LAPD Search For Man Wanted In Deadly Stabbing On Metro Train In Los Angeles

A passenger on a Metro E Line train was stabbed to death Tuesday. Police responded to the 300 block of West Adams near the University Park area around 3:45 p.m. on a report of a stabbing on the train, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. "The suspect was on the E line train northbound passing (Los Angeles Trade Technical College)," according to the LAPD. Metro officials said E Line trains stopped running in the area to accommodate the investigation. Trains were turning back at the Pico and Jefferson stations, according to the transit agency. Police released a photo of the suspect. He stands at about 5 feet 7 or 5 feet 8 and weighs about 160 pounds. The suspect had glasses and was wearing a black sweater with white lettering on the front. He also had light blue jeans and black shoes. Investigators believe he is between the age of 25-30 years old. Police believe the victim, 27-year-old Jalil Sosa Ilera, had an altercation with the suspect before being fatally stabbed. 

CBS 2

Man Robs Armored Truck After Compassionate Release From Federal Prison

Prosecutors charged an Inglewood man on Tuesday for robbing an armored truck at gunpoint. Authorities granted him an early release last year. Before allegedly robbing the Brinks truck, 60-year-old Markham David Bond was sentenced to over 46 years in prison for robbing armed couriers and banks between 1985 and 1995. After serving 26 years of his sentence, authorities granted him a compassionate release, which is typically given to inmates who are terminally ill. In January 2022, Bond argued that he was in fragile health and no longer a danger to the community. The Department of Justice opposed the compassionate release. Federal prosecutors charged him with interference with commerce by robbery, using a firearm during a crime of violence and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. DOJ officials said that Bond would be tried under the Hobbs Act, which grants harsher penalties for robberies that affect interstate or foreign commerce. 

CBS 2

‘It’s Absolutely Heartbreaking’: Fentanyl Is Officially Los Angeles County’s Deadliest Drug

Fentanyl has continued to tighten its deadly grip on Los Angeles, with the synthetic opioid causing the majority of fatal overdoses countywide in 2022. For the first time in recent years, fentanyl surpassed methamphetamine as the most common drug listed as a cause of overdose deaths, according to a recent report from the L.A. County Department of Public Health. Fentanyl was blamed in almost 60% of all accidental drug or alcohol overdoses in 2022, the report said, and has continued to disproportionately kill Black Angelenos. Overdoses in general increased again in almost every measure from the prior year, further escalating a crisis fueled by the opioid epidemic, which has devastated communities across the nation. “It’s absolutely heartbreaking,” said Amanda Cowan, executive director of Community Health Project Los Angeles, which provides services to people who use drugs. The project’s harm-reduction approach tries to minimize the risks of drug use, for example by providing clean-needle programs or education on responding to overdoses. “These communities are just being decimated,” she said. County and academic leaders echoed Cowan’s concern — and none were surprised by fentanyl’s growing influence on drug deaths. “We’re still amid the worst overdose crisis in history, and that’s obviously an emergency situation,” said Dr. Gary Tsai, director of the county’s Substance Abuse Prevention and Control program. “We’re doing a lot of work to improve our system, but there’s obviously still a lot of work that we have to do.”

Los Angeles Times

Police Searching For Suspected Stolen Vehicle Suspect

Police are searching for the driver of a suspected stolen vehicle after they led officers on an erratic, dangerous and high-speed chase through the San Fernando Valley Wednesday night. The pursuit started at around 9: 30 p.m. when officers with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Van Nuys Division attempted to stop the suspected stolen vehicle. The driver failed to yield and then reportedly crashed into three vehicles near Roscoe Boulevard and Haskell Avenue at the start of the chase. The suspect and a passenger made their way to the 405 Freeway and then wound their way across several other SoCal freeways, at one point reaching speeds of 125 miles per hour before exiting at Nordhoff Street. Ground units pulled back from the pursuit due to high speeds, but police continued to track the driver from the air. On surface streets, the suspect continued to drive erratically, blacking out the car’s headlights, squeezing through traffic, making U-turns in front of other vehicles and using the left-hand turn lane to make hard right turns across traffic.  

KTLA 5

Police Arrest 12 In Retail Theft Operation

A Los Angeles Police Department task force created to combat retail store theft netted 12 arrests, authorities said Wednesday. According to the LAPD, the Organized Retail Crime Task Force conducted an operation near the 700 block of South Figueroa Street, near Seventh Street, in downtown Los Angeles and arrested the following suspects on Dec. 5 for suspicion of shoplifting: Tinder Math, 43, of Los Angeles; Anthony Williams, 30, of Los Angeles; -- Dominique King, 33; Gabriel Anthony Rubio, 31, of Los Angeles; Tyler Damon Bood, 28, of Los Angeles; Jessica Mejia, 31, of Los Angeles, 31; Davonte Charles Carter, 32, of Los Angeles; and Alecia Latonya Williams, 48, of Los Angeles. Williams was also arrested on a misdemeanor warrant for petty theft and booked at the Metropolitan Detention Center, police said. Her bail was set at $15,000. Four juveniles were also arrested for suspicion of shoplifting and released to their parents, police said. All stolen merchandise was returned to the retailers and the task force, working with the assistance of divisional personnel, recovered all stolen items, police said. The task force will be conducting additional plain clothes operations over the holidays, the LAPD said.

Westside Current

Former Obama Fundraiser And Youth Policy Institute Director Faces Sentencing For Embezzling

The ex-director of a now-closed Los Angeles anti-poverty agency -- who was also a well-known fundraiser for former President Barack Obama -- is set to be sentenced Tuesday for embezzling money from the nonprofit. Howard Slingerland, 54, of Studio City pleaded guilty in January to embezzling and misappropriating thousands of dollars from the federally funded Youth Policy Institute, which provided education, job training and other services to reduce youth poverty in Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. From 1996 until he was fired in September 2019, Slingerland was president and CEO of the nonprofit, and had check-signing authority over the agency's bank accounts. According to his plea agreement, Slingerland used at least $71,000 of YPI funds to be spent on personal expenses, including his property taxes, family dinners, a family member's tutoring bills, and home computers and software. In July 2019, Slingerland caused about $401,561 in funds YPI had received from a federal grant to be used for the unauthorized payment of YPI payroll. That same month, he also caused roughly $201,466 in federal grant money to be illegally used to pay off YPI's credit card bill, including for expenses Slingerland had incurred, according to papers filed in Los Angeles federal court.

Westside Current

It’s Not Just Fentanyl. How ‘Speedballs’ Are Making S.F.’s Drug Overdose Crisis Even Worse

Chi Minie overdosed on fentanyl for the first time four years ago, at age 32. But the near-death experience didn’t stop him from using — or from taking the even riskier step of escalating to speedballs, packing rocks of crack cocaine into a pipe along with the super-powerful opioid fentanyl. It’s pricier to smoke the mixture, because he has to shell out cash for two drugs instead of just one, he said, but the high is “smoother.” Minie overdosed again in April. Still, whenever he gets a few extra dollars — not an easy thing to do, considering he is homeless — he treats himself to a speedball or a goofball, mixing fentanyl with methamphetamine. “I’ve known plenty of people who died of speedballs or fentanyl, but I think I know what I’m doing,” Minie said one recent day on Mission Street as night fell and he prepared to head into the Tenderloin. “And on a night like this, when I’m walking around, I’ll need a speedball. It makes sure I don’t fall asleep where I smoke up, and get all my stuff stolen. That little bit of crack cuts the nods.” Combining drugs or using them in succession, what researchers call polysubstance use, isn’t a new phenomenon. But it is becoming much more deadly with fentanyl now often a part of that concoction — whether or not the user is aware of its presence.

San Francisco Chronicle

Theft Ring Busted With $500K Worth Of Merchandise From Home Depot, Lowe's

Three people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in a retail theft ring that target major hardware stores like Home Depot, Lowe's and Harbor Freight. Jose Rivera, 54, Fernando Hernandez, 43, and Rogelio Ramirez Salgado, 45, were arrested recently the California Highway Patrol announced, and face charges of organized retail theft, receiving stolen property and weapons charges. After a months-long investigation, the CHP's Retail Crime Taskforce recently served a search warrant at a local hardware and plumbing supply business in Los Angeles, and found half a million dollars worth of stolen merchandise including truck loads of water heaters and furnaces, extension ladders, plumbing fixtures and more.' In addition to the stolen merchandise, investigators found five guns and $30,000. 

FOX 11

Boyle Heights Community Plan Update Gets 1st Green Light From LA City Council

The City Council Tuesday approved the first draft of an update to the Boyle Heights Community Plan, including a wide range of affordable-housing and resident-protection safeguards for the historic working-class neighborhood. The council voted 14-0 in favor of the plan, which outlines a long-term vision and guides planning and land-use management. Councilman Kevin de Leon, who represents the 14th District, which includes Boyle Heights, said he worked to ensure protections against gentrification. “I stand firm with my community in our shared commitment to defend Boyle Heights from the tide of gentrification that is destroying communities through displacement and the erasure of cultural heritage,” de Leon said in a statement. “Too often our efforts to protect residents and businesses are reactive and come only after the damage is done.”

MyNewsLA

LA City Council Approves Motion To Develop Special Street Vending Zones

The Los Angeles City Council approved a motion calling for the development of a special vending zone, effectively allowing street vendors to sell their goods in areas of Hollywood, which they're currently barred from doing under city law. Council members voted 12-0 on Wednesday to request the city attorney to prepare and present an ordinance amending the city's street vending law to comply with state regulations. Relative city departments will work to create objective criteria, compliant with state law, to limit street vending in certain zones and report back on the recommendations in 60 days. Additionally, city departments will work in collaboration with the City Attorney's Office, the offices of the Fourth and 13th districts, street vendors, street vending advocates and community stakeholders to establish the pilot program for a Special Vending Zone covering Hollywood Boulevard, the Hollywood Bowl and the nearby area. While the council approved the matter without any discussion, after the vote, council members Hugo Soto-Martinez, Eunissess Hernandez and Imelda Padilla addressed several street vendors who were in attendance, thanking them for guiding the work on this issue. Padilla said a lot of work remains to be done to ensure street vendors can prosper in the city.

NBC 4

About the LAPPL: Formed in 1923, the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) represents more than 8,900 dedicated and professional sworn members of the Los Angeles Police Department. The LAPPL serves to advance the interests of LAPD officers through legislative and legal advocacy, political action and education.