Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor COVINA - Investigators released images of a man accused of committing two separate sexual batteries December 2.
The batteries occurred at Walmart, 1275 N. Azusa Ave., between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. The suspect escaped the store on a bicycle and he is considered to be a public safety threat, according to the Covina Police Department. Anyone who can help identify the suspect, or who may be a victim, is urged to call the Covina Police non-emergency line at 626-331-3391. Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor COVINA - Detectives are looking for any possible additional victims of a Covina man who was originally arrested in July and accused of possessing child porn. He was later discovered to have sexually assaulted a girl.
Ramon Jeremiah Elias-Zavala was arrested twice in less than a month for the alleged crimes. A search warrant was served at Elias’ Covina home July 15 after investigators received multiple tips that he was in possession of child porn. He posted bail and was released, according to the Covina Police Department. Investigators learned afterwards that Elias was communicating with an underage female. Detectives were able to identify and speak with the girl who told them that Elias had sexually assaulted her several times, according to the Covina Police Department. Elias was arrested August 9 and booked on suspicion of rape and he remains in custody. Anyone who may have contacted Elias or who has a relative who may have contacted Elias is urged to call Covina Police Detective Manny Esquival at 626-384-5621. Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor COVINA - The Covina Police Department is asking for assistance in identifying the person or persons responsible for possibly murdering a man found dead on a service road April 11.
Although the County coroner does not yet list a cause of death for 25-year-old Daniel Diaz, Covina Police Det. Manuel Esquivel said injuries on the body were consistent with an assault. Officers were called to a report of a “man down” near 427 S. Barranca Ave. at 2:52 p.m. Diaz was found unresponsive and Los Angeles County firefighters would soon declare Diaz dead at the scene, Esquivel said. “Diaz’s appearance was disheveled. He had injuries consistent with being assaulted and it appeared he was placed on the service road,” Esquivel said in a statement. It is believed Diaz was assaulted and later died at a currently-unknown location. Diaz was transient and was known to frequent the area of Grand Avenue and the I-10 freeway in West Covina. Anyone with information that can aid the investigation is urged to call Esquivel at 626-384-5621. Provide information anonymously by calling LA Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) through the P3Tips mobile app, or lacrimestoppers.org. Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor COVINA - A 75-year-old Monrovia man was arrested Friday after he allegedly followed a Covina officer into a secured area of the station and brandished a knife.
Luis Hurtado allegedly went to the station, 444 N. Citrus Ave., and followed the officer who was driving in around 6:15 p.m., according to the Covina Police Department. “The subject confronted the initial officer in the secured area, brandished a knife in a threatening manner and made statements consistent with his desire for police to take his life,” according to the Covina Police Department in a written statement. Backup officers arrived and subdued Hurtado with less lethal rounds. No officers were injured. Hurtado was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. The case will be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for criminal filing consideration, the Covina Police Department said. Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor COVINA - A fight likely fueled by alcohol left two men with knife wounds and two other men, including the alleged knife attacker, in jail Friday.
Officers responded to Rude Dog Bar & Grill, 114 N. Citrus Ave., around 11:13 p.m. May 27 on a reported stabbing. Officers found one man who was stabbed in his lower back and a leg. Another man suffered lacerations to his hands, according to Lt. Tony Zavala of the Covina Police Department. The stabbing suspect, 27-year-old Matthew Rene Reyes, was found unconscious in the street on Citrus Avenue outside the bar after having been subdued and beaten by other revelers, including a friend of one of the stabbing victims, Zavala told SGV CityWatch. One of the stabbing victims “soccer kicked” the suspect while the suspect was on the ground, Zavala told SGV CityWatch. Officers believed a war of words, or a physical altercation led to the knife attack. Both men who suffered the knife wounds were uncooperative with officers, Zavala told SGV CityWatch. “It appeared the suspect went back to his vehicle and armed himself with a knife. It was described as a hunting knife,” Zavala told SGV CityWatch. “He returned and stabbed the victims while they were outside the bar.” A friend of the stabbing victim was applying pressure to his confidant’s wounds and became confrontational with officers. An officer was eventually punched in the face, Zavala told SGV CityWatch. The confrontational friend was subdued with a stun gun. Reyes, a Baldwin Park man, was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. He is being held in lieu of $30,000 bail ahead of a scheduled appearance in the West Covina courthouse Wednesday, June 1. The friend who allegedly assaulted the officer is 54-year-old Alfredo Garcia, from Pomona. He was booked on suspicion of resisting/delaying an officer. Court date information for Garcia was not readily available. Zavala believes intoxication played a role in the melee. COVINA – Police are searching for the armed suspect who assaulted the female employee of a business early Wednesday.
The assault occurred in the 1400 block of North Hollenbeck Avenue April 6. The suspect entered through an unlocked door, grabbed the employee by the throat and forced her to a restroom, according to the Covina Police Department. The business was described as a pet grooming business. “A coworker interrupted the assault after he heard the victim screaming and confronted the suspect. The suspect brandished a black semi-automatic handgun and fled on foot,” according to the Covina Police Department in a written statement. The suspect was described as a Black or Hispanic light-skinned man in his 30s. He stood 5 feet 9 inches tall. He wore a black hooded sweatshirt, faded blue jeans and brown shoes. Anyone with information that can identify the suspect is urged to call Covina Police Detective M. Esquivel at 626-384-5621. Reference case 22-9499. Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor POMONA - The man who admitted to killing an innocent woman, his estranged wife and attempting to shoot and kill two others will be spending decades behind bars.
Miguel Angel Prieto, who previously pleaded guilty to the above-mentioned crimes, was sentenced to 40 years to life in state prison, authorities announced recently. In a blood-thirsty hunt for his estranged wife, Prieto shot a man and woman inside a vehicle parked on an industrial side street in the 1500 block of West McKinley Avenue in Azusa February 9, 2018. Prieto apparently believed the woman to be his estranged wife, Maria Perez. The man survived his wounds, the woman did not. The woman was identified as Rocio Sandoval, 38. April 7, 2018, Prieto ventured to the restaurant of Perez’s uncle in Long Beach and shot at a woman inside the restaurant he believed to be Perez’s aunt. Prieto went to Perez’s Covina apartment April 11 and it was there that she was shot multiple times and killed, prosecutors previously said. Witnesses and neighbors were able to identify Prieto as the gunman. He was located in Long Beach hours after his estranged wife’s slaying and arrested. POLICE: Crowd Dispersed After Property is Vandalized, Officer Assaulted During Covina Protest Sunday8/3/2020 Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor COVINA - Three people were arrested after another large crowd of protestors turned up at the reported home a deputy who fatally shot a man in Gardena.
The three were accused of various crimes, ranging from trespassing, to assaulting a peace officer and lynching — the latter is a confusing use of the term, according to Lt. Ryan Davis of the Covina Police Department. “At some point there was an intoxicated person who came onto the property and pushed an officer,” Davis told SGV CityWatch. “As he was attempting to make an arrest, the crowd basically surrounded the officers and started pulling her away.” The protestor was pulled away from the officer. Eventually, an unlawful assembly was declared and the crowd was dispersed roughly after 7 p.m. with the help of officers from Azusa, Glendora, West Covina and the San Dimas Sheriff’s Station. The woman who allegedly assaulted an officer was later seen near the Covina Police Department and arrested, Davis told SGV CityWatch. One of the people who pulled the protester away from the officer during the arrest was also found and taken into custody, Davis told SGV CityWatch. That person was booked on suspicion of lynching, which the California Penal Code describes as removing someone from police custody by means of a riot, Davis told SGV CityWatch. Police originally responded to the home, which is located near San Bernardino Road and Hollenback Avenue, to keep protesters off the private property. The protests began around 4 p.m. Protesters allegedly placed Post-It notes and larger signs on the deputy’s home and walkway, Davis told SGV CityWatch. Protestors also wrote messages in chalk on a public as well as the private walkway claiming that Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy Miguel Vega is a murderer, Davis told SGV CityWatch. One other person was arrested on suspicion of trespassing and for not providing his name to an officer. Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor COVINA - A man caught on camera assaulting a woman in a coin laundromat was arrested this week and was booked on suspicion of indecent exposure and battery, police said.
Jose Luis Ibarra, 23, was taken into custody by Covina officers after he was arrested by Azusa Police July 6. Community members also helped to identify Ibarra, according to the Covina Police Department. Ibarra was arrested in Azusa the same day he was accused of masturbating inside Coin Laundry, 314 N. Azusa Ave. Ibarra allegedly ejaculated on a 20-year-old woman’s leg and clothing at the laundromat. Azusa officers jailed Ibarra after he was accused by another woman of following her in the 900 block of East Galatea Avenue. He allegedly exposing himself and masturbated, Azusa Police said. In addition to the assault at Coin Laundry, Ibarra is suspected of indecent exposure at Walmart, 1275 N. Azusa Ave., Covina Police said. Police seek additional victims. Anyone with information on Ibarra is urged to call Covina Police Detective Ramirez at 626-384-5621.
Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor
COVINA – The man seen in a video instigating a fight with complete strangers and attempting to gun down his victim was taken into custody July 6.
Vincent Ortega, a 31-year-old El Monte resident, was taken into custody, but not before he fled from a traffic stop in the 500 block of South Citrus Avenue while carrying a backpack containing a loaded handgun, ammunition, stolen credit cards, IDs and drugs, Covina Police said. Ortega was identified by investigators as the gunman in the March 23, 2020 shooting that occurred in the 1900 block of East Cienega Avenue. A fight broke out between two men when an SUV approached.
An occupant of the SUV exited and forcefully took the necklace of an onlooker to the fight. The onlooker and fighting men turned their attention on the robbery suspect and began fighting him.
The robbery suspect, later identified as Ortega, retrieved a handgun while fleeing to the SUV and fired twice, hitting one of the three other men in an arm. The shooting victim smashed out the rear window to the SUV seconds before it was driven away at high speed. The shooting victim was hospitalized and later released. Ortega was the passenger in the July 6 traffic stop. After fleeing the vehicle, Ortega ran into an occupied home in the 200 block of West Casad Street. Ortega was taken into custody shortly after fleeing and no one inside the home was harmed, Covina Police said. Ortega was also arrested by Claremont Police in June on suspicion of grand theft auto, possession of a handgun and ammunition, but Ortega bailed out and failed to show at his court hearing. A warrant was issued for his arrest, Covina Police said. Ortega was booked on suspicion of burglary, being a felon in possession of a handgun and ammunition, identity theft, resisting arrest, drug offenses and attempted homicide, Covina Police said. Ortega is scheduled for a court appearance Wednesday, July 8. |
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