Arcadia police arrested 3 burglary suspects after a high-speed chase on the 210 Freeway ended in a crash in Azusa yesterday. The suspects are Dominic Bertirotti, 23, of Monrovia, Salim Alayache, 23 of Pasadena and Salvador Esparza, Jr., 18 of Azusa. No one was injured seriously.
Troy Lucarelli, 43, of Temple City, was arrested by Monrovia Police, after he broke into a woman's home in Arcadia, robbed her of her car keys and stole her car in the 900 block of Paloma Drive.
DUI (driving under the influence) is suspected in fatal freeway crash. An allegedly drunk Tatsukiho Sakamoto, 37 of Arcadia, ignored signs and cones indicating the 10 Freeway was closed, and drove his Toyota RAV4 through the closure, fatally striking 21-year-old road worker Connor McDermott Penhall. Penhall is son of hall of fame motorcycle racer and actor Bruce Penhall.
Richard John Villareal, Jr., 28, received a sentence of more than 15 years in prison for a car crash following a police pursuit in Temple City that killed his passenger. The defendant led Arcadia police officers on a high-speed pursuit after they attempted to pull him over for driving a stolen car near Workman and Baldwin Avenue.
Arcadia kidnapping, rape suspect Philippe Brian Lutete, 29, is charged with false imprisonment and sexual battery of a woman on November 26 in the 2900 block of Spruce Court. He was out on bail when he was also arrested on April 8, 2015 on suspicion of kidnapping and raping a woman over an 11-hour period.
Arcadia man Tatsuhiko Sakamoto, 37, pleaded not guilty to fatally hitting 21-year-old road worker Connor McDermott Penhall, in Pomona Superior Court yesterday. The crash happened April 4, 2012, when Sakamoto allegedly drove onto a closed part of the 10 Freeway in Baldwin Park, while drunk. He will next appear in court June 27 to set a date for his preliminary hearing.
Suspect in Arcadia burglary in the 200 block of Monte Place, Steve Gainer, was arrested following a high-speed chase. See also Arcadia Weekly, p. 1, 12, March 31, 2016.
23-year-old Arcadia man Joshua Martin Parra-Davis was booked by Arcadia Police on suspicion of possessing an explosive device and leaving it in a backpack near a Bank of America on Foothill Boulevard on Friday, January 14, 2011. Witnesses said Parra-Davis first went to Foothills Middle School and may have been trying to open classrooms when he was confronted and ran off. The suspect was then seen dropping a backpack in bushes near the Bank of America and then running through the parking lot, where officers detained him. Arcadia Police called the bomb squad. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Bob Squad successfully detonated the device. Parra-Davis could be arranged in Pasadena Court today.
Arcadia police nab residential burgler suspect 18-year-old Hassan Deontrae Murphy after a high speed pursuit. The residential burglary happened on the 2000 block of Carolwood Drive.
Arcadia Police arrested Juan Lorenzo, 31, and Jose Antonio Cruz Ramirez, 26, both of San Gabriel, on suspicion of the stabbing murder of Anthony Berry, 18, of Pomona, at 1300 S. Golden West Avenue. The suspects are employees of Money Pot Shabu Shabu restaurant and became involved in an argument with Berry. Lorenzo will be arraigned January 5, 2012.
A jury convicted DeQiang Song, 24 of Monterey Park, of the kidnapping and attempted murder of a 21-year-old woman, who he knew through a mutual friend, after taking her on a trip to Westfield Santa Anita shopping mall in Arcadia on September 8, 2010. He then took her to a remote area of desert in San Bernardino County and bound her, strangled her, sliced her throat with a knife and left her for dead. She survived. Song asked the victim's father for $10,000 in ransom money. He will be sentenced April 26 in Alhambra Superior Court.
Two men arrested on suspicion of residential burglary and assault with a deadly weapon in the 200 block of East Colorado Blvd. The suspects were Kevin Gerald Kelly, 57, of Hollywood and Floyd Edward Broadnax, 52, of Long Beach.
Local historian Daniel Hennessy talked about Arcadia police officer Albert Matthies, the only police officer killed in the line of duty and the trial of the suspects thereafter, at the Gilb Museum on October 21.
Former Arcadia police officer Christian Blesch, 36, was arrested and charged with grand theft. He allegedly embezzled funds from the Arcadia Police Officers' Association over a period of several months. As of September 24, 2013, Blesch was no longer employed by Arcadia Police Department.
Alan Weeks, a retiree who rode the last Pacific Electric Red Car that went through this area in 1951, visits the Arcadia Gold Line Station at North First Avenue and Santa Clara Street.
Attempted murder/suicide by trying to drive off Chantry Flat at Santa Anita Dam. Suspect holed up at the dam house, SWAT called. The suspect, a 21-year-old Los Angeles resident named Patrick Anthony Gonzalez, was arrested by Arcadia police.
Arcadia Police Department and Monrovia Police Department catch vacuum thief who stole a $600 vacuum from a store on Huntington Drive, then he caught the 187 Foothill Transit Bus to get away. The police cited and released him on the promise to appear in court on the charge of theft.
Arcadia, Monrovia, and Duarte schools all forced to lock down this week due to phoned in threats of a gunman on 4 separate campuses. On Thursday, September 12, the caller contacted Arcadia Police Department, reporting "he was at Arcadia High School and that he was going to start shooting students with an assault rifle." A second call was received during the police search of the campus that told officers to back off or they would be shot. No suspects of weapons were found.
A passenger (name withheld pending notification to next of kin) in a stolen vehicle was killed and another hurt yesterday following a pursuit by Arcadia police. Richard John Villareal, 28, of Arcadia, and his male passenger led Arcadia police on a chase that ended about 11:40 AM on Lower Azusa Road and Arden Drive in Temple City when the stolen car crashed into two other vehicles. The passenger was dead at the scene. The driver sustained minor injuries and was arrested. See also Arcadia Weekly, p. 7, June 5, 2014.
Monrovia man David King Brewster has been charged with attempted murder of a peace officer, as he became combative and began fighting with two Arcadia police officers for no apparent reason, on July 6, 2015 in the 400 block of East Huntington Drive. Brewster may have been under the influence of a controlled substance. He punched one officer in the face and choked the other officer in an attempt to use cause serious or fatal injury to him.