Crime Time: Spot This Week's Celebrity Victim!

Hey, juvies, it's our weekly Weekly round-up of Orange County police calls . . .

MONDAY, JUNE 29

Anyone Fitting the Description of a Major League Baseball Team Owner Spotted Outside Before the Crime? The windows of super-agent Scott Boras' Land Rover were vandalized while he was inside Bandera restaurant in Corona del Mar this evening. The vehicle reportedly sustained damage totalling $2,000–equal to about what Manny Ramirez earns every time he inhales.

TUESDAY, JUNE 30

19th N Placentia Smackdown An unidentified man walking to his car outside a restaurant at 19th Street and Placentia Avenue in Costa Mesa around 2 a.m. was robbed at knifepoint of his wallet and cell phone by three men who then beat him up. As the victim tried to flee to his car, the robber wielding the knife punched him several times in the head, pushed him against his car and held the blade to his throat while the other two bad guys ransacked the vehicle, taking several packages and a laptop computer. The knife man was described as white or Latino, in his early 20s, 6 feet 2, 150-160 pounds, with a thin build, dark, close-cut hair and dark eyes, wearing a tank top and long black pants. Robber No. 2 was 5 feet 9 and 140 pounds, with shoulder-length straight blond hair and possibly a thin mustache, wearing a dark button-down shirt and long khaki pants. The third amigo was described as either white or Latino, 6 feet 2, 150-160 pounds, with a thin build and brown hair about 1-inch long, wearing basketball shorts and a baseball cap.
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Clean and Jerk A Fountain Valley High School janitor who
stumbled upon a man jerking off as he watched the girls cross country
team stretch and do calisthenics tackled the alleged perv, placed him
under citizen's arrest and sat on him until police arrived. A man later
identified as Hoang Hong Nguyen, 39, of Fountain Valley, told
officers that he had come to the school to play soccer and admitted
exposing and touching himself, but claimed he had only scratched an
itch. (Modest!) He was arrested on suspicion of public masturbation,
but by the time he got to jail–where he could not make the $500
bail–the charges had been upped to misdemeanor indecent exposure,
annoying or molesting a child, disturbing school activities and falsely
identifying oneself to Johnny Law. You can't blame the janitor for the
heroism; who'd want to clean up after that?

Gang-Bangers or Brazil vs. USA Soccer Hooligans? While a soccer
game was being played on a field at Lincoln Elementary School, 425 S.
Sullivan St., Santa Ana, tonight, a group of five to eight men on a
nearby volleyball court got into an argument that escalated into
gunfire. One man there apparently started fighting with two others.
When that broke up, the others showed up on the court, weapons were
pulled out and several shots were fired. Folks on the soccer field
started running for their lives, but once the smoke cleared no one had
been hurt, everyone had made like a banana and split and arriving
police found only bullet casings left behind. Gang-banging is being
blamed.

That Stabbing Feeling Police received a call around 9 p.m. that two
unidentified men were fighting in the 2200 block of North Tustin Avenue
in Santa Ana. After units arrived there, it took officers 20 minutes to
find one of the men in a nearby neighborhood, nursing several stab
wounds to his torso. He was later reported in critical but stable
condition at a local hospital and expected to survive. Cops did not
know what motivated the fight, although they did not blame gang-banging
this time.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 1

Beware of Purple Trucks A man driving a 2004 silver BMW 7 series
745LI was being followed off the 22 freeway by a purple truck around 4
a.m. when one of the two men inside  pulled out a handgun and
threatened the BMW driver as he was heading north on Western Avenue in
Garden Grove. The victim sped off, damaging the BMW as it went over
bumps and railroad tracks. Once he thought he'd escaped the bad guys,
he pulled over near Orangewood and Western avenue to inspect the
damage. The purple truck pulled up again, and this time the gunman
ordered the driver away from the BMW before both cars sped away,
leaving the owner alone on the street.

Nailed! An unidentified man was arrested on suspicion of driving
under the influence after his pickup truck carrying nails swerved out
of the Express Lanes of the eastbound 91 freeway near Gypsum Canyon
Road and crashed into at least three other cars shortly after 2 p.m. At
least one person was hospitalized with unknown injuries after the
crash, which caused the pickup to roll over and spill nails across the
freeway. The Express Lanes and two regular lanes were closed for nearly
two hours leading into the evening rush while the mess was being
cleaned up.

Where Do You Think You're Going? During a routine car stop in the 300 block of West
Orangethorpe Avenue shortly before 8 p.m., the driver allegedly tossed
out a methamphetamine pipe through the passenger-side window. He then
agreed to be questioned by the officer, but after handing over his
driver's license he reportedly darted off on foot. After a short chase
which found him dodging police Taser darts, 39-year-old Robert Castro
was apprehended, taken to St. Jude Medical Center for a medical
evaluation and was ultimately arrested on suspicion of driving under
the influence and resisting officers.

Home With a Shot Leg An unidentified man was walking the 2200 block of
West Ninth Street, near Fairview Street, in Santa Ana before 10 p.m.
when at least three men in a tan pickup truck started shouting at him.
The confrontation ended when numerous shots were fired at the
pedestrian, who suffered a gunshot wound to his lower leg, before the
pickup and its passengers fled. But police responding to shots fired
near the scene did not find a victim. The 47-year-old man called police
to his home in the same area around 1 a.m. Thursday, but he refused
medical attention, saying his family would treat his wounds. Cops are
calling it a gang-related shooting.

THURSDAY, JULY 2

This Sink Will Look Great in My New Rental The increase in home
foreclosures has caused a similar increase in ex-homeowners stripping
away fixtures and other materials attached to the dwellings. Even
upscale Cota de Caza is not immune to this problem, as deputies took a
grand theft report in the 31700 block of Capuchina Way shortly before
noon. According to the sheriff's blottler, the former resident “took
everything from inside.”

FRIDAY, JULY 3

Passport to the Pokey 20-year-old Keisha Vaihani Lanbridge was held in
lieu of $20,000 bail after a traffic stop and search of the car she was
in on Alicia Parkway in Aliso Viejo around 6:30 a.m. turned up four
passports–at least one of which was stolen–and bank checks that did
not belong to her.

SATURDAY, JULY 4

A Heartwarming Happy Fourth of July Story 45-year-old Maria Guadarrama, a custodian for the Ladera Ranch Maintenance Corp., was
emptying trash outside the gated community clubhouse at 1 Covenant
Hills Drive, Ladera Ranch, around 10:20 a.m. when she noticed two men
waiting for her near the golf cart she uses on the job. Thinking they
wanted to ask her something, she approached them. But, according to the
Orange County Sheriff's Department report, what they apparently wanted
to tell her was she was not worth anything, that they didn't like her
or other Mexicans and that Mexicans did not belong here. The men then
got on either side of Guadarrama, and one held her neck with his arm
from behind while rubbing himself against her. She hit him with her
elbow, then reached behind and scratched him on the neck and shoulder.
They briefly let her go, but then one man grabbed her shirt collar and
ripped open her shirt, exposing her bra. The other man reached inside
her pants pocket and grabbed her wallet, cell phone and a radio. She
was then pushed to the ground, where she hit her head on the cart. One
man pulled out a knife and moved it toward Guadarrama's face, but she
blocked the blade with her left forearm, which received two puncture
wound. The entire time of the robbery and attack, the men showered her
with hate speech and warned her not to tell anyone of the incident.
They fled on foot toward Sienna Parkway. Her cell phone was later found
smashed inside a planter a short distance away from the attack.
Guadarrama said her wallet contained $797 because she had just got paid
and was going to pay rent after her shift. She was treated by
paramedics at the scene for her injuries. She later described one man
as white, 24-26 years old, 5 feet 9 inches and 150 pounds with a black
goatee, shaved head, blue eyes, a swastika tattoo on his left shoulder
and wearing a white tank top and black shorts. His partner was 19 or
20, 5 feet 5, 180-200 pounds with brown eyes, short hair, clean shaven
and wearing a yellow and blue shirt with brown shorts. Incidentally, a
lot of online Orange County Register readers aren't buying Guadarrama's
story and/or the logic behind hate-crime designations.

Clueless A man in his 40s was was walking across the street near 2675
W. Cerritos Ave., Anaheim, about 11:30 p.m. when he was struck by a car
that kept right on driving. The unidentified pedestrian later died at
UCI Medical Center in Orange. Police found no witnesses to the accident.

SUNDAY, JULY 5

Quite the Blowout Members of two rival gangs were attending a large
party in the 10500 block of Schooner Avenue in Garden Grove past
midnight when words were apparently exchanged in the back yard. A melee
spilled out into the street, shots were fired and someone was stabbed.
When police arrived, they found several puddles of blood and blood
trails leading away from the street but no victims. A short time later
police were informed a local hospital was treating a male juvenile
who'd been shot in the stomach, a man who'd been stabbed in the back
and a woman and a man who'd both been shot in the leg. None of the
injuries was deemed life-threatening.

Mean Streets A 17-year-old boy and 18-year-old man were walking south
in the 400 block of Grand Avenue in Santa Ana around 9:30 p.m. when
they were approached by two other men. One demanded the backpack from
one of the victims, but he refused to hand it over. He was then
assaulted and threatened with a knife. The victims fled to a nearby
convenience store and called police, and when officers arrived they saw
a store worker and one victim pointing toward First and McClay streets,
where three men were hurriedly walking. All three were briefly
detained, but when the victims said only two were the robbers, the
third man was released. A 16-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of
felony attempted robbery and taken to Juvenile Hall. Dennis Garcia, 19,
of Santa Ana, was booked into Orange County Jail on suspicion of felony
attempted robbery and held in lieu of $50,000 bail.

MONDAY, JULY 6

Bad Exit Plan A girl alone in a residence in the 2600 block of
Manitoba, Santa Ana, called police just after 12:30 p.m. to say she
heard someone in the house. An officer pulling into the neighborhood
noticed a gold Mercury Sable leaving the area and pulled it over.
Inside the car were electronics from the burglarized home, including a
flat-screen television  set. Occupants of the car arrested on suspicion
of burglary were John Andaya, 18; Marcos Lopez, 19; and Luis Garcia, 20.