By Leo Stallworth | ABC7

A man and two teen boys have been arrested nearly a week after a man’s partially-charred body was found in a garbage can that was set on fire in San Bernardino, the Sheriff’s Department announced Thursday.

Enrique Jimenez Sr., 46, and the two unnamed juveniles were initially taken into custody last Friday after a pursuit that began when authorities witnessed several males dumping something near trash cans on Sixth Street near Sterling Avenue shortly after midnight, a sheriff’s news release said.

Jimenez allegedly lit one of the trash cans on fire.

The subjects then fled the scene in a vehicle after officers attempted to contact them, which led to the chase, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

Two juvenile males, ages 14 and 17, were detained in Highland after fleeing from the vehicle.

The pursuit continued into Paramount, where Jimenez allegedly collided with two Downey police cars and was taken into custody after a brief foot chase, the release stated.

Deputies then went to the trash cans in San Bernardino and discovered the burned body of 51-year-old Morris Barnes, according to the Sheriff’s Department. The Highland resident had been stabbed multiple times.

Investigators later learned Barnes was killed on Elmwood Road in Highland after interviewing the suspects, the release said.

Jimenez was transported and booked into the West Valley Detention Center on charges of murder and felony evading, according to sheriff’s officials.

The two teens were arrested and each booked into Juvenile Hall on a charge of accessory to murder, the release stated. Their names have not been released, but authorities said the two are related to Jimenez.

They did not disclose the relationship.

An investigation into the homicide continues, and anyone with information is asked to call Detective Jon Cahow or Sgt. John Gaffney at 909-387-3589.

Those who wish to remain anonymous are urged to call the We-Tip Hotline at 1-800-782-7463, or by going to the website http://www.wetip.com.

KTLA

A man suspected of trying to drug a woman at an upscale restaurant in Santa Monica with the alleged intent to rape her has been arrested, police confirmed Monday.

Michael Hsu was taken into custody on charges of intent to commit rape, and drugging with the intent to commit a rape, a Santa Monica Police Department official said.

The case has gained nationwide attention after a woman took to Facebook to discuss how she and her friends stopped the alleged assailant in a now-viral post that has been shared more than 100,000 times.

On Friday, Sonia Ulrich posted that she and two female friends had been enjoying the happy hour at Fig, a restaurant inside the Fairmont Hotel off of Ocean Avenue, when they saw a man put something in another woman’s drink.

The trio thought the woman had been on a date with the man; she had gone to the bathroom when he allegedly slipped something into the drink, according to Ulrich.

“After a few ‘Oh god. What do we do’s,’ I got up to find her in the bathroom to tell her. Warn her. Tell her to get up and leave this creep. Make him drink it. Something,” Ulrich wrote. “So, after feeling awkward hanging out by the sinks in the bathroom till she was done, I approached. ‘Hey! Um, this is kind of weird, but, uh, we saw the guy you were with put something in your drink.'”

The woman was stunned, telling Ulrich that the two worked together and had known each other for more than a year, according to Ulrich’s post. He was actually one of her best friends, she said.

Meanwhile, the woman who first noticed the incident — identified in the post as Marla Saltzer — flagged down a waiter and explained to him and her friends what she saw.

“‘He pulled her glass toward him, kind of awkwardly, then he took out a little black vial. He opened it up and dropped something in. Then he tried to play it cool, like checking his phone and hiding the vial in his hand and then trying to bring it back down slyly,'” Ulrich recalled Saltzer saying.

The man apparently then realized he was being watched by another woman, Monica Kenyon, who was also with the group, Ulrich wrote.

Meanwhile, the would-be-victim sat down at her table after the restroom encounter with Ulrich.

After learning of the alleged attempted drugging, the restaurant’s manager went over to the pair to ensure everything was OK, and to offer the woman water.

She then continued the dinner with the man until Santa Monica police showed up to question him, according to the post. He was taken away.

Later, the head of the security went to the women’s table to tell them that because of their quick-thinking actions, they were able to review security footage and found that a camera had captured the incident.

“They got him on tape. They had proof of him drugging this girl. They took the glass away as evidence,” Ulrich wrote.

Police confirmed they have the surveillance and the drink in their possession.

As word of what transpired spread through the restaurant, other diners walked over to the women and thanked them for taking action, she said. A number of people told them they or someone they knew had been the victim of a drugging.

“At least 10 stories of being personally affected by someone like this … Those were only the ones who knew what went down,” Ulrich wrote.

She concluded the post by thanking the restaurant’s manager and staff, as well as the hotel, for acting on the matter and preventing the woman from being harmed.

Hsu, 24, was arrested Thursday on the felony charges, according to Los Angeles County jail records. His total bail amount was set 1 million, the record showed.

The case was expected to be presented to the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday, according to police.

KTLA

By Matt Hamilton | Los Angeles Times

An artist and screenwriter from a prominent Canadian family was charged Tuesday with torturing, killing and draining the blood from the body of his girlfriend at their West Hollywood apartment.

Appearing in a Los Angeles courtroom, Blake Leibel, 35, pleaded not guilty to felony charges including murder, torture, mayhem and aggravated mayhem, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Leibel is accused of killing his 30-year-old girlfriend, Iana Kasian, sometime between May 23 and May 26 at the apartment in the 8500 block of Holloway Drive, prosecutors said.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies came to the apartment on May 26 on the request of Kasian’s mother, who asked them to perform a welfare check, Sheriff’s Deputy Sara Rodriguez said.

Inside the flat, deputies found a grisly scene.

Before she was killed, Kasian had been tortured, her body mangled. “All of her blood was drained from her body,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement. 

Leibel had barricaded himself in the apartment, putting furniture and bedding to block the door, sheriff’s Lt. Dave Coleman told reporters. He seemed “agitated and uncooperative,” Coleman added.

Leibel was taken into custody and has been held without bail. He is scheduled to undergo a mental competency evaluation after his attorney raised doubts about his mental fitness.

“This is a serious matter,” said defense attorney Alaleh Kamran in a statement issued by publicist Howard Bragman. “Mr. Leibel’s defense team request that the public and the media respect his right to a fair hearing in court.”

Ronald Richards, a defense attorney who has known Leibel for several years and is representing him in divorce proceedings, said it was difficult to surmise “what causes people to snap.”

“Him being violent is so uncharacteristic of the person I’ve known for many years,” Richards said. He said Leibel had various “stressors,” adding: “It’s hard to tell which has contributed to any mental health issues.”

The gruesome death and Leibel’s arrest have grabbed headlines in Canada, where his father, Lorne Leibel, is a prominent real estate developer and former Olympic athlete.

Lorne Leibel competed in sailing in the 1976 Olympics before launching a host of real estate developments, Canada’s National Post reported. He’s also an accomplished powerboater and car enthusiast.

Lorne’s two sons, Cody and Blake, have built careers in Los Angeles: Cody as a real estate developer, and Blake as a comic book creator, animation director and screenwriter. Among his credits were director and consultant on the animated series “Spaceballs,” based on the 1987 film by Mel Brooks.

Blake Leibel moved to California in 2004 and received monthly allowances totaling $1.7 million from his parents over about eight years, according to legal documents filed after his mother died in 2011. At the time of his mother’s death, he said in court documents that he had no income despite supporting a wife and son.

Leibel filed for divorce against his wife, Amanda Braun, in July 2015, according to court records. The case is still pending in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

It’s unclear when Leibel met Kasian, but sheriff’s officials said the couple lived together. Kasian recently gave birth to a baby girl.

“It’s very rare that someone is involved in a homicide case with someone they just had a baby with,” Richards said. “It’s very early to make a conclusion as to what the cause, intent, motive and facts were to this unfortunate tragedy.”

Less than a week before Kasian was found dead, Leibel was arrested shortly after midnight on May 20 on suspicion of sexual assault. He was later released after posting $100,000 bail, according to police records. He has not been charged in that case.

Leibel is scheduled to next appear in court on June 14. Prosecutors have not decided whether to seek the death penalty or life without the possibility of parole.

[source]

A 54-year-old woman was in critical condition Wednesday after allegedly being beaten with a hammer by her son while she slept in an unincorporated area of East Los Angeles.

Authorities responded to a family disturbance call at a home in the 3700 block of Whiteside Street about 2:35 a.m., said Deputy Ryan Rouzan of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The unidentified woman was in bed asleep when she was struck repeatedly with a hammer-type weapon, according to a news release from the Sheriff’s Department.

The attack awakened other family members who tried to restrain the man until deputies arrived, authorities said.

The victim suffered injuries to her head and was taken to a local hospital in critical condition, Rouzan said.

The alleged attacker was later identified as the victim’s son 27-year-old Gustavo Gonzalez, according to a news release from the Sheriff’s Department.

Deputies needed to use physical force to take him into custody, Rouzan said.

Video from the scene showed a shirtless man strapped to a gurney and being loaded into an ambulance.

Gonzalez was expected to be booked on suspicion of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and mayhem, the release stated.

A hammer was located at the scene, Rouzan said.

Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s East Los Angeles Station, Lt. Alvarez, at 323-264-4151.

KTLA

A man suspected of pointing a rifle at emergency responders as they arrived at the scene of a house fire in Buena Park Sunday surrendered to authorities early Monday morning, police said.

Edgar Salazar was seen pointing a scoped rifle at first responders and a police helicopter as he stood on a roof near a fire burning at a home in the 7700 block of 11th street, the Buena Park Police Department stated on Facebook.

Salazar then fled from the roof and disappeared, prompting SWAT officers to surround the residence he was believed to have barricaded himself in.

Meanwhile, firefighters worked to put out the blaze burning at the nearby home.

A man rescued from the home suffered second- and third-degree burns and was taken to a local hospital in serious condition.

Following an hours-long standoff, Salazar eventually surrendered and was taken into custody with no shots fired at about 1:33 a.m., the Police Department stated.

The cause of the fire was still under investigation.

KTLA

Deadly violence rocked a Koreatown parking garage on Tuesday when a man fatally shot another man who had stabbed and injured a woman during a dispute, according to a preliminary investigation by police.

Officers were called to the 600 block of South Berendo Street shortly before 5:30 p.m. on reports that someone was assaulting another person with a firearm, according to Officer Tony Im, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department.

Following a preliminary investigation, officers believe that a man and woman were having a verbal argument in a parking garage of an apartment building. The man stabbed the woman and injured her, Im said.

The woman’s boyfriend then interrupted the attack and shot at the man, LAPD Sgt. Kevin Gruner said.

KTLA

By Joel Rubin, Hailey Bronson-Potts, Zahira Torres, and Frank Shyong | Los Angeles Times

Authorities on Sunday were trying to determine the intentions of an Indiana man with a cache of weapons, ammunition and explosive-making materials in his car and apparent plans to attend the L.A. Pride festival in West Hollywood.

Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks initially said on Twitter that the 20-year-old man told one of her officers after he was arrested that he wanted “to harm Gay Pride event.”

But Lt. Saul Rodriguez said later the tweet was a misstatement. He said the suspect told investigators that he was going to the Pride festival but said he did not make additional statements about his intentions.

“It was a misstatement,” Rodriguez said. “Unfortunately, she was given incorrect information initially, which indicated that that statement was made; however, that statement never was made. He did indicate that he was planning on going to the Pride festival but beyond anything as far as motives or his intentions that statement was never made nor did any officer receive that statement.”

Police identified the suspect as James Wesley Howell of Indiana. A Facebook page for someone with the same name in Indiana shows a young man posing next to a white Acura with the same license plate as the car searched in Santa Monica for the weapons and explosives.

At a news conference Sunday afternoon, police stressed they were still trying to figure out what Howell planned to do with the weapons.

Howell’s friend and fellow car club member Joseph Greeson, 18, said Howell didn’t harbor any ill will toward gays or lesbians.

Greeson said Howell’s family in Jeffersonville hadn’t seen him for days and that his parents had called Greeson’s parents looking for him.

He added that Howell was known to have a gun collection.

According to Indiana court records, Howell was charged in October 2015 with intimidation and felony pointing a firearm at another person. On April 19, Howell pleaded guilty to misdemeanor intimidation, and prosecutors dropped the charge of pointing a firearm. Court records show he was sentenced to a year in state prison and placed on probation. Under the deal, He agreed to forfeit all weapons during his term of probation.

Howell allegedly pointed a gun at his neighbors in the October incident, according to a News and Tribune article. In the article, witnesses also described Howell as having pointed his gun at his boyfriend in an earlier incident.

“James is going to get someone hurt,” one witness said, the article said. “He needs to stop pointing guns at people.”

Greeson said that Howell harbored no ill will toward gays or lesbians and added that Howell was bisexual.

Federal and local law enforcement decided against canceling the annual parade, which went forward Sunday morning under tightened security. Investigators are now trying to piece together what happened but said they don’t believe there is any connection between the incident and the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., that killed at least 50 people overnight.

Early Sunday, Santa Monica police received a call about a suspected prowler who was knocking on a resident’s door and window about 5 a.m. in the 1700 block of 11th Street, Santa Monica police said. Patrol officers responded and encountered Howell, who was sitting in a car registered in Indiana, police said. Officers inspected the car and found three assault rifles, high-capacity ammunition and a 5-gallon bucket containing “chemicals capable of forming an improvised explosive device,” police said.  

A law enforcement source who spoke on condition of anonymity said the contents of the bucket included Tannerite, an ingredient that could be used to create a pipe bomb. The maker of the material said that was not the case and that it can only be detonated by high-velocity impact such as a bullet strike. But Tannerite is known as a material used in the construction of other types of explosive devices.

The source, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation, said authorities also found camouflage clothing in the car.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said the suspect told police he was going to the Pride parade to look for a friend. Authorities were looking for that individual.

A spate of violence in Los Angeles County over a 24-hour period left at least seven people dead and at least five others injured, authorities said Saturday.

A series of shootings kept sheriff’s detectives busy from Carson to the San Gabriel Valley until early Saturday, authorities said. One victim was shot as she walked down the street, another while he worked on a car and two others as they were leaving a party.

“It was a busy night,” Deputy Grace Medrano said.

The violence began about 3:45 p.m. Friday when a gunman got out of a parked vehicle and fired several rounds at a man riding his bike in the 7500 block of Compton Avenue, authorities said. The victim was struck multiple times and later died; the suspect fled in the vehicle.

KTLA

A Navy SEAL has been arrested on suspicion of beating and stabbing a man to death not long after the pair were involved in a fistfight on the Santa Monica Pier, police said.

Theo Andrew Krah, 28, was arrested Monday in San Diego in connection with the man’s death, said Santa Monica police Lt. Saul Rodriguez.

Police have identified the victim only as a Santa Monica resident.

Officers were called to break up a fight between Krah and the man on the pier around around 4 p.m. Saturday, according to Rodriguez. Nobody was arrested or injured in that incident, he said.

KTLA

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office has filed criminal charges against the owners of a rent-controlled apartment building in the Fairfax district, alleging that they evicted tenants and converted the units to short-term rentals on Airbnb.

Owners of three other properties are facing civil suits that they illegally operated rent-controlled buildings as hotels.

It marks the first time City Atty. Mike Feuer has prosecuted landlords on suspicion of operating illegal short-term rentals and is meant to send a signal to other landlords breaking city laws at a time when L.A. is facing an affordable-housing crisis.

“Given that shortage of affordable housing, illegally converting rental units to hotels or short-rentals has got to stop,” Feuer said at a news conference Monday. “My office is going to intervene to preserve rent-stabilized units and restore those units when we allege they’ve been unlawfully taken off the market.”

KTLA

A high school cheerleader has been charged in connection with the beating death of a homeless man in San Diego County, officials said.

Hailey Suder, 18, pleaded not guilty Monday to two felony counts of being an accessory after the fact, according to Tanya Sierra, spokeswoman for the San Diego County district attorney’s office.

Suder was dating one of two brothers charged with killing 50 year-old George Lowery, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Sheriff’s homicide investigators did not say what role she played in Lowery’s death, and which brother she was dating.

Suder was a senior at Santana High School, but did not graduate with her class this month, said Catherine Martin, spokeswoman for the Grossmont Union High School District.

KTLA

A man walking down a street in San Pedro early Thursday morning was killed in a drive-by shooting.

Authorities were called to the intersection of South Palos Verdes Street and West 9th Street at about 2 a.m., said Officer Ammons with the Los Angeles Police Department.

A man believed to be in his 20s was walking in the area when a maroon vehicle drove up to him and someone opened fire, said Capt. Michael Oreb with the Police Department.

The victim tried to run from the scene, but eventually collapsed and died, Oreb said.

The vehicle fled from the scene and no description of the gunman was immediately available.

Investigators did not believe the shooting was gang related, Ammons said.

KTLA

One person was killed and three others were hospitalized Sunday evening when a suspected DUI driver struck a portable taco stand in Boyle Heights, authorities said.

The crash happened shortly before 9:30 p.m. in the 300 block of South Clarence Street, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

A female driver lost control of her vehicle and jumped the curb, said Officer Tatiana Bohorquez of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Central Traffic Division.

An unidentified male was pronounced dead at the scene and three victims were transported to hospitals: two in critical condition and one with a minor injury, the Fire Department said in a news alert. Nine other people were evaluated at the crash site but declined hospitalization, the LAFD said.

The driver was taken into custody after the incident, according to police. Her name was not immediately released.

KTLA

A drunk driver who hit a pedestrian continued driving for more than a mile after his body flew through the windshield and landed in the passenger seat, Oceanside police said.

Esteysi Sanchez, 29, was arrested on suspicion of DUI, felony hit and run and vehicular manslaughter Monday and is being held on $1.5 million bail after fatally hitting a man walking on the sidewalk along Mission Avenue, police said.

The force of the collision caused the victim to smash through the windshield and come to a rest in the front passenger seat, but Sanchez continued to drive for about another mile before she pulled over and walked home, said Oceanside police spokesman Ryan Keim.

Sanchez, an Oceanside resident, does not have a driver license, DMV records. She applied for one in March 2015 but the process was not completed.

Witnesses told KNSD that the man was on the sidewalk and the car jumped the curb and hit him at 6:20 a.m. Monday. They told the station that one of his legs was ripped from his body and landed on the trunk of her car, police told KNSD.

“There’s no words to really describe it. I mean, just seeing that up close and personal, it’s kind of traumatizing in a way,” witness Edwin Esparza told KNSD.

The victim, who authorities said was in his 60s, was a known transient who was going to or leaving a nearby soup kitchen, KGTV reported.

The man’s shoes, wallet, keys and ID — as well as parts of the shattered windshield — were found where he was hit. Paramedics pronounced him dead where the car was found.

Police said Sanchez was found at home about an hour later.

“Her husband or boyfriend, I’m not sure which he is, called police,” Keim said

LATIMES

A Newhall man and his live-in girlfriend pleaded no contest Wednesday to charges related to the sexual abuse of 10 children over a period of 15 years.

Francisco Avendaño, 42, entered no contest pleas to 12 counts of lewd act upon a child under 14, two counts of lewd acts on a child 14 years old and one count each of lewd acts on a child 15 years old and continuous sexual abuse, according to a news release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Jacqueline Wadsworth, 32, pleaded no contest to one count of lewd acts upon a child under 13, the release stated.

According to Deputy DA Julie Kramer, the alleged abuse began in January 2001 and continued through December 2015.

During this period, 10 children between the ages of 3 and 15 years old were victimized, she stated.

The children included family members and family friends, according to Kramer.

Avendaño is expected to receive 49 years in state prison when he is sentenced on Aug. 3.

Wadsworth is facing an undetermined amount of time in jail, probation and mandatory enrollment in a sexual compulsion program, according to the DA’s office.

Both will be required to register as sex offenders for the rest of their lives.

KTLA

A Navy sailor suspected of fatally stabbing his girlfriend was apprehended Monday morning after allegedly leading authorities on a pursuit from San Diego to Riverside, according to authorities and news reports.

Jared Bischoff, 25, of Riverside, was being held without bail on suspicion of murder, according to online records. Citing the U.S. Navy, the Los Angeles Times identified Bischoff as a sailor who enlisted in February 2013.

At about 5:15 p.m. Sunday, a caller to the Riverside Police Department reported a possible domestic disturbance between a man and woman near the intersection of Calmhill Drive and California Avenue in Riverside, a statement from the agency said. Police officers were simultaneously flagged down near an injured woman at the same location.

The officers discovered the woman lying unconscious in the street, suffering from multiple stab wounds, the news release said. Paramedics transported the victim to a hospital, where she later died. Her name was not immediately released, pending notification of family.

Detectives from the Riverside Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Unit responded to the crime scene and took over the investigation, according to authorities. They were assisted by forensics technicians, as well as officials from the offices of Riverside County’s district attorney and coroner.

“The investigation revealed the suspect met with his girlfriend at (the) intersection, where he stabbed her several times causing her death, then fled the area,” the police statement said.

Using information received from Riverside police, officers from the San Diego Police Department located Bischoff in their jurisdiction and a chase ensued, the news release said.

“Bischoff fled in his vehicle through San Diego to the 15 Freeway, where the California Highway Patrol eventually took over the pursuit,” the statement said. “The pursuit continued to the 91 Freeway, where Bischoff exited at Madison Avenue.”

The chase made its way onto surface streets, where it was taken over by Riverside police before coming to an end in the area of Rubidoux and Grand avenues. Bischoff surrendered peacefully, according to authorities.

Anyone with information about the case is urged to call Detective Adrian Tillett of the Riverside Police Department at 951-353-7105 or Detective Jim Simons at 951-353-7138.

KTLA

A photographer was doing an automotive shoot on Saturday near the town of Ramona when he found himself in the middle of a frightening road-rage incident with an angry resident.

Alex Stone and his crew had just started to record when a 52-year-old man drove up and accused them of being on a “private road,” according to a post on his Facebook page.

When Stone tried to explain that it was, in fact, a public road, the man became enraged and started yelling obscenities, the post stated.

On the video, Stone can be heard trying to calm the down the man and explain that he was not blocking traffic.

But the driver of the truck insisted that Stone on his driveway and grew increasingly agitated, the video showed.

According to Stone, the man then attempted to use his truck as a weapon.

“I turn around and he’s busting a U-turn coming at me with his truck … I had to jump out of the way,” Stone told KTLA. “I’ve never really been that scared.”

The man then got out of the truck and went after Stone’s crew, the video shows.

“I had to physically hold him back,” Stone said. “Sir, sir, don’t do this.”

At the end of the video, the man can be seen knocking Stone’s phone out of his hand.

The man, later identified as Mark Dwayne Gordon, was arrested Sunday and booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, battery and vandalism, San Diego County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Rob Samuels told KTLA sister station KSWB.

KTLA

The chief of the Fresno Police Department took the rare step Wednesday of publicly releasing the body-camera video footage of officers fatally shooting an unarmed 19-year-old man last month — a shooting that has generated fierce protests amid a roiling national debate over police brutality.

Chief Jerry Dyer said at a news conference that he decided to release the graphic videos of officers firing four gunshots into Dylan Noble, a white man, because of the intense public interest in the shooting.

Dyer acknowledged that the footage is “extremely disturbing” to watch, but he said he hoped it would clarify what led officers to stop Noble on June 25 and eventually open fire.

“I anticipate that some of this video will answer many of the questions out there in this community,” Dyer said. “However, I believe this video is also going to raise questions in the minds of people, just as those questions exist in my mind as well.”

Click here to read the full story on LATimes.com.

KTLA

A 75-year-old woman allegedly fatally shot her 84-year-old boyfriend during an altercation, Simi Valley Police officials said Monday.

Simi Valley police were called to the home in the 6200 block of Anastasia Avenue about 4:15 p.m. Sunday to check the well-being of the resident, police said in a news release.

Officers found Salvatore Orefice partially covered and with a gunshot wound, police said.

While police were at the scene, Mary Karacas, 75, arrived in the home and told investigators that she shot Orefice during an altercation.

She added that she had a “long-standing relationship” with the victim.

She was arrested and booked into the Ventura County jail on suspicion of murder, police said.

KTLA