Law Enforcement

LAPD investigates hate crime at San Fernando Valley synagogue
Los Angeles police are investigating a hate crime at a West Hills synagogue where suspects spray-painted two swastikas and "Go Home" on the congregation's property, officials said Monday. The graffiti, which also included the numbers "666" within the swastikas, was discovered about 6:30 a.m. Monday spray painted on the corner of temporary offices at the Temple Judea satellite campus in the 6600 block of Valley Circle Boulevard, according to LAPD officials. There was no immediate description of a suspect or suspects, police said. The incident is being investigated at a hate crime.
Los Angeles Times

Man shot to death in Hollywood
Los Angeles Police Department Hollywood Area detectives are asking for the public's help to identify and locate a suspect responsible for a shooting death. Sunday at about 4:20 p.m., 26-year-old Hollywood resident Mihran Ashikyan was shot while walking on Oxford Avenue near Lemon Grove Avenue. Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics transported Ashikyan to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later. An investigation is ongoing, but at this time, detectives have little information about the suspect, whom they believe is male.
Van Nuys News Press

Suspect in couple's slayings held after manhunt
The man who police believe killed a Chatsworth couple and stuffed their bodies into trash bins managed to elude capture for two weeks by donning various disguises, including a wig. The suspect, Brent Zubek, was arrested early Monday; Los Angeles police said he fired at them as he fled from detectives and was found several hours later on the roof of a building. During the search, someone set fire to the dead couple's Chatsworth home, where Zubek rented a room.
Los Angeles Times

New graffiti-resistant Hollywood (101) Freeway murals not theft-resistant
The new mobile murals on the Hollywood (101) Freeway were supposed to be immune to graffiti - but not highway robbery. Just before Caltrans was to unveil the vandal-resistant replicas designed by four freeway artists on Monday, a drive-by burglar boosted two of them. Including a portrait of bad-boy actor Mickey Rourke. "They were rolled up, with access to the railing above - and someone took advantage of the situation," said Patrick Chandler, a Caltrans spokesman. "Someone must have just walked up and grabbed 'em."
Torrance Daily Breeze

14-year-old Studio City boy in custody after standoff with LAPD
A 14-year-old boy was taken into police custody Monday in Studio City after engaging the LAPD in a standoff that lasted about an hour. The incident began when the boy's sibling called 911, claiming he had tried to stab them with a knife. According to information heard over the LAPD North Hollywood Division police scanner frequency, the caller said the boy locked himself in a room during a family dispute. When his sibling tried to unlock the door from the other side, the boy stabbed through the door with a kitchen knife, just missing his sibling's head.
Studio City Patch

Police: Online employment scam used to steal personal information
Detectives are asking for the public's help in identifying suspects responsible for stealing personal information from unsuspecting job applicants in the Los Angeles area. The suspects are accused of posing as employees at local businesses and sending out employment applications online. Applicants were asked to pay an upfront background fee and to submit key identification factors such as a Driver's License and Social Security.
KTLA

DOJ's expanding power to seize assets sparks concerns
The statistics are jarring. There are now nearly 400 federal laws that empower the federal government to seize assets from convicted criminals as well as those never charged with crimes, a near-doubling of asset-seizure laws since the 1990s. And last year, law enforcement seized more than $2.5 billion, a haul that has more than doubled over the last five years. The Wall Street Journal cites these figures as a part of a deep dive today into the world of asset forfeiture, a federal power that critics on the left (the ACLU) and right (the Heritage Foundation) regard as a growing threat to innocent people.
Wall Street Journal

Legislation

Senate approves commutation bill tied to SDSU killing
Legislation to provide victims and their families with a chance to protest clemency appeals sailed through the Senate Monday after being placed on the consent calendar reserved for unanimous, noncontroversial matters. And with the Assembly poised to later approve technical amendments, it seems likely that only Gov. Jerry Brown stands in the way of the 10-day warning from becoming law and providing a small measure of satisfaction to the family of a Mesa College student stabbed to death during a brawl at San Diego State in 2008.
San Diego Union-Tribune

Calif. Assembly passes cell-phone privacy bill
The state Assembly unanimously approved a bill Monday that would force law enforcement officers to secure a warrant before they can search the contents of a cell phone. The measure has changed slightly since it was approved by the state Senate last month, so the upper house must weigh in again before the bill heads to the desk of Gov. Jerry Brown. If he signs it into law, it would overturn a January state Supreme Court ruling that allowed officers to search the contents of a cell phone they take from anyone they arrest.
San Francisco Chronicle