Whipped Cream Difficulties

Invisible Children co-founder Jason Russell, San Diego police say, was caught Thursday night masturbating, vandalizing cars and acting under the influence of alcohol and possibly drugs.

Edited to add: Additional coverage from the LAT.

A judge has tossed out one of the felony charges against a former mayor of the city of Bell, and two felony charges against a former council member.

Both Oscar Hernandez and Luis Artiga, however, still face felony charges for allegedly collecting excessive pay for sitting on city boards and commissions that rarely, if ever, met.
Hernandez and Artiga are among six former council members in Bell who were charged in a massive public corruption case that left the city near bankruptcy. One charge was dropped against Hernandez. Two charges were dismissed against Artiga, who had accepted two cash loans.

According to an earlier LAT piece, Robert “Ratso” Rizzo was also asking for the charges against him to be dropped; I can’t tell from this article if the judge turned down that request, or simply hasn’t ruled yet.

Edited to add: Update: Ratso and Angelia Spaccia lost their bids to have the charges dismissed.

Gerhard Albert Becker has been charged with involuntary manslaughter.

The charge against him is the result of a fire in January of last year that killed Glenn Allen, a firefighter with the Los Angeles Fire Department. Allen was killed, and several other firefighters injured, in a ceiling collapse while they were fighting a fire in what the LAT describes as a “Hollywood Hills mansion”.

Okay. So why is this odd? Well, Becker isn’t the homeowner. Becker isn’t an arsonist. He didn’t start the fire. But it had not always been burning since the world’s been turning: the home had recently been rebuilt.

No, Becker is the architect who designed the home. I’ve never heard of a case where an architect has been charged as a result of a fire death. But when you read the article…

Prosecutors allege that Becker, a German national, built an 18-foot “fire trough” through the home despite being warned of the dangers it may cause. It was described as an oversize indoor fire pit.

Wow. That’s…interesting. In the “tragedy waiting to happen” sort of way. More:

…the attic was equipped with plastic pipes for fire sprinklers. The fire melted the pipes, flooding the attic and filling the insulation with water. The weight of the insulation appears to have caused a large section of the ceiling to collapse, injuring Allen and five other firefighters, officials said.

I’m not familiar with LA building codes. Is plastic pipe considered acceptable for sprinkler systems?

(The comments on this story are interesting as well. Apparently, the home was given a certificate of occupancy. Doesn’t that imply an inspection by the building department? I can see that they may not have gone into the attic to look at the sprinkler system: you’d expect that, but maybe the inspector was pressed for time? Or lazy? Or that’s not a standard part of inspections? But wouldn’t an 18-foot indoor “fire trough” have made them say something?)

Edited to add: Longer article from the LAT. If the accusations in this article are true (and please keep in mind that this is just the prosecution’s case), they’re damming.

…

According to a search warrant affidavit, the manufacturer of the fireplaces warned Becker that they were for outdoor use only. Records show he replied in an email, “I am aware I just don’t see the difference. It is a pit with a pipe.”

…

Donna Lee Kelly was killed in 2004. Her body was found stuffed in the trunk of her car.

No arrests were made until a few days ago, when the LA County Sheriff’s Office arrested Richard Allan Munnecke. According to LACSO, they have DNA evidence that links Munnecke to the murder.

This would ordinarily be a cold case of the type I don’t usually cover, but there’s two things that make it interesting:

1. Munnecke is a former director of the Tournament of Roses parade. “Munnecke was music committee chairman for the Tournament of Roses in 1998-99 and Bandfest director in 1997.” It is believed that Munnecke and Kelly met, and developed a romantic relationship, while both worked on the parade.
2. In spite of the fact that LACSO has DNA evidence, and apparently DNA evidence that was strong enough for them to make an arrest, the DA is refusing to file charges. This just seems odd to me. Maybe I don’t understand the way cops and the DAs office work, but I would have figured that LACSO would have gone to the DA with their evidence (especially on a cold case) in advance, and said, “Look, if we make an arrest, will you prosecute, given what we’ve got?” Am I wrong? Do they not talk to each other?

Edited to add 2/11: Longer followup story in the LAT, which goes into more detail about the evidence and the DA’s rejection.

More than half of the disability retirements awarded to police officers under former Bell City Administrator Robert Rizzo — including those given to three police chiefs — should not have been granted, and workers’ compensation settlements for 13 officers were “exceedingly large,” an investigation has concluded.

Former police chief Michael Chavez gets a pension of $117,942, and got a worker’s compensation settlement of $140,000. Former police chief Andreas Probst gets $160,649 a year on top of his $250,000 worker’s compensation settlement. Former police chief Dennis Tavernelli gets $169,027 a year on top of his $395,667 worker’s compensation settlement.

The advantage of a disability retirement is that only half of the pension is taxed; workers’ compensation settlements are tax free.

And:

The Times reported that in at least two instances, the city wrapped severance and unused vacation and sick time into the workers’ comp settlements, which experts said violated tax laws.

Question: if the city and the police chiefs knowingly violated state law in that fashion, could they be charged with tax evasion?

I previously noted the story of Stephen Kinzey, professor at Cal State San Bernardino, accused member of a biker gang and meth dealer.

Today’s LAT provides us with a longer background piece on Professor Kinzey and the charges against him. Interesting note:

Kinzey started two local motorcycle clubs in Southern California, but moved on or was forced out of both, before forming the mountain chapter of the Devils Diciples. It was a band of about six members from the San Bernardino Mountains and neighboring towns.

Also amusing:

I could call him at 3 a.m. with a question, and he’d get back to me,” said Nik Young, 25, a senior. “That’s why I’m so shocked. Just because it just doesn’t seem like that’d be a part of a guy who is as positive and caring as he is.”

Yeah, honey. Meth’s a heck of a drug.

You know the classic joke about the child who kills both parents, then throws himself on the mercy of the court because…right?

Yeah. Well, Robert “Ratso” Rizzo, late of the City of Bell, is suing the city.

The suit also alleges that the city did not have “cause” to fire Rizzo, who faces a lengthy list of criminal charges over his use of public funds, because he has not been convicted.

“Rizzo has not been convicted of a felony or a crime of moral turpitude, or at all. As such, the city did not have and does not have ’cause’ to terminate Rizzo under the agreement,” the complaint said.