey Thomas Sackman, Facebook Rape Suspect, Hands Down Ugliest Police Mugshot of the Week

​Jeffrey Thomas Sackman, 44, of Cathedral City, is accused of posing as a 17-year-old Italian boy on MySpace, mbuzzy and Facebook. You can imagine the visions of " Giovanni Antonio Corsentino" in the head of a 15-year-old Buena Park girl who unwittingly met Sackman on social networking sites two ... More >>

Stupid Pet Trick of the Week: Wally the Watchgator?

​There's no Orange County angle here, but this story is simply too 909, er funny, not to pass along. On Monday, a Riverside County drug task force raided a suspected pot farm in Hemet. No, the fact they actually have time to do go after marijuana cases with all the meth labs out there isn't the we ... More >>

Orange County Is Top Gun in Crime Guns Traced Here on Per Capita Basis

​When it comes to the total number of guns used in crimes, more can be traced to Los Angeles County than any other in Southern California, but on a per capita basis, Orange County is tops.That's the conclusion of data released by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and rep ... More >>

Marwan Abdellatif, Douglas Nissan Manager, is Fugitive in Elaborate Customer Fraud Case

​The Orange County District Attorney's Office is reaching out to the public in its search for the former Douglas Nissan desk manager, who is accused of stealing the identities of unsuspecting customers and defrauding banks in the sale of used cars at the Orange dealership.A $2 million arrest warr ... More >>

[UPDATED:] Lucas Ransom, 19, Killed by Shark off Santa Barbara Coast

​UPDATE AND CORRECTION: Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown originally identified the victim of this morning's shark attack at Surf Beach as a 20-year-old Cal State Santa Barbara student who hailed from Orange County. The victim has since been identified as chemical engineering major Lucas Ran ... More >>

Orange County Reserve Firefighter Program Blasted by Riverside County Volunteer Firemen

​Eliminating volunteer firefighter positions and replacing them with a reserve program would prove disastrous to Riverside County's already battered budget, claims a group formed to save the volunteers.All anyone need do to see proof of this, they say, is to look down the road to Orange County.

Forever Scared

Herman Atkins is still trying to pick up the pieces 10 years after he was freed from imprisonment on phoney rape charges

Dishonest Mailman Tries Lame Excuse

It's from Aunt Edna!​Have you ever wondered about missing mail--say a birthday card from your favorite, wealthy aunt in Texas?Let's hope that Southern California postal delivery man Henry Lee Monday didn't serve your neighborhood.Monday liked to open mail containing cash, pocket the dough and tras ... More >>

Blowing Holes Through the "Big Dug Tunnel"

​An 11.2-mile "Big Dug Tunnel" through Cleveland National Forest was the apparent last standing solution to clogged rush hour (and several other hours') traffic between Orange and Riverside counties.But that has now been thoroughly pooh-poohed by local politicians, and a joint transportation comm ... 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 >>

Francisco the Man

The Prospector

OC is a Killer County

Have a seat; this could take a while.​Serial killer Rodney Alcala received the death sentence for the third time in as many decades today. Could sentence number three mean he'll be mainlining the state's death-cocktail sometime soon? Hardly.

Dueling Dishes: Temecula Sunrise Edition

Living in California and drinking locally, alcohol-wise, is by no means difficult. From the world-famous wine regions in Northern California to the craft beer Mecca of San Diego County and a few other noteworthy sources of wine, beer and booze (SF's Anchor Distilling makes thoroughly interesting and ... More >>

Riverside County Corruption Probe That Snagged Mission Viejo Developer Widens

​A government corruption and money laundering case that includes among more than a dozen defendants a former vice president of operations with three of Orange County's biggest development companies--the Mission Viejo Co., the Irvine Co. and Arnel Development--is growing like the waist ... More >>

Eat Local, Recycle Your Food Waste Miles and Miles Away

​Not to be outdone by their North County counterparts, who recycle sewage into drinking water through the revolutionary Groundwater Replenishment System, South County communities are banding together to turn food waste into compost.While the regional pilot program sounds meritorious, one thing abo ... More >>

Five Great Places to Eat While Biking the Santa Ana River Trail

Dave Lieberman​Orange County is a surprisingly bike-friendly place, and the crown jewel of north OC has to be the Santa Ana River Trail, which goes from the ocean at the Huntington Beach/Newport Beach border to Prado Dam in Corona, completely separated from cars. (It will eventually, when Riversid ... More >>

TV Reporter Wrangles "Cannabis Cowboys" Tonight

John Larson accompanied Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (C.A.M.P.) strike forces as they descended on illegal marijuana farms in Riverside County--and damn if he didn't have a camera crew along with him.   See, Larson is a correspondent with the KCET/Channel 28 prog ... More >>

Just Another Orange County Weekend, Part II

Photo by Ted SoquiThe view from last November.The view from the quiet backyard multi-million dollar home high in the hills of Yorba Linda was gorgeous Saturday night. The lights of Orange County's flats twinkled below. Headlights snaked along the 91 freeway. You could barely make out ... More >>

It's a Quick Read 23

Orange County Register: Not only did your sales tax rise today, but the federal tobacco tax more than doubled. . . . Orange County health clinics for low-income residents will receive federal stimulus dollars. . . . Former Garden Grove police chief Frank Kessler, 76, pleaded guil ... More >>

Let's Play Where Are They Now: Haidl Gang Rapists

Last year, an Orange County jury convicted three young men for the 2002 videotaped rape and molestation of an unconscious 16-year-old girl on a pool table in a Newport Beach garage. The case made national headlines not just because the drunk men laughed as they repeatedly shoved a Snapple bottle, ap ... More >>

Diary of a Mad County

Nov. 15 - Nov. 21

Sic Transit...

It seem there might be a princess– princess in the sense of being the child of a European royal– somewhere in the Inland Empire. Albert Grimaldi, the ruling prince of Monaco (and one of the least inbred of Europe's royal relics, thanks to the genetic material of Grace Kelly), is reported ... More >>

An Injury to One...

Pat Brennan (no relation) reports in the Register that fire ants are resurgent in OC. As someone who grew up in South Louisiana, where the ants have freely roamed since Truman was in the White House, allow me to explain what this means to you: it means you're fucked. It means pain. It means little p ... More >>

A Clockwork Orange

Letters

Rave Nation Invasion

Promoters say Riverside cops put them out of business

S

A Geezer for Weezer!

No Escape

A night of illegal camping

Diary of a Mad County