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Los Angeles
Police Protective League
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the union that represents the
rank and file LAPD officers
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Daily Local & Regional NewsWatch
Daily News Digest
from LA Police Protective League
March 4, 2022 |
Law Enforcement News
Former LAPD Chief Charlie Beck Endorses Rick Caruso For Mayor Of LA
Rick Caruso, the developer behind the Grove, Americana, and now a mayoral candidate earned a big endorsement from former LAPD Chief Charlie Beck. FOX 11's Elex Michaelson spoke to both of them. Yahoo! News Video |
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Two Decades After A Girl's Murder, Three MS-13 Members Found Guilty
Three members of the MS-13 gang were found guilty Thursday of murdering a girl in 2001 on a hillside in Elysian Park. The jury's verdict laid to rest questions of who was responsible for a crime that went unsolved for a decade and then dragged through the courts for another. Melvin Sandoval, 42, and Santos Grimaldi, 39, were convicted of first-degree murder in the death of the 13-year-old girl, Jacqueline Piazza. Because the jury found that Sandoval and Grimaldi murdered Jacqueline in the commission of a rape and while committing a lewd act on a child, the men must be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Rogelio Contreras, 44, was convicted of second-degree murder. The jury found that all three men killed Jacqueline for the benefit of their gang, MS-13. Superior Court Judge Larry P. Fidler scheduled their sentencing for May 13. Another MS-13 member, Jorge Palacios, was convicted in 2018 of murdering and kidnapping Jacqueline. Now 43, he is serving life without the possibility of parole. Jacqueline had run away from her family's home in Whittier and ended up on the streets of Los Angeles' Westlake district when, on the afternoon of June 27, 2001, she met Palacios a few blocks west of MacArthur Park. Palacios was selling drugs there, according to an appellate decision that summarized the evidence in his trial, and for a reason authorities could never discern, believed the teenager was a “ chavala ,” or enemy of his gang. Los Angeles Times |
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Jacqueline Avant Killing: Ex-Con Pleads Guilty To Murdering Wife Of Music Legend
Officials say an ex-con pleaded guilty Thursday to murder and other counts in the shooting death of Jacqueline Avant at her Trousdale Estates home in Beverly Hills. Mrs. Avant, 81, was married to Clarence Avant, known as "The Godfather of Black Music." The 90-year-old legendary music executive was recently inducted into the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame last fall. The pair had been married for more than five decades before tragedy struck during the early morning hours of Dec. 1. "This is one of the most protected and patrolled cities in the world. Crime will not be tolerated here," Beverly Hills Police Chief Stainbrook said days after the deadly shooting. Aariel Maynor, 30, of Los Angeles, could face up to 170 years to life when he is sentenced. He admitted to killing the 81-year-old philanthropist, who was shot at about 2:25 a.m. Dec. 1 inside her home in the 1100 block of Maytor Place. He also admitted shooting at a security guard -- who was not wounded -- during the robbery. Maynor, who appeared in court in a wheelchair and wearing a suicide- prevention vest, pleaded guilty to one count each of murder, attempted murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm and two counts of residential burglary with a person present. He also admitted allegations of using an assault long barrel pistol during the crimes. He also admitted prior robbery convictions from 2013 and 2018. FOX 11 |
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Man Arrested After Woman Killed In Suspected DUI Crash In North Hills
A man was arrested in a suspected DUI crash after allegedly running a red light in North Hills and slamming into another vehicle, killing the driver, police said. The crash occurred about 7 p.m. Wednesday when the driver of a 1999 tan Chevrolet truck was traveling southbound at a high rate of speed on Woodley Avenue when it ran a red light and crashed into a white Nissan sedan, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The Nissan was turning left onto westbound Parthenia Street from Woodley Avenue when the crash occurred. “The force of the collision forced both vehicles to travel in a southwest direction causing the Chevrolet pickup to overturn and the Nissan to collide with a sidewalk and a light pole,” police said in a news release. Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics responded to the scene and transported the driver of the Nissan to a hospital where she died from her injuries. She has not been identified but was described as a woman in her 30s. The driver of the truck was also injured and taken to a hospital, where he remains in police custody, authorities said. He was identified as 26-year-old Manuel Sandoval of Canoga Park. He is expected to be booked on suspicion of murder once he is medically cleared, police said. KTLA 5 |
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LAPD Apprehends Robbery Suspect In Boyle Heights After Pursuit
Los Angeles Police Department officers were in pursuit of a robbery suspect Thursday evening. Sky9 Chopper picked up the pursuit in Boyle Heights, where law enforcement was engaged with an armed robbery suspect who was fleeing along the westbound 10 Freeway. The driver of the vehicle could be seen driving on the wrong side of the road as it headed towards the Monterrey Park area. The driver exited the freeway just after 8:15 p.m., fleeing from officers along surface streets in the Boyle Heights area. Just before 8:20 p.m., the driver rear-ended an uninvolved vehicle before bailing on foot – leaving the car moving forward at about 15 miles per hour as they fled. The suspect could be seen running through several yards before diving under a UPS big rig, just moments before authorities caught up and quickly apprehended him. CBS 2 |
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Shortage Of Dispatchers Leaving More 911 Callers On Hold
In an emergency when seconds count, a FOX 11 investigation has found that 911 callers are burning seconds, even minutes on hold. Experts say it's a troubling trend nationwide, hold times getting longer because of a shortage of dispatchers. We worked with our sister stations across the country to see how LA and other cities compared. In Tampa, numbers obtained by FOX 13 show no wait, with dispatchers there consistently meeting their goal. It was different scene in Philadelphia, where FOX 26 showed 24,000 callers last year waited one and half to two minutes. In Oakland, our sister station KTVU FOX 2 reported that thousands of callers in recent years have been waiting on hold for 2 minutes or more, some have even hung up in frustration. So how does Los Angeles compare? "It doesn't go over 120 seconds, or two minutes," said Los Angeles Police Department Captain Alex Vargas. Vargas oversees the department's communication. He showed us around one the LAPD's two dispatch centers. He says the state of California mandates that 95% of 911 calls be picked up in 15 seconds or less, but Captain Vargas admits they often fall short of that mandate, including just the day before we spoke with him. "Yesterday we reached the mandate by 65%," he said. While we were at the dispatch center, we also witnessed some callers who didn't wait at all and one who held for almost a minute. FOX 11 |
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Organized Group Of Burglars Were Sought In Police Pursuit That Ended In Van Nuys: Ventura County Sheriff's Office
The four people who were pursued by authorities in a chase that began in Ventura County and ended in Van Nuys on Wednesday were part of an organized group of residential burglars, the Ventura County Sheriff's Office announced. VCSO deputies learned on Wednesday that a crew of thieves from South American were in Camarillo to commit a residential burglary, and shortly after 7 p.m., they received a 911 call from a home in the 800 block of Corte La Cienega, Camarillo, the VCSO announced in a press release. In Camarillo, VCSO deputies attempted a traffic stop, but the white sedan “failed to yield, and a prolonged vehicle pursuit ensued,” the VCSO said. The pursuit ultimately involved the Los Angeles Police Department, which deployed a helicopter and stayed with the alleged burglars until they fled the car on foot as it pulled onto Gaviota Avenue near Victory Boulevard in Van Nuys, the VCSO said. Two of the suspects were arrested in the 15000 block of Victory Boulevard, the Sheriff's Department said. KTLA 5 |
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Silver Alert Issued For James Ernest Smith, Man Reported Missing In Exposition Park
The California Highway Patrol issued a Silver Alert Thursday, for a 75-year-old man last seen in the Exposition Park area of South Los Angeles. James Ernest Smith was last seen around 6 a.m. on Wednesday morning, near the Betty Hill Senior Citizen Center on West 35th Place at Denker Avenue. Smith is 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs around 250 pounds. He has gray hair and light-colored eyes. He was last seen wearing burgundy pajamas and a burgundy robe. Anyone who knows of Smith's whereabouts was asked to call 911. CBS 2 |
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NoHo Felon Gets 7 Years In Prison For Having Loaded Guns In Glendale Galleria
A North Hollywood man has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison for possessing five firearms and more than 300 rounds of live ammunition inside the Glendale Galleria mall during the holiday shopping season, the U.S. Department of Justice Department announced Thursday. Tigran Zmrukhtyan, 29, was sentenced Monday by U,S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi after pleading guilty in July 2021 to one count of being felon in possession of firearms and ammunition, according to the DOJ. On Dec. 18, 2020, Zmrukhtyan walked into the Macy's department store in the mall with a duffel bag full of guns and ammunition. Zmrukhtyan attempted to steal clothes and was eventually detained by loss-prevention employees and Glendale Police Department officers. When he was detained, Zmrukhtyan had a loaded .38-caliber handgun tucked into his waistband with one round in the chamber and six bullets in the magazine. Inside the duffel bag, officers found four additional firearms, some already loaded, as well as high-capacity magazines loaded with bullets. Before his arrest, Zmrukhtyan had been convicted of 19 felonies, including the 2016 burglary of a Burbank gun store in which he stole 10 firearms. MyNewsLA.com |
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L.A. Anti-Vax Doctor Pleads Guilty To Role In 2021 U.S. Capitol Breach
A Los Angeles-area doctor known for spreading misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine pleaded guilty Thursday to storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and will cooperate with the government's investigation. Simone Gold entered her plea in Washington, D.C., to a Class-A misdemeanor count of unlawfully entering and remaining in a restricted building, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of Columbia. Gold faces up to a year of jail time or probation when she is sentenced on June 16. She will also pay $500 in restitution to help with the millions of dollars in repairs required after the riot. The Beverly Hills woman and an associate entered the Capitol as the crowd of Donald Trump supporters overran police and swarmed the building in an attempt to block Congress from certifying Joe Biden's win in the 2020 presidential election. Federal prosecutors say that while inside Statuary Hall, Gold gave a speech opposing vaccine mandates and government-imposed COVID-19 lockdowns. Video of Gold's speech posted on the internet shows police trying to clear the building. MyNewsLA.com |
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San Diego Police, City Leaders Call Attention To Uptick In Homicides, Spate Of Shootings
San Diego police and city leaders called attention Wednesday to an uptick in homicides, as well as a recent spate of shootings in the Mountain View and Mount Hope neighborhoods. The city saw a 43 percent increase in homicides in January and February, compared with the same period last year, from seven to 10 homicides, according to police figures. Police and city leaders said the city recorded 44 non-fatal shootings in the first two months of this year. Figures for the same period last year were not available. Mayor Todd Gloria highlighted recent gun violence in the Mountain View and Mount Hope neighborhoods in particular. In a span of 32 hours last month, according to police, a feud between two gangs in Mountain View and Mount Hope resulted in four shootings, which left a 27-year-old man dead and three other men and one woman injured. Residents told the Union-Tribune the shootings left them frustrated and on edge. "There's no way I would go on a run around my neighborhood," 38-year-old Mountain View resident Howard Cuarezma said. "It's gotten really out of hand." "When is it going to be enough?" he asked. San Diego Union Tribune |
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Sherri Papini Accused Of Faking 2016 Kidnapping, Lying To FBI
Sherri Papini, a Northern California woman whose disappearance and mysterious reappearance set off a frantic three-week search more than five years ago was arrested Thursday on charges of lying to federal agents about being kidnapped and defrauding the state's victim compensation board of $30,000. Papini, 39, of Redding, was found on Thanksgiving Day in 2016 after weeks of searching in California and several nearby states, with bindings on her body and injuries including a swollen nose and a "brand" on her right shoulder. She had been reported missing Nov. 2. She told authorities at the time that she had been kidnapped at gunpoint by two Hispanic women, even providing descriptions to an FBI sketch artist. In reality, authorities said, she was staying with a former boyfriend nearly 600 miles way from her home in Orange County, in Southern California, and hurt herself to back up her false statements. "When a young mother went missing in broad daylight, a community was filled with fear and concern," U.S. Attorney Phillip Talbert said in a statement. "Ultimately, the investigation revealed that there was no kidnapping and that time and resources that could have been used to investigate actual crime, protect the community, and provide resources to victims were wasted." FOX 11 |
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State Worker First To Be Sentenced In Massive California Office Of AIDS Fraud Scheme
The former state worker at the center of a $2.7 million fraud scheme inside California's Office of AIDS was sentenced Thursday to five years, 10 months in fedeal prison. Schenelle M. Flores, once a manager at the office inside California's Department of Public Health, used money from the fraud scheme to spend $200,000 on expenses at Disneyland, as well as expenses for hotels, suites at San Francisco Giants games, cruises, Sacramento Kings tickets, other sporting events and a yacht rental for her daughter's birthday party. Flores, who cooperated with prosecutors after being charged and had asked U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley for no more than a four-year sentence, was ordered to surrender to prison on May 18. In a sentencing memo filed in court in January, Flores' attorney blamed her actions on a difficult childhood and “spiraling drug and gambling problems which significantly impacted her work and led to her poor decision making that spiraled into the criminal conduct in this case.” Sacramento Bee |
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Why Crime Is At The Center Of California Elections This Year
A little-seen attack ad roasting state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta as an “anticop politician” may be just a blip in the social media universe, but it serves as a flashing neon sign warning Democrats what to expect in California's election season. “How can someone who cares more about criminals' rights than victims' rights, and is routinely at odds with law enforcement, serve as our state's top cop?” the ad says. “It's time for a change.” The criticism comes from an independent political committee backing attorney general candidate Anne Marie Schubert, the Republican-turned-independent district attorney of Sacramento County. The ad also takes a swipe at Gov. Gavin Newsom, who faces a similar barrage from the right in his run for reelection for promising to close two prisons, imposing a moratorium on the death penalty and appointing Bonta as the state's top cop. After more than a decade hovering near the back burner of voter concerns in California, fear over crime has risen to the fore as Republicans seize on the issue to skewer Democrats from the state Capitol to the White House. Republicans are demanding an end to liberal policies that replaced some of the tough-on-crime laws of the 1980s and 1990s enacted under GOP Govs. George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson. Los Angeles Times |
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Florida Man Sentenced To Death For Killing Police Officer
A judge on Thursday sentenced a Florida man to death for fatally shooting an Orlando police officer while he was on the run for killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend. Jurors in November found Markeith Loyd, 46, guilty in the January 2017 death of Lt. Debra Clayton, and unanimously recommended a death sentence during a hearing in December. Circuit Judge Leticia Marques announced her decision during a brief hearing Thursday morning. Loyd is already serving a life sentence for killing Sade Dixon, his former girlfriend, a month before Clayton was killed. Loyd was on the run for killing Dixon when a shopper at a Walmart spotted him Jan. 9, 2017. Prosecutors said the shopper notified Clayton, who was also at the store, and she attempted to stop him. Clayton, 42, was killed during a shootout with Loyd outside the store. “Although nothing can undo the heartache created by the defendant's heinous actions, we hope that this brings solace to our community, knowing a dangerous murderer will face the highest penalty provided by the law,” Orlando police Chief Orlando Rolón said in a statement. During the trial, prosecutors said the fatal shot was fired as Loyd stood over Clayton in the parking lot. She was shot four times. She was a sergeant at the time of the shooting, but was promoted posthumously. Associated Press |
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Public Safety News
LA County Mask Mandate Officially Ends Friday As COVID Metrics Improve
Indoor mask-wearing will no longer be mandatory in Los Angeles County starting Friday thanks to revised data released by federal health officials Thursday showing a decreased impact of COVID-19 on the county's health care system. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officially moved the county out of its "high'' virus activity category and into the "low'' category. The CDC updates its county-level data every Thursday. It categories are based largely on the number of new virus-related hospital admissions and on the overall availability of hospital beds. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said earlier this week that once the CDC revised the county's classification, a new health officer order will be issued -- taking effect Friday -- that removes the county's long-standing mandate for people to wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status. ABC 7 |
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Local Government News
LA Mayoral Candidate Ramit Varma Qualifies For June Primary Ballot
Businessman Ramit Varma is the latest LA mayoral candidate to qualify for the June primary election ballot after filing a petition with a sufficient number of valid signatures, the LA City Clerk announced Thursday. LA City Councilmen Kevin de León and Joe Buscaino, as well as real estate developer Rick Caruso, have also already qualified for the ballot. City Attorney Mike Feuer and Rep. Karen Bass submitted their petitions on Tuesday but the City Clerk's Office had not finalized their status as of Thursday afternoon. The deadline for candidates to file their nominating petitions is Wednesday at 5 p.m. A tentative field of 27 candidates filed paperwork by the Feb. 12 deadline to run for mayor of LA in the June 7 election. But not all candidates who filed will automatically end up on the ballot. Prospective candidates must gather a minimum of 500 valid signatures from voters, but candidates who collect at least 1,000 signatures will avoid a $300 filing fee. NBC 4 |
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About the LAPPL - Formed in 1923, the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) represents the more than 9,900 dedicated and professional sworn members of the Los Angeles Police Department. The LAPPL serves to advance the interests of LAPD officers through legislative and legal advocacy, political action and education. The LAPPL can be found on the Web at:
www.LAPD.com |
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