Two Men Arrested In Raid Culminating Investigation Into Reported Narcotics Dealing In Fontana. FONTANA -- Police on Monday displayed the results of an investigation into weapons and drug dealing across the street from an elementary school. Investigators with the Fontana police gang unit made two arrests and seized 40 guns, 20,000 rounds of ammunition, a high-end bulletproof vest and 10 pounds of finished methamphetamine. Police said they believe the men under arrest -- Andy Valadez and William Beauchamp -- were involved in the highly lucrative business of selling drugs and guns to gang members. The weapons, at least a dozen of which were stolen, were worth about $100,000. [continues 559 words]
RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- A 23-year-old woman was sentenced Tuesday to six months in jail for causing a car crash that killed a 2-year-old boy in January 2001. Prosecutors and the boy's family were disappointed that Elaine Nasrawi did not receive the full one-year sentence recommended by the San Bernardino County Probation Department. Nasrawi pleaded guilty in September to one count of felony vehicular manslaughter and another count of driving under the influence. Sheriff's detectives said she was high on marijuana when she slammed into the back of a Honda on Jan. 30, 2001, killing Markies Kinder. [continues 319 words]
Investigation in Rancho Cucamonga and El Monte Results in Five Arrests, Seizure of $1 Million and Drugs. RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- Officers conducting a search found a methamphetamine lab in a house just 30 feet from an elementary school Wednesday morning. In a simultaneous search at a home in El Monte, officers found 10 pounds of finished methamphetamine and $1 million in cash, Baldwin Park Police Lt. Michael Davis said. The cash came from narcotics sales, police said. Investigators believe the drugs found at the El Monte address were manufactured at a house on the 7400 block of Ivy Lane in Rancho Cucamonga, which is near Dona Merced Elementary School. [continues 232 words]
Former Narcotics Officer Charged In Connection To Discovery Of 24 Pounds Of Marijuana In Brother-In-Law's Possession. RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- Jurors will begin deliberating today in the trial of a former Bell Gardens narcotics officer charged with conspiring to traffic marijuana. Carlos Iribe, 31, of Placentia was fired from the Police Department and faces up to six years and eight months in state prison if convicted. Iribe was arrested after a drug-sniffing dog with the Ontario Airport Police alerted officers to a package addressed to Iribe's brother-in-law in June 1999, San Bernardino County Deputy Dist. Atty. Marie Fournier said. The package contained $13,000 in cash that smelled of marijuana, she said. [continues 427 words]
Pomona American Recovery Center, Which Counts Rodney King Among Its Patients, Offers Guidance On The Long And Difficult Road Of Rehabilitation. POMONA -- Rodney King's recent problems began at a motel, and with any luck, they'll end at one. King, 36, was sentenced Oct. 26 to spend a year at Pomona's American Recovery Center for treatment of his addiction to PCP. Police found him under the influence of drugs three times in two months. Claremont police found him at a Howard Johnson motel on Aug. 28, after he reported his car stolen. King later remembered that he had loaned the car to his girlfriend, but police noticed he seemed confused and he flunked a sobriety test. Pomona police picked him up twice more, once after he exposed himself in Ganesha Park and boasted to people that he was Rodney King. [continues 921 words]
Central Figure In 1991 Videotaped Beating By LAPD Officers Is Accused Of Being Under The Influence Of Drugs At Claremont Motel. CLAREMONT -- Rodney King thought his car had been stolen Tuesday morning, but he was the one who ended up in custody on suspicion of being under the influence of PCP, police said. It was the latest in a string of problems King has encountered with police since his 1991 beating by Los Angeles police officers was caught on videotape and he became a worldwide symbol of police brutality. [continues 463 words]
Three Boys Remain Hospitalized After Drinking Mixture That Included Plant Whose Seeds Can Cause Hallucinations, Convulsions. RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- A 15-year-old boy was released from the hospital Friday, but three of his friends remained under medical supervision, two days after they stirred orange juice, bananas and jimson weed into a hallucinogenic brew and gulped it down. "He became totally incoherent, then he became violent and began hitting people," said the uncle of the boy released Friday. "He was laughing and talking to himself. He saw the overhead light in the hospital and thought it was a TV. He just stared at it for hours, watching TV." [continues 684 words]
Representative Of District Attorney's Office Says Driver In Collision That Killed Toddler Will Be Prosecuted For A Misdemeanor Offense. RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- A 21-year-old Rancho Cucamonga woman who authorities say was high on marijuana when she crashed into the back of a car, killing a 2-year-old child, has been charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter, San Bernardino County Supervising Deputy Dist. Atty. Clark Hansen said. Elaine Nasrawi could face up to a year in county jail and a $2,000 fine if convicted. [continues 396 words]
ONTARIO -- The San Bernardino County district attorney's office declined to file charges against David Fawcett, a crusader for medical marijuana who says he uses the drug to treat shingles and clinical depression. Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Maxwell said he made the decision June 7, after reviewing a previous case in which Judge Dennis Cole ruled Fawcett was allowed to possess marijuana under the Compassionate Use Act. [continues 230 words]
A San Bernardino County Sheriff's Deputy Is Accused Of Having A Relationship With A 16-Year-Old Boy FONTANA -- Gustavo Ulloa has been a law enforcement officer half his life. He has worked as a Drug Abuse Resistance Education officer and as a coordinator for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department Explorer Scouts program. According to his attorney, he was a role model for about 5,000 young adults and children. But his relationship with one particular juvenile, a 16-year-old neighbor, has landed him in court, charged with four counts of criminal sexual behavior involving a minor. Each count carries a maximum sentence of a year in jail. [continues 302 words]
Dell Bender Testifies That Sidney Polidori Gave Morphine To Israel Polidori The Night Before He Died. RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- A 49-year-old chiropractor gave his intoxicated stepson morphine and a muscle relaxant to intensify his buzz the night before the young man died, the stepson's best friend testified Wednesday. Dell Bender, 24, told the court that Sidney J. Polidori later told him to lie about the pills. Israel Polidori died May 6, 2000, two weeks shy of his 25th birthday. Prosecutors charged Sidney Polidori with second-degree murder and transporting or furnishing a controlled substance on March 22. He pleaded not guilty in April. [continues 550 words]
