 Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor REGION - San Bernardino County Sheriff’s detectives took three people into custody in the San Gabriel Valley May 30, accusing them of being involved in a home invasion robbery and assault in Bloomington. Two simultaneous search warrants were executed, resulting in the arrest of suspects Marcos Guerrero and Cynthia Leal at an apartment complex in Glendora. One other suspect, Elijah Gafare, was arrested in West Covina, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. Two residents in the 18000 block of Valley Boulevard in Bloomington were awaken at 3 a.m. at gunpoint by three suspects March 12. A man was pistol-whipped, while a woman was allegedly held against her will, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. The three suspects made off with about $12,500, the video surveillance hard drive and the victims’ vehicle. The male victim was able to call for help. The search warrants were served around 11:45 a.m. May 30. Guerrero, a 48-year-old Glendora resident, and Leal, a 38-year-old Ontario resident, were arrested in the 1000 block of East Foothill Boulevard in Glendora. Gafare, a 35-year-old West Covina resident, was arrested in the 700 block of South Manzanita Drive in West Covina. All three suspects were transported to and booked at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga. ********** The arrest record in this article is being redistributed by SGV CityWatch and is protected by constitutional, publishing and other legal rights. Arrest information is public record and was distributed by government sources. The person named in this article has only been arrested on suspicion of the crime(s) listed and is presumed innocent.  Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor REGION - A man described as a career criminal with a violent past was slapped with a slew of charges Wednesday in the shooting of a uniformed deputy.
Raymundo Duran, 47, was charged with one count of attempted murder on a peace officer. He also was charged with one count of using a semiautomatic weapon to assault a peace officer and being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Statements made by Duran during interrogation, combined with surveillance video at the crime scene, witness accounts and the gun seized from his vehicle lead investigators to strongly believe he is the suspect in Monday’s shooting. Duran was detained and eventually arrested by California Highway Patrol officers who booked him on suspicion of DUI and weapons possession. He was found parked at an undisclosed location by CHP officers from the San Onofre inspection facility. A firearm was recovered from the 2008 silver four-door Toyota Camry Duran was seated in. Duran did two stints in prison: in 2019 and 2022. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna also described his as a current gang member. Investigators do not believe that there are additional suspects involved in the shooting of Deputy Samuel Aispuro, a nearly 20-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The case is being filed for warrant as Duran remains in the custody of San Diego authorities, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. The DA will recommend that Duran be held without bail. If convicted as charged, he faces life in prison.  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 REGION - Two 500 kilovolt transmission lines in the Walnut area malfunctioned, causing 159,239 customers to lose power in the San Gabriel Valley early Sunday, a Southern California Edison spokesman said.
Some customers in Walnut, Covina, West Covina, La Puente, Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights, El Monte, the Whittier Narows area, Irwindale and Baldwin Park were affected by the outage that began at 6:47 a.m., according to Reggie Kumar, Southern California Edison spokesman. Customers in Carson were affected as well. Power was fully restored with the help of generators at 7:36 a.m., Kumar told SGV CityWatch. “Those transmission lines actually feed all the way to Bakersfield, so it was a very large loss,” Kumar told SGV CityWatch. The transmission lines are located in the City of Walnut. The cause is under investigation and repair work continues, Kumar told SGV CityWatch.  (Left) One of the suspects involved in the kidnapping. (Center) Rouchen Liao. (Right) One of the vehicles involved in the kidnapping. IMAGES courtesy of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor REGION – Federal investigators announced the arrest of a Pasadena man and a recent Azusa resident for their alleged involvement in a ransom plot that ended with the victim being buried in the desert after being beaten to death.
Pasadena man Anthony Valladares, 28, and Alexis Ivan Romero Velez, 24, a recent Azusa resident, were arrested July 14 with the execution of search warrants by the FBI and the San Gabriel Valley Safe Streets Task Force, the US Attorney’s Office said. Prosecutors allege Valladares was the hired muscle used to subdue, intimidate and beat Rouchen “Tony” Liao, 29. Velez was the driver, according to an affidavit. “According to the affidavit, Valladares admitted that he was hired to assist in the kidnapping, agreed to accept $1,000 for the job, and restrained Liao during the kidnapping. Romero admitted, according to the affidavit, that he was recruited by Valladares and was the driver during the kidnapping,” according to the Department of Justice in a written statement. Valladares and Velez allegedly worked with two Chinese nationals who fled the country after the killing. Guangyao Yang, 26, and Peicheng Shen, 34, were charged with kidnapping, conspiracy to kidnap, attempted extortion in violation of the Hobbs Act and threat by foreign communication, investigators said. Yang and Shen, who last lived in West Covina before they fled, were captured and are being held by Chinese authorities. Liao, a Santa Ana resident, was kidnapped July 16, 2018 in San Gabriel by three men and forced into a dark-colored Toyota Sienna minivan, which was followed by two suspects in a Range Rover SUV. The kidnapping occurred around 7:30 p.m. at San Gabriel Square, 140 W. Valley Blvd. Liao was possibly coaxed to the area on the premise of conducted a business deal, the FBI said. After Liao was kidnapped and taken to a Corona home, demands were made to deposit $2 million within three hours to several Chinese accounts. Liao’s father also received “proof-of-life” photos of his son physically retained in a closet: his arms bound behind him, his legs bound together and his eyes taped shut, investigators said. No more demands were made and nothing was ever heard from the captors again. Investigators believe Liao died July 17, 2018. The Following day, Yang and Shen allegedly drove to the Mojave Desert to dispose of Liao’s body. An internet search connected to Yang revealed efforts to learn how fast a body decomposes in soil. Shen apparently had the closet where Liao was held re-carpeted, investigators said. Liao’s remains were discovered by a hiker June 12, 2019 near Mojave in the area of Cache Creek Road and Highway 58. The manner of death is undetermined. Liao’s remains were identified by the Kern County Sheriff’s Office - Coroner Section. The kidnapping charge carries a statutory maximum penalty of life in federal prison.  Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor REGION - Two men charged with capital murder in the stabbing death of a West Covina man pleaded not guilty Thursday. La Verne man Elijah Thomas Rouse, 18, and 37-year-old Shaun Cardarelli, of San Gabriel, are of accused of killing John Aguila during the commission of a robbery. The murder charge includes that both men used a knife during the commission of a crime, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Both suspects are also accused of conspiracy to commit arson. Whether or not to seek the death penalty will be determined at a later date, the district attorney’s office said.
Prosecutors accuse the suspects of killing Aguila in his West Covina apartment in late August 2019. Aguila was wrapped in a blanket along with cellophane, his body bound with duct tape. The suspects used his 2017 Honda Civic to take his body to San Bernardino county where it was dumped off a road in Upland, doused in gasoline and set on fire. A third man Davone Anthony Smith, 26, Also faces a conspiracy charge to commit arson, and a felony count of being an accessory after the fact.  Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor REGION - Several people in a reported stolen Toyota were taken into custody Tuesday after recklessly leading authorities across several cities, a Sheriff’s sergeant said. The pursuit was initiated by authorities with a multi-jurisdictional auto theft task force in the West Covina area September 17. The pursuit went as far south as the Pico Rivera border from the 605 freeway before deputies cancelled the chase due to unsafe speeds, according to Lt. Verlich of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Pico Rivera Station. Pico Rivera deputies first joined the pursuit at 3:35 p.m. It was unclear if the stolen vehicle investigation was conducted by the Taskforce for Regional Autotheft Prevention (TRAP). The driver, still followed by unmarked task force personnel, journeyed back north to the El Monte and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Temple Station jurisdiction before heading south on the 605 freeway again. The pursuit was witnessed by a SGV CityWatch reader as El Monte Police followed the stolen vehicle with the assistance of a helicopter.
El Monte officers were notified by the helicopter pilot at 3:43 p.m. and picked up the pursuit at Valley Boulevard and the 605 freeway after deputies decided to cancel the chase, according to Lt. Michael Buckhannon of the El Monte Police Department. Due to the driver’s reckless nature, El Monte officers ended the chase somewhere in the City of Industry at 3:57 p.m., Buckhannon said. It is unclear how many of the suspects were booked on charges and if the suspects were detained without further incident.  Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor LOS ANGELES - The suspects accused of killing a man reported missing by family in late August were formally charged, the County DA recently announced. La Verne man Elijah Thomas Rouse, 18, and Shaun Cardarelli, 37, from San Gabriel, were charged with one count of murder with the special circumstance allegation of killing during the commission of a robbery and an allegation that they used a knife as a deadly and dangerous weapon, according to Ricardo Santiago of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Evidence collected during a search warrant served in La Verne August 27 led investigators to believe the disappearance of 28-year-old John Aguila is connected to a burning body found in Upland Friday. San Bernardino County Firefighters responded to the San Antonio Heights area for a small brush fire near North Mountain Avenue and Euclid Avenue August 23 around 3:30 a.m. The body was located while flames were being extinguished.
The burned body has yet to be positively identified, however. Aguila, from West Covina, was last seen and heard from August 22 around 4:30 p.m. His abandoned car was found in San Dimas August 23 — bloodied gloves and clothing found within. Rouse and Cardarelli both face life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted as charged. They also face the death penalty. A decision on whether to seek capital punishment will be made at a later date, Santiago said.  Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor LOS ANGELES - Homicide detectives located and arrested a 17-year-old boy days after he allegedly shot three people at a West Covina house party, fatally wounding one. The suspect, who remains unnamed due to his age, was found at an undisclosed hospital June 6 after being injured in a possibly-separate shooting, according to Detective Jason Marks of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau. The suspect in a red hat seen in a low-quality photo taken from surveillance video is the gunman, Marks said. Numerous tips led to the suspect’s identification. The teen is accused of shooting and killing 18-year-old Dennis Bracamonte of La Mirada at a party May 31. Two others were wounded. The gunman was charged by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office with one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of assault with a deadly weapon, Marks said.
The shooting took place around 10:30 p.m. A fight erupted prior to the arrival of police. Officers found three victims in a rear yard. Bracamonte was declared dead at the scene. Two male juveniles received gunshot wounds to their legs, the Sheriff’s Information Bureau said. A female juvenile wound up at a nearby hospital with non life-threatening injuries. The second suspect seen wearing a black Raiders hat remains outstanding. Anyone with information on the remaining suspect is urged to call Homicide detectives at 323-890-5500. Information can be provided anonymously by calling L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).  Timothy Cortinas died in a hot vehicle in West Covina in August of 2018. Courtesy photo. Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed charges against a man accused in the death of a dependent adult in 2018. Emanuel Arellano, 25, surrendered to deputies at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s San Dimas Station Thursday at 7:30 a.m. Six days prior, the county DA filed charges of involuntary manslaughter and dependent care abuse in the death of 51-year-old Timothy Cortinas. Cortinas was left inside Arrellano’s hot vehicle August 3, 2018 in the 300 block of South Frankfurt Avenue in West Covina. Cortinas, a Walnut resident, was an intellectually-disabled adult being transported with two other passengers. The latter two were dropped off at their locations. Cortinas was somehow forgotten and left to suffer sweltering temperatures in the August sun at Arellano's home.
It was at least two hours before Cortinas was found unresponsive in Arellano’s vehicle. He died at the scene. Last year, Irene Melendez, mother of Cortinas, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Easter Seals (the organization the driver worked for), Holy Family Children’s Care and the San Gabriel/Pomona Regional Center. Arellano posted bond and was released Thursday at 2:21 p.m. He was scheduled for a June 7 court appearance, according to Los Angeles County booking records. Email Newsletter! | Advertise! | Donate! |
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