Long Beach coach faces DUI charge, other misdemeanors

The head football coach at Long Beach High faces a June 7 court date on misdemeanor charges of DUI, careless driving and violating the city's open container law.
Long Beach police arrested Charles Ronald "Bo" VonderBruegge Jr., 44, on Thursday night after a traffic stop on Commission Road near Daugherty Road.
Police records show a domestic disturbance was reported about 9:45 p.m. at a home on Pine Street, and police were told VonderBruegge had left the house in a maroon Chevrolet sport utility vehicle. An officer saw the SUV cross the center line on Daugherty near Mossy Oaks lane and drive on the white solid line on the side of the road before the SUV stopped, a report said.
VonderBruegge reportedly smelled of alcohol, had an open, cold 8-ounce beer in the cup holder of the SUV, and said he had consumed a couple of drinks, "but would not say how many or what kind," the report said.
The officer reported VonderBruegge refused to take a field sobriety test, and later refused to take a breath test on equipment at the police department. Records show police obtained a search warrant to draw blood for a blood-alcohol test, and VonderBruegge was taken to Memorial Hospital at Gulfport for a blood sample.
Police took him back to the police station and released him on his own recognizance pending a court appearance. Records show he was released to his father and brother.
VonderBruegge signed an appearance bond agreeing to pay the city $1,532 if he should fail to appear in court.
Schools Superintendent Carrolyn Hamilton said the school district is investigating the case and seeking an attorney's advice, but said she could not comment further.
VonderBruegge had coached at Pass Christian High before becoming assistant coach at Long Beach High. He was named interim football coach at Long Beach last fall and was named head football coach in December.

Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2013/05/06/4646222/long-beach-coach-faces-dui-charge.html#storylink=cpy

Judge won't lower bond for woman accused of causing fiery 2012 crash on I-95

A Port St. Lucie woman facing DUI manslaughter charges related to a 2012 fiery crash on Interstate 95 that killed four people remained behind bars Wednesday after a judge refused to lower her $280,000 bond.
Carolyn Ramos, 41, was arrested by U.S. Marshals Tuesday in Palm Beach County on four counts of DUI manslaughter and four counts of vehicular homicide in connection with a May 13, 2012 crash that killed a man and his wife and their two daughters, ages 7 and 9. The 2:20 a.m. crash occurred in the northbound lanes of I-95, a half mile north of the Martin Highway overpass in Martin County, according to arrest papers.
During a first appearance via a video linkup from jail, Ramos faced Martin County Judge Curtis Disque, who announced the charges against her.
“The judge kept the bond the same,” said Assistant State Attorney Nirlaine Tallandier Smartt after the brief hearing.
Court papers don’t identify a defense attorney for Ramos and Smartt said she was not assigned a public defender during her first appearance.
“She didn’t fill out paperwork for a public defender,” Smartt noted.
The next step in the legal process is for Ramos to be arraigned, at which time she’ll enter a plea to the charges.
Prosecutors meanwhile, will begin preparing their case by meeting with witnesses and law enforcement officials who responded to the crash.
Ramos was allegedly heading south in the northbound lane on I-95 when her SUV collided with a pickup driven by Demetrius Suggs, 28, of Chattanooga, Tenn., who witnesses said died at the scene.
According to authorities, Ramos was slightly conscious when rescue officials arrived and is accused of being intoxicated at the time of the accident.
Though, details of the FHP crash investigation haven’t been made public, including Ramos’ blood alcohol content, or how long she had been driving on I-95 before the crash.

Investigators have recovered fingerprints and what they believe is DNA evidence from the crime scene of Leila Fowler, an 8-year-old Calaveras County girl found stabbed to death Saturday afternoon.
The girl was found in her Valley Springs home and pronounced dead at a hospital. Her 12-year-old brother had called for help, saying he'd encountered a male intruder in the house. (The girl, a third-grader, was previously said to be 9 years old.)
The Calaveras County Sheriff’s Department issued an update Sunday night:
“The search for a suspect in this case has continued overnight and through the day today,” the department said. “Overnight sheriff’s detectives and members of the California [Department of Justice] Bureau of Forensic Services executed a search warrant at the home where the homicide occurred. Evidence was collected at the scene including fingerprints and what investigators believe is DNA. At this same time, detectives were conducting follow-up interviews with witnesses and family members.”
Police said there are no suspects and more than 100 law enforcement officers are on the case.
The Associated Press reported the girl was found dead by her older brother, who encountered the intruder inside the home.
The assailant was described as a white or Latino man, about 6 feet tall with a muscular build, last seen wearing a black long-sleeved shirt and blue pants.

Authorities were conducting a door-to-door sweep of homes, checking storage sheds and horse stables and searching attics. “It is a difficult area to search. It's rural, remote,” sheriff's Capt. Jim Macedo told the Associated Press.

According to Fox 40, Mark Campbell, the school district’s superintendent, said in a statement Sunday:
“As we all grapple with the tragic and senseless loss of one of our own, we do so knowing that we will be ready to do what is necessary to provide a safe environment for students and for staff, and to stand unified and strong as we provide whatever level of support and assistance that is necessary to help the family, our students, our parents and our staff process the unthinkable.”

Campbell added that counselors would be on hand at Jenny Lind Elementary, Toyon Middle School and Calaveras High School. There will also be an added law enforcement presence at Jenny Lind Elementary and nearby bus stops, according to Fox 40.

KCRA reported that Leila was one of seven children in her family.

Men Admit to Illegally Exporting Local Cars

Two men will be sentenced after pleading guilty to customs violations and felony mail fraud after participating in a three-year luxury car exporting scheme that allowed buyers of luxury vehicles in China to escape paying export taxes.
Frank Ku and Danny Hsu, both of California, will be sentenced in Concord on the charges today.
The case, which has been sealed for months, was a multi-agency effort involving Homeland Security, New Hampshire State Police, auto dealers, and city and town clerks across the state, according to U.S. Attorney John Kacavas.
From October 2009 until March 2012, the two men operated a company in California, CFLA, Ltd., that obtained various vehicles such as BMWs, Lexus SUVs, Mercedes Benz sedans, and other vehicles around the country. They would then register the vehicles – or get “straw buyers,” often people in difficult financial circumstances to register them – and then transport the vehicles to Long Beach, Calif., for export to China. Often, the vehicles wouldn’t even been seen in the state where they were purchased but instead, be sent straight to Long Beach. The two had phony licenses and addresses in Farmington and Stratham, as well as other locations in New Hampshire, to assist them in the scheme.
The pair would alter the titles to make it look as if the vehicles were used, not new, Kacavas said, which allowed them to escape export tariffs and deliver the luxury vehicles to Chinese buyers at cheaper prices than if those buyers purchased the vehicles in China. It's illegal to privately export new vehicles to China, he said.
Only one vehicle was purchased in New Hampshire – a BMW purchased at BMW of Stratham. In total, 11 titles were altered in New Hampshire. The scheme was run out of 16 states, he said.
Kacavas said the two, both naturalized citizens, shipped 79 vehicles overseas during the operation. Law enforcement was able to recoup about $750,000, by stopping 14 vehicles last year. The total value of the vehicles is in the $5.5 million range, Kacavas said.
The two would often target potential “straw buyers” using Craigslist ads for roommate situations or people looking for work. The two would essentially rent access to addresses for registration of the vehicles and in their cases, their own fraudulent licenses in the state.
Neither Kacavas nor investigators would delve too heavily into how they found out about the scheme but they stated that the NH Division of Motor Vehicles and local clerks in cities and towns, noticing multiple luxury vehicle registrations being submitted at town halls across the state, assisted in the investigation.
Ku and Hsu will probably not face jail time for their crimes though, Kacavas said.
“We don’t expect that these will carry incarcerative sentences,” he said. “Incarceration is not the goal … our goal is to recoup the monies and what we can, in terms of the cars.”
Richard Bailey, the director of the NHDMV, said what was so difficult about the investigation was the number of people, with limited means, who got caught up in the scheme by the two illegal exporters.
“Some of our neediest citizens have been duped into participating in this, turning them into illegal straw buyers,” he said. “An offer of $500 or $1,000 seems almost too good to pass up … they’re not aware of the downstream impact.”
None of the “straw buyers,” however, will be prosecuted, since they cooperated with the investigation.

Trial of Compton teen accused as accomplice in double-murder of parents opens

A teenage girl being tried as an adult for her role in the grisly killings of her mother and stepfather was alternately described Tuesday as a cold-blooded and willing accomplice, and the victim of a hellish and tragic childhood.
Cynthia Alvarez is accused with her boyfriend at the time, Giovanni Gallardo, of killing Alvarez' mother, Gloria Villalta, 58, and stepfather, Jose Lara, 51, in Compton in October 2011. Alvarez was 15 at the time and Gallardo was 16.
Alvarez is charged with two counts of murder including special circumstances that could put her into prison for life without the possibility of parole.
Deputy District Kristin Trutanich described Alvarez as helping to plan and execute the murders, even swinging a black baseball bat in the killing of Lara.
Alvarez was also described the defendant as remorselessly driving around in her stepfather's Jeep and planning a Halloween party while her parents' bodies moldered unidentified and half-buried in lots in Norwalk and North Long Beach.
Trutanich said both defendants willingly went to police and admitted their crimes, but not until long after the crimes had been committed and days after the parents were reported missing.
Defense attorney Carole Telfer told a much different story about a meek, shy girl who suffered physical and learning defects, was molested and raped by her stepfather, forced to care for
her mother and kept mostly housebound, dominated by her boyfriend. In the end, she was failed by all the people and agencies in her life who could have made a difference, Telfer said. As Telfer gave her opening, Alvarez sat still in her chair in Compton Superior Court looking straight ahead, never moving her head to look at her attorney or the jury.
Telfer said Alvarez never agreed to the killings, which were planned and executed she said by Gallardo, and only begrudgingly swung the bat at her father's legs. Telfer told jurors they would hear in Alvarez' own words what happened and the circumstances of her life at the time.
"What I want you to do is keep an open mind," Telfer said. "We're going to let her tell you what happened and why and let you decide what your verdict will be. "
The defendants allegedly killed the mother in the family home after she returned from work on an unknown date between Oct. 11 and 15 in 2011. They then purportedly hid the body and waited for the stepfather, whom they allegedly beat with a baseball bat and stabbed.
When the case was first presented, prosecutors said the motive arose from "ongoing friction between the girl and her parents that included her dating Gallardo. "
Telfer tells a much more complicated and tragic tale.
The defense attorney said Alvarez was born with defects in her heart and a "language processing disorder" that still afflicts her. Alvarez lived with her parents until her father was deported to Honduras. Not long after, Telfer said, Lara moved in and the decline in Alvarez's life began.
According to Telfer, Lara went from molesting Alvarez to anal rape in 2008 when she was 12. Meanwhile, she was forced to care for her mother and clean the family home. Although she reported the rape to police, Alvarez later recanted, Telfer said, at her mother's insistence.
In high school, Alvarez met Gallardo, whom Telfer said, dominated her life.
A possible breaking point may have occurred at Alvarez's quinceanera party where she was physically and verbally abused by her mother, forced to dance with her rapist and where her boyfriend showed up and got drunk, Telfer said.
Telfer said shortly before the killing, Alvarez decided to leave her home for good even broke up with Gallardo.
While Telfer told a compelling story, Trutanich told jurors in her opening that the only two people who would not be able to testify, and provide a different version from that of Alvarez and her attorney were the parents.
"You won't hear from Gloria and Jose, because they were murdered by the defendant and her boyfriend. "