Suspected gang members charged with murdering man who answered Craigslist ad

Two suspected gang members were charged Monday with murder in connection with the slaying of a father who was responding to a Craigslist ad for a cellphone for his son, Los Angeles law enforcement authorities said.

Ryan Roth, 17, and Markell Thomas, 18, were arrested late last week after detectives connected the killing with similar robberies in the area, Police Det. Chris Barling said.

In addition to the murder charges, they were both charged with attempted murder, along with two counts each of second-degree robbery with gang enhancements, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. Roth, a minor, was charged as an adult.

Police said Thomas and Roth communicated with Rene Balbuena, 41, and his 15-year-old son via text message Oct. 19 about buying a $300 Samsung Galaxy cellphone. When Balbuena arrived in the 9200 block of South Gramercy Place about 7:30 p.m. with his son to buy the phone, the father and son were ambushed, Barling said.

Thomas and Roth demanded money from Balbuena, police said, and Thomas jumped into the back seat of the car and pointed a gun at the teenager. Balbuena then got out of the car and was shot by Roth, Barling said. Balbuena's son was hit by gunfire.

Roth and Thomas then fled on foot without any property, leaving the father and son wounded. Balbuena was taken to a hospital, where he died. His son was treated and released.

Initially, detectives said they didn't have much to go on.

"In a case like this, it's stranger-on-stranger, so it makes it more difficult, as opposed to cases where the victim knows the suspect," Barling said.

But investigators discovered similarities to other robberies in the area. The robberies — in which no one was shot — involved Craigslist ads and the same type of cellphone.

"The basic descriptions of the suspects were all the same," Barling said.

Now investigators believe Thomas could be involved in as many as seven robberies in the Baldwin Hills area from Aug. 2 to Oct. 7.

At a news conference Monday afternoon, Balbuena's 19-year-old daughter, Sandra Balbuena, thanked police for their efforts. She said she and her family were still in shock over the loss of her father, who was an avid runner.

"I'm very proud to live in a city that I know that I'm safe, and that no one else is going to get harmed," she said. "I know nothing's going to bring back my dad, but I know that they worked real hard, I know they didn't sleep, I know they didn't eat."

"I have no words to thank them," she said. "My dad was my best friend. He was everything to me."

Sandra Balbuena said her main priority now is her brother, who is recovering from the shooting.

"He'll be stable for a second and then he'll be really upset," she said. "My brother's been through a lot too. I'm just very thankful that I still have him."

Thomas is due in court for an arraignment Nov. 13. Roth is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.

— Nicole Santa Cruz

Photo: At a news conference to announce two arrests in the shooting death of Rene Balbuena, his wife, Sandra Balbuena, left, holds their 19-year-old daughter, also named Sandra. Credit: Christina House / For The Times

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Increasing pedestrian safety will take more than tougher laws

They consider running a family thing. Jeri Dye Lynch and her three sons ran every chance they got — right up until the day her oldest boy, Conor, was struck and killed by a car as he crossed the street outside his high school on his way to cross country practice.

It's only fitting that since he died in 2010, Lynch has used running as a way to memorialize her child. On Sunday, the Conor Lynch Foundation held its third annual 5K race to raise money for efforts to promote safety for pedestrians, runners, cyclists and young drivers.

Almost 2,000 people turned out; most of them teenagers from San Fernando Valley schools. There were wristbands, T-shirts and a giant bus sponsored by Text Kills, with a simulator that puts kids behind the wheel while they try to read a cellphone text. They quickly inevitably wreck.

Conor Lynch was 16 when he died, a junior at Notre Dame High in Sherman Oaks. The car that hit him was driven by an 18-year-old who didn't have a license. She didn't stop, but drove on for several blocks, until she spotted a police officer, pulled over and said, "I think I hit somebody."

Some witnesses said it looked like driver Moran Biton sped up to make it through an intersection just before she hit Conor, who was dashing across busy Woodman Avenue, trying to catch up with his cross country teammates.

Biton pleaded guilty to driving without a license and hit-and-run, both misdemeanors. She was placed on probation and ordered to perform community service.

Jeri Dye Lynch was sentenced to grief, then anger, then resolve. She wanted practical measures: Digital signs that broadcast how fast a driver is traveling. The return of drivers' education classes for every high school student.

But she knows that isn't enough. She wants to change the conversation, so that dead pedestrians aren't just tragic victims, but proof of something gone wrong.

The banners on display at the memorial run Sunday brought that home: "Accidents don't just happen. They are caused."

::

A pedestrian is struck and killed, on average, almost every few days in Los Angeles.

More than one-third of motor vehicle deaths in this city involve pedestrians. That's one of the highest rates in the country, and it just keeps growing.

Many of those are hit-and-run cases — difficult for police to solve and impossible for grief-stricken families to comprehend.

"You wonder what kind of person could run somebody down and not even pull over to render aid," said Eve Bonanomi, whose son Michael was killed in August by a hit-and-run driver.

Michael Bonanomi, 35, lived in Santa Monica but was house-sitting for his parents in Studio City. He was crossing Ventura Boulevard, coming back from dinner, when a late-model white Mercedes flew by, knocking him onto its hood, then flinging him onto the street.

Police have been trying to find the car, but it didn't have a license plate. Michael's friends have been papering the neighborhood with fliers in case someone knows something. The city is offering a $50,000 reward for information on the driver.

His parents still know nothing.

They came to Conor's memorial on Sunday because the families share a bond. They didn't run, just walked around the crowded park — with pictures pinned to their chests of their smiling, handsome son.

::

Last month, the City Council moved to tighten tracking of hit-and-run deaths and enact tougher penalties for drivers who flee the scene of collisions.

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L.A. schools improved, but Deasy fell short of ambitious goals

On the eve of discussions over his future, Los Angeles schools Supt. John Deasy can count on broad support from the civic elite, but by his own yardsticks, his performance fell notably short this year.

Deasy set ambitious and specific targets to measure progress in the nation's second-largest school system — and in category after category, he failed to hit his marks, even though L.A. Unified maintained a long trend of gradual improvement.

He didn't reach goals in eight of nine academic categories measured by test scores. He also slipped behind in his targets for boosting the graduation rate and in attendance for students and teachers. He shined, however, in two categories: reducing the number of instructional days lost to suspensions and in the percentage of students who feel safe at school.

This data could put Deasy in a more precarious position at his annual evaluation Tuesday, which will be conducted behind closed doors by the Board of Education. That seven-member body has become more willing to challenge Deasy's actions and philosophy in recent months.

Last week, a frustrated Deasy alerted some top officials that he was considering leaving in coming months; those close to him say he is increasingly displeased with what he sees as the board's micromanaging and second-guessing. Community leaders and activists plan to rally in support of Deasy at district headquarters Tuesday.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in an interview Monday that the "marriage" between Deasy and the school board should continue "for the sake of students." And, taken in proper context, he said, Deasy's performance has excelled.

"Achievement is up; dropout rates are down," Duncan said. "Many more kids taking Advanced Placement classes. Suspensions are down. Many more students are on track to hit [college preparation] requirements. Community engagement is up. I don't think anybody would claim victory here, but L.A. is absolutely going in the right direction."

Roosevelt High School teacher Lisa Alva, a former Deasy supporter, said, however, that the superintendent has talked consistently about data, applying it to the fates of teachers and principals. Since he failed to meet his targets, he should possibly be put on probation, she said, and questioned whether his pay should also be docked in keeping with executive practices tying pay to performance.

"What's good for the goose is good for the gander," Alva said. "If we're going to be held to standards that include test data and all kinds of metrics, so should he."

Deasy said Monday that he had set "very bold targets. Some we hit, some we didn't hit. Some we exceeded. Some we didn't come close to."

Fewer than a third of students test at grade level in algebra, for example. Deasy had wanted that number to be nearly half by now. But students are doing notably better in that subject.

Deasy called the progress "noncontrovertible," but added: "We certainly experienced the compounding of a dramatic loss of resources at the same time we were trying to make dramatic improvement." Budget cuts that virtually eliminated summer school and winter classes between semesters were especially detrimental, Deasy said.

Deasy became superintendent in early 2011 at a salary of $330,000. Achievement levels this year were not strong enough for him to qualify for up to $30,000 in annual bonuses.

In 2011-12, the graduation rate jumped from 56% to 64%. The next year, the rate nudged up 1 percentage point, short of the anticipated improvement.

He wanted two-thirds of elementary students at grade level in English by the spring of 2013. Instead, the number was 51%, a drop of 3 percentage points from 2012.

Other areas were flat or showed small gains, but not what he had targeted.

UC Berkeley education professor Bruce Fuller called Deasy's targets "excessively optimistic," especially during a recession.

But Deasy's strongest supporters have included philanthropists and activists who have adopted a no-excuses view toward student achievement. Some have said schools could benefit from more funding but that money is not the primary impediment to improvement. And, they believe, teachers and administrators should be judged, in part, by test scores and other data.

In the case of Deasy's numbers, modest progress will do for now, others say.

"High performers set high goals," said attorney George Kieffer, a member of the UC Board of Regents. "The district has seen overall improvement with his leadership."

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Redlands high school teacher faces sex abuse suit by former student

A Redlands high school teacher who has been on leave more than 21/2 years is set to face accusations in court Tuesday that she sexually seduced one of her students, even checking the girl out of school so they could be together.

Megan Kelly, a teacher at Redlands East Valley High School, was not charged when prosecutors reviewed the case in 2011 but is now being taken to civil court to face her accuser, a former student who says the instructor preyed on her typical school-girl weaknesses and, over time, began sexually abusing her.

The student, who is not being identified because of the nature of the allegations, is suing Kelly for sexual battery and emotional distress, and the school district for failing to take action in the case.

"They let this girl be sexually abused repeatedly. They had plenty of warnings they ignored," said John Manly, the former student's attorney and a veteran litigator who help secure nearly $1 billion in settlements in sexual abuse cases involving priests.

It is the second time in recent months that a Redlands Unified School District teacher has been accused. A 28-year-old teacher was sentenced in July to a year in jail for having sex with three of her students, one of whom fathered her baby.

Kelly, 32, has denied the accusations. Her attorney said she is being falsely accused, pointing out that the allegations weren't reported until two years after the alleged events.

Manly, though, calls it a classic case of sexual abuse, alleging that the teacher first groomed the teenager and then took advantage of her.

The district, Manly alleges, ignored signs that something was amiss. In one incident, Kelly was disciplined after she excused the student from a class in 2009, saying she was working on a soccer event. Kelly was not at school that day and, after initially authorizing that absence, called back to change it, according to a police report. The principal issued a letter of reprimand to Kelly, records show.

San Bernardino County prosecutors declined to charge Kelly, citing insufficient evidence and noting that the case was "difficult" because the plaintiff had taken two years to report her allegations.

"The only corroboration is the phone records and although the calling of the student by a teacher is probably inappropriate, it doesn't help us establish there was a sexual relationship between the two," prosecutors said.

In court papers, Kelly's lawyer wrote she is heterosexual and that the plaintiff had a "crush" on her. The papers also said the dozens of phone calls were mostly connected with the student "coming out."

The teacher's attorney, Randy Winet, asserts that the former student got help from Kelly on her biology course work while she was in college and that the accuser even came back to school to help with soccer coaching.

Initially, the district's lawyers had argued that the young woman and her parents were negligent, careless and put her in harm's way. They have since dropped that legal tack.

In a legal response, Manly wrote: "The simple truth is these defenses are a variations of the 'she asking for it defense' disguise, wrapped up in flowery legal language."

richard.winton@latimes.com

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L.A. County Assessor John Noguez hit with more felony charges

Los Angeles County Assessor John Noguez and tax consultant Ramin Salari, who are accused of orchestrating a wide-ranging pay-to-play scheme, were hit with a dozen new felonies Monday charging them with illegally lowering taxes on three more commercial buildings.

Both men pleaded not guilty to the new charges, which include grand theft and embezzlement, and have denied wrongdoing since their arrests in October 2012. Prosecutors say Salari paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes over the years to get Noguez and two of his deputies to illegally lower property taxes for his clients.

Prosecutors said Monday that the total loss to the county from the long-running scheme is more than $10 million in tax revenue.

Despite the charges, and five months in jail while trying to raise money for his $1-million bail, Noguez remains the assessor of Los Angeles County, an elected position that makes him responsible for setting the taxable values on more than a 2.5 million pieces of real estate, the largest local tax roll in the country.

Noguez took a leave of absence in June 2012 after the arrest of one of his deputies, but he continues to receive his roughly $200,000 county salary. He cannot be removed from office unless he is convicted of a crime or a new assessor is elected. The next election is scheduled for November 2014.

A preliminary hearing in the criminal case is set for Jan. 30, 2014.

Noguez's attorney did not return a call requesting comment.

In addition to the new grand theft and embezzlement charges, Salari was also charged with three new counts of tax evasion for allegedly failing to file complete California tax returns from 2010 to 2012 for his firm, Assessment Appeals Services.

Salari's attorney, Mark Werksman, said his client filed state taxes in California and Arizona, where he lives, and followed the advice of a professional tax preparer. Werksman said he was "mystified" by the new charges, calling them "indecipherable gibberish".

The three commercial buildings listed in the new charges, all on South Broadway near 6th Street in downtown Los Angeles' Jewelry District, received a combined $7 million in assessment reductions between 2006 and 2009, public records show.

"There's nothing we have at this point that shows [the owners] knew the properties were being reduced illegally," Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig Hum said. A management company that owns two of the buildings did not respond to a request for comment.

The normally off-the-radar assessor's office came under intense scrutiny in February 2012 after employees started complaining that they were pressured to lower property taxes for Salari's clients.

One complaint came from appraisers who resisted reducing the assessed value of one such property from $44 million to $30 million. Noguez allowed Salari to go to the office, where he berated those employees "in a condescending and bellicose tone," prosecutors said. It was highly unusual for a private tax consultant to be invited to such a meeting. Assessor's office staff called the incident "Black Tuesday."

Prosecutors say the meeting demonstrated the "strategic alliance" between Noguez and Salari, who is paid a percentage — in some cases 50% — of the tax reduction he wins.

District attorney investigators searched Noguez's Huntington Park home in April 2012. They found what they characterized as a list from Salari of 18 properties whose values he wanted reduced. The assessor's office made good on nearly all of Salari's requests, prosecutors said.

Bank records also showed $180,000 in personal checks from Salari to Noguez in 2010. The two men have described the checks as loans, but prosecutors say Noguez made no effort to pay the loans back until Los Angeles Times reporters started asking questions about possible misconduct at the assessor's office in early 2012.

Prosecutors say the checks were bribes.

Former assessor's office employee Scott Schenter, who is also charged in the alleged scheme, took at least $275,000 in bribes from Salari to lower values of homes and businesses over the years, prosecutors say. Around the time of Noguez's election, in November 2010, Schenter is accused of shaving $172 million from the assessed values of Westside properties in the hope that their owners would contribute to Noguez's campaign. Many of those owners were Salari's clients, records show.

Developers who bought the property of the closed Old Spaghetti Factory in Hollywood also got illegal reductions, as did property owners in Santa Monica, Hermosa Beach and Torrance, according to court documents.

With the new charges, Noguez, 48, faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted on all counts. Salari, 50, faces up to 75 years, prosecutors said.

jack.dolan@latimes.com

richard.winton@latimes.com

Times researcher Sandra Poindexter contributed to this report.

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Amid Obamacare signup glitches, thousands head to free clinic event

Organizers of a high-profile annual free clinic in Los Angeles that attracts thousands of uninsured and underinsured patients have hoped that improvements in the nation's healthcare system would greatly reduce demand for their services.

The massive Care Harbor event returns to town this week, amid the rollout of new and shifting insurance options for millions of Californians under the Obama administration's overhaul of the healthcare system. Once again, thousands showed up Monday at the Sports Arena to secure appointments for everything from mammograms to teeth cleaning — but with new expectations for the future.

"For many of these folks, we hope it's the last time they're in this line," said Howard A. Kahn, chief executive of the public health plan L.A. Care, which co-sponsors the event.

As they have for several years, dozens of doctors and dentists will be on hand Thursday through Sunday to serve thousands of patients.

Among many of the would-be patients, future insurance coverage was a secondary concern to blurry vision and painful gums.

Los Angeles resident Stanley Lewis, 52, hoped to get a crown; Boyle Heights resident Judy Ramos, 55, wanted to get her teeth fixed and a new pair of glasses. Richard Marcella, a 68-year-old from Lake Los Angeles, was concerned about his hearing and a painful mass that he worried might be cancer.

"You can't tell someone with a decaying tooth that there's anything more important in the moment," L.A. Care's Kahn said.

Many hoping to see a dentist said they had medical coverage through private or public plans, but no dental insurance.

Some without insurance said they tried to go on the state's new insurance website to sign up, but couldn't complete applications because the system wasn't working.

Others said they didn't want to attempt to use the system until any glitches are worked out. A few expressed anger at being compelled to enroll in health insurance under the federal Affordable Care Act.

"It's unfair, really," said Josh Berg, a 21-year-old actor who was signing up for medical and vision appointments. An Orange County native who said his life in Los Angeles was "just getting going," Berg said he was upset that he would face a fine if he doesn't buy insurance.

Information on insurance options was available for clinic-goers like Berg. Just beyond tables where patients received wristbands that would get them into the clinic, volunteers distributed information about Medi-Cal, Medicare and Covered California, the state's healthcare exchange.

Care Harbor's founder, Don Manelli, said the organization hadn't set any goals for Obamacare signups, but that he believed "a healthy percentage" of attendees would inquire about coverage. In about two weeks, he added, his team would be able to analyze computer records and determine how many people applied for insurance.

Manelli said sign-ups for clinic appointments were "going beautifully." He noted that by Sunday evening, hundreds had lined up to get wristbands. People continued arriving throughout the night, eventually forming a line that stretched around two sides of the arena and doubled back on itself.

At 8 a.m. on the dot Monday, the line — estimated at more than 2,000 men, women and children — jolted into motion. People jumped up from folding chairs and milk crates and quietly began to shuffle toward the appointment area.

By 10:40, the line was all but gone. A few minutes later, patients who had hoped to get dental appointments started being turned away.

"We wanted to come early, but I had work," said Natasha Oiye, 30, of North Hills. "This is so disappointing."

The need for less-expensive cleanings and fillings won't disappear with healthcare reform, organizers said. And despite the high hopes many hold for healthcare reform, they added, many people will still need Care Harbor's medical services.

UC Berkeley researchers have estimated that by 2019, when the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented, there will be more than 1 million uninsured people in L.A. County.

eryn.brown@latimes.com

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Gov. Jerry Brown signs clean energy pact with two states, Canadian province

SAN FRANCISCO — Gov. Jerry Brown signed a new pact Monday to formally align California's clean energy policies with those of Oregon, Washington state and British Columbia.

The agreement commits all four governments to work toward ways to put a price on carbon pollution, require the use of lower-carbon gasoline and set goals for reducing greenhouse gases across the region.

The nonbinding blueprint also sets new targets for electric vehicles — aiming for 10% of all new cars and trucks in the region to be emission-free by 2016 — and calls for the construction of a bullet-train system from Canada to California.

"These are modest steps," Brown told about 100 people at the San Francisco offices of computer hardware maker Cisco Systems, with sweeping views of the bay behind him. "We have to take action."

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat elected last year after 12 years in Congress, said he hoped the accord would send a message to the nation's capital, where Democrats and Republicans have been unable to agree on sweeping environmental legislation.

"Congress has ground to a halt because of climate deniers," he said. "I hope this can restart a national conversation, and hopefully action, on climate change."

This is not the first time California has sought cooperation with regional governments on environmental policy. All four participants in the new pact were members of the Western Climate Initiative, a 2007 regional accord intended to create a joint carbon-trading market.

Efforts to establish that market, which would have set a common levy on carbon emissions and established regional pollution caps, stalled in the Oregon and Washington legislatures.

Monday's agreement could face similar obstacles, but it gives the states more leeway to devise their own ways of charging polluters.

California has a carbon market that allows large polluters to buy the right to emit greenhouse gases. British Columbia has had a carbon-pollution tax since 2008. Either method would be permissible under the new blueprint.

Oregon Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber said his state has not yet decided which policy to pursue.

In California, business groups that have voiced opposition to the state's emission targets said Monday's announcement was a positive step.

"We have always believed that we need a broad market that includes not only other states but other countries, in order for it to function efficiently," said Shelly Sullivan, a spokeswoman for the AB 32 Implementation Group, a business organization that has opposed state pollution controls.

The group is named for the 2006 law requiring California to reduce its greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by the year 2020.

"We have long argued that a state-only approach would crush the state economy," Sullivan said.

Brown has made climate change policy a centerpiece of his administration, vowing not to wait for it to come from Washington, D.C., where President Obama's plans to tighten controls on pollution have been stuck in a deadlocked Congress.

Earlier this year, Brown traveled to China and has signed agreements with that country to work toward slowing pollution that leads to global warming.

California has taken a leading role in efforts to cut carbon emissions. It has established a market to set a price that companies must pay to pollute. The state plans to link its market with one in the Canadian province of Quebec next year.

Although the agreement signed Monday is not legally binding, environmentalists in California are hopeful that it could serve as a road map for the next wave of state policy.

"It sends a signal to the Legislature," said Dan Jacobson, legislative director for Environment California, an advocacy organization, "to start introducing the bills to put these goals into law."

anthony.york@latimes.com

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Bell adds online financial data in bid for transparency

Amid allegations that Bell has reverted to the financial trickery that made the small, working-class city a symbol for municipal corruption, Bell city administrators will launch an online tool Tuesday that gives the public deeper access to its finances.

The software program converts and organizes financial data into user-friendly formats so that taxpayers can track how their money is collected, transferred and how much is used for police, sanitation and other municipal services.

Bell joins a growing number of cities such as New York, Chicago and other towns in California that have embraced the "open data" movement. Las week, Los Angeles launched its own website with similar features.

"I think a large amount of citizens want to know more about their government and how it works, and this will be a useful tool," Bell City Manager Doug Willmore said.

More than two dozen cities in the state have joined OpenGov Inc., a Silicon Valley company that created the software. Other cities include Beverly Hills, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks, according to the company's website.

Through annual subscriptions, public agencies and districts can send their financial data to the company, which uploads it into their system for city and public use. Taxpayers can peruse the data by funds, departments or account types with icons and drop-down menus. It puts the data into charts designed to help citizens understand the information more easily.

OpenGov Chief Executive Officer Zachary Bookman says the program can be accessed anytime, even during council meetings.

"What the tool does and what it's doing — not just for Bell but other major cities — is that it turns conversations to fact, it focuses on numbers," Bookman said.

In Bell, reformers have been calling for financial transparency since the town was engulfed in scandal three years ago, when eight municipal leaders were accused of drawing huge salaries, collecting generous benefits and even lending city money. In some cases, contracts for ranking administrators were designed so the public could not determine what they were actually earning.

The former city administrator, Robert Rizzo, has pleaded no contest to 69 corruption-related charges, five of six former council members were convicted of misappropriating city funds and the former second in command is standing trial on 13 felony counts.

The city revamped its website earlier this year, publishing vendor contracts, city checks and other public records that, in the past, were only accessible through public records requests. Council meetings are now streamed live on the city's website.

"We think it's important for good financial oversight, which of course prevents the kinds of things that were occurring in Bell prior to the change in leadership," said JoAnne Speers, executive director of the Institute for Local Government.

She said the new feature will enable residents to participate in the decision-making process in a more informed manner, which makes their input more effective.

But the launch comes amid renewed controversy in the city of Bell.

Early this month, Vice Mayor Ana Maria Quintana publicly accused city administrators of hiding legal fees from residents.

Quintana claimed that in the last fiscal cycle, the council approved $300,000 in legal expenses, but that the city exceeded the amount by $1.5 million. She said the council was never told about the matter.

But her council colleagues and city administrators say that her allegations are false and misleading and that the council did approve the spending.

Councilman Ali Saleh said he hopes the new tool will reinforce public trust in government in Bell.

"This is really something all cities should be doing in order to cut through the political spin and allow the public and electorate to focus on the issues and business of governance in an informed and substantial manner," Saleh said.

ruben.vives@latimes.com

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Plan to transform bleak school playground hits a big snag

The playground at Berendo Middle School, just west of downtown Los Angeles, looks more like the surface of an aircraft carrier than a playground.

There's virtually nothing but blacktop for the roughly 1,300 students to play on — acres and acres of sun-baked tar that heats up in summer and gets slippery when it rains.

And that's why there's so much enthusiasm for a beautification plan that aims to transform a corner of the campus into an oasis that would be enjoyed not just by students, but the whole community. There'd be tree-shaded benches, pathways, a native garden for habitat study.

Students like the plan. Teachers like it. Parents and neighbors like it.

The principal can't wait.

"I'd rather see something green. I'd rather see trees. I'd rather see anything but asphalt," said Principal Rosa Trujillo.

But there is one party that's not yet on board, so a project two years in the making could get scrapped.

That would be the Los Angeles Unified School District.

How could the district be opposed, especially when almost all the money would come from a state grant, and the project would be built by the nonprofit Hollywood Beautification Team?

Oh, LAUSD isn't opposed to the idea, facilities manager Mark Hovatter told me. But under terms of the state grant, the state requires a 20-year maintenance agreement and the district won't commit to taking care of a new and improved campus.

"It would be irresponsible for us to take on more and more maintenance requirements when we're struggling to meet the maintenance requirements we already have," Hovatter said.

I'm well aware of that struggle, having written earlier this year about the district's 35,442 unresolved calls for service and repairs on hundreds of campuses. And, no doubt, the layoff of more than 1,000 custodians, plant managers and other repair crews was devastating.

But isn't that all the more reason to take advantage of state grants and the willingness of citizens to contribute to school improvements?

"Unfortunately a lot of entities just build stuff and walk away. They don't hang around for 20 years," Hovatter said.

Fortunately, Principal Trujillo is nowhere near as defeatist as that.

"I'm a firm believer that it's going to happen," said Trujillo, who met with district officials and others on Friday to look for solutions that satisfy all parties.

Berendo isn't the only school hoping the district figures out a way to take advantage of grant money available under voter-approved Proposition 84, a 2006 law that set aside money for clean water, coastal protection, parks and natural education. Nonprofit coalitions representing five LAUSD schools have been designated to receive nearly $3 million already, with Berendo and five other schools preapproved for $2.5 million more.

Before getting cold feet, LAUSD supported the Prop. 84 improvement projects and approved $802,575 in matching funds. But then the district — which has supported other greening projects and edible gardens on campuses — suddenly reversed course.

"We're seen as the big bad bureaucrat stopping a project," Hovatter said, but he added the district can't proceed if the maintenance issue isn't worked out.

Oh, but it could easily be worked out if the district had the will to make it happen, said Sharyn Romano. She's the CEO of Hollywood/Los Angeles Beautification Team, which has worked with 140 public schools and would construct six of the Prop. 84 improvement projects in LAUSD, including the one at Berendo.

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Jury deadlocks in trial involving fatal stabbing of Job Corps advisor

No one disputed that Freddy Leyva stabbed his Job Corps advisor to death.

The question was why.

Prosecutors said the March 2012 slaying of Dwayne Alexander, a respected former entertainment industry executive described as a gentle soul, was first-degree murder — the act of a racist, homophobic deviant capable of slashing a man almost 30 times.

But Leyva's attorney, Tomas Requejo, contended that his client was a troubled young man who had suffered sexual abuse by Alexander, 49. The crime, Requejo said, was voluntary manslaughter, not murder.

After deliberating for almost four days, the jury couldn't decide which side was right.

On Friday, jurors returned to the downtown Los Angeles courtroom where they had heard about two weeks of testimony and declared they couldn't reach a unanimous verdict. Superior Court Judge Craig Mitchell thanked them for their service and declared a mistrial.

In the end, 10 jurors believed the crime was murder, while two were swayed by the defense's argument that Leyva had instead committed manslaughter.

One juror, who did not want to be identified, described the deliberation process as "really intense."

"I'm still kind of shaky," she said.

She said that a particular sticking point seemed to be the disconnect "between what [Leyva] believed happened and what actually happened," in regard to his allegation of sexual abuse.

Members of Leyva's family who were in court Friday declined to speak with a reporter, though his mother, smiling, said she was "happy."

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Britton said that "based on the evidence, my office believes it's a first-degree murder case." He said his office will seek to retry Leyva.

Britton contended that the abuse allegations were a last-ditch attempt by the defense to obscure a clear-cut case. In closing arguments Monday, he said Leyva had told his roommate that he disliked African Americans and people who were gay, which he believed Alexander was.

On the afternoon of March 14 last year, Leyva took a drywall knife into Alexander's office at the Hollywood Job Corps dorm where Leyva lived and slashed the 6-foot-3 program advisor 29 times, prosecutors said.

When police arrived on scene, they found three fellow students holding Leyva down, as Alexander bled on the office floor, according to reports from the time. Alexander had been sitting at his desk when he was attacked, Britton said.

As Leyva went through the booking process, Britton said the defendant told an officer that the blood on his hands made him aroused.

"I'm a man now," the officer testified hearing Leyva say.

Reached by phone Friday afternoon, Requejo said he was surprised by the trial's outcome.

"This is a case that should've been resolved from the very get-go," he said. But investigators and the district attorney's office "wanted to have shutters over their eyes about the abuse of Freddy."

During his closing arguments, Requejo said his client had been doing well in Job Corps — a U.S. Department of Labor program that gives low-income youths career training — and had hoped to become an electrician.

"Issues didn't arise," Requejo said, until Leyva moved into the Hollywood dorm. Over the course of the months before Alexander's death, he said, the advisor had made unwanted sexual advances on Leyva with increasing aggressiveness.

In stabbing Alexander, Requejo said, Leyva had acted in "imperfect self-defense," meaning he honestly, but unreasonably believed that he was in danger of great injury or death, and needed to defend himself.

"It was him or me," Leyva told a detective investigating the stabbing, according to Requejo. When the detective asked if Leyva truly believed Alexander intended to hurt him, Requejo said, Leyva responded: "He's been hurting me."

Requejo criticized the detective for never following up on that claim.

Leyva and his brother testified that they had been abused as children, which Requejo said made Leyva's fear that Alexander would rape him reasonable, even if that logic was confined to Leyva's own thinking.

"Was he really fearful?" Requejo said. "If you take into consideration his history, it makes sense."

Britton had dismissed the defense's position, calling it "as ridiculous as it is offensive."

Alexander's mother, Everlean Wilson of Tulsa, Okla., agreed, saying it was clear to her that the defense didn't "have a leg to stand on." Nonetheless, she said, Leyva's testimony about her son was "real difficult" to sit through.

jill.cowan@latimes.com

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Merchants in L.A.'s birthplace reluctantly embrace Web for funding

The board members of the Olvera Street Merchants Assn. stared at Edgar Pasten, a bit bewildered, when he suggested they use a website called Kickstarter to raise money for their Dia de los Muertos festivities.

In past years, the city had guaranteed the association $50,000 to support multiple cultural events at the "birthplace of Los Angeles." But with new competition for city funds, the merchants needed to find another way to put on the Day of the Dead celebration.

Pasten, whose wife is a fifth-generation Olvera Street business owner, suggested the group try the website that enables people to donate to campaigns they find worthy.

But most in the room that day — Pasten, at 33, was among the youngest — couldn't understand why anyone would just give them money.

Their reluctance was an illustration, said Pasten's wife, Christina Mariscal-Pasten, of the generational divide that has been growing among the merchants as computers and technology have become staples of everyday life.

On Olvera Street, a romanticized version of old Mexico remains frozen in time. Traditional garments line the walls of shops and kiosks, wooden toys and trinkets like those that generations of Mexican children have played with are on display.

"If two or three people [at the meeting] had heard of Kickstarter, that would be a lot," said 58-year-old Michael Mariscal, Pasten's father-in-law. "We're not that kind of people."

The merchants were not sold on the fundraising platform, but found themselves in a difficult position.

The city was planning to allow corporations and other merchant groups to bid on sponsoring the event. The Olvera Street Merchants Assn. could apply for city funding, but if a commercial sponsor outbid them, Pasten said, the merchants feared they would commercialize Dia de los Muertos — much as they had done with other cultural events, such as Cinco de Mayo.

The Dia de los Muertos festivities, in which families honor deceased relatives, is a spiritual celebration. It includes Aztec rituals and processions that stem from the Catholic tradition.

With no other funding opportunities on the horizon, the merchants decided to give Kickstarter a try, setting a goal of $10,000.

Initially, they found it frustrating.

One merchant complained about Kickstarter's policy of only giving campaigns money if they reached their fundraising goals. But most of the reluctance to use Kickstarter, Mariscal-Pasten said, came from a lack of understanding how it worked.

Many of the older merchants aren't tech-savvy, Michael Mariscal said, pointing to himself as an example. He doesn't have an email address and does not like using cellphones.

Norma Garcia, whose family has been on Olvera Street since its inception in 1930, put it simply: "I am very old and I am not really into computers."

During the campaign, Pasten and his wife used social media sites to publicize the campaign.

Through retweets and Facebook shares, they were able to promote Olvera Street and received donations from as far away as Mexico City.

The campaign eventually raised more than $12,000 over 45 days, enough to fund the nine-day Dia de los Muertos celebration, which got underway Friday.

The effort also has narrowed the gap between generations — and broadened the acceptance of technology that Mariscal-Pasten and her husband have been trying to implement.

The merchants already are discussing how they will fund their next big event in December, and whether they want to experiment with Indiegogo, an alternative to Kickstarter.

"I will do a million [Internet campaigns] so we can continue this tradition, because that's how much it means to me and my family," Mariscal-Pasten said.

But if someone wants to give them a large donation, she said, they'll take that too.

james.barragan@latimes.com

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Chinese students a new funding source for U.S. high schools

Yosemite High School once offered six wood shop classes. Now there are three.

Things got worse when a new high school opened in a neighboring district and many students transferred. Campus enrollment is down from 1,100 five years ago to about 700 today.

School officials are now looking to a faraway place for salvation. As soon as next fall, Yosemite High could welcome 25 students from China who would pay $10,000 or more in tuition to enjoy an American public education amid mountain scenery. They would boost revenue and inject an international flavor into a school with few immigrant families.

Two tuition-paying Chinese students are at Yosemite High this year. Xiao "Travis" Ma of Inner Mongolia plays clarinet in the marching band, and Chengyu "Johnny" Zhang of Shanghai runs on the cross-country team. Though the local Chinese cuisine is not to their satisfaction, they appreciate the clean air and the elbow room.

"Having students who pay tuition helps keep some of our programs more full," said Stephanie Samuels, a guidance counselor and international coordinator at Yosemite High. "We don't have a lot of exposure to other cultures. Our students benefit not only from the academic challenge but from meeting people from other parts of the world."

In looking abroad to fill seats, Yosemite is following the lead of underpopulated high schools in Maine and upstate New York, among other places. The number of tuition-paying foreign students in American public high schools has jumped from a few hundred nationwide in 2007 to nearly 3,000 last year, according to federal statistics obtained by the Council on Standards for International Educational Travel.

With newly prosperous families eager to educate their children in the West, China has become the latest frontier in public school financing.

Minarets High, the new school near Yosemite, will soon cash in too, with 20 Chinese students set to enroll in January for $10,000 each. The Chico Unified School District has 25 foreign students this year, mostly from China, each paying $14,500 in tuition. Chino Valley, Hacienda La Puente, Murrieta Valley and Walnut Valley are among the Southern California districts hosting 20 or so foreign students this school year.

"When the state budget crisis was building toward its peak, it was seen as a possible revenue-generating way of increasing our enrollment, with the added benefit of exposing our own students to different cultures as well," said Julie Gobin, Chino Valley's communications director.

The rapid, largely unregulated growth in high school students studying on F-1 visas has raised concerns about the role of private recruiting companies and the safety of teenagers in the country without their parents. The companies, which typically collect thousands of dollars in fees from each student, are knocking on school districts' doors, looking to form partnerships.

Federal law requires public schools to charge F-1 students the full cost of their educations but does not specify how that cost should be calculated. Schools usually take their per-pupil state allotment and add supplemental grants to come up with the tuition figure.

"Because there's so much money that can be made, and because there's a lack of regulation, you're just going to see a lot of people rushing into this field driven by profit rather than the desire to provide students and schools with a quality experience," said Jay Chen, president of the Hacienda La Puente Unified school board.

The vast majority of tuition-paying international students still study at private high schools — 62,000 last year, up from about 6,000 five years ago. Most are from China or South Korea and plan to stay in the United States for college, bypassing a brutally competitive educational system back home.

Because foreign students are limited to one year of study at U.S. public schools, some then transfer to private schools, where there is no time limit, and where they are often charged steeper tuition than their American classmates.

A bill in the House of Representatives would lift the one-year restriction for public schools. Gloria Negrete-McLeod (D-Montclair), whose district includes Chino Valley, is among the sponsors.

"In many of our communities, the enrollment is down, and the facility and the staff could accommodate more students," said Reggie Felton, assistant executive director for congressional relations at the National School Boards Assn., which supports the bill.

Some experts say more oversight is needed to manage the boom.

Traditional exchange students, who use J-1 visas and must be sponsored by a State Department-approved nonprofit, do not pay tuition and return to their home countries within a year. In the past, F-1 visas were used primarily for college and graduate study. Now, they appeal to Chinese high school students whose primary aim is not cultural exchange but admission to an Ivy League university.

The Council on Standards for International Educational Travel offers a voluntary certification process, which includes background checks for host families and middlemen. So far, few F-1 companies have signed up, said Christopher Page, CSIET's executive director.

In addition to recruiting students, the companies serve as a liaison between parents and schools and set up the students' living arrangements. In California, the companies must register with the state attorney general.

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State watchdog who probed secret political money takes U.S. post

SACRAMENTO — Ann Ravel will start her new job in Washington on Monday with the kind of celebrity status rare for a career government lawyer.

As California's top political watchdog, she launched a landmark investigation into secretive nonprofit groups that spent millions on state campaigns last year, and she announced $16 million in penalties against those groups this week.

Ravel's supporters, who view anonymous political donations as a growing scourge on the American election system, want her to be as aggressive in her new post as a member of the Federal Election Commission, where she was sworn in on Friday.

But transparency advocates hoping for a repeat performance in Washington may be disappointed. The commission Ravel is joining has been deadlocked for years, split evenly between Democrats who want stricter rules and California-style enforcement and Republicans who have opposed such efforts.

"She probably knows what she's getting into, but it's going to be a very, very different culture," said Larry Noble, president of Americans for Campaign Reform. "We're not even enforcing the laws that are on the books."

Campaigns around the country have been flooded with secret political money since the U.S. Supreme Court eased campaign finance laws in the Citizens United decision in 2010.

Nonprofit advocacy groups and trade associations, which are not bound by law to reveal who their donors are, spent more than $300 million in last year's election, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics in Washington.

Meanwhile, calls for stronger disclosure laws and better enforcement have gone nowhere in Washington. The partisan warfare there is so intense that President Obama has not even been able to place any new appointees on the Federal Election Commission until now, almost five years after taking office.

Ravel, a Democrat, is joining the commission alongside Republican election attorney Lee Goodman. He was selected by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), an avowed opponent of forcing more disclosure.

In an essay in the Washington Post in May, McConnell called such measures "a backdoor effort to discourage those who disagree with the Obama administration from participating in the political process."

With Washington as polarized as California used to be, it appears much more likely that stricter disclosure laws will come from Sacramento, where Democrats now dominate both houses of the Legislature.

The California campaign finance case that Ravel pursued involved $15 million that was shuttled through a series of nonprofits in Virginia, Arizona and Iowa. The money was then spent in California to oppose Gov. Jerry Brown's tax-hike plan and support a ballot measure to weaken unions' political fundraising.

Ravel said California law was broken when some of the transfers were not properly reported. Her Fair Political Practices Commission issued a combined $1-million fine on two Arizona nonprofits, Americans for Responsible Leadership and the Center to Protect Patient Rights.

California campaign committees that received the donations are also being ordered to pay the state a total of $15 million, the sum officials said was improperly reported.

However, officials were unable to force any of the nonprofits to publicly name their donors, a central goal of the investigation. Only the uncovering of a partly redacted list of contributors shed some light on the people who wrote the original checks, including San Francisco investor Charles Schwab, casino owner Sheldon Adelson and Los Angeles philanthropist Eli Broad.

Gov. Jerry Brown said Thursday that he would push stronger disclosure laws next year, and several bills are pending in the Legislature.

"Secrecy and money don't mix well in a democracy," Brown said in a statement. "We still have big loopholes to close."

One measure would expedite state audits of election groups. Another would require greater disclosure of individual contributors to nonprofits that spend money on California campaigns.

"California is drawing a line in the sand for the rest of the country," said Edwin Bender, executive director of the Montana-based National Institute on Money in State Politics.

A bipartisan effort to strengthen disclosure laws in Montana stalled in the state Legislature this year, but advocates are hoping to place a measure on the ballot in 2014.

In addition, the state's top campaign finance watchdog, Jonathan Motl, said he'd like to emulate California's approach to tracking money.

"The success of one state," Motl said, "is something other states will look to."

chris.megerian@latimes.com

evan.halper@latimes.com

Megerian reported from Sacramento and Halper from Washington. Times staff writer Anthony York contributed to this report.

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Jerry Brown OKs freedom for woman imprisoned at 16 for killing pimp

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown has decided to allow freedom for a woman whose punishment for killing her pimp became a call to arms against the practice of locking up juveniles for life.

Sara Kruzan, 35, was incarcerated at 16 after she killed the man she contended had groomed her since age 11 to work for him as a child prostitute. She was sentenced to life without parole for her crime, and her case became a high-profile example used by lawmakers and advocates for juvenile offenders seeking to soften such harsh sentences.

"It is justice long overdue," said Sen. Leland Yee, a San Francisco Democrat who began championing Kruzan's case a decade ago.

Yee called Kruzan's case the "perfect example of adults who failed her, of society failing her. You had a predator who stalked her, raped her, forced her into prostitution, and there was no one around."

In a video on Yee's website, Kruzan said, "I definitely know I deserve punishment. You don't just take somebody's life and think that it's OK. How much [punishment], I don't know."

After years of debate among state lawmakers, Yee's legislation to allow new sentencing hearings for juveniles sent to prison for life without parole became law in January. In September, Brown signed a second bill requiring parole boards to give special consideration to juveniles tried as adults who have served at least 15 years of lengthy sentences. Advocates estimate there are more than 1,000 prisoners already eligible for parole hearings under that new law.

Even before passage of those bills, advocates convinced Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2011 to change Kruzan's sentence to allow for parole. A Riverside judge in January further reduced her first-degree murder conviction to second degree, making her immediately eligible for release.

The state Board of Parole Hearings in June forwarded to Brown's office its recommendation that she be released. A spokesman for the governor's office said Brown has decided to allow the order to go into effect without his signature, almost two weeks before the deadline for his action.

Kruzan is housed at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla.

paige.stjohn@latimes.com

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County presents options for Devil's Gate Dam sediment removal

Runoff from the Devil's Gate reservoir in Pasadena in 2005. Officials say sediment and debris behind the dam have compromised its capacity to prevent flooding downstream in major storms. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times / January 9, 2005)

By Abby Sewell

October 26, 2013, 8:22 p.m.

Los Angeles County flood control officials presented several options for removing built-up debris and mud from a basin above Devil's Gate Dam in northern Pasadena in a draft environmental impact report released Thursday.

The basin became choked by mud and debris after the 2009 Station fire and storms that followed. Flood control officials have warned for years that the buildup compromises the dam's ability to contain debris and floodwater in another major storm.

Officials say locations downstream from the dam along the Arroyo Seco that could be in danger of flooding include the Rose Bowl, 110 Freeway, neighborhoods in Pasadena and South Pasadena, and the northeastern Los Angeles communities of Highland Park, Hermon, Montecito Heights, Mount Washington and Cypress Park.

The county Board of Supervisors in 2011 ordered an environmental study before any significant work could begin. Neighbors had expressed concerns about the destruction of wildlife habitat that has grown in the basin, as well as disruptions to use of the area by hikers, horseback riders and joggers.

Kerjon Lee, spokesman for the county Department of Public Works, said officials in the meantime have taken smaller mitigation measures. They include removing sediment from the face of the dam to allow operation of valves and control of stormwater as it flows through.

The draft report on proposed long-term solutions looks at five alternatives that would remove 2.4 million to 4 million cubic yards of sediment. The report is available for public review through Jan. 6 online at LASedimentManagement.com/DevilsGate.

abby.sewell@latimes.com

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Inmates avoided home detention program by claiming to be homeless

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has for years tried to reduce jail overcrowding and the early release of inmates by placing low-level offenders into home detention and work-release programs.

But these programs have largely failed to make a dent, forcing the department to consider more expensive ways to address the problem, such as contracting with other detention facilities to house L.A. County inmates.

The most high-profile program required some inmates to serve out their sentences at home wearing electronic monitors. Sheriff Lee Baca even got special legislation approved in 2007 to allow counties to operate the program. Baca put the cost at up to $20 a day per inmate while county jail costs about $118 a day.

But some inmates quickly concluded that staying in jail for a short stint before being released early was better than spending their entire sentence in home confinement. So they sidestepped the program by claiming they were homeless, with no place they could be confined outside of jail, according to the Sheriff's Department.

Officials suspect that many inmates made the claim so they could stay in jail and take advantage of an early release without any supervision.

"People were gaming the system," said sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore.

In response to questions from The Times, sheriff's officials recently acknowledged that the high-profile program was abandoned in late 2010, less than two years after it started. Meanwhile, the early releases have accelerated.

L.A. County officials continue to offer home detention for inmates who volunteer and agree to pay for their electronic monitoring, but the number in that program on any given day has fallen sharply. In March 2010, 225 inmates were on voluntary electronic monitoring, according to department figures. As of Tuesday, the number was 77.

Inmates also have been reluctant to sign up for a similar program in which they are released but must work in a supervised job, usually manual labor. In March 2010, 448 were on the work-release program. On Tuesday, the figure was 204.

"There is a portion of the population that would rather sit on their fanny in jail than report somewhere every day and work," said Sheriff's Capt. Mark McCorkle.

The fate of the home detention and other programs underscores the difficulties confronting the Sheriff's Department as the agency searches for ways to end the early release of inmates, which has been a chronic issue for more than two decades.

The problem has worsened in recent years with the influx of 6,000 inmates under prison realignment, which shifted responsibility for housing and supervising thousands of nonviolent prison inmates from the state to counties. None of those inmates are released early in L.A. County.

Most of the county's other nonviolent male inmates sentenced to 90 days or more are now released after serving as little as 20% of their time. Most nonviolent women sentenced to 240 days or more are released after serving as little as 10%.

Sheriff's officials said they hope to resurrect the abandoned home detention program and build up similar initiatives once they are able to increase the amount of time that sentenced inmates serve in jail.

Whitmore said the department expects to start increasing the jail stays in the next several weeks as the first specially trained inmates are transferred to work at local county fire camps, freeing up jail space. Sheriff's officials plan to place more than 500 inmates in the camps.

Sheriff's officials have also considered contracting with other detention facilities to house L.A. County inmates, but that option is expensive. The city of Taft in Kern County offered to house up to 512 long-term inmates for Los Angeles for at least $60.55 per day for each inmate, according to L.A. County records.

The Board of Supervisors last month agreed to a contract with Taft that would cost up to $75 million through June 2018. But the contract appears to be in jeopardy after one of its three backers, Supervisor Gloria Molina, signaled recently that she plans to withdraw her support.

The county's early releases began in the late 1980s after a federal court declared that the jails' overcrowded conditions amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. A 2006 Times investigation found that nearly 16,000 inmates released early were rearrested while they were supposed to be in jail. Sixteen were charged with murder.

State law allows the Sheriff's Department to release inmates who volunteer to serve their sentences at home under electronic monitoring. Baca persuaded the state Legislature in 2007 to change the law so that jailers could require low-level inmates convicted of misdemeanors to serve their sentences on electronic monitoring at home.

The program had little effect.

The department required that inmates have a residential address and no record of violence, but sheriff's officials acknowledged they overestimated the number of nonviolent, low-security inmates in the jails. Their initial calculations took into account only the current charges inmates were being held on. Once they reviewed the criminal histories of inmates, officials said they found many had serious or violent records that made them ineligible.

Baca had said that the program would help his department place up to 2,000 inmates on electronic monitoring at any given time. Between February 2009 and November 2010, about 1,200 inmates were placed on the program, fewer than envisioned, according to the department.

Whitmore said he did not know how many low-security inmates claimed they were homeless to avoid enrollment in the program.

Peter Eliasberg, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said the county should be releasing inmates who are awaiting trial. Many are in jail because they lack the money to secure bail.

He cited a 2011 report by the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit consulting group, which concluded the county could free up about 700 beds by reducing the time pretrial inmates accused of misdemeanors spend in jail. An ACLU-funded study last year put the number at 1,000.

Other counties, including Orange, San Diego and Riverside, have authorized their sheriff's departments to release pretrial inmates on electronic monitoring, but Los Angeles has yet to follow suit. "It would be an incredibly good idea," Eliasberg said.

McCorkle, who oversees the Inmate Reception Center, said the sheriff favors such an approach but would need the approval of other criminal justice agencies, including the district attorney's office, as well as the Board of Supervisors.

He said the Sheriff's Department is exploring the possibility of releasing pretrial inmates and expanding programs that offer other inmates — including military veterans, people suffering from mental illness and some drug offenders — the chance to serve portions of their sentences outside jail in treatment facilities.

jack.leonard@latimes.com

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Two dead after shootings and wild police chase in Mojave Desert

The man called Ridgecrest police early Friday morning with a warning: He planned to "wreak havoc" on the Central California community.

Less than three hours later, the caller — already suspected of killing one person and wounding another — lived up to his word. He led authorities on a high-speed, 35-mile chase on a Mojave Desert highway, shooting at authorities and other vehicles and forcing drivers off the road. At some point, the gunman's trunk popped open, revealing a man and woman inside. When the driver later opened fire on the two hostages in the trunk, officers shot and killed him.

Ridgecrest — which spent part of the morning locked down — was "very shook up," Mayor Dan Clark said.

"This is a small town," Clark said. "And things like this just don't happen here."

The bloody chain of events began about 5:15 a.m. at a home in the 500 block of West Atkins Avenue, where Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said Ridgecrest police responded to a report of a shooting. Officers found a man with gunshot wounds and a woman dead — only the second homicide of the year in the town.

It was then that the gunman, whom Youngblood identified late Friday as Sergio Munoz, 39, called. The man said he wanted to "kill the officers, but they had too many guns," Youngblood said. Instead, Munoz said he had a package for police and was "going to wreak havoc."

About two hours later, a deputy spotted the man's Dodge sedan leaving town, authorities said. The deputy attempted to pull the vehicle over, but Munoz refused and the pursuit began.

As he drove south on U.S. 395, Munoz fired a shotgun and handgun an estimated 10 to 12 times at oncoming traffic and forced several vehicles off the roadway, Youngblood said. At one point, the vehicle pulled over and the trunk opened. Officers saw a man and woman inside, who then appeared to pull the trunk lid closed, the sheriff said.

Youngblood said the presence of people in the trunk "changed the entire dynamic" of the chase.

Several miles later — north of California 58 — Munoz pulled over again and began shooting through the back seat of the sedan into the trunk, Youngblood said. Seven officers from the Sheriff's Department, the Ridgecrest Police Department and the California Highway Patrol opened fire, killing the gunman, the sheriff said.

The people inside the trunk suffered gunshot wounds, but it wasn't clear at what point they were hit, sheriff's spokesman Ray Pruitt said. Both were flown to a hospital. The extent of their injuries was not immediately disclosed, but Pruitt said they had undergone surgery and would "most likely" survive.

The man found at the Atkins Avenue home suffered moderate injuries and was also expected to survive, Pruitt said. Late Friday, neighbors peered through a broken window at the home. A white door was splattered with blood, which also covered the floor.

Authorities had not released the name of the victims as of Friday evening. Media reports indicated that Munoz worked at the Searles Valley Minerals plant in nearby Trona. Arzell Hale, a spokesman for the company, declined to comment on the matter because it was "under a law enforcement investigation."

Youngblood said there was a "relationship amongst the players" but did not elaborate.

The sheriff said such an incident was "very unusual" for Ridgecrest, a town of just over 27,000 in northeastern Kern County.

"This type of thing is very alarming," Youngblood said.

Clark said he was thankful officers were able to stop the violence. The mayor said he was teaching a high school conflict-resolution class when his school — and all others in the city — went into lockdown.

"All we knew is we had a gunman roaming the community," he said.

Hours after the pursuit ended, U.S. 395 remained closed as investigators combed several crime scenes. South of the Highway 58 junction — known as the "four corners" to residents — a gas station employee said many northbound truckers and other drivers were stranded.

The employee, who declined to give her name, said she was stunned to hear about the shooting.

"These kind of things don't happen here in the middle of nowhere," she said.

A woman who said she was a friend of the victims at the Ridgecrest home and knew the gunman said that he recently lost his job and had a couple of run-ins with police.

"They're both friends of his," she said of the victims in Ridgecrest. "The guy had some problems recently, but I don't know why he did this."

kate.mather@latimes.com

richard.winton@latimes.com

ruben.vives@latimes.com

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L.A. moves to boost limits on gifts to lawmakers

Two months ago, the Los Angeles Ethics Commission called for new and stringent limits on gifts to the city's politicians, saying such niceties can undermine the public's confidence in government when they come from people doing business at City Hall.

The five-member panel sent the City Council its recommendation, part of a much larger package of rule changes, after 15 months of deliberations. But when lawmakers took up the proposal this week, they went the other direction — by seeking an increase, not a decrease, in the size of allowable gifts.

The council instructed the city's lawyers to draft an ordinance boosting the limit to $150 for each gift provided by bidders, contractors and others with a financial stake in a city decision, up from the current maximum of $100. Council President Herb Wesson, who played a pivotal role in changing the proposal, called his approach more realistic.

"Times have changed and I think the $150 [limit] is appropriate," Wesson said. "There's nothing magical about it. It's just in this day and age I can't imagine any of our members would sell their souls for $150."

Wesson said the council will have another chance to review the gift rules when City Atty. Mike Feuer presents a final ordinance in coming weeks. Still, the proposal drew complaints from George Rheault, a frequent critic of the city's handling of ethics rules. Rheault said "nothing good" can come from allowing special interests to give more expensive presents at City Hall.

"The nicer the gift someone gives, the worse it is for the public," he said.

Gifts were a major political issue for former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other elected officials in recent years. Two agencies issued $42,000 in fines to Villaraigosa after he repeatedly attended a series of concerts, athletic events, and other cultural activities without paying.

The city's laws already bar gifts to lawmakers and other high-level officials from registered lobbyists and their firms. In August, the Ethics Commission decided to go further, endorsing an outright ban on gifts from those with a financial stake in city business. That move, said Ethics Commission President Paul Turner, was designed to "promote confidence in city decisions."

"If city officials cannot accept gifts from lobbyists, then they should not be able to accept gifts from other people who are attempting to influence the city," he said in an emailed statement to The Times.

The proposal sent to the council also offered an exception for "office courtesies," such as the distribution of free coffee or bottled water at meetings between elected officials and special interests.

When the proposal reached the council on Wednesday, Councilman Paul Koretz quickly voiced concern that he would be hit with a $5,000 ethics fine if he failed to report that he had received a free coffee from a friend at Philippe's, the iconic Chinatown restaurant. Although he voted to seek the higher limit, Koretz said he is not necessarily committed to a $150 maximum.

"That wasn't my suggestion," Koretz said, adding: "I just said, 'Make it more than zero.'"

In 2012, Koretz reported to the Ethics Commission that he received two $44 tickets to attend a holiday dinner thrown by a group that represents landlords. He also received $100 worth of free tickets to a Los Angeles Kings victory celebration from Anschutz Entertainment Group, a company that recently won a contract to run the city's convention center.

With nine new elected officials taking office in July, many of the city's politicians have not yet had the opportunity to report any gifts at the local level.

In 2012, Councilman Joe Buscaino reported receiving $100 in tickets from the Los Angeles Dodgers. The year before that, Councilman Jose Huizar reported receiving tickets worth $100 to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The council voted this week on an issue of great interest to that company — a ban on the use of bullhooks to train elephants — but Huizar was absent from that meeting.

Councilman Mike Bonin, who voted for the higher limits, said he did not know the reasoning behind the $150 limit. He said the gift rules are not an issue for him since he does not accept gifts.

Councilman Bob Blumenfield offered the same message, saying the changes are not a major focus since he does not accept gifts "of real value." "If it's $100, $150, or even zero dollars, it doesn't really change my world," he said.

david.zahniser@latimes.com

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Boy who killed neo-Nazi father poses incarceration challenge

A hearing began Friday to determine where a 13-year-old boy found guilty of killing his neo-Nazi father will spend the next decade of his life.

Prosecutors are arguing that he be placed in a state-run juvenile justice center, but his attorneys say such facilities are not equipped to handle the boy's severe emotional and social disabilities. They have proposed other options, including private facilities.

A Riverside County judge found in January that the boy — who was 10 when he shot his father, Jeffrey Hall, in the head as he slept on a couch in the family's living room — possessed the mental capacity to know that killing his father was wrong. He was found guilty of second-degree murder and using a gun while committing a felony.

The boy, who was charged as a juvenile, can be held in state custody until he is 23. The Times is withholding his identity because of his age.

"Somebody needs to make sure he can't murder other people," Riverside County Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Soccio said in an interview after Friday's testimony. The placement options advocated by the boy's attorneys were "not sufficient to deal with that level of violence," Soccio said.

Soccio said the boy's killing of his father was not an isolated outburst but that the boy, who Soccio said had changed schools nine times before the killing, had demonstrated "violent propensities."

In one instance, he attempted to strangle a teacher with a phone cord. When he was a toddler, his grandmother refused to baby-sit him because of how difficult he was to control.

But, Soccio said, the boy has developed since his incarceration.

"I think it's important he stays on the course he's on," Soccio said. "He's improved tremendously."

The boy's lawyer, Punam Grewal, did not dispute the boy's history of violence or the need to keep him in a secure environment. The boy, she told The Times, "cannot be released into the community."

But she said a Division of Juvenile Justice facility was not an appropriate place for him. She said he has had conflicts with other youths during his incarceration and has also been fearful for his safety.

The boy "has considerable, pervasive and complicated disabilities," she said — the byproduct, she noted, of a decade of abuse at the hands of his father.

Hall was a West Coast leader for the neo-Nazi organization known as the National Socialist Movement. During the trial, an attorney for the boy said Hall had routinely beaten his son. Shortly before Hall was killed, he had threatened to leave the family and to set the house on fire with his children and wife inside.

The boy, his attorneys argued, probably believed he was acting to protect his family when, on the morning of May 1, 2011, he shot his father point-blank in the head.

During Friday's hearing, a probation officer who'd been asked by the judge to look into possible placements — including two as far away as Texas — said the facilities weren't locked down.

Although they had guards, they wouldn't be allowed to touch, much less restrain, the boy, and there would be nothing to keep him from fleeing.

At one facility, an administrator asked if the probation officer was inquiring regarding the boy's case. If so, the administrator said, the facility couldn't take him because of the notoriety.

"We're aware that [the child] is a difficult placement," Grewal said. "It's important we ensure we put him in the right place for the next 10 years."

During Friday's testimony, the gangly, sandy-haired boy sat quietly next to his lawyers. Despite his history of violence — and his disabilities — Grewal contends he shows promise.

"We know he wants to learn, we know he tries to participate in his education. He's not shut down and withdrawn," she said, adding that he considers himself a devout Christian and that his first request when she began serving as his lawyer was for a new Bible.

"The child's intent is to have a better life," Grewal said. "He's got a very strong spirit."

Testimony resumes Tuesday.

rick.rojas@latimes.com

joseph.serna@latimes.com

Rojas reported from Riverside, Serna from Los Angeles.

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Abbot Kinney Boulevard's renaissance a mixed blessing

When reporters for national magazines and tourists from around the world recently began showing up on Abbot Kinney Boulevard, veteran shopkeepers saw the attention as validation that they had turned the once-desolate stretch into a hip strip.

Now, however, that pride over what GQ magazine called "the Coolest Block in America" has turned to anxiety for some longtime merchants and residents who say Abbot Kinney is getting too posh for its pants. The arty, indie fare that used to dominate the boulevard is being replaced by $1,400 handbags and $600 boots from Italy.

Developers have bought and razed or renovated Abbot Kinney buildings, including vintage bungalows that had housed holdouts from the street's rougher days. Rents for some storefronts have doubled or tripled, and retailers and cafe owners have hired valet companies to ease the parking crunch.

Modish chain stores with distressed-wood floors and subdued lighting have replaced pioneering shops such as Surfing Cowboys and Jin Patisserie, which have relocated to more affordable digs in Mar Vista and Culver City or are eyeing emergent Rose Avenue in Venice.

The wildly successful bistro Gjelina — no substitutions, even for you, Robert Downey Jr. (who owns a Modernist house up the street) — is building another eatery on the boulevard and a bakery nearby. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to turn the former Broadway Gymnastics building at the corner of Main Street into his office and a small restaurant. And local developers have proposed a boutique hotel that would incorporate Joe's and Primitivo restaurants.

An upgrade was inevitable, given the street's location and the area's favorably evolving demographics, including the arrival of Google and other Silicon Beach companies.

"But now," said Los Angeles Councilman Mike Bonin, who lives in neighboring Mar Vista, "it may be at risk of being a victim of its own success."

Some sense in the offing a replay of familiar flame-outs such as once hot and now not so much Melrose and Montana avenues.

"More and more every day, it feels like Abbot Kinney is separating itself from the neighborhood," said Marta Evry, a longtime resident. "It's a street for tourists, people from outside the area, but not a street for the people who live here."

::

Three decades ago, Abbot Kinney was an enclave where struggling artists coexisted uneasily with violent gang members.

Back then, when the not-quite-mile-long stretch between Venice Boulevard and Main Street was known as West Washington Boulevard, gunshots routinely rang out at night in the Oakwood, the adjoining drug-infested ghetto. A U.S. senator's niece was shot to death in a holdup on the sidewalk in 1980.

Abbot Kinney had been on a slow upward trajectory since a name change to honor the coastal community's visionary founder. A crackdown on gang activity helped rid the area of career criminals. Meanwhile, singular haunts such as Hal's Bar & Grill and relative newcomers such as Gjelina drew crowds.

Outsiders began to view the street as a great real estate investment. New owners revamped buildings that in some cases had stood untouched for decades. Real estate agents now use proximity to Abbot Kinney as a selling point for $2-million cottages in, yes, the Oakwood, now largely gentrified.

The shift is happening before bemused residents' eyes. "Day by day, it's changing," said Laddie John Dill, an artist who has lived and worked near the boulevard for decades. "I'd hate to see Abbot Kinney lose its uniqueness and become like a mall."

Young artists, who in the past lent flavor to the street, would have to be trust-fund babies to afford space on Abbot Kinney now, Dill said.

It was just six years ago that Pinkberry, the frozen yogurt chain, opened an outlet on Abbot Kinney and was greeted with the modern equivalent of torches and pitchforks. A group called Venice Unchained, dedicated to keeping large-scale chain stores off the boulevard, organized protests and boycotts. The shop closed three years later because of disappointing sales.

Now, a dozen or more chains — including Lucky Brand, Gant, Flannel and Alexis Bittar — populate the street. They're not the Gap or H&M, admittedly, but neither are they mom-and-pop operations.

"It's gotten really fashionable, not always in a good way," said Pierre Auroux, a Venice resident who was leaving an Abbot Kinney lunch spot on his bicycle one recent sunny afternoon. In years past, he added, "it was less Beverly Hills and more of a beach vibe. It wasn't as safe and nice, but that's what gave it character." The people-watching, however, can be excellent. Recent sightings: Ben Affleck and Sky Ferreira.

The Abbot Kinney buzz has carried far and wide. Visitors from New York, Europe, Asia and Australia have put the street on their itineraries. "The appeal of Venice is broadening, and Abbot Kinney is at the epicenter," said Jack V. Hoffmann, a property owner and longtime resident.

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Lake Los Angeles residents might get serial rapist for a neighbor

A serial rapist linked to attacks on dozens of women could be released to the Antelope Valley when he is freed soon from a state mental hospital, authorities said Friday.

A state contractor announced at a court hearing that a single-family home in the unincorporated area of Lake Los Angeles had been found for Christopher Hubbart, according to a prosecutor who attended the hearing. The home is a few miles east of Palmdale.

Residents and government officials from northern Los Angeles County reacted with outrage to the news, with some saying they plan to urge the judge overseeing Hubbart's case to reject the location.

"They're taking someone who is not from here — who has a horrific criminal record — and they're dumping him in the Antelope Valley," said John Mlynar, a spokesman for the city of Palmdale. "We don't think that's right."

Hubbart, who has spent nearly two decades in a state mental hospital, admitted sexually assaulting more than three dozen women throughout California between 1971 and 1982, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.

The proposed location for his home was announced at a court hearing in San Jose, where a judge earlier this year ruled that Hubbart should be freed under tight supervision. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Gilbert Brown previously rejected arguments that Hubbart should be released in the Bay Area, where his most recent crimes were committed, and said he should return to Los Angeles County, where he grew up and lived briefly the last time he was released from prison in 1993.

Brown will consider objections to the location but could order Hubbart's release to the home at his next court hearing in San Jose on Dec. 4, said Santa Clara County Deputy Dist. Atty. Vonda Tracey, who was at Friday's hearing.

Tracey said Hubbart will initially have constant supervision at his new home. He will also be required to wear a GPS ankle bracelet that alerts authorities if he violates his curfew or ventures near prohibited areas, such as local parks and schools, she said. His access to the Internet will be restricted, Tracey said, and he will be subject to random searches and must attend sex offender treatment sessions.

"We all know that no one wants this guy living near them, so our goal is to put out as much information as possible so that the public knows how closely monitored he's going to be so that they feel safer," Tracey said.

State authorities overseeing such releases often have difficulty finding landlords willing to rent to convicted sex offenders, she said. In addition, state law prohibits sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park.

Tracey said general opposition from the public is unlikely to sway the judge from accepting the location. "It usually has to be something more: say, one of Mr. Hubbart's previous victims lives in the area," she said.

Hubbart's attorney, Santa Clara County Deputy Public Defender Jeff Dunn, said earlier this year that his client had embraced intensive treatment for years while locked up in a state mental hospital and is not a public safety risk. He said Hubbart's request for release was supported by his treating psychologist at Coalinga State Hospital and the hospital's medical director.

Dunn could not be reached for comment Friday.

The Los Angeles County D.A.'s office has set up a page on its website to accept comments about the suitability of the proposed location, which is on the 17100 block of Laredo Vista Avenue. Comments can be submitted until Nov. 29, and members of the public also can address the judge at the Dec. 4 hearing, said district attorney's spokeswoman Jane Robison.

Hubbart is among more than 500 offenders in California who have been confined under a law that allows authorities to commit sexually violent predators to state hospitals if they are deemed to have mental disorders that make them likely to re-offend, even if — as with Hubbart — they have already served their entire prison sentences.

Hubbart was first arrested in 1972 on suspicion of a string of rapes in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. He admitted raping about 20 women in the area, according to court records. Hubbart was released from a state hospital in 1979, when state doctors determined that he no longer posed a threat, a federal appeals court said. After moving to the Bay Area, Hubbart committed more sexual assaults during the next two years, according to Los Angeles County prosecutors.

A Lake Los Angeles resident who has lived on Laredo Vista Avenue for nearly a quarter century said he often travels and would be afraid of leaving his wife alone if Hubbart were to move to his street.

"It really angers me," said the resident, who requested anonymity after expressing concern for his safety and privacy. "My wife and I are getting to the point where we're anxious to leave California anyway. That might get us to ... move quicker."

Tony Bell, a deputy to county Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, said his boss was "outraged by the court's reckless decision to release this self-admitted violent sexual predator into Lake Los Angeles — or any community."

jack.leonard@latimes.com

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Beloved pot-bellied pig in Sierra Madre avoids eviction

"Hogwash!" was the cry when Neil, Sierra Madre's beloved pot-bellied pig, was cited for being overweight.

Specifically, an animal control officer labeled him a hog, which is illegal to possess in the town northeast of Pasadena.

The officer had actually been sent to the Montecito Avenue neighborhood to investigate reports of a noisy rooster, which is also illegal in Sierra Madre.

But when she looked over the picket fence into the yard next door, past the mailbox painted with a fanciful pig's head, she noticed Neil rooting around in the dirt.

Deciding she couldn't very well cite the rooster without citing the hog, she wrote warnings for both, advising their owners that city law required them to get rid of the animals.

That's when social media took over. Neil quickly found himself with his own Facebook page and Twitter account and became the subject of discussion on local blogs.

"Neil is being evicted from Sierra Madre for being overweight," one person commented. "What if that were the case for homosapiens? Half the town would have to be evicted."

Another pot-bellied pig fan described Neil as "the real treasure of Sierra Madre" and noted that he had been named Mr. November in a local realty company's calendar and was considered a "local landmark."

Others suggested that the ouster of Neil would be a public relations disaster for Sierra Madre and that maybe the city should reverse course and name him grand marshal of the town's next Fourth of July parade.

"Everybody in Sierra Madre knows about Neil the pig. He has his own yard and his own house. It's adorable. They bring kids on field trips to visit Neil," said Lisa Bowman, a radio show host who helped organize a save-Neil-the-pig rally.

Neil's owner, Katherine Emerson, said she inherited him when her mother, Diane Emerson, died from cancer six years ago. "She referred to him as her son. I promised I would continue to watch him for her."

Emerson, a lecturer in the School of Social Work at Cal State L.A., acknowledged complaining to the city about the neighbor's rooster. The crowing, she said, interrupted her sleep for more than two months, she said.

Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs normally live 12 to 14 years. But Neil will be 18 before long. "In May he's going to have to sign up for the draft," she joked.

Emerson doesn't know how much Neil weighs, but noted that hogs are generally over 120 pounds and are raised to be slaughtered, not domesticated as a pet.

As it turned out, Neil got a pardon from the city before the protest rally could even take place. Instead, the 30 or so people who gathered at the city's Memorial Park turned it into a celebration.

Police Chief Larry Giannone said officials spent hours studying the municipal code and the distinctions between pigs and hogs before Neil's eviction papers were rescinded.

"He's a pig. Our code specifically refers to hogs," the chief said. "He gets to stay the iconic symbol of Sierra Madre."

And Neil is just that, the police chief admitted.

"Kids feed and pet him on the way to school. The rooster was cut and dried: It's not allowed. Its owner voluntarily gave it up to the humane society."

So community outrage helped save Neil's bacon. In Sierra Madre, that's something to crow about.

bob.pool@latimes.com

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Bell's Rizzo and aide made even more than suspected, witness testifies

Through a secret arrangement to double his generous vacation and sick day allotments, former Bell administrator Robert Rizzo was actually making at least $1.18 million, much more than has previously been reported, a trial witness said Friday.

Rizzo and his top aide, Angela Spaccia, drew up a document awarding themselves 33 hours of vacation time every two weeks and each actually drew two paychecks, one for the salaries and the second for the vacation and sick time payouts, Lourdes Garcia, the city's former finance officer, testified.

She said the arrangement essentially gave each of them a 50% pay boost.

Before they were forced from their jobs in the money scandal that enveloped the small, working-class town, Rizzo and Spaccia were among the top paid municipal officials in California. Rizzo is now facing a probable 10- to 12-year prison term after pleading no contest to dozens of corruption-related charges early this month, and Spaccia is standing trial on 13 felony counts.

In testimony Friday, Garcia said Rizzo called her into his office in 2007 and said he was considering a special formula to increase vacation and sick day accrual for himself and Spaccia.

Garcia said that when she brought him a draft, Rizzo told her he didn't want their titles or names on the document. She revised it so that Rizzo was identified only as 1.1 and Spaccia as 1.3.

The City Council later approved the arrangement as part of a larger resolution about benefits for nonunion employees.

Less than six months later, Garcia testified, Rizzo brought the council another resolution, this time bumping paid time off even higher, giving each of them nearly a week of vacation for every two weeks worked.

Later that year, Garcia testified, Rizzo and Spaccia began collecting two paychecks. No other city employees were allowed to cash out their sick and vacation time as they were accumulating it, she said. With the vacation and sick time payouts, Spaccia was earning $564,000 annually.

Garcia, who was being compensated more than $400,000 a year, testified under a grant of immunity from the district attorney. She previously testified in the trial of six former Bell council members also charged in the corruption case. All but one were convicted on some charges.

According to their contracts, Rizzo's final base salary was $787,637 a year and Spaccia's $376,288, numbers that stunned government experts when The Times published them. But with the regular vacation payouts, they actually earned far more, Garcia said.

Garcia said she assumed the city attorney had reviewed the council resolution that contained the vacation increases and that Rizzo told staff members that he would discuss changes with council members.

"Did you assume the City Council was voting on things they never read?" Garcia was asked by Spaccia's attorney, Harland Braun.

"Probably," she said.

When the full force of the recession hit in 2008 and it appeared that Rizzo and his top assistants might be forced to take a pay cut to keep the city out of the red, Garcia said, Rizzo told them that he would find a way to improve city finances.

Several weeks later, on Christmas Eve, he laid off 40 part-time employees, she said.

Rizzo's attorney has said that he expects his client and Spaccia to face federal charges of conspiracy to commit tax fraud.

Garcia also testified that after the scandal broke in July 2010 and Rizzo was put on leave, he called her from home and told her to put $500,000 into the city's special retirement plan that had been established for him and Spaccia. The plan, which had never been funded, was set up in addition to their existing retirement plans with the state pension system.

She said she consulted the city attorney, who told her not to take any more orders from Rizzo.

Spaccia, who is charged with misappropriation of public funds, conflict of interest and hiding and falsifying government records, has been portrayed by her attorney as a victim of an administrator who ran the city like a dictator.

Rizzo, through his attorney, said Spaccia was the mastermind of the wrongdoing in Bell, and he said he would be willing to testify against her.

jeff.gottlieb@latimes.com

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