California toddlers rescued from sailboat, father arrested

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A man suspected of kidnapping his two young children and fleeing with them aboard a stolen yacht along the Northern California coast has been arrested, and the youngsters safely returned to their mother, police and the U.S. Coast Guard said on Saturday.

Christopher Maffei, 43, who was taken into custody on Friday evening off Monterey, California, is accused of abducting his son and daughter on Tuesday from their mother's home in South San Francisco, according to police.

Authorities believe he then drove his daughter, Brooklynn, age 3, and 2-year-old son Devin across San Francisco Bay to a marina in Alameda, where he stole a 40-foot (12-metre) yacht and set sail.

The Coast Guard said it began tracking the yacht, named "Unleashed," on Friday morning as it slowly made its way south of San Francisco.

"We had eyes on him since about 10 a.m., but had to be very discreet about letting anyone know because we didn't want him to somehow get word of it," Petty Officer Thomas McKenzie said on Saturday morning.

A plane flying at high altitude and a cutter monitoring the stolen yacht by radar tailed Maffei until the early evening, when they intercepted him in waters off Monterey.

Authorities made contact with Maffei about 7:20 p.m. local time, said South San Francisco Police Sergeant Bruce McPhillips, who added the conversation lasted about 20 to 25 minutes and that the suspect was "very cooperative."

Maffei put his hands up, surrendered and asked to be taken off the boat, McKenzie said.

He said the children were removed from the vessel and checked over by a medical officer once they reached the Monterey Coast Guard Station. They were in good physical condition and were returned to their mother, Jennifer Hipon.

Maffei was booked into San Mateo County jail on suspicion of kidnapping, parental abduction and child endangerment, authorities said.

It is not known what destination Maffei had in mind, although McKenzie said the boat was merely drifting when it was intercepted by authorities.

(Additional reporting by Lily Kuo; Editing by Steve Gorman and Peter Cooney)

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

U.S. Marines probed for hate crime in beating outside California gay bar

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Four U.S. Marines were being investigated on suspicion of committing a hate crime following allegations they beat a gay man outside a bar in Long Beach, California, authorities said on Wednesday.

"We are trying to piece things together, talking to witnesses and looking at video on surveillance cameras," Long Beach Police spokesman Sergeant Aaron Eaton said of the attack, which took place early on Monday.

"Based on some of the language used during the assault, we are investigating this as a possible hate crime," Eaton said.

The four suspects are accused of attacking the man from the bar and then turning on two others who came to the man's aid, Eaton said.

CBS-TV in Los Angeles interviewed a gay film student who said he was attacked at the Silver Fox bar in Long Beach. "I remember blacking out," said the student, who did not want to reveal his identity.

The station reported that witnesses said the Marines had used anti-gay slurs during the beating. The police arrested the Marines at the scene.

The Silver Fox, which plays videos and has karaoke, caters to a mix of gay and heterosexual patrons, Eaton said. The bar advertises several gay-themed events on its website.

A spokesman for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton near San Diego where the men are based, identified those arrested on suspicion of assault as Lance Corporal Lewis Serna, Private First Class Thomas Pentek, Private First Class Sean Miller and Lance Corporal John O'Leary.

They were released on bail and all returned to their units, said spokesman Major Manuel Delarosa said.

"Committing any hate crime is unacceptable behavior and is not tolerated in the Marine Corps," he said.

The attack comes about a year after the U.S. armed forces began allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly, in a reversal of a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy prohibiting them from revealing their sexuality in effect since 1993.

(Reporting by Marty Graham, Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Philip Barbara)

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Dozens arrested in crackdown on California gang

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Federal agents and police targeting a violent street gang swept through a Southern California neighborhood Friday where earlier police killings sparked violent protests.

Federal, state and local agents raided 54 locations in Anaheim and in Los Angeles County, arresting 33 people to cap a yearlong investigation of the East Side Anaheim gang, police Sgt. Bob Dunn said.

Another 20 to 25 people already were in custody and several more were still being sought, he added.

Some of the raids concentrated on a poor, mainly Latino neighborhood known as Anna Drive where there has been a recent rise in gang activity, authorities said.

That is the neighborhood where police shot and killed Manuel Diaz, a reputed gang member who was unarmed, on July 21.

The next night, police shot and killed suspected gang member Joel Acevedo after he reportedly shot at an officer.

The killings prompted four days of violent demonstrations and a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit by Diaz's family.

Mug shots of some reputed suspects were displayed at the news conference Friday. One was named Manuel Diaz but police declined to say whether he was the same Diaz who was shot.

The raids were not related to the shootings and authorities even considered delaying them to avoid that appearance, police Chief John Welter said.

"We didn't want to be seen as coming in now and arresting a bunch of community members and having people misunderstand or again spread rumors and false information about what we were doing," he said.

"We need to regain some of the trust that has been lost as a result of some of these actions in the street by protesters," Welter said.

The gang is suspected of drug-dealing and murder and those facing federal or state drug and weapons charges could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted, authorities said.

Televised reports showed a line of men, some shirtless, sitting on the curb with their hands bound behind their backs.

During the yearlong investigation dubbed Operation Halo, authorities also seized 11 pounds of crystal methamphetamine and 40 guns, including assault-style rifles, sawed-off shotguns and a pistol believed used in a killing, authorities said.

The investigation was prompted by the 2011 stabbing death of a 12-year-old member of a graffiti tagging crew that is considered a "feeder" for the street gang, Dunn said.

Prosecutors say Juan Martinez was walking home from school when he was stabbed during a fight with a member of a rival tagging crew. Bryan Ocampo is charged with murder.

Violent crime in Anaheim, home of Disneyland and the Angels baseball team, jumped 10 percent last year and the number of murders nearly doubled, according to FBI crime statistics.

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Doctors Arrested For Filming Unsuspecting Women In California, New York

Two doctors, including a prominent plastic surgeon, were busted in Los Angeles and New York in separate incidents this week for filming unsuspecting women.

Dr. Lance Everett Wyatt, a Los Angeles-based plastic surgeon, was arrested Thursday after a patient allegedly noticed a hidden camera in his office while she was disrobing. The woman ran from the office with the camera and turned it over to police, said Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen A. Trutanich.

Wyatt faces four counts of surreptitious filming, one count of batter and one count for inappropriately touching a patient, according to the Los Angeles City Attorney's office.

"Patients deserve to feel safe and secure while in the care of their physician," Trutanich said. "Our charges allege that Dr. Wyatt violated that sacred trust and he should be held accountable."

The Harvard-educated doctor, who has appeared on "The Doctors" and was featured on an episode of ABC News' "20/20" discussing butt augmentations for African-American women, may have more victims, police said.

"There might be additional victims, so anyone who has any information needs to call the California Medical Board," said a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department.

In New York City, Dr. Adam Levinson, a respected urologist at Mount Sinai Hospital, was arrested Wednesday after he allegedly used a pen camera to film up the skirts of two women during rush hour on the subway.

Sheldon Birthwright, who used to be a screener for the Transportation Security Administration, said he spotted Levinson on the subway and noticed he had something that looked like a pen hidden in a rolled-up newspaper as the doctor stood up near a woman in a miniskirt.

"Pen is directly inside [the newspaper], just on the thigh, calmly just moving it around...I guess he was getting different angle shots of whatever he was getting," Birthwright told WABC.

Once he realized what Levinson was allegedly doing, Birthwright alerted officers, who arrested Levinson.

"It could have been anybody. It could have been my sisters, my pastor's wife, my aunts," Birthwright said. "I'm just thankful that he was caught."

Levinson has been suspended from his position at Mt. Sinai during the pending investigation, the hospital said in a statement.

Neither doctor has had any complaints filed against them, according to online records.

They also appeared to be popular with patients. Both scored high marks in the trust category on HealthGrades.com, a site that allows patients to review their doctors.

Also Read

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Protest over California police shooting turns violent, 24 arrested

(Reuters) - Police in the Southern California city of Anaheim arrested 24 people overnight after protesters smashed store windows and started fires in anger over the police shooting of an apparently unarmed man.

It was the second major clash between police and protesters since Saturday when an officer shot dead a man police said was a gang member in Anaheim, which is home to Disneyland.

"I'm here to say that vandalism, arson and other forms of violent protest will simply not be tolerated in our city," Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait told reporters on Wednesday. "We don't expect last night's situation to be repeated, but if it should, the police response will be the same: swift and appropriate."

Some of the 600 protesters threw chairs through the windows of a Starbucks, according to a Reuters witness. Damage was reported at more than 20 businesses, the City Hall and a police station, Police Chief John Welter said.

Twenty adults and four juveniles were arrested on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, Anaheim Police Sergeant Mike Bustamante said.

Officers toting shotguns stood guard in front of the stores after the violence.

One person was taken to the hospital after being hit in the head by a pepper ball fired by police and two reporters were injured by rocks hurled by protesters, said Anaheim police spokesman Sergeant Bob Dunn.

The protests were sparked by the shooting death of Manuel Diaz, who police say was a gang member.

Two officers tried to approach Diaz and two other men in an alley. The men fled but an officer caught up with Diaz and shot him, police said. Diaz was found not to have been carrying a gun, Dunn said.

Police fired pepper pellets at angry residents near the scene of the shooting on Saturday.

The Diaz family filed a wrongful-death claim against the city on Tuesday, said Diana Lopez, an attorney for the family. She said they are seeking $50 million from the city and accuse police of violating Diaz's civil rights in the shooting.

In another incident late on Sunday, Anaheim officers tried to stop a car and killed a man who they said fled and opened fire on them during a foot chase.

Police have released few additional details about the two shootings, which are being investigated by the local district attorney's office.

The Anaheim City Council voted on Tuesday to ask federal authorities to investigate the shootings. The U.S. Attorney's Office with the FBI will lead that probe, and the California Attorney General's Office will review the findings, said Ruth Ruiz, a spokeswoman for the city.

(Reporting by Joseph O'Leary and Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Anthony Boadle)

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.