Dana Hills junior Evan Noonan is the Gatorade California boys cross country athlete of the year

• January 27, 2024

Dana Hills junior Evan Noonan has been selected as the Gatorade Boys Cross Country Player of the Year, it was announced Friday.

Noonan was the Register’s Orange County Boys Cross Country Athlete of the Year in 2023 and 2022.

This past fall, he won the CIF State Division III championship, covering the 5,000-meter course in 14 minutes, 53.3 seconds. That was 17 seconds faster than the Division III second-place finisher and was the fastest time of the day for all runners.

Noonan also was victorious in the CIF Southern Section Division 3 finals for the second year in a row. He had the best time of all runners that day, too.

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​ Orange County Register 

El Monte officers fatally shot in ambush were not verbally warned that suspect had a gun, was on PCP

• January 27, 2024

An El Monte police dispatcher failed to tell two officers fatally shot by a convicted gang member that the suspect reportedly had a gun and was under the influence of PCP and methamphetamine, reveals a 911 recording obtained by the Southern California News Group.

The frantic 911 call to the El Monte Police Department was made shortly before 5 p.m. on June 14, 2022, by Maria Zepeda, who reported that her daughter had been stabbed by her husband, Justin Flores, at the Siesta Inn, where they had been staying.

During the 7-minute, 20-second call, Zepeda repeatedly told dispatcher Ruth Bonneau that Flores had a recent history of violence against her daughter, was under influence of PCP and methamphetamine and was armed and dangerous.

“He’s on PCP. He has a gun!” Zepeda told Bonneau during the call.

Lost in translation

That information, however, was not communicated over the radio by Kristen Juaregui, a veteran dispatcher who deployed officers to the Siesta Inn.

“Mother is RP (reporting party). She is en route from La Puente in a black Hyundai, advising her daughter, Diana Flores Cruz, 44 years, called a second RP advising that she was stabbed by her boyfriend, Justin Flores, male, 33,” Jauregui said during her dispatch. She further stated that Flores and his wife were possibly in Room 103 and that it was unknown if the two were still at the location.

The call terminated, and there was no follow-up radio communication from Jauregui to Officer Joseph Santana, Cpl. Michael Paredes and Sgt. Eric Sanchez, the three who responded to the call.

Flores ambushed the officers when they confronted him inside the motel room, brandishing a gun and fatally shooting Paredes and Santana and wounding Sanchez in a shootout before killing himself with Paredes’ gun, which Flores had seized when the officer was down.

Family briefed

At the request of the family, Detective Amber Montenegro, a lead investigator in the case, met with Santana’s sister, Jessica Santana, and three unnamed El Monte police officers nearly a year-and-a-half later. During that session on Dec. 11, 2023, at the Los Angeles County sheriff’s homicide bureau in Monterey Park, Montenegro played the recording of the 911 call.

While the detective confirmed Jauregui did not inform officers over the radio that Flores possibly had a gun and was on drugs, the information was typed into the computer-aided dispatch system and visible to the responding officers on the computer terminals in their patrol vehicles.

“They definitely had all the information in their boxes before they arrived, so they were able to look at the call and review it,” Montenegro said during the briefing, a recording of which was obtained by the Southern California News Group.

Nevertheless, Jessica Santana and the officers present questioned Jauregui’s actions.

“We rely a lot on dispatch, and I understand we’re busy, but they need to tell the cops everything,” one of the officers said during the meeting.

Jessica Santana was the most critical.

“I don’t understand. I understand how they protect the community and stuff, but how do you guys stay safe when there’s dispatchers here that could have potentially saved their lives?” she said. “That’s just what gets me, because my brother would still be here.”

Montenegro countered by noting that the responding officers had plenty of time to review their computer terminals after arriving at the motel.

“It’s not like they got there and things were happening dynamically, right? They weren’t running in there,” Montenegro said. Prior to the shooting, she explained, the officers stood outside for a few minutes discussing a similar domestic violence call to the same motel they received a week earlier involving Flores and his wife. The two, however, were not there when officers arrived.

“You can’t put any of this all on one person,” Montenegro said.

Santana responded, saying: “It’s just I feel if they would have voiced it, it would have been different.”

Expert weighs in

Tony Harrison, who trains police dispatchers and is president of the North Carolina-based The Public Safety Group, said the information about Flores having a gun and being on drugs should have been communicated to the responding officers immediately.

“It’s important to relay all pertinent officer safety information when possible. And a perpetrator being on drugs and having a gun is certainly at the top of the list. One-hundred percent undeniable,” Harrison said in a telephone interview.

He said dispatchers cannot always rely on officers seeing information relayed via their CAD terminals.

“If I’m driving 80 miles per hour to a stabbing scene, I’m not reading my computer. That’s not safe to do,” Harrison said. “I’m relying on the dispatcher to provide those updates in a timely fashion. The part of (Flores) being on PCP and carrying a gun needs to be verbally dispatched.”

Such information allows responding officers to plan accordingly and determine a tactical approach, he said.

“Do I exit my vehicle with a rifle? Do I wait for a second unit to arrive — a third or a fourth unit to arrive? Do we make a more tactical approach instead of being a little more nonchalant and walking in?” Harrison said.

How the shootout unfolded

During her briefing, Montenegro gave a play-by-play of how the shooting unfolded.

Santana, Sanchez and Paredes stood outside Room 103. Santana knocked for several minutes, telling Cruz to open the door. Flores kept telling Santana they were getting dressed and to “hold on.”

When the door was finally opened, Flores was in his underwear holding a pair of pants. What the officers did not know was that Flores was concealing a gun, stolen out of a police car in North Carolina, behind his pants, Montenegro said.

When Santana holstered his gun to detain Flores, Flores brandished the gun and a struggle ensued between the two. Sanchez ran out of the room and took cover. Paredes was standing at the door. Flores fired two shots at him.

“He just fired two shots … and at least one of them hit Paredes dead center in the head, and he went down immediately,” Montenegro said.

Seven seconds later, Flores fired several more shots, shooting Santana in the head, arm and leg, Montenegro said.

For an undisclosed reason, Flores then seized Paredes gun, which was laying on the floor next to his body, and used it to shoot Paredes a second time in the head. Then he engaged in a shootout with Sanchez, who by that time had already called for backup on his radio, Montenegro said.

Flores and his wife “ran around the corner,” said Montenegro, but not before Sanchez shot Flores in the femoral artery and mortally wounded him.

“So the suspect was dead pretty quickly, he just didn’t realize it with all the drugs he was on,” Montenegro said.

Flores fell to the ground, rolled over and continued shooting at Sanchez as other officers started arriving. Sanchez suffered a through-and-through wound in his foot.

At 5:10 p.m., Flores killed himself with Paredes’ gun, Montenegro said.

Montenegro said toxicology tests later revealed Flores had PCP, methamphetamine and marijuana in his system. She also said they were pursuing criminal charges against Flores’ wife for her alleged culpability in the crime — for not being honest with officers and not telling them her husband had a gun.

“The DA is considering them (criminal charges), but it doesn’t look promising,” Montenegro said.

Systemic failures

Montenegro also noted during her briefing the multiple contacts Flores had with law enforcement in the months prior to the shooting. According to Flores’ wife, she said, Flores began using PCP — a hallucinogen known to cause violent behavior — in March 2022 after his cousin died and that the drug “changed his personality.”

“He started beating her and just started going a little bit more crazy than normal,” Montenegro said.

On March 14, 2022, Flores was arrested by sheriff’s deputies in the City of Industry for having a loaded gun in his glove department. At the time, he was on probation for another gun offense.

Flores subsequently was charged for being a felon in possession of a firearm not registered to him and being in possession of a controlled substance with a loaded firearm. He posted bail and was subsequently granted probation even though he was an admitted gang member, Montenegro said.

Two months later, Flores was arrested in West Covina in a fraud case, Montenegro said.

In May 2022, Flores’ parents called police to report their son was acting erratically, yelling at passing vehicles and talking to himself, and that family members were holding him down on their front lawn. Flores was taken to a hospital on a psychiatric hold and later released, Montenegro said.

During her 911 call, Zepeda told Bonneau that the week prior, Flores had choked her daughter and left her for dead in Pico Rivera and that police had a report of the incident. And only three days prior, Flores showed up at her home with a gun. She said police came to her home and a police helicopter was even deployed.

And though Zepeda reported on the 911 call that her daughter had been stabbed, police later learned her injuries were minor.

“It was very superficial,” Montenegro said. “But mom did not know that when she called.”

Criminal justice failures

Some of the justice system’s failures regarding Flores were detailed in a scathing report by the Los Angeles County Office of Inspector General released in August 2023.

The OIG determined, among other things, that the county Probation Department failed to properly monitor Flores and act on pertinent information regarding allegations of domestic violence, gun possession and illegal drug use, and failed to alert local law enforcement that Flores may be armed with a gun and dangerous.

Flores had three outstanding warrants for his arrest, two from San Bernardino County and one from Los Angeles County, at the time of the shooting, and the Probation Department did not run a warrant check on Flores until just days before the shooting, when Flores missed his final appointment, according to the OIG report.

Police chief responds

El Monte Police Chief Jake Fisher said he stands by the actions of his dispatchers and officers.

“The El Monte Police Department continues to mourn the loss of our officers, Sergeant Michael Paredes and Officer Joseph Santana,” Fisher said in a statement. “Together we are moving forward as we collectively continue to grieve and recover from the horrific event.”

Fisher said his department is actively working with the Sheriff’s Department and the District Attorney’s Office in completing the final steps in the investigation.

Sheriff’s and district attorney investigators have interviewed all relevant witnesses, reviewed all police camera footage, CAD reports, call logs and have “found no wrongdoing by our police officers or civilian personnel,” Fisher said.

“We fully anticipate this finding to hold and that our DA will officially clear all involved officers and close the investigation,” Fisher said.

Related links

Probation Department ignored red flags about gang member who killed El Monte police officers, OIG says
Gang probe launched after deaths of 2 El Monte officers nets arrests
Family of fallen El Monte officer plans to sue the Probation Department, D.A. Gascón
Fallen El Monte police officers remembered as family men
‘They watched those boys grow up:’ Mourning for fallen El Monte police officers likely to reverberate for years

Dispatcher still on leave

Jauregui, a police dispatcher of more than 20 years and the daughter of retired El Monte Police Chief Tom Armstrong, declined to comment for this story. She hosts a podcast called 911 Strong, has modeled for Recoil, a firearm lifestyle magazine, and has been profiled in other publications.

Although city officials would not provide information on Jauregui’s employment background and current job status, officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said she is still employed at the department but has been on paid leave for the past several months. Sanchez also was reported to be on leave.

On Monday, Jauregui’s website hinted she was no longer actively working as a dispatcher.

“As a dispatcher for over two decades, Kristen Jauregui has seen and heard a lot, which brought on unexpected compassion fatigue & burnout. She didn’t want to leave the force, but she knew something had to change, so she turned to physical fitness and personal development mindset work,” the website said.

By Friday, several days after a reporter reached out to her, the website had been taken down.

​ Orange County Register 

Rebecca Grossman isn’t the driver responsible for deaths of 2 young brothers, her attorney says

• January 27, 2024

By TERRI VERMEULEN KEITH

VAN NUYS — A co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation was speeding when she ran down two young brothers in a Westlake Village crosswalk, a prosecutor told jurors Friday, but the woman’s attorneys insisted she wasn’t the driver responsible for the deadly crash — which they contend occurred outside a crosswalk.

Rebecca Grossman, now 60, was charged in December 2020 with two felony counts each of murder and vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, along with one felony count of hit-and-run driving resulting in death, in connection with the Sept. 29, 2020, deaths of 11-year-old Mark Iskander and his 8-year-old brother, Jacob.

Deputy District Attorney Ryan Gould told jurors that Grossman was speeding in a white Mercedes-Benz SUV on Triunfo Canyon Road and struck the two boys as they were crossing the street with their mother in a marked crosswalk.

One of Grossman’s attorneys, Tony Buzbee, countered that the evidence would show that Grossman is “not guilty because she didn’t do anything and someone else did.”

The defense attorney acknowledged that no one saw a vehicle driven seconds ahead of Grossman by former Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson — described by the prosecutor as Grossman’s boyfriend — strike the children, but said the defense will prove that Erickson’s vehicle hit the children first, and the victims “hit Mrs. Grossman’s car” about three seconds after the initial collision.

Erickson was previously charged with misdemeanor reckless driving in a case that was separately filed, but that charge was dismissed after he completed a diversionary program.

In his opening statement, the prosecutor told jurors that a passenger in a car behind Grossman’s vehicle saw the white Mercedes-Benz strike Jacob.

“It is a well-marked crosswalk, and this is where our worlds collide,” Gould said, noting that Grossman and Erickson were in separate vehicles heading back to her house on the lake to watch the presidential debate that night.

The Rebecca Grossman case

Jury selection begins in murder trial of Grossman Burn Foundation co-founder over double-fatal crash
Murder charges stand against Grossman Burn Foundation co-founder in boys’ crosswalk deaths
Rebecca Grossman, co-founder of Grossman Burn Foundation, ordered to stand trial on murder charges
Attorney: Former Dodger pitcher Scott Erickson was not driving recklessly, not responsible for fatal Westlake Village crash
Rebecca Grossman, suspected in crash that killed 2 boys in Westlake Village, released on $2 million bail

“They didn’t have a chance,” the deputy district attorney said of the two boys.

The prosecutor alleged that Grossman was “flooring it to get herself up to 81 mph on a 45 mile-per-hour street” and driving just over 70 miles per hour at the time of impact. He said she wouldn’t have hit the boys if she had been driving at the speed limit.

“She continues to go past … and doesn’t stop for over a third of a mile away. … She never goes back to that crosswalk,” Gould said.

The prosecutor noted that blood testing done on Grossman after the crash determined she had alcohol and Valium in her system, but she is not charged with driving under the influence. Jurors don’t need to find her guilty of that in order to convict her of the charges, he said.

The defense attorney countered the prosecution’s allegation that the defendant was speeding, saying that “Mrs. Grossman was going 52 miles per hour at best.” He contended that the data used by the prosecution’s expert from the vehicle’s so-called black box was not reliable.

Buzbee maintained that Grossman didn’t leave the scene and accused law enforcement of failing to adequately investigate the crash, saying it was “not the best investigation you’ve ever seen.”

Buzbee insisted that a separate vehicle — Erickson’s — went through the intersection 2 1/2 seconds before Grossman.

“We will show you that is the vehicle that hit the two children first,” Buzbee said, adding that “multiple eyewitnesses either heard or saw two impacts,” with some saying they occurred three seconds apart and others saying they happened five seconds apart.

Buzbee told jurors that debris collected at the scene proves that there were “at least two impacts, likely three,” but he said investigators rushed to judgment to accuse Grossman of killing the boys, when in reality, “the car in front of her actually hit the children.”

He said the evidence will show that the children were not in the crosswalk — which he said was improperly marked — when they were struck. He also denied contentions that Grossman left the scene, saying she was so close to her home that she could have gotten out of her car and walked home if she really intended to flee.

Buzbee alleged that Erickson stopped up the road, hid in the bushes and watched after the collision.

He said the defense would ask the jury to “use your courage and find Mrs. Grossman not guilty.”

Testimony is set to begin Monday in the Van Nuys courtroom, with the victims’ mother, Nancy, expected to testify that day.

Sheriff’s officials said after the crash that family members were crossing the three-way intersection — which does not have a stoplight — in the crosswalk when the mother heard a car speeding toward them and both parents reached out to protect two of their children, but the two boys were too far out in the intersection and were struck.

The older boy died at the scene, and his 8-year-old sibling died at a hospital.

Grossman allegedly continued driving after striking the boys, eventually stopping about a quarter-mile away from the scene when her car engine stopped running, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

In a conversation with an operator through a Mercedes-Benz service following the crash, Grossman said she didn’t know if she had hit anyone and that she was driving when her airbag exploded.

“I don’t know what I hit,” she said in the recording when a 911 operator was patched in and asked if she had hit a person.

Grossman is free on $2 million bond.

She was ordered to stand trial in May 2022 by Superior Court Judge Shellie Samuels. Superior Court Judge Joseph Brandolino, who is presiding over the case, subsequently denied a defense motion to dismiss the murder charges.

The defendant — who could face up to 34 years to life in prison if convicted as charged — is the wife of Dr. Peter Grossman, who is the director of the Grossman Burn Centers and son of the center’s late founder, A. Richard Grossman.

Rebecca and Peter Grossman were separated at the time of the crash, according to a statement by her husband posted on the website supporting her.

She is a co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation and a former publisher of Westlake Magazine.

Brandolino said at the start of the jury selection process that he expected the trial to last about six weeks.

​ Orange County Register 

Lifesize Lego builds on display, piles of bricks for building this weekend at OC fairgrounds

• January 27, 2024

Explore worlds built one brick at a time this weekend … one Lego brick at a time.

Brick Convention, a Lego fan event, is visiting the OC Fair & Event Center on Saturday and Sunday – its first time in California, said organizer Greyson Riley.

One of the features of the convention that has been held in communities around the country over the last year is the elaborate displays created by Lego builders, many of them local artists.

“They are going to see hours, if not years of work put together,” said Riley, who was himself wowed by a “massive” pirate ship scene one person arrived with on Friday as the displays were being set up. He was told the ship alone weighed more than 80 pounds.

“It is amazing for both the artist and the viewer,” he said of the creativity that will be on display. “There is something here for everyone. You don’t have to be a Lego fan to enjoy the event.”

But if you are a fan of the tiny bricks and the mini figures that bring them to life, he said vendors from around the country are participating this weekend to help people find vintage building kits and missing pieces.

There will also be professional Lego artists appearing and visitors of all ages can tap into their own creativity in designated building zones with large pits of bricks to work with.

If you go

When: There are multiple sessions, 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 3 to 6 p.m. on Jan. 27 and 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 3 to 6 p.m. on Jan. 28

Where: OC Fair & Event Center, Costa Mesa Building, 88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa

Cost: $15 admission online and $18 for admission at the door, $12 for parking

Information: brickconvention.com, ocfair.com

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​ Orange County Register 

Orange County scores and player stats for Friday, Jan. 26

• January 27, 2024

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

Scores and stats from Orange County games on Friday, Jan. 26

Click here for details about sending your team’s scores and stats to the Register.

The deadline for submitting information is 10:45 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 p.m. Saturday.

FRIDAY’S SCORES

BOYS BASKETBALL

NIKE EXTRAVAGANZA XXIX

St. Mary’s (AZ) 93, Crean Lutheran 58

BOYS SOCCER

EMPIRE LEAGUE

Cypress 1, Kennedy 1

GARDEN GROVE LEAGUE

Santiag 1, La Quinta 0

Los Amigos 6, Loara 0

WAVE LEAGUE

Marina 3, Fountain Valley 2

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Woodbridge 1, Irvine 0

PACIFIC HILLS LEAGUE

Portola 4, Beckman 1

SAN JOAQUIN LEAGUE

Western Christian 6, Capistrano Valley Christian 1

GIRLS SOCCER

EMPIRE LEAGUE

Cypress 4, Kennedy 1

GARDEN GROVE LEAGUE

Rancho Alamitos 3, Bolsa Grande 0

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Beckman 2, Portola 0

SAN JOAQUiN LEAGUE

Fairmont Prep 1, Webb 1

GIRLS WATER POLO

NEWPORT INVITE

Mater Dei 19, Bishop’s 17 (OT)

San Marcos 14, Oaks Christian 12

Foothill 13, Laguna Beach 10

Newport Harbor 15, Carlsbad 1

Mater Dei 14, Oaks Christian 13

San Marcos 13, Bishop’s 11 (OT)

Foothill 18, Carlsbad 3

Newport Harbor 10, Laguna Beach 6

IRVINE SOCAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Orange Lutheran 20, M.L. King 0

Long Beach Wilson 19, Santa Margarita 9

JSerra 5, Dos Pueblos 3

Schurr 10. Harvard Westlake 9

Corona del Mar 21, Murrieta Valley 2

Los Alamitos 13, Edison 6

SAV TOURNAMENT

El Modena 11, Monrovia 4

​ Orange County Register 

Lions’ Jared Goff going home to face 49ers in NFC title game

• January 27, 2024

By LARRY LAGE AP Sports Writer

ALLEN PARK, Mich. — Jared Goff is California cool, staying easy breezy in good times and bad.

The veteran quarterback, who is from the San Francisco Bay Area, has led the Detroit Lions to the most success they’ve had in generations with two playoff victories in one postseason for the first time since winning the 1957 NFL title.

And yet, he has refused to get too emotionally high about that feat.

Goff also would not get too low – at least publicly – when the Lions won just three games in his debut season with them in 2021 and followed up the next season with a 1-6 start.

“He’s the captain of the ship,” Detroit center Frank Ragnow said Wednesday. “He’s as steady as it gets.”

The Lions will lean on Goff to stay the course for at least another week.

He is heading home to play the 49ers, about an hour from his hometown and alma mater, in the NFC championship game on Sunday.

Goff is from Novato, attended nearby Marin Catholic High and starred at Cal before the Rams drafted him No. 1 overall in 2016.

He helped the Rams reach the Super Bowl in his third season, they traded him away two years later and were eliminated by the castaway in a wild-card game earlier this month.

Outside of the Lions’ organization, Goff was viewed as a stopgap quarterback when he was acquired along with a pair of first-round draft picks and a third-round selection nearly three years ago for Matthew Stafford.

Goff has been much more, validating the faith Lions general manager Brad Holmes had in him when dealing a popular star for a player his former employer didn’t want.

He got in a groove during the 2022 season, lifting the team to eight wins over their final 10 games and stayed in it during much of Detroit’s breakthrough season in which the franchise won its first division title in three decades and ended an NFL record nine-game postseason losing streak that lasted 32 years.

Goff threw 383 consecutive passes without an interception, a mistake-free run that trailed just two in league history, before throwing a pick in September.

He finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in passing yards and fourth with 30 touchdown passes, including five that matched franchise and personal records in last month’s rout against Denver.

In postseason wins over the Rams and Tampa Bay, he has completed 74.3% of his passes for 564 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.

“He’s as accurate as any quarterback I’ve seen,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said.

That’s especially true when Goff can stay in the pocket instead of throwing on the run.

“The key is obviously getting pressure,” San Francisco defensive end Nick Bosa said. “He’s got a really good O-line, so it makes it tough. But if you cover up his first couple reads, and then you get after him and hit him a few times it changes things a little bit.”

A lot has changed for Goff since he grew up as a 49ers fan and wore No. 16 because his father, former Major League Baseball player Jerry Goff, picked Joe Montana’s number for him to wear.

Even though the stakes are much higher than previous visits to San Francisco in the regular season with the Rams, it’s tough to tell by looking at or listening to Goff.

“It’ll be fun to be able to play a big game there, but I’ve played there quite a few times and we’ll have some friends and family there,” he said with a shrug. ”It’ll be cool.”

And when Goff is asked about his cool and calm demeanor, he replies with an aw-shucks answer.

“Yeah, it does come quite naturally,” said Goff, who leads active NFC quarterbacks with five career playoff wins. “But I do think there’s a part of me that’s intentional about being consistent whether things are good or bad.”

​ Orange County Register 

Judge to rule soon on bail for Edin Enamorado’s ‘Justice 8’ street-vendor advocates

• January 27, 2024

A San Bernardino County Superior Court judge on Friday, Jan. 26, said he would rule soon on a prosecutor’s request to keep a group’s leader and six of his followers held without bail as they face accusations that their advocacy for street vendors went beyond exercising their First Amendment right to protest and extended into assault and other crimes.

Judge John Wilkerson in Victorville said he could rule before the next hearing, which he scheduled for Feb. 9. Eight people were arrested on Dec. 14 and have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The delay disappointed an overflow crowd of some 40 supporters who say 36-year-old Upland resident Edin Alex Enamorado fights for marginalized and oppressed people who have no voice. Several supporters interviewed before the hearing said they believed his tactics did not amount to a crime.

“The seven people who are incarcerated, they stood up for people’s rights,” said Adam Espinoza, 60, who said he came down from San Francisco for the hearing and wore a T-shirt that read “Justice for the 8.”

Charges against the eight include making criminal threats, assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment and conspiracy. One of the eight is not being held because he was accused of less serious crimes. The crimes allegedly happened in San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties.

Sheriff Shannon Dicus has said the accused “use racism to threaten and intimidate their victims, causing them to get on their knees to beg for forgiveness while still assaulting them.”

Friday, Deputy District Attorney John Richardson told the judge, “No condition of release can reasonably protect the public.”

Enamorado’s attorney, Nicholas Rosenberg, spoke to supporters for about 20 minutes on the courthouse steps after the hearing in what was part informational speech and part pep rally. As most of the crowd filmed him with their phones, Rosenberg led them in a chant of “Get Alex Out.”

Rosenberg promised that Enamorado would show up to court if he were released on bail.

“I believe my client does not pose a risk to any of the victims, my client does not pose a risk to the members of the general public, and I believe my client will not fail to appear, because it is in his interest to get justice,” Rosenberg said.

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​ Orange County Register 

Santa Anita horse racing consensus picks for Saturday, January 27, 2024

• January 27, 2024

The consensus box of Santa Anita horse racing picks comes from handicappers Bob Mieszerski, Art Wilson, Terry Turrell and Eddie Wilson. Here are the picks for thoroughbred races on Saturday, January 27, 2024.

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​ Orange County Register