America's Criminal Defense

By STEPHANIE FARR & REGINA MEDINA
Philadelphia Daily News
http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20090303_Co
ps__Unpaid_rent_led_to_boarder_s_deathl_landlord_charged.html

Philadelphia - When Miguel Davilla got into an argument with a tenant at his unlicensed boarding home in Fairmount Saturday, he didn't put him out in the cold - he put him out cold - and then placed his dead body in the makeshift coffin he had built out of scrap wood in the home, according to police.

Davilla, 27, lived in the house on Croskey Street near Brown and was the landlord to five or six tenants, police said.

Among those tenants was Roben P. Woodson, 55, an aspiring actor who was late on his rent.

On Saturday, the back rent sparked an argument between Davilla and Woodson that ended wit

By Richard Winton
March 11, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/crime/la-me-coolio11-2009mar11,0,3086008.story

Rapper and actor Coolio was charged Tuesday with battery and possession of cocaine after a run-in at Los Angeles International Airport.

The entertainer, whose real name is Artis Leon Ivey, 45, was arrested Friday at LAX after authorities searched his luggage and allegedly found rock cocaine. Coolio grabbed a screener's arm to prevent the search, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said.

He is charged with one felony count of possession of cocaine, one misdemeanor count of battery and one misdemeanor count of possession of a smoking device. He was released on bail after being taken to the Los Angeles Police Department's jail in Van Nuys.

Coolio is scheduled to be arraigned April 3. If convicted,

By Jason Felch
March 7, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/crime/la-me-kidshoot8-2009mar08,0,5163709.story

A 12-year-old Beaumont boy was shot dead by his friend Thursday morning in a home with several loaded weapons and no parents, officials said Saturday.

The suspect in the shooting, another 12-year-old boy, was arrested and booked into Riverside Juvenile Hall on suspicion of murder. His parents, Patricia Willis, 33, and Christopher Willis, 48, were arrested on charges of negligent storage of firearms and child endangerment.

"We're still trying to figure out if this was accidental or on purpose," said Beaumont police spokeswoman Darci Carranza, who did not release the identity of either boy.

About 10:40 a.m. Thursday, the suspect called 911 and said that he had heard a gunshot and that his friend was injured, Car

By Christopher Goffard
March 14, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/crime/la-me-ferrari-death14-2009mar14,0,5486714.story

A Costa Mesa man was charged Friday in the death of a well-known mixed-martial-arts figure who died after his Ferrari spun into a light pole in Newport Beach, a violent crash that ripped his sports car in half and hurled his girlfriend onto an embankment.

Jeffrey David Kirby, 51, who has prior convictions for driving under the influence in 1985 and 2002, was charged with felony vehicular manslaughter, drunk driving and leaving the scene of an accident.

Charles David Lewis Jr. -- the owner of a multimillion-dollar apparel company and known in fighting circles as "Mask" -- was pronounced dead at the scene. His passenger, Lacy Lynn White, 23, was treated for a fractured elbow, among other injuries.
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By Susannah Rosenblatt
March 11, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/crime/la-me-ocstory11-2009mar11,0,4915322.story

The live-in caretaker of an 84-year-old Huntington Beach woman allegedly took out fraudulent loans in her name, bilking the older woman out of about $200,000 and putting the woman's home in danger of foreclosure, authorities said Tuesday.

Cindi Dee Powell, 54, has been charged with financial elder abuse, grand theft, identity theft, vehicle theft, fraud and forgery. She remains in custody.

According to police, Powell moved in with Constance Wakefield about two years ago to help the woman, who uses a wheelchair, around the house and drive her to appointments. Wakefield hired Powell through a classified ad and was not aware that Powell was on probation in another elder abuse case.

Beginning in 2006, pol

Associated Press
8:50 PM PDT, March 10, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/crime/la-me-postal11-2009mar11,0,4584148.story

Prosecutors say the suspect in the fatal stabbing of a 73-year-old man at a Northern California post office may have been acting out of frustration when he couldn't cash in old postage stamps.

Shannon Moore, 37, has been charged with murder in the death of Raymond Casso in the Contra Costa County community of Clayton.

Authorities say Moore became upset Saturday when he couldn't cash in sheets of old stamps and appeared to randomly attack Casso, who was picking up his mail at the time.

Contra Costa County prosecutor Harold Jewett said Moore has a history of mental illness and didn't seem to have a motive for choosing Casso as a victim. The case remains under investigation by postal investigators.<

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/18/texas.prostitution/index.html

(CNN) -- A Houston, Texas, couple is facing felony charges in connection with what authorities allege was an upscale prostitution ring that screened clients before charging them hundreds of dollars a session.

According to court documents in the case, the ring said to be run by Deborah and Charles Turbiville had a client list 1,000 strong. The documents say Deborah Turbiville told an undercover officer that it consisted of "medical doctors, lawyers, financial services stockbrokers and that kind of stuff ... a lot of people you might see on television."

The clientele also included professional athletes, according to an affidavit filed in support of a search warrant.

The Turbivilles were arrested March 10 and face charges of aggravated promotion of pros

By Ari B. Bloomekatz and Andrew Blankstein
March 3, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/crime/la-me-echo-park3-2009mar03,0,6013331.story

Miguel Chavez was taking a Sunday afternoon nap when he was startled by what sounded like fireworks outside his Echo Park home.

When he shuffled out to his balcony to get a better view, he saw a man in a black truck pull up to his neighbor's house on Baxter Street, lean out the window with a gun, and say "Eric, how about if you die today?"

The man in the car fired two shots and sped away.

Officials later identified the slain neighbor as Eric Zamarripa, 38, and said his gang-related shooting was the first of three in Echo Park and Highland Park that left two people dead and one injured.

A suspected gang member was detained Monday in connection with the three shooting

By Jonathan Lemire and John Marzulli
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/02/25/2009-02-25_federal_agents_arrest_firefighter_patric.html

Federal agents arrested aNew York City firefighter who was allegedly growing more than 100 marijuana plants in the basement of a rented house in Queens, authorities said.

Patrick Murray, 34, is a suspected member of a drug trafficking crew that produces hydroponic marijuana in various "grow houses" in Queens and distributes the pot throughout theNew Yorkarea, according to a complaint unsealed in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Cops received an anonymous tip phoned into the 105th Precinct yesterday that Murray was moving high-powered lights out of a house on 237th St. in Queens Villiageand loading them onto a U-haul truck. The speci

By Ari B. Bloomekatz
March 2, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/crime/la-me-childshot2-2009mar02,0,6234136.story

A 15-month-old child and an adult were in "serious but stable condition" today after a shooting in Long Beach that appeared be gang-related, police said.

Long Beach Police Department spokeswoman Jackie Bezart said she did not know if the child was the man's daughter. She said the victims were shot about 10:50 p.m. Saturday in the 1600 block of Sherman Place.

Officers responding to the shooting found the man and child in a courtyard. They were taken to a hospital, Bezart said.

Police are searching for two suspects in the shooting.

America's Criminal Defense Group, www.americascriminaldefense.com, is saddened to hear about the sh