Man Arrested For Hit-and-Run Crash That Killed 5-Year-Old, Severely Injured Teen In South LA

A man has been arrested for a fatal hit-and-run crash in South Los Angeles that killed a five-year-old child and left a teenager severely injured on Tuesday. Los Angeles Police Department officers were first dispatched to the intersection of Main Street and Colden Avenue at around 7:45 p.m. on Tuesday after learning of the multi-car collision, police said. Upon arrival, they learned that a car traveling northbound at high speeds on Main St. ran a red light and collided into another vehicle with four occupants. The crash resulted in multiple injuries, sending three people to the hospital. One of the victims, a five-year-old girl was admitted to an intensive care unit at a nearby facility where she died from her injuries on Thursday. The other, a 17-year-old girl, remains severely injured. One of the other two occupants, the 32-year-old mother of the victims was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. A 14-year-old sibling was reportedly uninjured in the incident. 

CBS 2

Knife-Wielding Suspect Shot By Police After Making Threats Inside Hotel In Little Tokyo, LAPD Says

An armed suspect who was allegedly threatening workers of a downtown Los Angeles hotel was hospitalized after being shot by police, investigators said. It happened around 3:30 a.m. Sunday near the intersection of 1st and San Pedro streets when officers responded to a call about an assault with a deadly weapon. According to LAPD Capt. Elaine Morales, the suspect, who was described only as a white male, was inside the lobby of the Miyako Hotel on 1st Street armed with knife while making threats. Morales said he refused to comply with officers and was shot at least two times. He was sent to a nearby hospital and is currently in stable condition. No other injuries were reported. The area was blocked off for most of the morning as officers continued their investigation.

ABC 7

LAPD Shuts Down Drug Lab Disguised As Pizza Shop In North Hollywood

A drug lab disguised as a pizza kitchen in North Hollywood was shut down by police last week. The bust happened on Thursday, June 22, in the 7300 block of Radford Avenue as part of an LAPD narcotics investigation. Police said the facility is a warehouse that was converted into a "super lab" used to extract honey oil, also known as hash oil or cannabis oil. Investigators said the lab posed a serious threat to nearby businesses - including a pet clinic next door - since honey oil labs are known to be dangerous and can sometimes cause explosions. Two people were arrested and booked into jail without bail. Their identities weren't immediately released. Police said it took half a day to dismantle the lab and deem the area safe. One gram of honey oil can sell for as much as $50, investigators said. LAPD Captain Lillian Carranza said mass production of the oil can bring in thousands of dollars a week.

ABC 7

Officials Find Up To $7 Million In Stolen Products During Raid At Torrance Warehouse, LAPD Says

The Los Angeles Police Department on Wednesday seized millions of dollars’ worth of stolen merchandise believed to be Nike sneakers during a raid of a warehouse in Torrance, officials said. Police Capt. Alfonso Lopez of the LAPD’s commercial crimes division said the merchandise was linked to several cargo trucks that had been stolen from a facility near the Port of Los Angeles. He said the cargo truck thefts occurred over a certain period of time but would not disclose further details because he said it would impede in their investigation. Lopez said thieves made off with merchandise from at least nine cargo trucks. Investigators from various law enforcement agencies tracked the stolen merchandise to a warehouse in Torrance, where a search warrant was served Wednesday evening. Lopez said investigators recovered stolen products from six of the nine containers. He said the value of the merchandise ranged from $4 million to $7 million. Citing police sources, KCBS-TV Channel 2 said the boxes recovered at the warehouse contained Nike sneakers. Lopez would not confirm what the stolen merchandise was. Shoe and apparel heists are a multimillion-dollar problem for Nike.

Los Angeles Times

LASD Declares East LA 13-Year-Old Critically Missing, Asks For Public's Help In Finding Teen

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department circulated a photo of a 13-year-old girl who went missing in East Los Angeles on Saturday. Savannah Angel Alaniz was last seen about 1:45 a.m. Saturday in the 3600 block of Ramboz Drive, the Sheriff's Information Bureau reported. Alaniz was described as a 5-foot, 2-inch Latino girl weighing 100 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a dark-colored hooded sweater. The sheriff's East Los Angeles station urged anyone with any information regarding Alaniz's whereabouts to call them at 323-264-4151. Tipsters can call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or go to www.lacrimestoppers.org.

ABC 7

Armed Suspects Ransack 7-Eleven Stores In Los Angeles County

Surveillance footage captured a 7-Eleven store being ransacked amid a string of armed burglaries in Los Angeles County overnight on Saturday. Four 7-Eleven store burglaries took place between 9:30 p.m. and 12 a.m. at locations on the 5700 block of Melrose Avenue, the 5700 block of Santa Monica Boulevard, the 4200 block of Beverly Boulevard and the 2800 block of James M. Wood Boulevard. Surveillance cameras at the Beverly Boulevard store in East Hollywood showed a masked suspect entering the business and pretending to shop around as he waited for customers to leave. Shortly after, he confronted the store clerks and told them he had a gun. That’s when he walked behind the cashier counter and helped himself to cigarettes, cigars and various tobacco products. He grabs a large garbage bag to contain the stolen goods while calmly continuing to grab items off the store shelves, the victims said. Suddenly, an armed accomplice runs into the store and jumps over the cashier counter while grabbing the cash drawer from the register.

KTLA 5

LA Attorney’s Former Employee Embezzled $500,000 From Him And His Wife

Attorney Bonnie Roadarmel was well-connected and well-heeled, buying first-class airfaire to Paris and shopping at Hermes, Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld. Married to a former supervising deputy in the state Attorney General’s Office, Roadarmel was a partner at a top Orange County legal firm, specializing in insurance law. By contrast, her former boss, Stephen Kanne, an attorney who retired from a successful real estate law practice on the Westside of Los Angeles, lived a much more spartan lifestyle, but not by choice. In May 2021, Kanne, 89, discovered why, in the words of his 74-year-old wife, Claudia, “we were always broke.” Roadarmel, who had volunteered decades earlier to manage the couple’s finances for free, had allegedly siphoned more than $500,000 from them in just the past 10 years, according to documents Kanne supplied to police and the State Bar of California. Some of their money went to pay down multiple American Express cards in Roadarmel’s name, as well as one in the name of her husband, Paul Roadarmel, documents show. The evidence was solid. Bonnie Roadarmel, 62, pleaded no contest in Los Angeles County Superior Court on May 23 to two counts of felony elder abuse with a fraud enhancement. She had been charged with nine counts.

Los Angeles Daily News

Police Find “Ghost" Rifle, Body Armor Inside U-Haul Truck In Pasadena; Man Arrested After Foot Chase

A man was arrested after police found an illegal "ghost gun" and body armor inside of a U-Haul truck in Pasadena on Friday. According to a statement from Pasadena Police Department, officers were called to the area of Claremont Street and Wilson Avenue just before 4 a.m. Friday morning, where they located a U-Haul truck that had been involved in some sort of collision. "Officers contacted the driver, who was asleep in the driver's seat. They woke up the driver and asked him to exit the vehicle," said a statement from Pasadena police. "As he exited, officers saw a handgun in the driver's waistband." Police say that the suspect, who was been identified as 36-year-old Carson man Marc Oliver David, tried to run but was captured following a brief foot pursuit. They also recovered the handgun, a 9mm pistol, from his waistband. Upon inspection of the U-Haul, officers found an AR-15 rifle, a set of body armor and two loaded high-capacity magazines. 

CBS 2

Woman Pleads Guilty To Straw Purchase Of Gun Used To Kill Illinois Officer

A woman pleaded guilty on Thursday to federal charges stemming from the straw purchase of a gun used to fatally shoot one central Illinois police officer and wound another in 2021. Ashantae Corruthers, 29, of Indianapolis, entered the plea to a charge of conspiracy to defraud the government by buying and transferring a gun to Darion Marquise Lafayette, 24, of Champaign, and covering up the transaction by falsely reporting to Indianapolis police that the gun had been stolen. Lafayette shot Champaign police Officer Christopher Oberheim on May 19, 2021. Corruthers faces up to 25 years in prison when she is sentenced Nov. 6, The News-Gazette of Champaign reported. Oberheim and another officer, Jeff Creel, went to a Champaign apartment complex in response to a report about a domestic disturbance and encountered Lafayette. A shootout ensued in which both officers and the suspect were shot. Lafayette, who also died, was not legally able to buy a gun because he was a convicted felon. He persuaded co-defendant and cousin Regina Lewis, 28, of Normal, to get Corruthers to buy the gun at an Indianapolis gun store, which she did legally in November 2020, the newspaper reported.

Associated Press

Washington Police Bust $1.5M Nationwide Retail Theft Ring

A nationwide retail theft ring was busted by the Renton Police Department. On June 20, Renton police said officers searched the house of a suspected stolen property trafficker. Detectives had developed a case where it was found the suspect was selling hundreds of thousands of stolen items on eBay. An investigation revealed a 32-year-old Federal Way man was receiving stolen items from multiple shoplifters. Working with loss prevention personnel, a detective was able to track stolen merchandise to the suspect's house. The warrant resulted in the arrest of the trafficking suspect, as well as the recovery of an estimated $1.5 million worth of merchandise. Police said the merchandise included items such as over-the-counter medications, personal care items, laundry detergent, power tools, vacuum cleaners, computer hardware, audio equipment, plumbing fixtures, kitchen appliances, Lego products and printer cartridges. During the search, detectives found a large quantity of merchandise already packed for shipping and addressed for delivery to buyers all throughout the country. Police said shoplifting cost retailers $2.7 billion in Washington state alone in 2021, which is the most recent year statistics provided.

PoliceOne

Fire Breaks Out On Roof Of Target In Northridge

An array of solar panels on the roof of a Target store in Northridge were damaged after they caught fire on Saturday. Los Angeles Fire Department units were dispatched to the Target located at 8999 Balboa Boulevard around 11:45 a.m. and found that the building and the attic were clear. Fire crews on the roof located a surface fire involving an array of solar panels. They conducted a drop bag operation to bring the hose line up to the roof and extinguished the blaze in 21 minutes. According to LAFD, the fire does not appear to have penetrated through the roof into the attic or main structure. No injuries were reported. 

KTLA 5

Fire Damages Attic Of Single-Story Home In Del Rey Area

Fire Sunday damaged an attic at a single-story home near the Del Rey community of Los Angeles. Firefighters dispatched at 12:43 p.m. Sunday to 12031 W. Havelock Ave. had the blaze out at 1:04 p.m., the Los Angeles Fire Department reported. “The sole occupant of the home was out prior to LAFD arrival and there are no injuries reported,” the department’s Margaret Stewart said. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

MyNewsLA

LA County Health Officials Report ‘Concerning' Spike In MPOX Cases

Los Angeles County health officials Friday reported a "concerning increase" in cases of mpox, previously known as monkeypox, with six new infections confirmed in the county in the past week. That's up from an average of less than one case per week over the past month, according to the Department of Public Health. The sudden increase prompted health officials to urge people who show any symptoms of the illness to get tested. Such symptoms include rash, fever or swollen lymph nodes. "Mpox is mainly spread through close contact with body fluids, sores, shared bedding or clothing or respiratory droplets (kissing, coughing, sneezing)," according to the Department of Public Health. "Symptoms include rash or unusual sores that look like pimples or blisters on the face, body and genitals, fever, chills, headache, muscle aches or swelling of lymph nodes. Early detection, testing and vaccination are vital to controlling the spread of this disease and protecting the health of Los Angeles County residents." 

ABC 7

L.A. City Council Taps Brakes On Price Suspension, Holding Off Until Late August

After more than 90 minutes of impassioned testimony, a Los Angeles City Council committee Friday tapped the brakes on the effort to suspend Councilmember Curren Price, postponing a recommendation until at least the end of August. Price, who has maintained his innocence, was charged last week with 10 felony counts in a case that partly involves votes he cast on affordable housing projects developed by companies that employed Price’s wife as a consultant. Members of the council’s three-person Rules, Elections, and Intergovernmental Relations Committee argued that the council should slow down, give Price’s constituents more of a voice in the process and take time to research the best ways to move forward. Ultimately, Council President Paul Krekorian and Councilmembers Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Hugo Soto-Martínez agreed to table the suspension proceedings until the committee’s next regularly scheduled meeting on Aug. 25. They also approved Harris-Dawson’s proposal to “transparently and expeditiously explore all options” for filling a temporary vacancy, and creating a process for soliciting public input from constituents and civic institutions in the district.

Los Angeles Times

LA Adopts 15 MPH Speed Limit Near 45 Schools

A 15 mph speed limit will be implemented near more than three dozen schools after the resolution was adopted Friday at the Los Angeles City Council meeting. The move is part of a safety effort following a series of traffic accidents, including one that killed a mother and severely injured her child as they walked to school. The family members were hit by a pickup truck when they were in a crosswalk near a Mid Wilshire school. The resolution passed in a 10-0 vote. Council members Kevin de León, Heather Hutt, Monica Rodriguez and Curren Price were absent during the vote. The limit will be implemented near 45 schools in the city. "This is the first installment of tactical improvements that LADOT is making this summer to enhance the safety around schools and protect school children -- the future of Los Angeles," Dan Mitchell, assistant general manager of DOT, told the panel of council members on the Transportation Committee. The LA Department of Transportation will establish School Safety Zone speed limits and set up speed limit signs and other markings to make driver aware of the regulations. The reduced speed limit would only apply while children are going to or leaving school.

NBC 4

About the LAPPL: Formed in 1923, the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) represents more than 9,200 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.