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INDEPENDENT
Go to BurbankIndependent.com for Burbank Specific News MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 - SEPTEMBER 15, 2019 VOLUME 7, NO. 35
San Bernardino Band Instrument Thieves Drum Up Time – In Jail Police arrested three people Wednesday on suspicion of stealing about $10,000 worth of band equipment from Ontario High School the previous day, According to KTLA News. Mark Correria Souza, 42, of Ontario; Jeanne Lynne Zieffler, 50, of Jurupa Valley; and Rollin Roy Phillips, 42, of Ontario are each accused of burglary following Tuesday’s break in at the high school, 901 W. Francis Street, the Ontario Police Department said in a written statement. About $10,000 worth of musical instruments and other equipment was stolen from the school on Wednesday, police said. “An OPD school resource officer reviewed hours of surveillance video which depicted two suspects and a vehicle involved in the theft,” according to the police statement. Investigators identified Souza as a suspect and went to his home in the 700 block of West Philadelphia Street in search of him, officials said. He ran from the home, but was soon found and taken into custody with help from a police K-9. Zieffler and Phillips were also subsequently arrested in connection with the burglary, police said. The stolen musical equipment was found inside Souza’s
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Four Charged With Kidnapping of Orange County Woman
REMEMBERING SEPT. 18 YEARS LATER
Two weeks after the terrorist attacks, this reporter flew to New York to witness the pain, suffering and incredible destruction caused by two jets Flying into the Twin Towers in lower Manhattan. – Photo by Terry Miller/Beacon Media News
BY TERRY MILLER
W
ednesday will mark 15 years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that shook the earth in New York, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa. On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four airliners and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the towers of the World Trade Center in New
L.A. County Man Arrested for Transporting Teenager Across State Lines to Engage in Prostitution A Los Angeles County man has been arrested on a federal criminal complaint charging him with transporting a teenage girl in interstate commerce so she could work as a prostitute in Southern California, Nevada and Arizona. Christian Alexander Augustus, 23, a.k.a. “Sir Ceeco,” was arrested in Stockton. He made his initial appearance in United States District Court in Sacramento on August 28, and was ordered detained pending trial. He remains in federal custody in Sacramento and will be
transferred to this district at a later date to face the charges against him. According to an affidavit filed with the criminal complaint in this case, the victim was a 16-year-old runaway from Orange County who met Augustus in Los Angeles in December 2018 and he had been her trafficker until she fled from him in July 2019. Prior to the victim fleeing, Augustus allegedly took her to Los
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York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Often referred to as 9/11, the attacks resulted in extensive death and destruction, triggering major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism and defining the presidency of George W. Bush. Over 3,000 people were killed during the attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., including more than 400 police officers and firefighters. September 11, 2001, was the deadliest day in history for New York City firefighters: 343 were killed. Almost 3000 people lost their lives that day 18 years ago.
Four people were charged today with multiple felonies in connection with kidnapping an Irvine woman and holding her for ransom. Ezra Schley, 71, and Yang “Rose” Wang, 37, both of Huntington Beach, Reha Soylular, 54, of Newport Beach, and George Armando Medrano, 34, of Norco, were each charged with one felony count of aggravated kidnapping for ransom and extortion, one felony count of residential burglary, and one felony count of attempted extortion. Medrano was also charged with one felony count of a felon in possession of ammunition and one misdemeanor count of possession of marijuana for sale. Schley was charged with one misdemeanor count of carrying a loaded firearm in public. All four defendants face a minimum of seven years and a maximum sentence of life if convicted on all charges. They are currently being held at the Orange County Jail on $1 million bail. The four defendants are accused of kidnaping Jane Doe from her Irvine apartment on August 28, 2019 in an attempt to extort a large sum of money from Jane Doe’s husband and motherin-law. They are also accused of sending pictures of Jane Doe being held captive to Jane Doe’s
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Riverside County Man Sentenced To Death For The 2016 Murders Of Two Police Officers A Riverside County judge sentenced a man to death for the murders of Palms Springs police Officers Jose Gilbert “Gil” Vega and Lesley Zerebny. The sentence was rendered in a packed Larson Justice Center courtroom by Judge Anthony Villalobos after about a dozen victim impact statements were heard from loved ones of the two fallen officers. Among those in the courtroom to hear the sentence were several members
of the jury that convicted John Hernandez Felix, DOB: 7-24-90, of Palm Springs, on May 20, 2019, of all counts, including first-degree murder of the two officers and the attempted murders of six other officers. The seven-woman, five-man jury also found true special circumstances of multiple murders and murder of a
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