WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2011
Volume 10 Issue 118
Santa Monica Daily Press
MANY QUESTIONS SEE PAGE 11
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THE MORE CLARITY ISSUE
Man pleads not guilty in torture case BY KEVIN HERRERA Editor in Chief
AIRPORT COURTHOUSE A Santa Monica man is being held on $1 million bail after pleading not guilty Monday to charges that he tortured a mentally handicapped man and held him against his will for at least six months. Francisco Gerardo Rodriguez, 25, is facing one count of torture, one count of mayhem and one count of assault with a deadly weapon (a knife), said Jane Robison, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Rodriguez was arrested by Santa Monica SEE PLEA PAGE 7
SMO complaint system unveiled BY ASHLEY ARCHIBALD Daily Press Staff Writer
SMO Santa Monica Airport officials this week unveiled an online tracking system that will allow people to report the noise issues or improper flight patterns of any airplane flying into or out of SMO. The system, called Webtrak, shows a color-coded airplane symbol set against a zoomed out map of the surrounding area. Similar systems are used at LAX, John Wayne Airport and San Diego International Airport, among others. Users can pick a time that they noticed the airplane, find it on the map and file a complaint about it, which will go immediately to airport officials. The planes are seen as close to real time as possible, said Airport Manager Bob Trimborn. “You’ll see flight activity 20 minutes after it happens,” Trimborn said. “That’s for security reasons.” The Federal Aviation Administration does not allow by-the-minute tracking, but SEE SMO PAGE 10
NOT IN TIME
Morgan Genser news@smdp.com Bishop Montgomery's Eric Cabahug slides safely into home plate as St. Monica catcher Michael Doherty tries to apply a tag on Tuesday at Marine Park. St. Monica lost, 2-0. The loss sends the St. Monica Mariners to a 3-7 record this year.
OIR report corrected in de la Torre probe School district superintendent did not give police fight video BY ASHLEY ARCHIBALD Daily Press Staff Writer
CITY HALL Superintendent Tim Cuneo expressed his gratitude to City Hall Tuesday when he discovered a correction to the Office of Independent Review report stating that he did not give the Santa Monica Police Department a video of school board member Oscar de la Torre at a fight between two teens. City Hall posted the two-page correction on March 24, a day after the City Attorney’s Office received it. It was also put on the
SMPD website. According to the letter, signed by OIR’s lead attorney Michael Gennaco, the office was asked to revisit a portion of the report which identified Cuneo as the individual who had given a cell phone video capturing the fight de la Torre broke up. “As a result of our subsequent review, we no longer have reason to believe that the superintendent was the individual who supplied the video to the police department,” Gennaco wrote in the statement. The discrepancy came to light “a couple of weeks ago,” Gennaco said Tuesday, and
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the OIR revisited its notes and interviewed new sources inside and outside the SMPD before concluding that its original information had been incorrect. Cuneo, who saw the correction Tuesday morning, said that although he knew that the matter was under review, he had not been told of the findings. “I’m pleased that it was looked into, and it is clear that the report was inaccurate,” Cuneo said. The correction does not affect the overSEE PROBE PAGE 9
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