Altadena uphill vacant lot ‘priced low for a quicker sale’ at $175K

• May 15, 2025

A vacant Altadena lot, nearly a quarter-acre in size, hit the market this week “priced low for (a) quicker sale” at $175,000.

Here’s the catch: It’s an uphill slope.

Records show the property sold in March 2013 for $28,000.

The owner, described as a retired general contractor and engineer, intended to “build a house for his son” but “due to (a) change in circumstances … decided to sell” the listing reads.

Listing agent Eduard Khachatryan of Luxury Homes International shared by phone that the seller completed all the necessary preliminary work, including house plans, although none have been approved.

The lot has access to public utilities on the street.

Originally subdivided from the house above, it has no neighbors on either side.

Google Earth imagery reveals that some of the homes directly across the street from the vacant lot survived the Eaton fire, which raged from Jan. 7 to Jan. 31. According to Cal Fire, it destroyed more than 9,400 structures and killed 18 people.

A month before the fire, the property hit the market for $199,950 and then dropped its asking price twice. It eventually fell off the market. On May 11, it resurfaced as Altadena’s lowest-priced land listing.

​ Orange County Register 

3 years ago gunfire erupted in a Laguna Woods church — the suspect has pleaded insanity, but death penalty lurks

• May 15, 2025

Three years after a shooting at a Laguna Woods church left one dead and five others wounded, the suspected killer has signaled a not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity defense in state court and the question of whether to seek the death penalty appears to be on the minds of prosecutors in federal court.

The seemingly hate-driven attack on May 15, 2022, on the Taiwanese Presbyterian congregation on El Toro Road just outside the expansive retirement community of Laguna Woods Village shocked the quiet community and led to a pair of criminal court cases, in state and federal courts, against David Wenwei Chou, now 71.

The state case in Orange County Superior court has proceeded along much faster. Chou, a Las Vegas resident, has remained in OC jail, not in federal custody. Earlier this year, a Superior Court judge ruled that Chou can face an Orange County jury on special-circumstances murder and attempted-murder charges with hate-crime enhancements.

Currently, in that case, Chou is under evaluation by psychiatrists after pleading not guilty by reason of insanity, court records show.

During a Friday, May 9, hearing, attorneys told a judge that one psychiatrist still needs to meet Chou at the jail. An insanity defense requires a determination that the defendant did not understand the nature of his or her actions during the crimes and was unable to understand that they were wrong.

If successful, Chou almost certainly would be sent to a state hospital.

Prosecutors with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office have not said whether they will seek the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. That decision is DA Todd Spitzer’s, after he reviews the evidence, hears from the defense, and consults with his top prosecutors and supervisors.

The federal case against Chou — which accuses him of attacking the congregants “because of their actual or perceived Taiwanese national origin and Presbyterian faith” — had, until recently, moved much more slowly. Chou has not yet had to appeared in federal court, records show.

Last month, federal public defenders informed the court that federal prosecutors were asking Chou’s defense team to make a presentation to the Attorney General’s Review Committee on Capital Cases.

Federal prosecutors would not comment on the filing or the timing of any presentation. But a “Justice Manual” posted on the U.S. Department of Justice website cites a consultation with the U.S. attorney or an assistant U.S. attorney general and the department’s Capital Case Section as part of the review process for whether to seek the death penalty.

President Donald Trump, soon after assuming office in January, issued an executive order restoring the federal death penalty. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in early February issued a memo lifting a moratorium on federal executions that had been adopted by her predecessor, Merrick Garland. Last month, Bondi, for the first time, directed prosecutors to seek the death penalty — against Luigi Mangione, accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City.

Asked specifically whether the presentation involving Chou’s case is part of a larger effort to evaluate or reevaluate capital cases, officials with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California declined to comment.

If convicted in one court, it’s unclear if a second trial would go forward.

According to testimony during Chou’s January preliminary hearing in state Superior Court, Chou attended a guest sermon by a former leader of the congregation who spent time in Taiwan, then joined the congregation in a luncheon. Prosecutors allege he used padlocks, super glue and nails to seal most of the doors to the church dining hall and then opened fire on the mostly elderly church members.

Gunfire struck Henry Ang. Legally blind, Ang was being helped out of the church by a friend when they realized the doors couldn’t be opened, he testified.

“I heard the sound of the gun — ‘pop, pop, pop,’ ” Ang testified in January. “When I laid down, I feel the bullet come into my foot. It felt hot — and pain.”

Dr. John Cheng, a Laguna Niguel resident and sports-medicine and family doctor with an Aliso Viejo practice, rushed at Chou, witnesses said.

Cheng was shot twice, suffering fatal wounds.

Authorities credited him with giving other congregants the time to subdue Chou, likely saving their lives.

Law enforcement officials have described the shooting as politically motivated by Chou’s alleged longstanding grievance with the Taiwanese community. They haven’t specified why Chou — who was working as a security guard in Las Vegas — targeted the Orange County congregation. But they have speculated that it was the closest concentration of potential Taiwanese victims.

​ Orange County Register 

Award-winning LAUSD principal — and a wrangler of snakes

• May 15, 2025

Successful high school principals know that motivating students, teachers and staff is the key to academic achievement.

But what do you do about snakes?

When you are Grant High School’s Rebecca McMurrin — recently named principal of the year by Magnet Schools of America — you wrangle that snake.

That was the situation about 12:15 p.m. Tuesday at the Valley Glen campus after a student came into the office and reported seeing a snake.

“My office manager and I went out to investigate,” Principal McMurrin told the Daily News. “The student hadn’t given any details other than it being a snake.”

The reptile had found a hiding spot under a golf cart, and when McMurrin peeked under the vehicle and saw the animal, it looked like a common gopher snake. She quickly planned her next move.

“As the snake started slithering toward the quad, I didn’t want to wait for our plant manager to be there to capture it,” she said. “I was looking around for a tool I could use.”

She spotted a “grabber” tool that the custodial staff uses to pick up trash. “It looked perfect,” she said.

“I could see by the shape of (the snake’s) head and general appearance that it wasn’t venomous — if it had been, I would have gotten a longer tool!”

Principal McMurrin said she had seen professional snake wranglers on social media capture reptiles with tools similar to the trash grabber used by the custodian.

“So I ran over and borrowed it from her. It is clearly not designed for snake wrangling because I was able to get a hold of the snake at the base of its head, but the ‘grabber’ wasn’t closing firmly enough to keep the snake secured that way.

“It kept slithering away, but I was able to secure it ultimately because the snake was much wider in the middle.”

With the help of the school office manager, McMurrin tried to get the snake into an office-sized trash can, but animal was too big, and there was nothing to cover it with afterward.

She asked for one of the large cans the school uses for recycling, and a Los Angeles School Police officer who happened to be on campus for an unrelated reason turned that can on its side and helped McMurrin guide the snake into it before turning the can upright and closing the lid.

Using Google, McMurrin and her staff determined that the animal was a Pacific gopher snake, which they relocated to an area away from the campus.

It all happened after the students had returned to their classrooms after lunch, and since one of the Grant High deans was able to capture the incident on a cell phone, it turned into a noteworthy post on Principal McMurrin’s popular Instagram account.

​ Orange County Register 

Brea Olinda volleyball loses to San Gabriel Academy in 5-set thriller in CIF-SS finals

• May 15, 2025

BREA — The Brea Olinda boys volleyball team was on the verge of being swept in the CIF-SS Division 7 championship match against San Gabriel Academy on Wednesday at Brea Olinda High School.

The Wildcats went down in the first set, lost badly in the second set, but then won the next two to force a fifth and deciding set.

But the Eagles, led by their strong outside hitters, Achilles Huang and Ryan Agustin, came back to take the fifth set and win the match and the championship, 25-20, 25-15, 23-25, 21-25, 15-10.

The Wildcats hadn’t made it to the Southern Section playoffs since 2009, when they lost in the first round, Brea Olinda coach Kavita Arasu said.

“This is the first time in school history that we’ve made it this far,” Arasu said. “So, this season we did phenomenal job and I have to give a big shout out to my assistant coach. He really stepped up and did some things that I wasn’t able to do and we double teamed up. We were able to have a great group of boys that wanted it and wanted to work hard and agreed that they needed to be disciplined the whole, entire time. So that’s what really took us the furthest.”

The Wildcats battled back despite losing starting outside hitter C.J. Villaverde to an injury in the second set.

“The boys fought for him,” Arasu said. “They wanted it. It was hard because we really wanted to win the whole thing but I congratulate San Gabriel Academy for coming out and having an amazing season as well.”

San Gabriel Academy (16-10) relied mainly on Huang, who got set often and finished with 34 kills.

The Wildcats (18-13) were led by Addison Altermatt and Mason del Rosario who had 11 and eight kills, respectively, and combined for six blocks.

“We have a lot of younger guys that stepped up,” Altermatt said. “And it’s the first time in our program that we’ve have a good team that our coach built. And nobody’s ever made it this far in our school history. And I think we just had a fire under us this season to keep competing.”

After the Wildcats lost Villaverde, Eagles coach Derek Duran said he thought his team would come away with a sweep.

“But they fought hard,” Duran said of Brea Olinda. “I give them all the respect because for them to go out there and throw another guy in and win the next two and then bring it to five and scare us like that, it’s a testament to good coaching and a good squad.”

The Wildcats jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the third set and while the Eagles were always close behind and got to within one point to make the score 24-23 before Jeremiah Ammermann got the final kill for the Wildcats to send the match to a fourth set.

Brea Olinda trailed early in the fourth set but took a 7-5 lead on back-to-back kills from Seith Vivek and never trailed from that point.

Huang and Augustin combined for eight of the Eagles’ 15 points in the fifth set.

​ Orange County Register 

Bottom of lineup sparks Dodgers to victory over A’s

• May 15, 2025

LOS ANGELES — Batman had Robin, Simon had Garfunkel and the Dodgers had the bottom of the order on Wednesday.

The Dodgers turned to Hyeseong Kim for a home run on Wednesday and Miguel Rojas for a pinch-hit RBI double as the No. 9 spot delivered in a 9-3 victory over the visiting Athletics.

Shohei Ohtani hit his own home run and Andy Pages and Max Muncy also went deep, but it was the last spot in the order that was a difference-maker Wednesday, with more help for the big bats on the way.

Top prospect Dalton Rushing is expected to make his major league debut in Thursday’s series finale after the catcher was called up for the first time Wednesday.

With the heroics from the bottom of the order out of the way, the Dodgers’ stars were able to create some offensive chaos to supply some insurance runs. Mookie Betts gave the Dodgers some breathing room with a two-run double in the eighth for a 6-3 lead that came immediately after Ohtani was walked intentionally.

As if the A’s didn’t have enough to deal with already, they managed to fire up one of the game’s offensive stars. Upon reaching second base, Betts flexed his pectoral muscles and aimed a trio of “Yeahs” at the top of his lungs toward the opposing bench.

“I wouldn’t want to pitch to Shohei either,” Betts said. “I understand. It’s just all in the game, being a competitor and just let some emotion go.”

The A’s know all about the damage Ohtani can cause. His 19 home runs against them are his second-most against any team, outside of the Texas Rangers (21). Most of that damage came during his days with the Angels.

“I hadn’t hit anything all day, so I think it was a mix of finally coming through for the boys and then in that situation, we just needed something to happen to ensure a win there and it was a mix of happiness for myself and the boys,” Betts said.

Whether it’s with their stars, role players or new additions, the Dodgers are showing no mercy when it comes to making one of the best lineups even better. The stars were able to turn it on during last October’s run to a World Series championship and the same group helped get the club off to an 8-0 start this season.

But as a 20-15 record since then has shown, any and all help is welcome for MVP winners like Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.

After Kim hit his first career home run, just over the right-field wall, to tie the score at 3-3 in the fifth inning, Manager Dave Roberts chose to pinch-hit for his rookie one inning later against A’s left-hander Hogan Harris. Rojas made good on the assignment, lashing a two-out double to right-center to score Michael Conforto from first base for the 4-3 lead.

“I always dreamed to play in this stadium,” Kim said after his first Dodger Stadium start. “I’m really happy. I’m really thrilled right now.”

The rally made a winner out of right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto (5-3), whose three runs allowed took his 1.80 ERA to 2.12. Yamamoto gave up four hits in six innings with two walks and six strikeouts.

“After falling behind (and) allowing some hits, I reset my mind and went back to fundamental things,” Yamamoto said through an interpreter. “Checked and then adjusted, and then tried to navigate and grind out this lineup.”

Through his first 11 games, Kim is batting .360 with a trio of multi-hit games.

“I think there’s a little bit of unorthodox swing, which I’m fine with,” Roberts said. “There’s bat to ball. I just think that for me, I’m just seeing a lot of compete. He’s squaring some balls up, hitting them in the pull-side gap. But he’s also soft-serving some balls out there, the infield hit tonight and then the homer. (He’s) just such a dynamic player that just putting the ball in play, moving it forward, something good potentially can happen.”

After an 11-1 loss to the A’s on Tuesday, when the lone run was scored on a Betts ground ball that was booted for an error, Ohtani got things started early with a leadoff home run for a 1-0 lead. It was the 15th leadoff home run of Ohtani’s career and his 13th overall this season.

Pages made it 2-0 in the second inning with a home run to left, his seventh.

The A’s jumped in front when Tyler Soderstrom hit a two-run home run in the third inning to tie it and Miguel Andujar added an RBI double in the fourth for a 3-2 lead.

Kim pulled his home run to right-center in the fifth inning in the rookie’s first home start. Rojas proved he is more than just a defensive replacement with his RBI double for the lead.

“I don’t really try to think about hitting with power,” said Kim, who is known more for defense, speed and an ability to make contact. “I think the only thing that I really care about is to hit a hard hit. And if a hit comes out, I’m happy. And if not, I gotta try to work hard on it.”

Left-hander Alex Vesia and right-hander Kirby Yates each delivered a scoreless inning with a strikeout each to get the Dodgers through the top of the eighth before they added five insurance runs. Betts’ two-run double came just before Muncy’s three-run home run.

“You’re just in the game and you kind of get lost in it,” Betts said.

​ Orange County Register 

LAFC shuffles lineup, routs Seattle to extend unbeaten streak

• May 15, 2025

LOS ANGELES — Rotating forwards Cengiz Ünder and Jeremy Ebobisse into the starting lineup paid off Wednesday for the Los Angeles Football Club.

Each attacker scored, as did fellow forward Denis Bouanga, and LAFC stymied the surging Seattle Sounders, 4-0, splitting the regular-season series with the team that beat the Black & Gold in last year’s MLS Cup playoffs. Midfielder Yaw Yeboah also connected on his first goal with LAFC (6-4-3, 21 points), punctuating the club’s most lopsided win of the year.

Starting for the first time since April 9, when LAFC was eliminated from the CONCACAF Champions Cup by Inter Miami, Ünder was rewarded in the 26th minute with his second MLS goal since arriving on a loan in late February.

Off a corner kick, Seattle (5-4-4, 19 points) cleared a Denis Bouanga cross out of the box. The ball fell to Ünder and from 30 yards away the Turkish left-footed forward struck a curling shot between traffic that took one hop off the grass and snuck past goalkeeper Andrew Thomas, who leaned the wrong way and barely got a hand on Ünder’s attempt.

Seattle’s backup behind Stefan Frei also started the Sounders’ 5-2 victory over LAFC in March. Thomas didn’t have much to do that day. This time he was under pressure from the opening whistle as LAFC ran its streak of results to six while snapping a a five-game unbeaten string (4-0-1) for Seattle.

Making his first start since March 15, Ebobisse provided breathing room for the second straight match in front of LAFC’s home supporters. After putting LAFC ahead 2-0 over Houston on May 3, he did the same against Seattle in the 51st minute.

Capitalizing on a terrific pass from LAFC’s side of the pitch into space by midfielder Igor Jesus, who took the ball off the foot of Seattle’s Pedro de la Vega to set up the action, Ebobisse took it into the box, cut to his right, and struck it low into the corner.

Ünder, Ebobisse and midfielder Frankie Amaya, who made his first start after joining LAFC last month, were subbed off in the 66th minute. Amaya put in a strong hour-plus in place of Mark Delgado, who entered for the last half hour alongside Nathan Ordaz and David Martínez.

Unlike their 2-2 draw on Sunday in Vancouver, LAFC did not defend deep or step off the gas to protect what they had. Instead, Bouanga’s sixth goal of the year in the 80th minute, off an assist from Martínez, and the fifth goal for Yeboah in 81 MLS matches sealed the dominant performance.

Three saves against Seattle preserved Hugo Lloris’ fifth clean sheet in 12 regular-season starts.

LAFC plays its third game in eight days on Sunday when the club visits the winless Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park for the first El Trafico of 2025.

More to come on this story.

​ Orange County Register 

Supes right to be angry at Do wrist slap

• May 14, 2025

One of the most bizarre anecdotes from the debate about disgraced former Supervisor Andrew Do’s federal plea deal involving a “conspiracy to commit bribery” came from his attorney’s response to supervisors who think he ought to receive a tougher sentence: “Politically-motivated attempts to influence the justice system are reprehensible.”

Sure, politicians always have political motives, but the real outrage should remain focused on Do and the actions he took that wreaked havoc on Orange County’s government, taxpayers and justice system.

Let’s remember what took place. “While millions of Americans were dying from COVID-19, … Do was the fox in the hen house personified, raiding millions in federal pandemic relief funds and orchestrating the money intended to feed elderly and ailing residents to instead fill the pockets of insiders, himself and his loved ones,” said District Attorney Todd Spitzer.

Do’s sentencing is June 9. Some supervisors are upset at his rather modest sentence. Janet Nguyen, who now represents the seat that Do disgraced, wrote in a Register op-edthat, “He’s getting preferential treatment.” She pointed to much stiffer sentences in other public-corruption cases.

The board voted 3-1-1 on April 30 to send a letter to the judge calling on Do to serve at least five years and to repay the COVID money the county lost because of his behavior. We’re not sure what it might take to get Supervisor Don Wagner—the single vote against the letter—to find his moral compass. He sounded a lot like Do’s defense attorney, as he argued that it was wrong for elected officials to tell prosecutors and judges how to do their job.

We agree with Supervisors Nguyen, Katrina Foley and Vicente Sarmiento, who said that they were merely voicing their concerns as victims. As usual, Supervisor Don Chaffee tried to have it both ways and abstained from the vote. We don’t claim to know the right prison sentence, but returning the funds should be non-negotiable.

And there’s nothing wrong with supervisors—or editorial writers—reminding judges to stay focused on the real culprit here.

​ Orange County Register 

Newsom still doesn’t have the guts or ideas to get vagrants off our streets

• May 14, 2025

Homelessness policy in California is built around the idea that no one living on the streets will be compelled to accept shelter, treatment or services, not even housing. However, homeless housing providers can be compelled to accept residents who are actively using hard drugs. And taxpayers can be compelled to pay for homeless housing and services whether anyone on the streets chooses to use them or not.

This is the system Gov. Gavin Newsom described in a recent news conference as “alternatives to state hospitals” that “keep as many people as we can out of CDCR [state prisons] and county jails.”

Compulsion is out of the question, unless you’re a housing provider, a taxpayer or a city government that seeks to prevent this road show from playing in your town. Expect the full force of government to come down on you if you won’t “do your part.”

Newsom has just issued another one of his periodic directives to local governments to remove homeless encampments. Last year it was an executive order. This year it’s a “model ordinance” that cities and counties can adapt to their local needs in order to “immediately address dangerous and unhealthy encampments and connect people experiencing homelessness with shelter and services.”

Newsom’s “model ordinance” says a city should require the residents of a homeless encampment to move at least 200 feet every three days, but enforcement may commence only after the city makes “every reasonable effort” to find shelter, housing or supportive services for the residents of the encampment. A notice to vacate the premises must be posted at least 2 days in advance. When the clean-up begins, “personal belongings,” as defined, must be collected and stored for a minimum of 60 days.

However, Newsom says cities are not obligated to store “toxic sharps,” “chemicals,” or items “soiled by infectious materials, including human waste and bodily fluids.” Cities are allowed to throw away anything that’s “moldy,” “combustible,” or infested by “rats, mice, fleas, lice, bed bugs.” Backpacks and closed containers can be discarded if “an individual licensed to identify and handle hazardous materials” determines that they contain any of the previous items, or if no licensed hazmat worker is present to make the determination. “If personal belongings are co-mingled or littered with needles, human waste, or other health risks,” the ordinance states, “the entire pile of belongings may be disposed of.” However, “the presence of clothing in a backpack or container shall not be the sole reason to discard the backpack or container.”

This process for relocating or removing encampments would seem to repeatedly put city and county workers at physical risk, drain local budgets with extra expenses and risk lawsuits over whether personal belongings were handled correctly. How much documentation is required to establish that a container was legally discarded?

Given the challenges of moving and cleaning up after a homeless encampment, cities might want to prevent encampments from being set up in the first place. In fact, the Bay Area city of Fremont passed an anti-camping ordinance in February that included a provision prohibiting anyone from “aiding and abetting” a homeless encampment. Under fierce criticism, Fremont removed that provision in March.

The governor said cities must “right size” their ordinances. He announced that he was releasing $3.3 billion of funds from Proposition 1, the March 2024 measure that authorized $6.38 billion in borrowing to build “places” for behavioral and mental health services.

The awards include tens of millions of dollars to county public health and mental health departments. Nonprofits also received grants for substance abuse treatment and mental health facilities.

But nobody on the streets is obligated to use them. The governor’s model policy is to wait for people to be ready to accept help, and meanwhile make them move 200 feet every three days.

State hospitals deserve another look. The governor could ask the federal government for a waiver from the rule that prohibits federal reimbursement for care in a mental health facility with more than 16 beds. Federal funds could help with real solutions for people suffering from gravely disabling mental illness.

Better decisions will lead to better outcomes.

Write [email protected] and follow her on X @Susan_Shelley

​ Orange County Register