The husband and wife suspected of enslaving and torturing a 20-year old woman from mainland China allegedly kept a second slave and may have imported as many as a half dozen people into the United States. Dianji Zhai and Hua Jiang of Arcadia have been arrested.
Bail was set at $1 million for Arcadian Hua Jiang, charged with enslaving a 20-year old woman from China. Her husband and co-defendant, Dianyi Zhai, will remain in custody without bail for several additional charges.
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.
Police have arrested nine people who are believed to be members of a San Gabriel Valley Asian gang that has been under investigation in recent months for terrorizing local Asian youths. Four adults and five juveniles were taken into custody after police linked them with a February 15 kidnapping, attempted extortion and assault.
Two passengers hurt in bus stabbing inside a Foothill Transit bus on October 31, shortly after 6:00 PM. The bus was on Live Oak Avenue, west of Myrtle Avenue, in unincorporated county area near Arcadia. Nicholas Patito, 51, a transient, was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. The two sounded male passengers, age 54 and age 24, have non-life threatening injuries.
Juan L. Lorenzo, 31, of San Gabriel, was charged with one count of murder and one count of assault with deadly weapon in connection with fatal stabbing of Anthony Berry, 18, of Pomona, in the 1300 block of S. Golden West Avenue. Jose Cruz Ramirez of San Gabriel was initially also arrested, but was released. Lorenzo and Ramirez work at Money Pot Shabu Shabu restaurant and became involved in an argument with Berry. Lorenzo will be arraigned January 5, 2012.
The California Second District Court of Appeals rejected Mulji Patel's claim that the restitution awarded to Erwin Nepomuceno for $20,250 in lost earnings was excessive. Patel was convicted in March 2009 on two counts of assaults with a deadly weapon for the January 31, 2006 attack on Nepomuceno, a workers' compensation attorney. Patel was a Rockwell International employee and a jury found him sane at the time. Patel was sentenced in May 2009 to 12 years in state prison.
Los Angeles County Court official says zero-bail policy working as intended. Risk is deciding factor in determining if suspect is released without payment. Zero bail eliminates the financial requirements for release from all but the most serious offenses prior to arraignment. Police will instead cite and release, or book and release, suspects for a majority of misdemeanors and some felonies. Serious and violent crimes (such as killing, kidnap, robbery, assault with deadly weapon), are not eligible and still retain previous bail amounts. More than a dozen LA County cities have joined a lawsuit attempting to reverse the policy. Attorneys for the cities, include Whittier, Downey, Beverly Hills, and Arcadia, argue the Superior Courts have balanced the system too heavily in favor of offenders, so much that "victims and public safety are given a zero value."
A 20-year old baby sitter from mainland China testified about the events she said led to her enslavement by Arcadia couple Dianyi Zhia and Hua Jiang. See also Pasadena Star News, July 23, 1997, p. A1.
Police arrested eleven Asian-American high school students, nine of whom were Arcadia High School students, after a 2-month investigation of extortion and terrorist threats by suspected gang members against junior high school students.
Dale Paul Raine, 30, received the Mayor's Certificate of Commendation for helping to stop the attempted kidnapping of two 16-year-old girls near his home on Golden West Avenue.
Man charged with kidnapping, beating ex-girlfriend in Arcadia. Robert Michael Mendez faces one count each of kidnapping and criminal threats and three counts of injuring a girlfriend or child's parent.
26-year-old Arcadia man Lucas Naccarati still shaken by deadly toll and tried to help people around him at a Travis Scott concert in Houston, TX where people were trampled to death.
The 2001 murder of grocer Adel Karas, a 48-year old Egyptian man from Arcadia, a few days after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, was initially thought to have been a hate crime. He was shot at his store International Market at 1381 E. Last Tunas in San Gabriel. Now police suspect Adel Karas was the victim of extortion. The suspects are two Latinos in their mid-20s.
The parents of Madonna Slavin must appear in Los Angeles Superior Court on November 1 to answer the charges of kidnapping their 20 year old daughter from the Hare Krishna sect and forcibly "deprogramming" her.
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.
A 21-year-old woman was the third person raped at gunpoint this year, and police suspect that they may be by the same person. All three women were accosted by an African American man in his 20's or 30's wearing a black cap. They were accosted in the early morning with a gun while alone in their cars.