Los Angeles Crime Report
December 14, 2012Three suspects identified in wake of Cal State Fullerton lockdown
Authorities from multiple law enforcement agencies are searching for two suspects involved in a Moreno Valley jewelry store robbery that led to a high-speed car chase and the eventual campus-wide lockdown at Cal State Fullerton late Wednesday.
Five suspect entered Empire Jewelry and Loan in Moreno Valley at about 3 p.m. Wednesday, shot an employee then fled in a dark Lexus, according to a statement from the Moreno Valley Police Department.
The men then took authorities on a high-speed chase that ended in Fullerton and led to the lockdown of the Cal State campus there for more than eight hours.
Two Los Angeles residents — Damine Lavonte Banks, 30; Jerome Renard Allen, 23 — were arrested when they ran from the Lexus after the car chase, according to a release.
A third suspect, Traevon Cortez Vidaud, 24, of Compton, allegedly carjacked a second vehicle as he was being chased by officers and led them on a pursuit to Los Angeles, where he stopped and dashed into the midst of a Los Angeles Police Department toy drive. He was apprehended at the toy drive.
All three were booked at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside on multiple charges, including attempted murder and robbery.
The Moreno Valley Police Department is asking anyone with additional information about the crime to contact investigator Ed Rose at (951) 486-6710.
Feds say L.A. ‘sweatshop’ sweep finds widespread violations
Federal and state labor authorities Thursday announced the discovery of “widespread” labor violations by downtown garment manufacturers that help supply retailers like Aldo, Urban Outfitters and Forever 21, among others.
During an August sweep of a building at 830 S. Hill St., the U.S. Department of Labor and the California Labor Standards Enforcement division found that 10 garment businesses paid workers an average of $6.50 an hour, significantly below the federal standard of $7.25 an hour and the state minimum of $8 an hour. Workers weren’t paid hourly but instead earned a small amount per garment sewn or cut.
Authorities also found evidence of falsified time cards, recordkeeping violations and a failure to pay overtime wages. And three of the businesses were not registered as garment contractors, authorities said.
“We are intent on making sure that sweatshop practices are eliminated so that consumers can proudly purchase garments made in L.A., honest companies can compete and garment workers can thrive,” California Labor Commissioner Julie Su said in a release.
The garments were being produced for 30 retailers nationwide, including Aldo, Burlington Coat Factory, Charlotte Russe, Dillard’s, Forever 21, Home Shopping Network, Urban Outfitters and West Seal.
About $326,200 in back wages were recovered for 185 employees and each business was cited for failing to comply with wage laws.
The sweep in August kicked off an ongoing federal crackdown on Southern California’s garment industry. Department of Labor offices in the region have conducted more than 1,500 investigations of garment industry employers over the last five years. Investigators found that businesses underpaid about 11,000 workers by more than than $11 million total.
Department of Labor spokeswoman Deanne Amaden said that regulators picked the building on Hill Street because it has been the site of several past labor violations. Some of the manufacturers were repeat offenders, Amaden said.
“There’s small case after small case that we find all over the Los Angeles area. But we knew there were things going on in this building and we wanted to focus on that,” Amaden said.
Coroner: 3 siblings in Azusa house fire shot themselves in head
Three siblings whose bodies were found in the aftermath of an Azusa house fire died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds to their heads in a possible suicide pact, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said Friday.
The deaths of George Alva, 53, Barbara Alva, 49, and Christine Alva, 47, were ruled suicides, said Watch Commander Larry Dietz of the coroner’s office.
The siblings were on the verge of losing the now-charred home in the 500 block of North Dalton Avenue, and their father had recently died, according to court records and neighbors. Neighbors called 911 after seeing smoke coming from the house.
After the Dec. 6 fire was extinguished, authorities said, police discovered 12 rifles, 10 handguns, several incendiary devices and thousands of rounds of ammunition, which police heard exploding when they arrived. Two dogs and two cats were also found dead.
Family friend Nola Dewester, 69, said the dead siblings spent the last few years caring for their ailing parents. Their mother died about two years ago, she said. They had two other siblings; one sister lived nearby.
Dewester said that as far as she knew, none of the siblings was working full-time and all three shared one car. The siblings also had frequent run-ins with their neighbors, she said.
Serial killer Rodney Alcala pleads guilty to New York murders
A serial killer already sentenced to death for five Southern California murders — including the slaying of a 12-year-old Huntington Beach girl — pleaded guilty Friday in a New York City courtroom to a pair of 1970s-era killings in that state.
Rodney Alcala, a one-time contestant on “The Dating Game,” faces a likely prison term of 25-years-to-life for his crimes in New York, the Associated Press reported.
Alcala, who appeared Friday in a Manhattan courtroom, pleaded guilty to killing Cornelia Crilley, a 23-year-old flight attendant who was raped and strangled in her Manhattan apartment in 1971.
He also pleaded guilty to killing Ellen Hover, 23, the daughter of a Hollywood nightclub owner who was found slain in 1977 not far from her family’s estate in Westchester County.
PHOTOS: California serial killers
Alcala has been behind bars since he was arrested in connection with the 1979 slaying of Robin Samsoe, a 12-year-old girl who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle to an afternoon ballet class in Huntington Beach.
His conviction in the girl’s murder was twice overturned. He was convicted a third time — and again given the death penalty — in 2010.
Authorities say that Alcala, whose Southern California killing spree went undetected for decades, was one of the nation’s most prolific serial killer of the 1970s.
Last year, authorities said they linked him to the 1977 slaying of a 19-year-old woman who went missing after a trip to Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco.
LAPD, LAUSD increase campus patrols after Connecticut school shooting
Los Angeles police are increasing patrols around the city’s schools in the aftermath of the rampage Friday at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school.
Cmdr. Matt Blake, who is overseeing the LAPD’s response, said department officials are coordinating with their counterparts at the Los Angeles Unified School District’s police force to increase police presence at the district’s hundreds of campuses, as well as at private schools throughout the city.
Officers in each of the LAPD’s 23 stations have been instructed to touch base with schools in their patrol areas, Blake said.
PHOTOS: Shooting at Connecticut elementary school
The increased visibility is meant to calm parents fears following the Newtown shooting, Blake said, adding there is no indication that someone could attempt to commit a copy-cat attack.
“Our job is not only to stop crimes, but to try to put nerves at rest,” he said.
Officers are also contacting school officials to review their plans for how to keep students and faculty safe in the event of a shooting, Blake said. In addition, supervisors at each LAPD station and specialized units have been instructed to review response plans for active-shooter scenarios, he said.
At least one gunman attacked a suburban Connecticut elementary school Friday morning, killing at least two dozen people, including 18 children, law enforcement sources said. Other reports placed the number of dead at 27, including the children.
At a televised news conference from Newtown, State Police spokesman Lt. Paul Vance refused to give an exact number of victims, pending notification of the families.
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