• Man shot and killed in Inglewood -The fatally shot by Inglewood police Tuesday night has been identified at Ruben Walton Ortega, a 23 year-old from Inglewood.  He was shot and killed in an alley behind the 11100 block of Crenshaw Blvd. at about 6:20 p.m. Police said Ortega was a documented gang member of the Inglewood Family. Two officers with a uniformed gang task force received a call that men were loitering, when they arrived two men, one identified as Ortega, ran south into an alley while discarding cash and drugs. Ortega confronted an officer, refused to show his hands and kept his left hand concealed in his waistband. The officer, believing Ortega was armed, shot him.
• Mummified body found in home - The coroner’s office is asking for the public’s help in identifying a man whose mummified body was discovered in an abandoned house in Beverly Hills last week. The body was found by some kids skateboarding past that noticed a foul smell. Coroner’s detectives do not believe foul play was involved. They estimate the man was dead for roughly a year. The body was curled in a fetal position and appeared mummified. Based on an assortment of old bags and an old bicycle near the body, officers determined that the deceased was a homeless white man in his 40s or 50s.The cause of his death has not been determined.

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• Mother and daughter use beer to ward off sex offender - Linda Dodson, 45, and her 77-year old mother were able to save themselves with beer. A convicted sex offender broke into the house, attacked Linda in her bed “He had his big hands … on my throat, my mouth and my nose and I’m flopping and I’m thinking oh my God, I’m being murdered right now and I don’t know why.” The mother tried to help but was thrown to the floor. The mother smelled alcohol on his breath and offered him some beer, he said yes. While drinking the daughter said she was going to use the bathroom but instead called the cops. Louie Herrera, a convicted child molester from Norwalk, was arrested. The women were not badly hurt.
• Man in Reseda kidnapped and help for ransom- Seven men and a woman, whose names have not been released, were in custody Wednesday for allegedly kidnapping a man and holding him for ransom in a Reseda home.  During the raid, police located the victim in the home’s cluttered garage, as the captors threated to kill him. The 24-year-old Latino had one eye swollen shut and cuts and bruises covering his face, but was listed in stable condition at a hospital.  “We got a phone call that said ‘Enough’s enough, we’re gonna kill the guy,’” Gannon told the Daily News. “They threatened to cut his fingers off at one point to show they weren’t fooling around.”  Gannon said investigators did not know why the victim was targeted, but that detectives were working through the night to figure out the motive.

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• Two men charged in Nasa quadruple killing spree - 39-year-old Jae Hwan Shim and 27-year-old Steve Kwon have been charged with murdering a NASA engineer and three others at an Antelope Valley home. LA County prosecutors filed charges Tuesday against the two men who were arrested Saturday in Arizona near the Mexican border. The district attorney’s office alleges Shim threatened to kill his ex-wife. The bodies of the woman, her two children and her cousin’s husband, the NASA engineer, were found in a burned Quartz Hill home on June 23.
• Truck accident sparks brush fire - A truck accident sparked a brush fire on the northbound 14 Freeway Tuesday. All but one lane of traffic was closed. The fire started on one of the vehicle’s rear tires and sent thick plumes of black smoke into the air. The flames engulfed the truck and spread briefly to nearby brush. Fire crews prevented the fire from spreading. There were no reports of any injuries.

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• Three killed in Winchester hit and run - Authorities are looking for the driver of a pick-up truck suspected in a hit-and-run collision Sunday that killed Andres Sanagustin, 48, his wife, Maribeth, 36, and their 4-year-old son, Angelo. The family was heading north on Warren Rd when their 1999 Chevrolet Malibu was struck head-on by a pick-up truck shortly after 8 p.m.. The driver of the 2007 GMC 2500 truck had crossed over the double yellow lines and struck the car. Sanagustin and his wife were pronounced dead at the scene and their son was taken to Rancho Springs Medical Center and died a short time later. Witnesses said the suspect abandoned his car and fled in another vehicle with another driver.
• Toddler killed by drunk driver - A young girl, less than two years old, was killed and her mother, father and year-old brother seriously injured when suspected drunk driver, Jesse Rolando Astorga, 27, struck the family Sunday afternoon in Rialto. Astorga, has been charged with murder. Astorga was fleeing the scene of a nearby hit-and-run crash when he lost control of his SUV, which jumped the sidewalk and hit the victims. The girl was pronounced dead at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton less than an hour after the accident. Her parents, William Dean Dinoso, 28, and Glenda Brooks, 26, and her brother were hospitalized with broken bones and internal injuries.

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• Dad gets 45 years for molesting kid - Gilbert Simental, 50, of Murrieta, has been sentenced to 45 years to life in prison for molesting a 9-year-old girl and her  10-year-old sister at his daughter’s slumber parties in 2005 and 2006. The judge said there was “little doubt” the 50-year-old would molest again if he is released. At trial, he acknowledged twice molesting the younger girl but denied abusing her sister.
• One dead, 3 injured in drive-by shooting - Police are searching for a maroon-colored van in Long Beach believed to be responsible for the death of one person and injuries of three others others in two separate shootings in Long Beach several miles and about 30 minutes apart. One victim was struck in a leg and the other in the abdomen near 14th St and Linden Ave at about 2 a.m. and later pronounced dead at the hospital. A half hour later, two more people were wounded at 57th St and Live Ave - one in a leg and the other in the gut.

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• 4 people stabbed to death and then house set on fire - Four people including a NASA engineer were beaten and stabbed to death in the engineer’s Mojave Desert home, which was then set afire. The badly burned remains of engineer Joseph Ciganek, a woman and two children were discovered Monday in the ashes of his home in an unincorporated area near Lancaster. The fire had been labeled suspicious, and on Thursday confirmed the four had been killed before the fire was set. The names of the other three victims have not been releases but are said they were relatives of Ciganek’s wife. The woman and the older child, a girl of about 13, were stabbed to death, Ciganek and the other child, a boy of about 10, were beaten and slashed.
• USC student gets time from dropping off baby in dumpster - 23-year-old former USC student, Holly Ashcraft, whose newborn son was found dead in a trash bin was sentenced Thursday to 30 days in jail for child endangerment. Ashcraft was sentenced to five years probation, 695 days already served on electronic monitoring, as well as monthly pregnancy tests and take a child abuse prevention program for a year, and if she gets pregnant, to have prenatal care. The body of the newborn was found on Oct. 10, 2005, by a homeless man. Prosecutors have contended that the baby was born alive. Mark Geragos, her attorney asserted there was no evidence Ashcraft knew she was pregnant or that the baby had been born alive.

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• Metrolink jurors give guilt verdict - Thursday a jury convicted 29-year-old Juan Alvarez of 11 counts of first-degree murder for causing a 2005 commuter train derailment as well as, one count of arson but acquitted him of a count called train wrecking. As many of you recall Alvarez said he was only trying to kill himself when he parked his car on the train tracks and that he was sorry that he was not dead but 11 others were and 180 people injured. Prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty.
• 8-year-old killed after being hit by car - An unidentified, 8-year-old girl died this morning after she was struck by a car Wednesday while crossing a street in Pomona while visiting relatives. He was listed in critical condition after she was struck and taken to a local hospital. She had taken a younger cousin to a nearby store and was returning when she ran onto Garey Avenue south of Grand Ave at about 6:15pm and was struck by a 1999 Toyota 4Runner. The unidentified driver was a nurse on his way home from work and attempted to stop before he hit the girl. He got out of his car and administered CPR on the girl. The driver has not been cited and speeding is not being considered a facotr, although the investigation is ongoing. The girl was not crossing in a crosswalk, at a corner or at a traffic signal, he said.

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• Three bodies found in Riverside home - Police are investigating the death of two men and one both who were found dead today in a Riverside home. At 7pm Tuesday, police were called when a woman ran out of house screaming. The deputies saw three people, including a boy between 10 and 13 years old. He couldn’t say how the victims died. Investigators were questioning the woman while trying to determine whether a warrant was needed.
• Women plead not guilty in torture of young boy - The three women accused of torturing a 5-year-old boy, have all pleaded not guilty to the charges. A Compton court commissioner accepted the pleas Wednesday in an abuse and torture case against the boy’s mother, 24-year-old Starkeisha Brown, her live-in girlfriend, Krystle Matthews, and a baby sitter. The mother could face 25 years to life in prison if convicted. It is claimed that the women, starved him, burned his genitals with cigarettes and forced him to place his hands on a hot stove.

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• Postal worker killed in Silver Lake collision - A U.S. Postal Service worker, who has not been identified, was killed today when she was thrown from her mail truck and then crushed when it landed on top of her. She was driving in the 2000 block of N. Hyperion Avenue in Silver Lake about 11:30 a.m. when her postal truck collided with another vehicle. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of a second vehicle was taken to a hospital and treated for unspecified injuries.
• Father and son killed in shooting - A father, Juan Alberto Garcia, 44, and his 12-year-old son Albert Anthony Garcia, are dead after someone opened fire on a crowd at a backyard high school graduation party in LA. Both died the hospital shortly after arrival. A man and a woman  in their 20’s were also struck by the gunfire but are recovering. Police continue to investigate and have not announced any arrests or a motive for the attack.
• Man tried to kidnap 5-year-old from mall - Security cameras revealed that a man, who remains at large, tried to kidnap a 5-year-old girl from a store in the Long Beach Towne Center mall. The man attempted to carry the girl out of a clothing store in the mall at about 7 p.m. on Sunday. The mother saw what was happening and started to scream and the man fled without the girl. No descriptions or names have been released.

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• 12-year-old shot in head - A 12-year-old girl, whose name has not been released, was shot in the head today by a 17-year-old gunman who is now in custody. The young girt underwent surgery at a trauma center today. She remains hospitalized at Riverside County Regional Medical Center, but a condition report was not available. She was shot shortly before 10 Sunday night in the 1500 block of East Jacinto View. The boy, whose name was withheld because of his age, was booked into Juvenile Hall on suspicion of negligent discharge of a firearm and is awaiting further investigation.
• Two missing after plane crash in Oceanside - The four-seat Cessna 172 took off Sunday from Montgomery Field in San Diego, flew to Long Beach and was returning when the plane went down about a mile-and-a-half off Oceanside. One man was rescued, but two others are still missing. The crash was reported at 5pm after a boater found a survivor floating in the water. The unidentified man was taken to a hospital with a broken leg. Rescuers were hampered by poor visibility because of thick fog and no obvious wreckage on the ocean’s surface.

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• Man dies in hang-gliding accident - A man whose identity has not yet been released died in a hang-gliding accident near a park in Sylmar on Saturday afternoon. Paramedics arrived at the scene and found bystanders performing CPR on the man, said Fire department spokeswoman d’Lisa Davies. The paramedics did take over, however the man quickly died, as he was in a very critical condition.
• Woodland Hills crash leaves two badly wounded - Two men were left in critical condition when their vehicle was involved in a rollover crash on the eastbound 101 Freeway at about 12:45 a.m. on Sunday. CHP officers said that one victim was ejected and left unconscious, while the other was critically injured. Witnesses told CHP that the vehicle was being driven recklessly just before the crash, reports the Daily News.
• Police offer shot while responding to indecent exposure call - One of two officers that were dispatched to the Best Western Raffles Inn in Anaheim in response to a report of a man exposing himself out the hotel was shot and wounded in the leg. It’s not clear if the suspect in the indecent exposure call was also the same person who fired shots, according to Anaheim Sgt. Rick Martinez. An investigation into the incident is underway, while the suspect remains at-large.

Photo by VeryBadLady

• 16-year-old boy killed in drive-by - Police say Dominique Neal, a 16-year-old boy, was fatally wounded in drive-by shooting at 10:15pm on Thursday at a bus stop in the Hyde Park area of Los Angeles. The shooting appeared to be gang-related. Neal died about a half hour later. Police were seeking two men who fled in a vehicle. No description of the suspects or the vehicle was released.
• Man gets 30 years for raping 17 year old girl - Huy Ngoc Nguyen, 38, a longtime activist in Orange County’s Vietnamese-American community, was convicted today of raping a 17-year-old girl in his office and sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl at a camp. He was sentenced Friday to 30 years to life in prison. Friends and others in the community are shocked at the outcome.  Prosecutors showed during the trial that Nguyen had a history of forcing himself on various women. One girl said she would unwillingly leave with Nguyen and he would take her to his uncle’s home and rape her. She said that on one occasion, Nguyen sexually assaulted her friend at church, then took her to a motel and raped her.

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