Crime Time: Small Fries, Bad Tenants and the Church Lady

It's the Weekly's weekly round-up of local police calls–small fry edition . . .

MONDAY, JULY 20

Watch Those Kids at the Playground A 3-year-old boy was at the playground in Ponderosa Park in the 2100 block of South Haster Street, Anaheim, with his 11-year-old sister and 12-year-old cousin, their moms keeping an eye on them. As the littlest one slid down the slide around 10:30 a.m., a man grabbed the boy and ran north carrying him. The boy's sister caught up with the man, kicked him in the leg and thre dirt in his face, before the would-be kidnapped dropped the unharmed child and ran away, nearly getting his by a truck on Orangewood Avenue in the process. He was described as white or light-skinned Hispanic, 5 feet 8 to 6 feet tall, weighing about 160 pounds with a circle-shaped tattoo, resembling an Aztec calendar or sun, on his neck. He was last seen wearing a black T-shirt, blue denim trousers and white tennis shoes. And he was followed by another man who was white, 5 feet 5 to 5 feet 10 with a thin build and wearing a brown baseball hat.

Be on the Lookout for a Violent Little Shit A man wearing a wig on his head and handkerchief over his face walked into the Bank of America at 23711 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, just before 1:45 p.m. and pointed a handgun at several customers and employees. He had everyone line up against a wall before forcing the bank manager and a teller to take him to the vault, where he grabbed and left with an undisclosed amount of loot. The little squirt was described as 5 feet 5 and 100 pounds. He drove away in a metallic blue Dodge Ram pickup with custom rims. A sheriff's spokesman says the same bank was robbed by someone fitting the same description nearly a year ago to the day.

If You've Been Prescribed Vicodin, You Understand A man walked into a Rexall pharmacy in the 13900 block of Valley View Avenue in La Mirada at about 4:40 p.m. and then told employees he had a gun before taking a bottle of Vicodin. He then bolted out of there and jumped into a blue Ford Thunderbird, which led to a brief chase with police cars and a helicopter. Pulling over at Imperial Highway and Shoemaker Avenue, the driver left the car and ran into a 7-Eleven store. A SWAT team had the place surrounded before a man walked out, surrendered and was immediately identified as the Vicodin napper. He was identified as Christopher Lee Croslin, 21, of Buena Park, and held in lieu of $50,000 bail on robbery and felony evasion charges.

]
TUESDAY, JULY 21

Shots in the Dark Police stopped a car in La
Palma around 4 a.m. and found, in addition to five occupants, a BB gun
and what appeared to be property stolen from two parked cars in the
5000 block of Alder Lane that had had their windows shot out. La Palma
and Buena Park officers later discovered four more shot-up cars in
their towns. Arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit a felony,
vandalism and grand theft were Alyzza Dolores Cabrera, 19, of Buena
Park; Jose Luis Garcia-Albarran, 18, of Bellflower; Fidel Zamora Jr.,
19, of Norwalk; and Britne Michelle Militar, 18, and Juan Avila, 20, of
Paramount.

Police Believe They Have Their Stop 'N' Robbers
Last week we informed you that authorities believed the same hooded
crew was responsible for a recent string of robberies at knifepoint
7-Eleven stores in Orange and Los Angeles counties. Media exposure
apparently led to a flurry of tipster phone calls and the arrest today
of Raymond Moreno, 18, of Anaheim, and 17-year-olds from Anaheim and
Chula Vista who were not identified because of their ages. 7-Elevens in
Anaheim, Fullerton, Placentia, Huntington Beach, San Clemente, Yorba
Linda, La Palma and Long Beach are among those the trio is alleged to
have hit.

Worst of All, He Lost His Cleaning Deposit Police were
called to the Coronado Apartments in the 1800 block of Sherington Place
in Newport Beach, where jars containing a white, powdery substance and
threatening messages painted on the walls were found in a unit whose
residents had recently been evicted. Neighbors were evacuated around
2:45 p.m. while the Newport Beach Fire Department, a hazmat team and
the Orange County Sheriff's Department bomb squad investigated the
contents of the jars, which later turned out to be corn starch.
Nevertheless, evictee Phong Huu Nguyen, 29, was arrested late that
night in Los Angeles and charged with making criminal threats.

Shots
in the Dark II Residents heard several shots being fired into their
home and garage on Greenbrier Road in Cowan Heights near Tustin around
10 p.m.. Seemed like a good enough reason to call sheriff's deputies,
who discovered at the dwelling absorbed at least four rounds. No cars
or suspects were seen, and no one was hurt.  

WEDNESDAY, JULY 22

Did
They Miss the Disarm the Alarm Class at Burglar School? The burglary
alarm at a technology distributing center in the 18000 block of
McDurmott in Irvine went off just after 2 a.m., and arriving officers
discovered people inside opening boxes and putting the computer parts
inside into a cloth sack. Further investigation revealed the men had
climbed to the top of the unidentified business on a ladder, cut a hole
in the roof with a portable power saw and lowered themselves inside on
a rope. Arrested on suspicion of burglary were Cesar Garcia, 28, of
Maywood; Celestino Zurita, 22, of Lynwood; and Francisco Perez, 26, of
Long Beach.

THURSDAY, JULY 23

Pole Wins Battle with Scion
XB After crashing a dark-colored Scion XB into a pole on Oso Parkway
and Altura in Trabuco Canyon just before 2 a.m., the driver took off on
foot and ran through the back yard of a nearby house, where the
homeowners detained him until sheriff's deputies and CHP officers
arrived to take over. If you wondering: How can you crash a
dark-colored Scion XB into a pole on Oso Parkway and Altura in Trabuco
Canyon just before 2 a.m. and not get hurt?–the answer apparently is
you can't. He was taken to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo for
treatment of minor owies. Oh, and while he was there, a technician drew
blood that authorities claim showed he was intoxicated, so the
unidentified man was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.

Could
It Have Been an Old Montreal Expos Cap? A gray-haired man in his 50s or 60s
walked into the Wells Fargo at 638 Camino de los Mares, San Clemente,
about 2:30 p.m. and handed a teller a note demanding cash. He then took
his loot, left the bank and hopped into a champagne-colored Toyota
Corolla driven by another person. No gun was ever seen but his head
gear was: a multicolored baseball cap.

Another Santa Ana
Shooting Two boys, ages 14 and 17,  were standing at the corner of
Shelley and Myrtle streets in Santa Ana around 6:30 p.m. when a green
or teal car pulled up, words were exchanged and a car occupant pulled
out a gun and started firing. Both boys were hit and later taken to a
local hospital for treatment. The car sped off south of Shelley.

FRIDAY, JULY 24

Some
Galleries Call This Art A woman called police after 7 p.m. to complain
that someone smeared dog shit on the driver's side seat of her car
parked in the 200 block of La Paloma in San Clemente.

SATURDAY, JULY 25

Is
That a Knife or Are You Happy to See Me? A man heard sounds inside his
home in the 300 block of Avenida Santa Barbara in San Clemente before
seeing another man run out the back door. Sheriff's deputies who took
the call around 12:30 a.m. heard the intruder described as black, in
his 30s, 6 feet, 200 pounds and wearing a red bandanna on his head, a
red shirt and baggy jeans. He may have has a knife, too.

Well
Isn't That Special? Hey, forget your shootings, your bank robberies,
your home burglaries. A woman in the 16900 block of Saybrook Lane in
Huntington Beach called police just before 8:30 a.m. to report her red
shoes were missing. But you don't understand: She needed them so she
could go to church!

Douche Bags Now Come in Pairs A man in his
60s was collecting bottles and cans in the 100 block of Ninth Street in
Huntington Beach around 8 p.m. when he was struck on the back of the
head with a bottle. He peered up to see two men stealing his
recyclables–before he was transported to a local hospital.

SUNDAY, JULY 26

That
Stabbing Feeling A 23-year-old man and woman were walking in the 1100
block of South Grand Avenue, Santa Ana, around 2 a.m. when three men
jumped out of a dark-colored, four-door sedan and confronted them. A
member of the trio had a knife and demanded money from the 23-year-old
before two of them punched him and stabbed him in the upper body and
then splot with his wallet. Police did not know about this until they
got a call around 5:40 a.m. from a local hospital treating the victim,
whose injuries were not life threatening. The woman was unharmed.

Basebrawl
Police were told teams were fighting at University High School's
baseball fields in the 4700 block of Campus Drive, Irvine, about 4:30
p.m. Sure enough, after the game between teams from Riverside and Santa
Ana, a brawl had erupted over a player from Santa Ana being tagged out
while stealing second base. Leopoldo Lopez, 20, of Riverside, and
Victor Alaniz, 19, of Anaheim, were arrested on suspicion of felony
assault. Four people were taken to a local hospital to be treated for
bruises, abrasions and possible concussions, possibly caused by a
baseball bat to the heads.