L.A. and O.C. Crime Report
December 11, 2012LAPD apologizes to family of Notorious B.I.G. for autopsy’s premature release
The Los Angeles Police Department has apologized to the family of rapper Notorious B.I.G. for failing to warn them that it planned to make his autopsy public 15 years after his slaying.
The Los Angeles County coroner’s office made the autopsy of the rapper, whose real name was Christopher George Latore Wallace, public after the LAPD OKd its release Friday. The Police Department blamed the snafu on an administrative error.
The LAPD opted to release the autopsy “as an investigative tool, in the hopes that releasing the report would stimulate additional interest or bring forth witnesses or clues in the case.” Wallace was shot four times in March 1997 in a drive-by attack on Wilshire Boulevard. The case remains unsolved.
DOCUMENT: Read full report on Notorious B.I.G.’s autopsy
“Due to an administrative error, the autopsy report was released prematurely. Robbery-Homicide Division detectives had intended to notify Mr. Wallace’s family prior to releasing the report,” the LAPD said in a statement.
“Our detectives personally spoke with the Wallace family [Friday] night, and apologized for not notifying them prior to the release” said Capt. Billy Hayes, who heads the Robbery-Homicide Division, which is investigating the killing. “Obviously this has been a challenging case for us to solve. We hope that witnesses or other people with information will come forward and give us the clues we need to solve this case.”
Perry Sanders Jr., an attorney for the family criticized the LAPD on Friday for failing to alert Smalls’ family.
In most instances, the results of an autopsy are released shortly after the coroner has completed its investigation. In a few instances, particularly high-profile investigations, the autopsy results are withheld while the case is under investigation.
DOCUMENT: The FBI’s file on Notorious B.I.G.
The LAPD took the unusual step of unsealing Wallace’s 15-year-old autopsy report, saying they hoped to generate new leads in the murder mystery. The 23-page document provided details about the shooting.
Wallace, who had been sitting in a sport utility vehicle, was killed by a shot that entered his right hip before slicing through his colon, liver, heart and part of his lung before wedging in his left shoulder area, according to the report signed by Dr. Lisa Scheinin, deputy medical examiner.
One shot hit Wallace’s left forearm and traveled down to his wrist, another hit him in the back and exited his body through his left shoulder, the report said. Another shot hit his left thigh and traveled through to his inner thigh.
DOCUMENT: Read full report on Notorious B.I.G.’s autopsy
Examiners noted that they could not determine the sequence of the shots.
The Brooklyn rapper was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where doctors performed emergency surgery. Two medium-caliber lead bullets were recovered from his hospital gurney.
No drugs or alcohol were found in Wallace’s system, according to a toxicology screen.
–Richard Winton
Cal State San Bernardino police kill student during struggle
Three Cal State San Bernardino police officers struggled with an unarmed graduate student for about seven minutes Saturday evening at an off-campus housing complex before growing fearful for their own safety and fatally shooting him, authorities said.
Bartholomew Williams, 38, exhibited “super-human-type strength” during the tussle, using the officers’ pepper spray against them and grabbing one of their batons, said a spokesman for the San Bernardino Police Department, which is investigating the shooting.
Two of the officers fired at Williams after he wrestled the third officer to the ground and began kicking him in the head and torso, said spokesman Lt. Paul Williams. None of the officers was carrying a Taser.
“This became a prolonged, violent struggle,” the spokesman said.
One of the officers was hospitalized after the incident and treated for minor injuries, he said.
The shooting occurred about 6:30 p.m. at University Village, a student housing complex on Northpark Boulevard where Bartholomew Williams lived.
The officers were responding to a report from a dorm staff member regarding Williams’ alleged irrational behavior. Upon making contact with Williams in the hallway, the officers determined that he was a threat to himself and others and tried to arrest him. But they were unable to handcuff him.
The police spokesman described Williams as a muscular male who weighed more than 200 pounds. Family members told police he had suffered from a mental disorder and had stopped taking his medication, the spokesman said.
School officials said that Williams was pursuing a master’s degree in educational instructional technology, and that he had first enrolled in summer 2011.
“This is a tragic day for the Cal State San Bernardino community,” university President Tomás Morales said in a statement. “Words cannot express how truly saddened we are at this time. We extend our deepest sympathies to his family, and our thoughts and prayers go out to all who knew him.”
Morales also said the officers “performed their best to assure the safety of the campus community.”
But civil rights activists called on the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office to conduct an immediate investigation into the shooting.
“A fast-track, transparent probe by the D.A.’s office is the only way to ensure that all the facts in the tragedy are known and justice is done,” said Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable.
Suspect in Indian reservation killings used drugs, police say
A man who killed four family members at a Central California Indian reservation was known to authorities as someone with drug issues.
Tulare County Sheriff’s Sgt. Chris Douglass said authorities “were aware” of suspect Hector Celaya and he was “known to use drugs.” A motive for the violence, however, remains unclear.
Celaya, 31, died Sunday after he was shot by Tulare County sheriff’s deputies, authorities said.
A 911 caller reported shots being fired shortly after 7:45 p.m. Saturday in the 100 block of Chimney Road on the reservation. The caller said the gunman fled in a green Jeep Cherokee. Authorities said Celaya’s daughters, ages 8 and 5, were with him.
Shelby Charley Jr., one of the first responders to the scene, said it was a “once-in-a-lifetime call.”
“One moment we’re here at the firehouse joking around, getting ready to eat some dinner,” said Charley, an engineer at the Tule River Fire Department. “Next thing we know, we’re walking into a murder.”
Authorities found a man and woman shot to death at a trailer, and a 6-year-old boy injured. As Charley and his crew began to drive away with the boy, authorities found another man fatally shot in a nearby shed.
Investigators were able to identify their suspect as Celaya, and attempted to locate him through his cellphone. An Amber Alert was also issued, Douglass said, because Celaya was considered armed and dangerous.
Hours later, a deputy spotted a green Jeep about 20 miles away, near the small town of Lindsay, Douglass said. The driver refused to stop, prompting a low-speed chase, with the vehicle sometimes moving at less than 15 mph.
“It wasn’t a major pursuit,” Douglass said. “He just would not pull over.”
Shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday, the Jeep stopped. Deputies saw the suspect fire a gun inside the vehicle. Deputies then opened fire on Celaya, Douglass said.
Celaya and one of his daughters, Alyssa, age 8, were found dead. Linea Celaya, 5, was admitted to the hospital for treatment.
Douglass said Celaya shot both girls at some point, but it was not clear when. Deputies could not see the girls when Celaya fired his gun and thus don’t know “if that’s exactly when they were shot,” Douglass said.
The other victims were identified as Irene Celaya, 60; Francisco Moreno, 61; and Bernard Franco, 53. Hector Celaya’s son, Andrew, age 6, was also injured and remains hospitalized.
The Tule River Tribe’s website describes its 139-year-old, 85-acre reservation as a “remote rural area” that is “accessible only by one winding paved road.”
“It is isolated in a rugged setting that allows for privacy and for development independent from urban or recreational sprawl,” the website states. The nearest city, Porterville, is roughly 20 miles west.
Dealer who sold Ferraris, Rolls-Royces charged in $3-million scam
An Orange County man has been charged in a $3-million car embezzlement scheme in which he allegedly defrauded owners of such luxury cars as Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Rolls-Royces trying to sell their vehicles on consignment through his Costa Mesa dealership, law enforcement officials said.
Farhad Ebadat, 37, faces 15 felony counts of embezzlement by fiduciary trust, 15 felony counts of money-laundering and 11 felony counts of grand theft by false pretenses, according to a joint statement by the Orange County district attorney’s office and the Orange County Auto Theft Task Force.
Ebadat, a Huntington Beach resident, is set to be arraigned Monday. If convicted, officials said, Ebadat could face a maximum sentence of 34 years and eight months in state prison. He was arrested earlier this month and is being held on $3 million bail.
Ebadat owned and operated Costa Mesa Bellagio Motors, a dealership specializing in high-end luxury vehicles, from 2009 through this year.
Prosecutors said Ebadat offered to sell luxury vehicles on consignment for the owners, pay them and transfer the car titles to the purchasers. But prosecutors said he is accused of selling the cars — some worth as much as $225,000 — and then diverting the payments received to his personal accounts.
Prosecutors said Ebadat defrauded innocent buyers who paid in full for the vehicles, but they weren’t able to obtain the cars’ titles because the previous owner had not been paid. He is also accused of not delivering some of the purchased vehicles to the buyers.
The investigation into Ebadat began with Costa Mesa police but was turned over to the auto theft task force, a multi-jurisdictional program that includes law enforcement agencies across the county.
After the investigation began, officials said Ebadat closed Bellagio Motors and moved from his Huntington Beach home to a rental in Bermuda Dunes, clearing out his bank accounts and wiring the money to accounts in France and Iran.
Officials said the investigation is ongoing, and anyone with information can contact Investigator Anthony Sosnowski of the district attorney’s office at (714) 664-3943 or task force Det. Rick Henry (714) 634-1385.
O.C. man found guilty of killing and dismembering wife
An Orange County man was convicted Monday of beating to death his wife of 39 years after an argument, then decapitating and dismembering her body and burning the remains, prosecutors said.
A jury found Richard Gustav Forsberg, 63, guilty of one felony count of second degree murder. He will face a maximum sentence of 15 years to life in state prison at his sentencing in February, according to a statement from the Orange County district attorney’s office.
On Feb. 9, 2010, prosecutors say Forsberg grabbed a small statue during an argument with his wife, Marcia Ann Forsberg — a former Daily Pilot feature writer — and struck her over the head multiple times, killing her. Prosecutors said he kept her body in their home for days, decapitating her and dismembering her body.
Then, according to prosecutors, he rented a recreational vehicle and bought two freezers. He put his wife’s body in the freezers and put the freezers in the RV, and drove to a campground at Lake Piru Recreational Area in Ventura County, where he disposed of the body by burning it.
Forsberg, a computer manager at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, told friends asking about his wife that she had left their Rancho Santa Margarita home because of marital problems, prosecutors said. On Aug. 24, 2010 — six months after her death — friends reported her missing.
Prosecutors said Forsberg lied to Orange County sheriff’s deputies during the investigation about her whereabouts. Prosecutors said that after realizing he would be caught in the lie, he sent a letter to detectives admitting that he had killed his wife in a rage. Forsberg was arrested at a hospital after a suicide attempt, prosecutors said.
O.C. murder suspect’s ex-fiancee implicates him in jail interview
Hours before he played the romantic lead in a community theater play opposite his real-life fiancee, authorities allege Daniel Patrick Wozniak shot and killed his neighbor.
Not long after that evening’s performance, he slipped out of the Costa Mesa apartment he shared with his then-fiancee, Rachel Buffett, 25, and killed a second person , according to police, prosecutors and Buffett’s account of events.
Authorities say that when they questioned Buffett, she lied to protect Wozniak, who is now facing double murder charges.
More than two years after the May 2010 crimes, Buffett was charged with being an accessory to murder after the fact. It is a charge she disputes.
“I’m innocent, and he’s guilty, and he confessed to that,” she told the Daily Pilot in a jailhouse interview. She said Wozniak told her that he confessed to police that he killed the two victims.
She said she’s always been honest and forth-coming with police and doesn’t understand why she is now facing felony charges and a possible prison sentence of more than three years.
“You go over it in your mind, ‘How could I possibly give someone wrong information?’ ” she said. “I was trying to be helpful and give them every conception in my mind.”
Police, however, say their investigation, which included interviews with Buffett and multiple witnesses, indicates she wasn’t truthful.
“She told us a story we know not to be true,” said Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Ed Everett. “We waited that long basically because we didn’t want to prematurely arrest her for accessory and find out she was complicit in the homicides.”
Police said Wozniak killed his neighbor Samuel Herr in the theater of the Joint Forces Training Center in Los Alamitos before dismembering his body and leaving his head and hands at the nearby El Dorado Nature Center in Long Beach.
Authorities allege that Wozniak then killed Herr’s friend and tutor, Juri “Julie” Kibuishi, 23, in Herr’s apartment, then staged the crime to make it look like a sexual assault.
Wozniak reportedly told detectives he was motivated by money. He and Buffett had planned to marry soon. Authorities said Wozniak killed Herr to secure his ATM card. Herr had saved money from his time in the military.
Wozniak remains in Orange County Jail on murder charges. If convicted, he could receive the death penalty.
Buffett faces three felony charges of accessory to murder after the fact. She faces a three-year, eight-month, sentence if convicted.
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