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From the Los Angeles Times

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Suspect in killing at Canoga Park bowling alley wanted bragging rights, prosecutor says

A co-defendant charged with the 2008 murder of a black Canoga Park bowling alley employee was seeking bragging rights and earning his gang moniker “Outlaw” when he willfully participated in the racially motivated crime, a prosecutor told jurors in closing arguments Wednesday.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Daniel Akemon of the Hardcore Gang Division told jurors at the Van Nuys Courthouse that Martin Sotelo helped fellow gang member Richard Bordelon gun down James Shamp " in cold blood because of the color of his skin, in a display of senseless violence and a complete disregard for human life.”

Shamp, 48, a husband and father of two children, was taking out the trash at the Canoga Bowl on Dec. 22, 2008, when a car carrying Latino gang members pulled up, prosecutors said.

Sotelo, 26, was behind the wheel. He stopped the vehicle so Bordelon could take aim like a sniper, striking Shamp “right through the heart,” Akemon said.

The jurors -- six men and six women -- will be asked to decide whether Sotelo willfully conspired to commit murder and targeted Shamp because he was African American.

In addition, Sotelo is charged with one count of attempted robbery of a female victim and one count of evading police, with a special gang allegation. He is accused of being a member of the Canoga Park Alabama gang.

In March 2010, Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Martin Herscovitz sentenced Bordelon to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 47 years to life, after he admitted killing Shamp. He was also ordered to pay $14,386 in restitution for burial expenses and mental health costs incurred by the victim's family.

On Wednesday, Akemon told jurors that Sotelo and Bordelon were out that December evening looking to earn their respective nicknames of “Outlaw" and "Psycho.” And although they may not have gone to the Canoga Bowl in the 20100 block of Vanowen Street looking for an African American, “they spotted a prize target and that's when they decided to kill,” Akemon said.

But defense attorney Robert Schwartz argued that his client, who has African American friends and had even dated a black woman, did not harbor prejudice against blacks and was not on the hunt to kill them.

As far as Sotelo understood, he and his companions “were out to pick up some girls," Schwartz told jurors. “But something switched in the mind of Bordelon.”

Bordelon decided he was going to rob somebody to get some spending money, Schwartz said. When the attempted robbery of a young female failed, Bordelon directed Sotelo to the Canoga Bowl, according to Schwartz.

The plan was not to find an African American, but to get some money, Schwartz argued. “How many African Americans would you expect to find at a bowling alley in the San Fernando Valley?” he asked rhetorically.

But Bordelon was not only carrying a gun, he was “carrying a hatred of African Americans,” Schwartz said. And “what transpired is not a premeditated killing but a crime of opportunism. All of a sudden the killing of an African American trumps a robbery.”

Closing arguments are expected to wrap up Thursday.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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California deaths parallel Double Initial Murders in New York

A photographer who traveled the country, now 77, is charged in the slayings of four women in Northern California. The victims share alliteration of names like three East Coast victims. The killings date to the 1970s.

by Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times

April 14, 2011

The slayings of four young women from 1977 to 1994 in three Northern California counties at first appeared unconnected.

Now, however, investigators say they have linked them to one suspect: Joseph Naso, 77, who was charged Wednesday in a Marin County courtroom with four counts of murder.

But a bigger mystery remains. Did their names play a role? And could the killer of Carmen Colon, Pamela Parsons, Roxene Roggasch and Tracy Tafoya be the same man who committed the infamous "Double Initial Murders" in upstate New York four decades ago?

The killings of the girls in the Rochester area in 1971 and 1973 have never been solved, and all three victims' names had the same first and last initial. One also was named Carmen Colon.

"We expected the calls the moment the arrest became public," said Allan M. Dombroski, a senior investigator with the New York State Police.

Naso lived in the Rochester area in the 1960s and early '70s, Dombroski said. Naso was a New York native and traveled the country as a professional photographer.

Investigators in New York have worked with a California-Nevada task force since January to determine whether Naso is connected to the crimes. The New York victims, who were 10 or 11 years old, were raped and strangled.

But there also are reasons to doubt a connection. A DNA sample in the New York slayings does not match Naso, Dombroski said. And the victims were children, not adult women as they were in California. Still, investigators said they have not ruled out Naso as a suspect.

Investigators, who spent years gathering information on the cold cases, said Naso may be responsible for more slayings.

"When you are talking about a person who has killed more than once, this doesn't stop," said Chris Perry, acting director of the Nevada Department of Public Safety.

Naso was arrested late Monday in South Lake Tahoe. He had been serving time in the El Dorado County Jail for a probation violation involving guns and ammunition, and was on probation in connection with a grocery store theft in 2009.

During a random search of Naso's Reno home last April, a parole-and-probation officer saw .380-caliber ammunition in an ashtray and noticed an advertisement for a gun, authorities said. The agent then confirmed that Naso tried to buy a gun and arrested him for violating his probation.

"During the arrest, the investigators found items by Mr. Naso that implicated him in multiple murders," said Marin County Dist. Atty. Edward S. Berberian Jr., who will prosecute the four California killings.

Berberian said evidence taken from the home along with forensic analysis tied Naso to the killing of 18-year-old Roxene Roggasch, whose body was found in the Marin County city of Fairfax in 1977. Contra Costa County investigators then tied Naso to 22-year-old Carmen Colon's body, which was found about a year later near Port Costa, he said.

Yuba County authorities linked Naso to the killings of Pamela Parsons, 38, and Tracy Tafoya, 31, in 1993 and 1994, respectively, officials said. At the time, Naso lived in the Yuba City area; he later moved to Nevada, officials said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0414-initial-killer-20110414,0,2885946,print.story

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LAPD announces $75,000 reward in shooting of three at South L.A. adult day-care center

It was lunchtime at the South L.A. adult day-care center and a group was gathered in the backyard when shots suddenly rang out: 10 semiautomatic rounds intended for someone else.

One woman was hit in the head, a man was shot in the face and another woman's head was grazed. The three adults, all of whom suffer from "profound mental challenges," are expected to recover, authorities said, but the culprits of the March shooting are still on the loose.

LAPD investigators, who have acknowledged they're short on details, announced a $75,000 reward Wednesday for information into the shooting.

What police do know is that two men were near the 2000 block of Vernon Avenue in Vermont Square, while a third likely waited nearby in a light-colored compact car. They fired at two other men running past the day-care center, and missed.

The chain-link fence that separated the facility's backyard from the street couldn't shield those inside from the bullets. Though violence between the Rollin 40s and the Van Ness Gangsters is common on both sides of Vernon Avenue, detectives say they're unsure if the shooting was gang-related.

The 31-year-old man shot in the face was at the LAPD's 77th Street station for the news conference announcing the reward. The media were asked not to photograph him because his family feared he'd be targeted again. He walked into the gathering holding his mother's hand, a thick scar snaking from his mustache up to his cheekbone.

His mother, who asked not to be named, said that when she rushed to the hospital after the shooting her autistic son seemed not to understand what had happened. "He just was saying 'pow, pow, pow,' " she said.

Investigators say they're confident the daytime March 7 shooting had other witnesses. "If this community can't protect these innocent victims, then we're really at a loss in South L.A.," said Capt. Dennis Kato.

Many of the adults who attend the day care, a small facility that looks like a residential home with picnic tables out back, suffer severe mental disabilities, which has been a challenge for detectives seeking witness accounts.

Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at (213) 473-4861, or after-hours at (877) 527-3247.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/04/mentally-disabled-man-shot-at-south-la-adult-day-care-lapd-seeks-suspects.html

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From the New York Times

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N. Korea Says It Is Holding U.S. Citizen

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea confirmed Thursday that it has arrested an American man for committing an unspecified crime against the country and is preparing to indict him.

The man, named Jun Young Su, has been held since November last year, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said. He is the latest U.S. citizen to be detained in the reclusive communist state in recent years.

North Korea informed Washington about the situation and Jun is being given necessary humanitarian conveniences including consular contact with Swedish Embassy officials in Pyongyang, the news agency said.

Earlier this week, the U.S. State Department called for North Korea to release one of its citizens and said Swedish officials had visited the American. But it gave no further details. The U.S. — which fought on South Korea's side during the 1950-53 Korean War — doesn't have diplomatic staff inside North Korea and Sweden handles Washington's interests there.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Thursday that a Korean-American with business interests in North Korea was being detained for alleged Christian proselytizing. Yonhap, citing the Korean Christian community in the United States, said the man is in his 60s, attends a Korean church in Orange County, California, and has a North Korean visa.

Several Americans have been detained in North Korea in recent years and freeing them often requires high-profile negotiations.

In August, former President Jimmy Carter brought home Aijalon Gomes, who had been sentenced to eight years' hard labor for crossing into the North from China. He was detained for seven months in all.

Korean-American missionary Robert Park defiantly walked into North Korea on Christmas Day in 2009 to draw attention to the North's alleged human rights abuses and to call for the resignation of leader Kim Jong Il. He was released weeks later without charge.

Also in 2009, journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were arrested for trespassing in North Korea and released only after former President Bill Clinton made a trip to Pyongyang to ask for their freedom.

The latest arrest came as Carter plans to travel to Pyongyang again as early as this month.

Carter said last week that he plans to focus on trying to revive international disarmament talks on the North's nuclear program and seek ways to help with the country's humanitarian woes.

The North appears to want to use the latest detention to improve ties with the United States, said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the Seoul-based University of North Korean Studies. Still, given that the country usually releases detainees after indicting and sentencing them, there may not be sufficient time for Carter to bring Jun home during the upcoming visit, Yang said.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/04/13/world/asia/AP-AS-NKorea-American-Detained.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

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From Google News

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Aerial imaging to be used in search for more Long Island remains

(Videos on site)

New York (CNN) -- High-resolution photos will soon be shot by aircraft of a Long Island, New York, beach area where the search for a missing woman has led to the remains of at least eight people.

Airplanes and helicopters will begin circling the barrier island beach later this week as federal, state and local search efforts continue, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer told reporters on Wednesday.

"The high-resolution technology should be able to provide a detailed representation of the area and will extend through Nassau County," Dormer said. "We're hoping the technology will help identify skeletal remains that may still be out there."

The aerial imagery will supplement police-dog search units, which expected to resume searching later this week. Meanwhile, diver teams are already scouring the waterways on the north side of the barrier island.

Eight different sets of confirmed human remains have been found in Suffolk County, Long Island, since December, in what police say could be the work of a serial killer or killers.

Additional remains -- including a human skull -- were uncovered Monday.

Police have not said whether the latest remains are from different people, or if they could have come from the eight victims.

Some of the remains found Monday in a Nassau County wildlife preserve were wrapped in a "black plastic product" similar to a plastic bag, a law enforcement source said Wednesday. The remains "appeared to be part of a lower extremity," the source said. Medical examiner investigators are trying to determine the age and sex of the remains and attempt to find out how long they were at the location before being discovered.

Federal agents first joined police in their investigation in December, after four bodies had been found.

That discovery on a quarter-mile stretch of Oak Beach indicates that "they were dumped there by the same person or persons," Dormer told reporters at the time. "It's too coincidental that there were four bodies in the same location."

Police look for serial killer

They were all found stuffed in bushes along an isolated strip of waterfront property.

The grisly find occurred as police searched for 24-year-old Shannan Gilbert, who was last seen alive in May 2010 in the Gilgo Beach area.

Gilbert's sisters said Shannan was an escort who was visiting a client. They said she ran from the man's house and called 911, claiming that someone was trying to hurt her.

In a strange series of events, a local resident -- who lives a few miles from where the remains were found -- said a young woman who "looked like she was partying all night" came to his door at about 5 a.m. on May 1.

"She was screaming 'Help me, help me!' and said somebody was chasing her," said Gustav Coletti, who lives in the town of Oak Beach.

He described the woman as a "young, light-brown-haired person in her early 20s."

Coletti said he called 911 after opening his front door to the woman, prompting her to flee into the weeds along an embankment near his house.

Moments later, Coletti said an "Asian-looking man" man driving a dark-colored sport utility vehicle pulled up alongside his home, looking for the woman.

"Things got out of hand at a party and I'm just looking for her," Coletti quoted the man as saying.

When Coletti told the man that he had called police, the man said he "should not have done that" and drove toward where girl had fled, Coletti said.

But he says it took police more than four months to question him about the incident, potentially losing crucial evidence over that time frame. Coletti later told CNN that he believes the woman he saw that night was Gilbert.

CNN can not independently verify that claim.

"I have no idea when the detective spoke to whomever you are talking about," Dormer told CNN. "If you want to see somebody after this press conference we'll certainly follow up on that."

Police later clarified that they spoke with Coletti on May 1 after he made the 911 call and several times since.

Pressed for the dates of the police department's conversations with Coletti and the length of time between them, they revealed that they obtained a statement from Coletti in June but provided no further specifics.

Gilbert's body has not been among the remains identified.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/04/14/new.york.bodies/

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From the Department of Justice

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Two New Orleans Police Officers Convicted on Civil Rights and Obstruction of Justice Charges in Connection with the Beating Death of a Civilian

WASHINGTON – Two officers with the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) have been convicted of civil rights and obstruction of justice crimes in connection with the beating death of civilian Raymond Robair in July 2005, and a subsequent cover-up.

Officer Melvin Williams was convicted of violating Robair's constitutional rights by beating him on July 30, 2005. Evidence at trial established that Williams approached Robair on the street in Robair's neighborhood. Several neighbors testified that they saw Williams kick Robair in the side and beat him repeatedly with a baton. After the beating, Williams and Moore placed Robair, who was unconscious, into their police car and drove him to Charity Hospital, where, according to witnesses at trial, they falsely informed the hospital staff that they had found Robair under a bridge in this condition, and that all they knew was that Robair was a drug user. Based upon that information, the hospital treated Robair for a drug overdose rather than for blunt force trauma. Robair, who suffered fractured ribs and a ruptured spleen as a result of the beating, was pronounced dead within a few hours.

Williams was also convicted, along with Officer Matthew Dean Moore, of obstructing justice by writing and submitting a false and inaccurate incident report regarding their interactions with Robair. Moore was also convicted of one additional felony count for making false statements regarding the incident to FBI agents in March 2010.

“Every community relies upon their police officers to protect and serve, but these officers abused their power, violating the law and the public trust,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “I am hopeful that today's verdict brings a measure of justice to the victim's family and the entire community.”

“As we recognize Victims' Rights this week, today's verdict is evidence that we, and our partners in the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and FBI, are absolutely committed to bring those who have violated the sacred rights of our citizens to justice, in the hope that our pursuit will give the people of New Orleans confidence in the protection of honest and professional law enforcement,” said Jim Letten, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Williams faces a possible maximum sentence of life in prison. Moore faces a possible maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

This case was investigated by the New Orleans Field Office of the FBI, and was prosecuted by Special Litigation Counsel Forrest Christian and Trial Attorney Jared Fishman of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan Ginsberg of the Eastern District of Louisiana.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/April/11-crt-463.html

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