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Putting the pieces together on Johnny Pride

Monday, March 8th, 2010

What’s going on with the Johnny Pride case? Why was he arrested and placed in the slammer on $500k bail only to be released the next day?

An anonymous emailer speculates:

It is generally the policy of the LA District Attorney and LASD SVB to not arrest people for statutory rape until confirming DNA evidence is gathered and processed. Based upon the timeline of the complaint this DNA evidence would have been available sometime one to two weeks ahead of the actual election or maybe even after the election.

The SVB detectives, perhaps not understanding local politics very well, had a Patrick Fitzgerald moment. Like the intrepid US Attorney from Chicago who felt he needed to act quickly to stop Ron Blagoavich from selling a Senate seat, the detectives worried they would be savaged for letting someone under an active investigation for rape get elected to the City Council. So they arrested JP quicker than normal.

On Friday, bureaucratic laziness kicked in. Someone in the DA’s office said to release him because the arrest had come too soon. The LASD, knowing this would cause them pain, decided to pin it on the DA saying the DA had “dismissed” the case for insufficient evidence.

As this was getting ALL over local media the spokesperson for the DA’s office backtracked and said they could not confirm the actual dismissal. There will be a flurry of activity on Monday (3-8) and a probable arrest warrant issued.

This is all speculation and should be treated as such. But it sounds like a possible, if not plausible, scenario to me.

Posted in Crime | 11 Responses »

Pride: Father Alleges Frame Job; Candidates React; Tiger-style Texting?

Friday, March 5th, 2010

The LA Daily News is reporting additional details and various candidate reactions to the Johnny Pride teenage rape allegations.

First, details of the allegations:

On Feb. 27, Pride bought alcohol for the two girls, Scopp said. They separated and the girls went to a nearby park, but later went to Pride’s Valencia apartment after he sent them a text message. There, he allegedly gave them more alcohol and then molested them, Scopp said.

The girls later reported the assault to police on March 2, Scopp said. It is unclear what the relationship between the girls was, but both were acquaintances of Pride, Scopp said.

Pride’s father, Gerry Scarpitta of Yuma, Arizona, also added some color relevant to a number of comments made on the earlier SCVTalk posting.

Pride’s father said his son was fired after an arrest for trespassing during a track meet at Canyon High School, which he also attended as a student. Scarpitta said his son tried to persuade school officials to let a family who couldn’t afford the entry fee see the meet for free.

…

Pride’s father said his son changed his name from Johnny Scarpitta for professional reasons. Pride appeared on reality television shows including Fox’s “The Battle of the Bods” and ABC’s “The Conveyor Belt of Love,” both dating shows in which he was shown wearing Speedos or underwear

The Frame ?

Pride’s father, Gerry Scarpitta, believes his son was framed to derail his City Council bid. While acknowledging his son was arrested at least once before for trespassing at a local high school, Scarpitta characterized that arrest and Thursday’s as examples of “harassment” by Santa Clarita authorities.

“It just seems so blatant because here he is running for City Council and this suddenly comes up like this,” Scarpitta said in a phone interview from Yuma, Ariz. “They’re trying to make him sound like a serial rapist, and he’s not. John would never do anything like that.”

Candidate Reactions

Weste

Laurene Weste, Santa Clarita’s mayor and a council candidate, said she was saddened by the news.

“In Santa Clarita, nothing is more important than our families and our children. It’s the kind of community we are,” Weste said. “If this is true, it’s a violation of trust of the highest order.”

Gauny

“I think it’s sad,” said candidate and business owner David Gauny, who added that Pride’s support of small businesses resonated with him. “He had some ideas that were pretty good, but I don’t know that he’s been out there enough to be a serious candidate.”

Schultz

“I am shocked,” said Henry Schultz, a retired Amgen scientist who met Pride for the first time at a candidate forum Thursday, just before Pride was arrested. “I wouldn’t have expected it.”

Observations

1) If true, the text messages would be damning evidence against Pride and enough to warrant the arrest. They could also be validated rather easily by the mobile carriers. The recency of the alleged crime also makes gathering corroborating witnesses and physical evidence much easier.

2) Assuming #1 is substantiated, Pride could be left with the treacherous argument of “I didn’t know how old they really were,” or worse, put the victim on trial. Either that, or argue that the long arm of the City Council incumbents extends to the telecommunications giants. After all, there was the deal at last week’s CC meeting to approve a T-Mobile tower on City property…

3) Oh, and what things our beloved valley is being recognized for these days. The AP and LA Times picked up the story, as did the (formerly much more local) LA Daily News and our local ABC and CBS affiliates – who reportedly interviewed our friends at the SCV Moms Blog this evening on this story.

Posted in Crime, News, Politics | 63 Responses »

Bizarre Incident in Castaic

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Update: It was apparently a suicide. Check the KHTS link for the latest.

The Daily News reports that a “body was found near Castaic in a car posted with signs saying, “Stay away,” and “Dangerous Gas.”

KHTS confirms that LA County HAZMAT is on the scene and reports that the gas may be hydrogen sulfide.

The incident is on or near Lake Hughes Road near Dry Gulch motorway. KHTS says the road is closed.

KTLA Has more:

L.A. County hazardous materials crews and bomb squad units are investigating reports of a body found inside an abandoned car near Castaic.

The car belongs to a person who had been reported missing, according to L.A. County Sheriff’s deputies. The person’s identity has not yet been released.

The blue Honda sedan was discovered in a remote area near Lake Hughes Road and Dry Gulch Road about 9:40 a.m. by sheriff’s deputies who were patrolling the area, according to Inspector Matt Levesque.

Deputies approached the car and say a person inside the vehicle slumped over the steering wheel. They reported the vehicle was covered with stickers that read ‘Stay Away.” “Dangerous Gas,” and “Don’t Open.” It’s unclear if the person inside the car is a man or a woman.

Posted in Crime | 8 Responses »

Huge stash of stolen vehicles found north of Castaic

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

KHTS has the crazy story:

In what industry officials are calling the largest theft ring in their company’s history, detectives seized more than 35 stolen vehicles, heavy equipment and recreational vehicles during a 10-hour search warrant operation late Monday night.

The find came following a LoJack stolen vehicle recovery system hit near the Interstate 5 Golden State Freeway and Templin Highway Monday morning.

The deputies followed the hit to a remote 60-acre property in a rural area of Northern Los Angeles County. Near the location, in the 31000 block of Faimham Street, Castaic, deputies discovered a Bobcat Skid-Steer Loader that had been stolen from the Mission Cemetery, Mission Hills, on January 5.

…

A search warrant was obtained and after a 10-hour operation, involving more than 15 detectives and sheriff’s personnel, investigators recovered vehicles and other items they believe to be stolen. All told, the property and vehicles had a value estimated at well over 1 million dollars. During the investigation, detectives found and recovered 35 vehicles and countless other items including motor homes, John Deere and Kawasaki Mule utility vehicles, and even an Airstream camping trailer reported stolen out of Santa Clarita more than 3 years ago.

In what industry officials are calling the largest theft ring in their company’s history, detectives seized more than 35 stolen vehicles, heavy equipment and recreational vehicles during a 10-hour search warrant operation late Monday night.
The find came following a LoJack stolen vehicle recovery system hit near the Interstate 5 Golden State Freeway and Templin Highway Monday morning.
The deputies followed the hit to a remote 60-acre property in a rural area of Northern Los Angeles County. Near the location, in the 31000 block of Faimham Street, Castaic, deputies discovered a Bobcat Skid-Steer Loader that had been stolen from the Mission Cemetery, Mission Hills, on January 5.
…
A search warrant was obtained and after a 10-hour operation, involving more than 15 detectives and sheriff’s personnel, investigators recovered vehicles and other items they believe to be stolen. All told, the property and vehicles had a value estimated at well over 1 million dollars. During the investigation, detectives found and recovered 35 vehicles and countless other items including motor homes, John Deere and Kawasaki Mule utility vehicles, and even an Airstream camping trailer reported stolen out of Santa Clarita more than 3 years ago.

The LoJack official used the words “organized crime” to describe the find, especially in relation to the stolen construction equipment. Do we have a local mafia ring jacking construction equipment and storing it way up Castaic way?

I hate to sound like a City Slicker, but this story just confirms one more perception I have about living in the SCV: there are many strange and interesting things that go on in the canyons, hills and mountains around us. I’ve ridden my bike through practically all of them, and though I can’t quite put my finger on it, these hills & canyons have secrets. I’m not just talking about the roque marijuanna field either.

For instance, up Sierra Highway there is the disgraced Tony Alamo cult property. Up San Fransciquito, well, it’s supposedly haunted with the dead of the St. Francis dam disaster. I once saw a shirtless, bearded man smoking pot and listening to the Grateful Dead in a cabin up in Bouquet Canyon, and I’ve already documented some of the strange and wonderful things I found in Tapia Canyon, near the jail. Soledad Canyon is home to abandoned fire trucks, youth work camps, and the kind of people attracted to KOA campgrounds. We’ve all been back to spooky Mentryville, while in Towsley, oil bubbles up from the earth. Drive or ride over Vasquez Canyon and you’ll be treated to topography and rocks wholly different from the rest of the SCV.

In other words, you go into Santa Clarita’s canyons, and you never know what you’ll find. Good on the Deputies for making this career-enhancing bust!

Posted in Crime, Misc., News | 9 Responses »

Update on Nixon-Newhall-Watergate

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

Last week, I wrote about an incident that happened prior to the 1972 Presidential Election in Newhall:

Way back in 1972, someone in the Newhall-Saugus area (there was no Santa Clarita back then), probably upset about the war in Vietnam, Watergate, or Tricky Dick himself, apparently put a Molotov Cocktail at the front door of the local Nixon/GOP HQ. A little hippie vigilantism right here in the 91321 (or perhaps Black Power, Women’s Libbers or Gay rights?) Or was MacGregor right? Had George McGovern’s secret political operatives planted a Molotov Cocktail on the doorstep of an office building in our sleepy little town?

The Molotov Cocktail-in-Newhall incident was used by the Nixon Administration to distract the press from the burgeoning Watergate controversy. I thought that was a pretty remarkable bit of local-cum-national history so I wanted to follow up.

In Newhall there is a crook!

Alas, there’s not much more I can add to this story after checking with some local history experts.

Leon Worden hadn’t heard of the incident but wondered why the perp didn’t throw the Molotov Cocktail into the window of the Newhall Nixon reelection HQ.

Perhaps the perp had second thoughts.

John Boston had heard of the incident but said there wasn’t much to add to the story, other than the fact that it was a lit Molotov Cocktail:

You essentially have the entire report. Someone did light a Molotov cocktail, left it in front of the Nixon HQ and ran off. It didn’t explode. Nixon carried the valley by a 3 to 1 margin that election. Sorry I can’t provide more info, but that’s all I have.

Boston told me the Nixon reelection HQ was on San Fernando Road in Old Town Newhall, probably “close to the Newhall Pharmacy.”

I’ve put a call into Dr. Alan Pollack, president of the excellent SCV Historical Society, but he hadn’t heard of the incident either. He’s going to check with Pat Saletore to see if she knows more, and I’ll update this as more information comes in.

So there you have it. No idea who did it, no idea if anyone was ever caught, no idea as to the motivation of the perpetrator.

It’s entirely possible, in other words, that the would-be firebomber still lives among us, blissfully unaware (or perhaps secretly relishing) his/her bit part in the greatest Presidential scandal in the history of the Republic.

Posted in Crime, History, Misc., News, Politics | 4 Responses »

What Happened to the Hart Park deer named Jane Doe, a deer, a female deer?

Friday, January 1st, 2010

The Signal has the sad news on this New Years Day:

Authorities on Thursday were searching for a missing deer after someone apparently cut open the animal’s chain-link cage at William S. Hart Park, leaving blood on the ground nearby.

About 7 a.m., a park worker checking the animal barnyard noticed the 12-year-old deer, named Jane Doe, was missing. The worker also noticed a hole in the back of the fence, said Regional Park Superintendent Norman Phillips.

“We get bonded to the animals and we are all very, very upset that this happened,” said Phillips, who added that he personally bottle-fed the animal when she first arrived at the park in 1997. “We want to see her back here.”

The Los Angeles County Police are investigating, but if you ask me, the fact that there’s blood at the scene of the crime doesn’t portend well for Jane Doe.

What do you think happened to her?

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In all seriousness, I hope the deer is found quickly and is safe. I’ve been to the petting zoo a few times and it’s a great feature of Hart Park and a nice place to visit in Newhall.

Posted in Crime | 5 Responses »

Signal suspends all local columns after Lutness admits to plagiarism

Monday, December 28th, 2009

As Tim reported below, Signal columnist and one-time Democratic challenger to Cameron Smyth, Carole Lutness, has been accused of plagiarizing parts of an education column she sent to The Signal in November.

Today, she admitted to that fact. From The Signal:

“It’s plagiarism,” admitted Lutness, a local Democratic activist. “I went to Google and I typed in ‘history of public education in the United States’ and I took a paragraph from it. … It was succinct and I was wrong.”…
“In this day and age of Google, you can find so much so easily and it’s very easy to cut and paste,” Lutness said. “There’s no excuse for it.”

Lutness further admitted that there might be more plagiarized work in her published columns.

Following this, The Signal posted a second lengthy article, condemning Lutness’ plagiarism and suspending all local Signal columnists for one week, pending review of how the paper reveiws local columns. This email was sent by Josh Premako, Opinion Editor, to local columnists:

All,

As you may be aware through postings on several local Web sites, a Nov.
10 Democratic Voices column by Carole Lutness contained several examples
of plagiarism. This comes on the heels of a similar case of plagiarism
in a Right Here, Right Now column by Lynn Vakay.

This is disappointing on several levels, and has only reinforced to me
that we as a paper need to step back and retool some of the steps a
column must go through before being published.

As a result, effective immediately we are suspending all local columns
for a week, and will resume publication of local columnists on Wed. Jan.
6, 2010.

Over the next several days The Signal’s editorial board will discuss how
we can better prevent plagiarism, and revised and strengthened
guidelines will be communicated to you, our valued columnists, as soon
as possible.

Thank you for your understanding. Please feel free to contact me with
any questions.

Best,

Josh Premako

Opinion and Business Editor

The Signal Newspaper

These two acts of gross plagiarism leave me furious on a number of levels. In Catholic school, I was taught that plagiarism was as close to an unforgivable sin as one could get. Plagiarizing even short portions of a published work could lead to suspension or expulsion, even in junior high.

In high school and college I resisted the temptation to not only plagiarize, but to let others copy from me in exchange for money or favors.

That these two pillars of their respective political schools simply Googled some work and CTRL-C,CTRL-Vd their way into a column for our paper leaves me shocked and angry.

Yet I can’t blame the two disgraced columnists completely. If my 6th grade nun teacher had the means to check for plagiarism, surely the Signal can. There’s multiple websites out there- articlechecker.com, Plagiarismdetect.com, TurnItIn.com, and more, many of which are free. If professors at COC can check dozens of papers submitted to them every semester (and they do, believe me), why can’t The Mighty Signal check a few measly columns a week?

Note that these two acts of plagiarism have occurred under Ian Lamont’s watch. The same Ian Lamont who denigrated bloggers as irresponsible in the past, saying “your local bloggers cannot be expected to provide” accurate and valued content.

Isn’t it ironic that it was two local blogs that pointed out both cases of plagiarism!

And now we all lose out as other columnits -on both the left and the right- are punished for the sins of two and the lax attitude of The Signal.

Posted in Crime, Media | 18 Responses »

12 Questions for The Signal’s Brian Charles

Monday, December 28th, 2009

Brian Charles joined The Signal in 2008 and immediately had an impact on the paper’s quantity and quality of local reporting. By early 2009, The Signal sent him to Washington DC to cover the Inauguration of Barack Obama, and since then he’s covered crime in Santa Clarita. He’s proven to be a versatile reporter, covering everything from mysterious murders to the City Council, to local development issues.

As is the case with so many talented Signal reporters before him, Charles is moving on to a bigger newspaper but before he departs The Signal and the SCV, he agreed to answer a few questions from SCVTalk’s readers and editors.

SCVTalk:Why are you leaving The Signal?

BC:I was offered a job at the Pasadena Star-News. Of course there are financial considerations. The Star-News pays better than The Signal, but I also live in South Pasadena. I will shorten my commute and be able to cover the community I live in. Before coming to The Signal, I reported and worked in Big Bear, and it was a wonderful experience to feel that your coverage contributes to a community you lived in. I look forward to getting back to that.

SCVTalk:What kind of beat will you cover at the Pasadena paper?

BC:I will cover education at the Star-News, specifically the Pasadena Unified School District. I understands the challenges Pasadena and other communities are having with educating their children. There are plenty of topics to dig into and I am excited about the chance to to dig into these topics. I will plan to borrow heavily from The Signal’s education coverage so I plan to stay in touch with Tammy Marashlian, since she provides excellent education coverage for The Signal.

SCVTalk:Tell us about some of the more memorable stories you covered for The Signal.

BC:Of course, the Acton suicide comes to mind. It emotionally ripped that community apart. Having lived in a small town before, I know how close knit small towns are and how a tragedy can devastate those towns. I am glad that I was able to tell people’s stories without exploiting them. Or at least I hope I did in that instance.

I really enjoyed carrying The Signal banner to Washington to cover the inauguration. It was, of course, a historic moment. It was equally inspirational and I think it signaled to the community that the paper could imagine big projects and execute those big projects.

I also loved the coverage I gave to the Domestic Violence Center. It was great to see a local politician like Cameron Smyth, make change for those most in need.

SCVTalk:You were The Signal’s number one crime reporter for a time. Why do you think there are so many unsolved murders in Santa Clarita?

BC:I covered crime for nine months. I think the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is understaffed. That goes for the whole county not just the Santa Clarita Valley. The sheriff’s department resources are spread thin and until there are more resources within the Department, there will be unsolved murders here and across the county.
But I don’t want to throw this all on the sheriff’s department. Given the freeway access I would assume a lot of these murderers flee the scene without being seen. That makes any investigation tough.

SCVTalk:How does the LA County Sheriff’s Department investigate homicides in Santa Clarita?

BC:The murders are investigated from downtown Los Angeles. It would be nice to have a homicide bureau in the SCV, but when you’re a contract city, you don’t get a local homicide bureau.

SCVTalk:A long-standing rumor in Santa Clarita is that local government and/or business interests try to influence crime reporting in The Signal, usually in an effort to downplay it. Can you comment on that?

BC:During my time at The Signal I never got a call from any government agency, or business, nor did any editor tell me how to write a story. There are attempts by sources to spin a story, but that’s a dance that happens in every community in the nation. When you don’t see something in The Signal or you see thin reporting in The SIgnal, it is usually a reflection of how much verifiable information is available by the time we go to press. In some cases, it’s because we have a small staff that is working as hard as they can to gather as much news as possible, so it is inevitable that some breaking news will be missed.

SCVTalk:Sometimes it seems the local radio station gets the scoop on a crime story before the Signal does. Is that accurate, and if it is, why does that happen?

BC:That’s more of a testament to Carol Rock. She is a veteran reporter who knows how to work sources well. But I will say that comparing a radio to a newspaper is not a fair comparison. In addition to the Web, we have a 20-plus page monster to fill each day. The newspaper, as a product, requires the reporters to dig into more details than broadcast news outlets require and that includes the Internet. So KHTS might have some things first, but The Signal has more details.

SCVTalk:Two stories from the past year in crime generated a lot of interest on SCVTalk. There was a shooting in Bridgeport which was widely reported before dropping off the radar al together, and a suicide in the Sheriff’s station. Can you update us on either of those?

BC:I didn’t cover those stories and don’t have detailed knowledge of the stories.

SCVTalk:What will you miss most about working at The Signal and covering Santa Clairta?

BC:The people. During my time at The Signal, I got to work with some great people and I will miss the people I worked with the most.

SCVTalk:What’s your view of The Signal and local newspapers in general in an age where so-called old media is facing decline and blogs and social media are ascendant? What can The Signal do to remain relevant, timely and competitive?

BC: I wouldn’t say that the two are necessarily related. If you look at the number of people reading the LA Times in print and online, their circulation is actually up. The problem is not whether newspapers are relevant, it’s whether the newspaper business model will continue to work. That’s a revenue side problem and I am far from qualified to answer that question. The blogs on the other hand are offering something I think newspapers should do content-wise. Blogs offer news analysis and readers love second-day or, even better, immediate opinionated reaction to news. That’s a formula that cable news, especially Fox and MSNBC do really well. There is definitely room for The Signal to offer that style of news analysis, but whether the money is there to invest in the staff to do that is again a question I don’t know the answer to. But I will tell you that all newspapers, including The Signal keep a close eye to bloggers because it’s like dipping your toe into the pool to see how people receive what was just in the paper and what our readers are thinking.

SCVTalk:The Signal is one of a several dailies owned by Georgia-based Morris Media. Based on your knowledge and experience, does Morris exert influence in the day-to-day operations of the Signal, either editorially or from a revenue standpoint?

BC:I can’t answer questions about the revenue side, because I didn’t work on that side of the business. I’ve met Charles Hill Morris a few times and he was very supportive of what we did on the news side. As a reporter you are often so buried in your own story that you don’t really deal with the politics of how the company is run. I didn’t feel Morris dictated much of what is done day-to-day at The Signal.

SCVTalk:From your time at The Signal and covering news in Santa Clarita, what do you think are the major challenges facing this community?

BC: Growth, water, under served minority groups and the impact of Disney on the SCV.

Newhall Ranch in coming whether people like it or not. How will the city and county deal with the impacts of that development? How will the school district deal with all those new kids
Growth automatically impacts water. Will there be enough?

Considering the redevelopment efforts in Old Newhall, it’s a matter of time before the Latino population in the SCV begins to demand a seat at the table when it comes to dividing influence and power. Will they get that seat and how? Will the SCV ever considered district elections for city council seats. This is an issue I wanted to get into in 2010. I think the issue of minority representation on City Council will begin to surface in the next few years. I also think the Latino population will begin to flex its muscle in the community both economically and politically.

I also think the Disney studio could change the SCv in the ways that you detailed in your blog months ago. It’s going to inject money into the SCV and make it much more feasible to work and live in the SCV. I also think it may draw in younger families and make the SCV even more diverse.

Many thanks to Brian and we wish him the best at the Pasadena Star-News!

Posted in Crime, Media, Opinion, Politics | 5 Responses »

(Another) Homicide in Stevenson Ranch/Westridge

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

Los Angeles news outlets are reporting the slaying of a 37 year old man in the parking lot of the multi-use office building that sits at the corner of Valencia Boulevard and The Old Road and houses such businesses as a Wells Fargo bank branch, the local branch of Pardee Homes and the law offices of Hacker and Braly. The slaying occured at around 6:45 pm on Tuesday, December 22.

While no one has released the name of the victim, KCAL is reporting the victim was the owner of a credit repair company that had recently relocated to the building and was holding its holiday party when the victim stepped outside and was shot multiple times standing next to a white BMW.

This is the third homicide in memory in that rather small slice of the SCV. Recall the stabbing death of an elderly restaurant worker in the Marketplace (unsolved) and the stabbing/vehicular homicide of the young man two years ago this Thanksgiving (solved) and this small area that residents consider quite safe attracts an outsize share of sudden horrendous violence.

Posted in Crime | 16 Responses »

Not questioning the Sheriff’s Department, but damn

Friday, December 11th, 2009

If I was a Stevenson Ranch resident, I don’t know what would scare me more: a mystery burglar who never apparently was there or the vast armada of para-military cops who lined up for battle in a quiet residential neighborhood yesterday.

In case you missed the story, there was a report yesterday afternoon about a man entering the garage of an O’Hara lane home at around 11am. The homeowner was contacted and he told Deputies he had a gun in the house, so the Sheriff’s station responded as if the burglar was armed, an entirely reasonable assumption.

Coincidentally, the Signal says, an LASD SWAT team was in town for exercises. They diverted to Stevenson Ranch to confront the possibly armed burglar.

I hope the Signal & photog Francisca Rivas won’t get upset with me for borrowing these images, but I feel I have to illustrate what Stevenson Ranch residents saw later that afternoon:

Was there ever a burglar in the first place? Who knows. Deputies found nothing missing in the house once they entered it.But if there had been he surely would have surrendered in the face of such awesome firepower. The weapon pictured above, I believe, is a Heckler & Koch MP-5 submachine gun, nicknamed the “Room Broom” by special forces people because it is small enough to rapidly sweep around a room, clearing it of bad guys.

Now as I said in the title of this post, I’m not one to question the reaction, but damn that’s a lot of firepower for a simple burglar. It sounds like the reaction was incidental, however. If the SWAT team hadn’t been in town to practice, would normal LASD units have coordinated the response, containment & search?

This reminds me of another incident -also in Stevenson Ranch- a year ago or so where some 13 year old boys stole a bicycle from a neighborhood garage and were tracked by an LASD helicopter until they were successfully apprehended at a local elementary school. Yes we had aerial pursuit of some children on bikes!

That’s just the way it works in the SCV. Sometimes you get a big law enforcement response and lots of coverage for something like yesterday’s phantom burglary, and sometimes you only hear about melees, crime and LASD response through the grapevine, like last month’s Town Center Drive melee.

Posted in Crime | 7 Responses »

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