Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor LOS ANGELES - A 22-year-old Monrovia man was charged in a two-count federal grand jury indictment, accused of coercing a two-year-old child into engaging in a sexually explicit act with him so he could record record it.
David Lisandro Prerez Figueroa was charged with production of child pornography and distribution of child pornography. Figueroa was arrested earlier in December and is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles December 28, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. A federal magistrate ordered Figueroa to be held without bond, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. A federal search warrant was executed December at Figueroa’s home where he was arrested. British authorities investigating a target in the United Kingdom obtained chat logs from the X social media platform showing child sex abuse material and notified authorities stateside. Figueroa allegedly distributed the child sex abuse material on July 22 through X in an account allegedly linked to him. “If convicted of all charges, Figueroa would face a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison and a statutory maximum sentence of 50 years in federal prison,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in a written statement. Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor REGION - One of two suspects involved in a violent Valinda home invasion robbery was arrested December 19.
Jeremy Rahmelle Dates, 29, was arrested during an Upland traffic stop by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Burglary Robbery Task Force. The home invasion occurred January 31, 2023 in the 16400 Block of Burtree Street in Valinda. Dates is accused of beating his elderly victim after entering the home. The bedroom was ransacked. The victim suffered facial and head trauma, according to the Sheriff’s Department. There was a second suspect, an unknown lookout only described as Black male. “The investigation is ongoing in order to determine if this robbery suspect is related to other home invasion robberies that have recently occurred in the Southern California Area,” according to the Sheriff’s Department in a written statement. Dates was transported to Sheriff’s Industry Station where he was booked and held in lieu $200,000 bail and is scheduled to appear at the West Covina Courthouse December 21. Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor LOS ANGELES - Surveillance footage once again helped identify the man accused of gunning down three homeless people in Los Angeles late last month.
The suspect was already in custody, accused of murdering a San Dimas man after following him home from West Covina. Jerrid Joseph Powell, 33, was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department Saturday. The three murders of homeless men occurred from November 26 to November 29. The same vehicle was seen at all three murder scenes, investigators said. Ballistics examination determined the gun seized after Powell was arrested in Beverly Hills was used in the homeless murders, according to an LAPD written statement. The first LA murder occurred around 3 a.m. November 26 in the 800 block of West 110th Street. The next murder occurred around 5 a.m. November 27 in the 800 block of East Seventh Street. The third happened around 2:30 p.m. November 29 at South Avenue 18 and South Pasadena Avenue. All victims in the LA murder were sleeping either on a public sidewalk or in an alleyway. Powell will remain in custody pending the filing of charges. Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor SAN GABRIEL - The San Gabriel Unified School District announced an assistant principal was arrested, accused of a sex crime against a minor.
Michael Guzman, 57, was arrested by officers from the Los Angeles Police Department Hollenbeck Division November 13. Guzman was charged at a November 15 arraignment with four counts of lewd acts upon a child age 14 or 15. Guzman pleaded not guilty, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. The alleged lewd acts took place 20 years ago when Guzman was a history teacher and girls basketball coach, according to the Los Angeles Times. The two victims are also suing the Los Angeles Unified School District over the alleged sexual assaults. “Upon learning the nature of the charges, the assistant principal was immediately placed on unpaid administrative leave pending the outcome of criminal the proceedings, and is barred from any District property,” according to the San Gabriel Unified School District in a written statement. There was no information suggesting the victim or victims are students are from any San Gabriel Unified schools, according to the district statement. In a “cold call” conducted by a LAPD detective months prior to the arrest, one of the victims questioned Guzman, who was put on speaker phone, why he assaulted her. Guzman allegedly apologized to her, according to the Times. Guzman was arrested at 10 a.m. and booked at 12:01 p.m. November 13. He posted bond November 16, according to Los Angeles County booking records. Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor REGION - No one was injured after an unidentified suspect chucked padlocks from a moving vehicle and struck three Los Angeles County Sheriff’s patrol vehicles while on the freeway November 1.
In all three incidents the suspect and victims occupied the HOV lanes on the 134 and 210 freeways. The suspect was eastbound and all three patrol vehicles were westbound. The first incident occurred on the 134 freeway around 2 p.m. The second incident occurred on the 210 freeway at Huntington Drive. The third incident occurred on the 210 freeway at Mountain Avenue in Monrovia: the last two incidents happened about 20 minutes after the first, according to Kari Mercer of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Transit Services Bureau. There are no witnesses so far, Mercer told SGV CityWatch. The California Highway Patrol has assumed the investigation. Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor REGION - Two suspects were recently jailed in connection with the death of a man washed up and stuffed in a barrel in Malibu and the larger of the two has a local crime connection.
Dennis Eugene Vance, 41, and Joshua Lee Simmons, 37, were arrested October 3 and charged in the death of Javonnta Marshann Murphy. Murphy’s body was found stuffed in a metal barrel that washed up at Malibu Lagoon State Beach. Murphy died of a gunshot wound to his head. Simmons was infamously caught on cellphone video after being beat back by employees of a jewelry store during an attempted robbery September 2 in El Monte. Simmons was charged with murder, personal use of a firearm and criminal threats. For the El Monte incident, he was also charged with attempted robbery, criminal threats and personal use of bear spray. Vance was charged with one count of being an accessory after the fact in Murphy’s death. Simmons is being held in lieu of nearly $3.3 million bail ahead of a scheduled appearance in Los Angeles Municipal Court November 3. Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor REGION - Multiple private schools have been evacuated and have closed the rest of the day after an email threat was sent to the schools.
Damien High School in La Verne was evacuated and will remain closed Monday, according to the La Verne Police Department. “Following further investigation, the threat appears to have come from overseas and has been deemed not credible by LVPD,” according to the La Verne Police Department. Students at St. John the Baptist School in Baldwin similarly evacuated and closed Monday around 10:20 a.m. after a threat was received, according to a parent who received an email and voicemail to pick up their child. “This morning a mass email was sent out to some Catholic and non-Catholic schools making a threat to school safety on this date. While there is no current evidence to suggest that this threat is credible, out of an abundance of caution, we decided to cancel classes for today,” according to an email sent by St. John the Baptist School. Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School in Claremont and Bishop Amat High School also canceled classes for Monday and sent students home after receiving a similar thread. Fox11 News reported that a Catholic School in Compton received a similar threat. “The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is aware of the online threats to schools in LA County. LA County Sheriff’s Stations will conduct patrol checks at local schools throughout the day. We will continue to monitor and provide future information as it becomes available,” according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor LOS ANGELES - Three men accused of any elaborate gift card scam targeting older adults and other victims were found guilty Tuesday of one count each of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Bowen Hu, a 28-year-old Hacienda Heights man, Tiaran Shi, a 29-year-old Diamond Bar man, and Blade Bai, A 35-year-old El Monte man, schemed to launder the proceeds of the scams which involved Target gift cards to supposedly resolve various financial problems, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Bai was charged with a second count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which he committed after being released after his initial arrest, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors estimate that the trio of defendants laundered $2.5 million in Target gift cards from June 2019 to November 2020. Telephone scammers overseas lied to their victims, claiming that purchasing the gift cards would fix nonexistent problems, such as arrest warrants, identity theft, tech support issues and compromised financial accounts. The victims would buy one, or sometimes more, Target gift cards typically in increments of $500 and then were instructed to read the card numbers and access codes over the phone to the scammers, according to the US Attorney’s Office. “Bai, Hu and Shi obtained more than 5,000 gift cards from a group of unknown persons in China that called itself the “Magic Lamp” and sold gift card information via the online messaging application WeChat,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in a written statement. WeChat was also used to coordinate the distribution of the gift cards to “runners” who then used the gift cards in Los Angeles and Orange counties to purchase electronics, other gift cards and more, working to conceal the fraud. Within days of his initial arrest in November 2020, Bai was back in money laundering, again using Target gift cards. “Bai offered to introduce an associate to someone who bought merchandise from him, and thereafter asked the associate to help him liquidate approximately $36,000 of Target gift cards. With Bai unwilling to be paid directly for the sale, two accomplices together arranged a deal in which they sold, to the customer, Bai’s gift cards for approximately 90 cents on the dollar,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in a written statement. He was arrested February 2022 and has remained in custody ever since. Hu and Shi were taken into custody immediately after their guilty verdicts. A fourth co-conspirator, 60-year-old Yan Fu of Chino Hills, was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering in September 2022. He has also been ordered to pay $48,073 in restitution. Bai, Hu and Shi will face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each money laundering conspiracy count. They are scheduled to be sentenced January 26, 2024. Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor REGION - Law enforcement and school authorities are extra vigilant Friday after students reported separate incidents of stalking.
A student of the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District was reportedly grabbed by a man while walking to school around 8:30 a.m. September 14. The student was able to break free and notify school and Sheriff’s deputies, according to school officials. The suspect, last seen near Hacienda Boulevard and Francisquito Avenue. He is a Latino man in his 40s, wearing a yellow shirt, blue hat and neck tattoo he drove a white van. West Covina Unified officials said a similar incident occurred in their area where a student appeared to be followed near Hollenbeck and Hollencrest. Authorities searched for, but did not locate the white van that was seen. “As this case undergoes investigation, HLPUSD school police, City of Industry deputies and the West Covina Police Department will be providing additional patrol officers in the surrounding areas,” according Alfonso Jiménez, superintendent of schools for the Hacienda La Puente School District. Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor RANCHO CUCAMONGA - A high school teacher employed in the Monrovia Unified School District was arrested Wednesday after an investigation into sexual contact with an underage female.
Chad Robert Miller, a 38-year-old Altadena resident, was arrested in Rancho Cucamonga and booked on suspicion of contact with a minor to commit a sex offense, sexual penetration of a minor and oral copulation of a minor, according to the Rancho Cucamonga Police Department. Miller allegedly met with the 16-year-old girl on social media and corresponded with her over five months. He also allegedly met the girl and engaged in several illicit sex acts with her, according to the Rancho Cucamonga Police Department. Miller is a teacher at Canyon Oaks Middle School and Mountain Park Independent Study School in Monrovia. The girl is not a Monrovia Unified student, according to Monrovia Unified authorities. “The teacher was immediately placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation and is not allowed on a school campus at this time,” according to the Monrovia Unified School District in a written statement. Investigators believe there are more victims. Anyone with information on this case is urged to call the Rancho Cucamonga Police Detective Bureau at 909-477-2893. Miller is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail in the West Valley Detention. He is scheduled to appear in Rancho Cucamonga Superior Court September 8. |
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