Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor
REGION - A heads up for drivers in the East San Gabriel Valley area as loads of cyclists will speed through for the Amgen Tour of California Friday.
The Tour will be coming through the cities of Azusa, Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne, Claremont and through the San Gabriel Mountains. The race is split into men’s and women’s brackets. Women’s Stage 2: 9:45 a.m. start time ONTARIO - Begins at Citizen’s Business Bank Arena -North on North Haven Avenue -West on Arrow Route UPLAND -North on Euclid Avenue UPLAND/CLAREMONT -West on East 16th Street/ Baseline Road LA VERNE/SAN DIMAS -West on Foothill Boulevard GLENDORA -North on Amelia Avenue -West on Foothill Boulevard GLENDORA/MOUNTAINS -North on Glendora Mountain Road -North on Glendora Ridge Road -North on Mt. Baldy Road -Finish at Mt. Baldy Resort: 12:09 a.m. (estimated)
Men’s Stage 6: 11:50 a.m. start time
ONTARIO - Begins at Citizen’s Business Bank Arena -North on North Haven Avenue -West on Arrow Route UPLAND/SAN ANTONIO HEIGHTS -North on Euclid Avenue UPLAND/CLAREMONT -North on North Mountain Avenue/Mt. Baldy Road MOUNTAINS -South on Glendora Ridge Road -North on Glendora Mountain Road -South on East Fork Road MOUNTAINS/AZUSA -South on San Gabriel Canyon Road AZUSA/GLENDORA -East on Sierra Madre Avenue GLENDORA/MOUNTAINS -North on Glendora Mountain Road MOUNTAINS -North on Glendora Ridge Road Mt. BALDY -North on Mt. Baldy Road -End at Mt. Baldy Resort: 3:40 p.m. (estimated) The entire race will conclude in Pasadena. The Amgen Tour of California is an annual, professional Tour de France-style cycling event that challenges the world’s top cycling teams along hundreds of miles of iconic California highways, byways and coastlines. Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor REGION - The Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority will be performing signal testing along the freight line in Azusa, Glendora and San Dimas April 28, officials said. The construction authority plans to run either a Metrolink or Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight engine six times through the cities from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the following crossings:
The signal testing is being done as part of the Gold Line Foothill Extension work from Azusa to Montclair. The Construction Authority has moved overhead signal communication equipment for the freight line and has installed it underground.
The engine will run at 40 miles per hour through each crossing to test signal and gate activation. Railroad workers known as flaggers will be stationed at each crossing, the Construction Authority said. Six successful runs will complete the testing, the Construction Authority said. Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor LOS ANGELES - A 28-year-old Los Angeles man killed in a rollover crash on the 210 freeway in Glendora Friday was identified. Bryan Trujillo was identified by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner. The official cause of death was not listed, but the California Highway Patrol listed in a press release that he suffered blunt force trauma. The crash occurred on the westbound 210 freeway west of Grand Avenue around 3:50 p.m. April 12. The driver of a 1999 silver Isuzu SUV was driving at high speed in and out of multiple lanes. The driver was in the HOV lane when he steered across the No 1 lane, into the No,. 2 lane and went partially into the No. 3 lane, the California Highway Patrol said.
The driver steered to the left to avoid crashing into a vehicle in the No. 3 lane. The driver rolled the SUV several times. He suffered major trauma and died at the scene, the CHP said. Alcohol is not believed to be a factor in the crash. Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor LOS ANGELES - Federal authorities announced Tuesday the arrest of 24 people indicted in a massive health care fraud scheme involving telemedicine and durable medical equipment marketing executives. The FBI and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General investigated the scheme, which involved the payment of illegal kickbacks and bribes by durable medical equipment companies in exchange for the referral of Medicare beneficiaries by medical professionals working with fraudulent telemedicine companies for back, shoulder, wrist and knee braces that are medically unnecessary, according to the Department of Justice, which is prosecuting the case. Glendora men Najib Jabbour, 47, and Darin Flashberg, 41, were both arrested Tuesday morning by FBI agents. Jabbour and Flashberg own seven durable medical equipment companies and have been indicted for alleged participation in a $34 million scheme related to their payment of kickbacks and bribes in exchange for medically unnecessary orders, the Justice Department said. Flashberg has an office in San Dimas: Flash Medical, which operates across a business complex driveway from Jabbour’s EZ Fit Medical Group, Inc. More than 80 search warrants were served in 17 federal districts. Administrative action was taken against 130 durable medical equipment companies, which submitted more than $1.7 billion in insurance claims and received more than $900 million, the Department of Justice said.
“Some of the defendants allegedly controlled an international telemarketing network that lured over hundreds of thousands of elderly and/or disabled patients into a criminal scheme that crossed borders, involving call centers in the Philippines and throughout Latin America,” the Department of Justice said. Doctors were allegedly paid to prescribe the medical equipment based on nothing more than a brief phone conversation with patients they never met, or without any patient interaction at all. The money was then laundered through international shell corporations and was then used to purchase yachts, exotic automobiles and luxury real estate in the U.S. and abroad, the Department of Justice said. An international call center was used to advertise to Medicare beneficiaries to garner patients who were “up-sold” to coerce them into accepting numerous “free or low-cost” durable medical equipment braces, despite a lack of necessity, the Justice Department said. The international call center paid illegal kickbacks and bribes to telemedicine companies to obtain the orders. The equipment was then sold to the durable medical equipment companies and Medicare was fraudulently billed, the Department of Justice said. Doctors or medical professionals who may have been involved with alleged fraudulent telemedicine and DME marketing schemes – including Video Doctor USA, AffordADoc, Web Doctors Plus, Integrated Support Plus and First Care MD – should call to report this conduct to the FBI hotline at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor
HUNTINGTON BEACH - A Glendora man and Covina man were arrested Tuesday after an altercation led to the stabbing of a woman.
23-year-old Brandon Lebrun of Glendora and 19-year-old Dominic Piraino of Covina were taken into custody near the scene of the stabbing April 2. Witness accounts and suspect descriptions led to the finding and arrest of the suspects, Huntington Beach Police said. The stabbing occurred around 10:30 p.m. in the Downtown Huntington Beach area. A brief video recording posted by a witness to social media shows a woman arguing with the suspects as they sat in a silver four-door car. The woman kicked the front passenger door.
VIDEO/Lio Talavou.
The men yelled at the woman and she went back for an additional confrontation when the passenger stabbed her. A struggle for the knife ensued and the woman walked away, clutching the knife jammed in her abdomen.
The woman was treated for a non-life-threatening injury, Huntington Beach Police said. “Several witnesses called into our dispatch center and provided numerous license plates. Officers began to check different combinations of the differing license plates provided by witnesses and found a match to the reported suspect vehicle,” Huntington Beach Police said. “Utilizing several police resources along with great communication between officers and dispatchers, they were able to locate the suspect vehicle in a nearby location,”Huntington Beach Police said. Both Lebrun and Piraino were booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. Piraino was additionally booked on suspicion of attempted murder. Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor LOS ANGELES – The 30-year-old man accused of threatening to unleash gunfire at Citrus College was officially charged Thursday. Terrell Lee Bennet faces one felony count each of making criminal threats and unlawful possession of ammunition, according to Venusse Navid of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Bennett pleaded not guilty in West Covina Superior Court. Bennett faces a maximum of 10 years and four months in state prison if convicted as charged, Navid said. Bennett, initially identified as a Chino resident, was identified by the County DA’s office as living in Pomona.
Bennett called Glendora Police at 11:17 a.m. January 15 and threatened to shoot up the school. Within 11 minutes, police had the campus and surrounding streets locked down. Mutual aid from numerous surrounding agencies arrived soon after to assist, Glendora Police said. Nearby Azusa Pacific University was also placed on lockdown during the search. Bennett is enrolled in online courses at Citrus College and was scheduled to appear for an in-person class the day he made the threats, Glendora Police said. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Arson/Explosives Detail was summoned to the scene just before 11:40 a.m. after Bennett’s car was located. The silver four-door car was parked in the S1 parking lot, which rests in the corner of Citrus Avenue and Foothill Boulevard. While not stated by Glendora Police, a bomb-sniffing dog preliminarily detected a scent of explosives on the car, according to police radio traffic. However, Arson/Explosives technicians found no bombs inside the car, Glendora Police said. Officers began a room-to-room search of each building at 12:38 p.m. About three hours later, Bennett surrendered peacefully on the Citrus College campus at 3:42 p.m. -- nearly five hours after making the threats, according to the Glendora Police Department. Bennett made statements after being arrested alluding to a desire to die by officer gunfire, police said. Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor LOS ANGELES - Months after being discovered in the Azusa foothills, a deceased man was publicly identified.
Lydell Purvis, 36, was identified by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner. Purvis’ cause of death, as well as the coroner case status, has been deferred pending additional investigation. Purvis’ body was found around 9 p.m. August 6 and may have been on the mountainside for a couple days, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s radio traffic. Los Angeles County firefighters and U.S. Forest Service firefighters were initially dispatched to Glendora Ridge Motorway and Glendora Mountain Road at 8:11 p.m. for a medical call. The location of the body was possibly along the Glendora Ridge Motorway north of the Azusa “A”, according to Sheriff’s radio traffic. Glendora Ridge Motorway is a dirt trail running along the top of the mountains and connects Azusa Peak to Glendora Peak. Written by AARON CASTREJON | CityWatch Editor LOS ANGELES - A Covina man accused of four separate incidents of peering into women’s stalls at Citrus College was officially charged Wednesday.
Phillip Joseph Osuna III, 25, was charged with four misdemeanor counts of unauthorized invasion of privacy, peeking, according to Ricardo Santiago of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Osuna is accused of four incidents taking place in women’s restrooms at Citrus College from August 30 to September 20. If convicted as charged, Osuna faces a maximum possible sentence of two years in jail, Santiago said. Written by AARON CASTREJON | CityWatch Editor MOUNTAINS - Firefighters from multiple agencies continue their work on the Fork Fire, burning in the San Gabriel Mountains north of Azusa and Glendora.
The fire has charred 166 acres with zero percent containment, although the work put forth by firefighters has stopped the forward progress of the flames, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The fire, which was reported just before Noon September 9, forced hundreds of campers to evacuate the Off-Highway Vehicle Area and campgrounds near the fire at East Fork Road and San Gabriel Canyon Road (Highway 39), according to the U.S. Forest Service. One firefighter received a leg injury caused by a falling rock, according to Nathan Judy of the U.S. Forest Service. The U.S. Forest Service was assisted by Los Angeles County Firefighters, CAL FIRE, the Orange County Authority, Santa Barbara County firefighters, the California Highway Patrol, Cal Trans, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies and Southern California Edison in coordinating the evacuation response and fire fight. Power lines were compromised in the area have been restored. San Gabriel Canyon Road two miles north of Sierra Madre Boulevard remains closed. The fire’s cause is under investigation. Written by AARON CASTREJON | CityWatch Editor MOUNTAINS - A fire burning in the San Gabriel Mountains north of Azusa and Glendora is holding at about 60 to 70 acres, the U.S. Forest Service announced.
The Fork Fire is burning northwest along Highway 39 near East Fork Road. There is no containment on the fire, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Campers and recreational vehicles are being evacuated from nearby campsites, as well as the Off-Highway Vehicle area, the U.S. Forest Service said. Many evacuees are being directed northbound along Highway 39 to Angeles Crest Highway with the assistance of Sheriff’s search and rescue teams from San Dimas Mountain Rescue, Sierra Madre Search and Rescue Team and Montrose Search and Rescue Teams. Nortbound and southbound traffic on Highway 39 is closed at East Fork Road, as well as traffic on East Fork Road, Glendora Ridge Road and northbound traffic on Glendora Mountain Road. Southbound traffic on Glendora Mountain Road is open for evacuees to exit, according to the California Highway Patrol. |
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