Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor

PICO RIVERA - Ground crews and aircraft kept a stubborn brush fire from growing beyond 52 acres Friday.

Los Angeles County firefighters and Montebello firefighters worked to contain the blaze that burned near Rosemead Boulevard and Gallatin Road. The Rosemead Fire was reported just after 1 p.m. September 24, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

When firefighters arrived on scene, they immediately reported that an estimated three acres had already burned inside the Whittier Narrows wash.

Both fire agencies initiated first alarm responses, but eventually a second alarm was requested to the scene. A number of helicopters responded to fight from the air, along with the Super Scoopers leased out of Canada. The Super Scoopers arrived after briefly battling a small brush fire in Glendora.

At 6 p.m., the Los Angeles County Fire Department officially announced that forward progress of the fire had been stopped.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor

LOS ANGELES - A man admitted Friday to supplying drugs that ultimately killed a woman who ingested them.

Edwin Oliva, 30, pleaded guilty to one count of distributing Fentanyl resulting in death and one count of possession with intent to distribute heroin, according to the US Attorney’s Office.

Oliva admitted in a plea agreement to providing several lines of a drug for his victim to snort and he neglected to tell her that the drug was Fentany, which he was aware of.

“Oliva did not call 911 or otherwise seek medical care for the victim until nearly six hours after texting a friend that the victim was not breathing,” the US District Attorney’s Office.

In that nearly six hours, Oliva cleaned his apartment by removing the fentanyl and other drug trafficking evidence, which was put in the trunk of his significant other’s car and driven away from the apartment in attempt to hide it, the US District Attorney’s Office.

After serving a search warrant, Montebello officers on the car and located 1.9 kilograms of heroin, 21 grams of fentanyl, 1.4 kilograms of marijuana, 0.4 grams of methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, a loaded .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol, a blue flip phone he used to conduct drug transactions and a notebook he used as a pay/owe ledger, the US District Attorney’s Office said.

Oliva has been in federal custody since March 2019. After being taken into custody that month, Oliva ordered his significant other to destroy evidence and to tell authorities that the blue flip phone was a toy for their children.

Oliva is scheduled to be sentenced January 7, 2022 and faces a statutory maximum of life in prison. The fentanyl distribution charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. The heroin possession charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison, according to the US Attorney’s Office.

Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor

UPDATE, 9:12 a.m.: Authorities are investigating a possible human aspect to this fire on East Fork Road. A suspect has been detained on an unspecified trail in the area near the fire. the CHP and county deputies are en route to the detained suspect.

UPDATE, 9:07 a.m.: Forward progress on the fire has been stopped at four acres. Aircraft have helped tremendously in keeping the flames from spreading, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

MOUNTAINS - The Los Angeles County Fire Department and U.S. Forest Service firefighters are responding to a brush fire along East Fork Road near Glendora Mountain Road above San Dimas.

A technician with the US Forest Service reports three to five acres running  slowly uphill.

The fire was reported around 7:51 a.m.

Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor

REGION - Beginning this afternoon, continuing work on the L Line Foothill Extension will sporadically impact traffic, authorities said.

A rail delivery train will deliver 1600-foot segments of rail sticks at various points along the L Line route from Glendora to Pomona, according to the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority.

The deliveries are expected to take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and are scheduled to last through Saturday, August 28.

At-grade crossings will be affected multiple times. Crossing gates will be functional and may impact traffic for up to five minutes at a time while rail sticks are off-loaded, the construction authority said.

In August, the construction authority announced the$1.5 billion, 9.1-mile project to Pomona was 36 percent complete. Construction on this segment from Glendora to Pomona began July 2020.

LOS ANGELES – Coroner investigators are still working to identify the remains of a person found in the San Gabriel Mountains August 14.

The partially decomposed body was found Saturday August 14 along Glendora Mountain Road at mile marker 1 about 15 feet off the roadway, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department radio traffic.

The body has been given the temporary identification of Doe #14, according to Sarah Ardalani, public information officer with the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner.

The circumstances surrounding the discovery, as well as any possible criminal doings that may have led to the death are not publicly known. The Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau has not returned a request for information on the investigation.

Deputies and mountain rescue personnel worked over the weekend to recover the body.

Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor

MOUNTAINS - A 62-year-old bicyclist died along Angeles Crest Highway above La Cañada Flintridge Saturday morning, the California Highway Patrol said.

Initially, officers believed that the bicyclist along the northbound lanes of Angeles Crest Highway at mile marker 27.55 died from some medical emergency, according to California Highway Patrol traffic logs.

Officers responded to the scene around 8:19 a.m. July 17. They requested that all northbound lanes be shut down while firefighters performed CPR to revive the bicyclist, but he died at the scene, according to CHP traffic logs.

The bicyclist was identified as Steve Gerdes, a Glendale resident, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner.

Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor

EAST LOS ANGELES - A known gang member who reportedly frequents the West Covina area is being sought for an April 18 shooting in East Los Angeles the left three people wounded, investigators said.

Investigators are searching for Edward Figueroa, who is a member of the Harpys 13 gang. An argument inside a bar located in the 5200 block of Pomona Boulevard in East Los Angeles led to Figueroa reportedly revealing a handgun and opening fire, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Figueroa is known to carry a weapon and should be considered armed and dangerous.

Anyone with information on Figueroa’s whereabouts is urged to call the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Operation Safe Streets bureau at 323-264-4151. Information can be provided 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

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will formally announce The arrest of the suspect accused of robbing and assaulting a rideshare driver in South El Monte.

Deputies will announce the arrest and provide the name of the suspect and a press conference scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday, May 20 at the Sheriff’s Temple Station, 8838 E. Las Tunas Dr., in Temple City.

The brutal assault and armed robbery of a rideshare driver in South El Monte May 10 was caught on the driver’s dash camera and shared far and wide.

The assault and robbery occurred near Rosemead Boulevard and Rush Street around 9:20 p.m. The driver, an older Asian man, was left multiple facial trauma, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor

LOS ANGELES - Investigators are searching for a woman missing since November 2018.

Lindsey Kathleen Sprague, 36, was last seen in San Bernardino County. She was identified as a San Dimas resident, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Information Bureau.

Sprague stands 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighs 160 pounds, has blond or brown hair and hazel eyes. She also has a tattoo of a shooting star on her right shoulder blade and a tattoo of the Roman numeral 12 on her left forearm.

Anyone with the information on the whereabouts of Sprague is urged to call the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Missing Persons Unit at 323-890-5500. Information can be provided 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

LOS ANGELES – A San Marino man who was recorded while accelerating towards a crowd of protestors in Old Town Pasadena May 31 last year pleaded guilty to 11 felony weapons charges, prosecutors said Thursday.

Benjamin Jong Ren Hung, 28, entered into a plea agreement filed April 29 and pleaded guilty to conspiracy, transporting and receiving firearms across state lines, making false statements during purchases of firearms, possession of unregistered firearms and illegally transporting firearms across state lines to California, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Hung admitted to making false statements to gun dealers in the state of Washington when purchasing four rifles and a shotgun in March 2020, falsely claiming he was a Washington resident.

“The firearms dealers were not legally permitted to sell firearms to California residents,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Hung also admitted to taking part in a multi-year conspiracy in making false statements to arms dealers in Oregon to illegally transport weapons to California. He paid a co-conspirator to purchase handguns for him and had the co-conspirator claim he was Hung. The weapons were then delivered by the co-conspirator to Hung.

This elaborate scheme was concocted to elude California’s strict gun laws, Hung stated in the plea agreement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Hung also admitted to illegally possessing three unregistered short-barreled semiautomatic rifles, which were seized from his Lodi home in September 2020, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

In his plea agreement, Hung admitted to taking a Glock 26 9mm handgun to a George Floyd protest May 31, 2020, where he used his customized Dodge pickup truck to antagonize protesters. Hung accelerated towards the intersection, sounded the truck’s train horn he had installed, briefly stopped, then continued through the intersection, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

As Hung fled, his truck left a large cloud of exhaust, an act sometimes referred to as “coal rolling,”

Hung was found and arrested by Pasadena Police.

A date for Hung to appear in court to formally enter the guilty pleas has not yet been set. This matter was investigated by the FBI’s Los Angeles Joint Terrorism Task Force, FBI civil rights squads and the Pasadena Police Department, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.