A massive blaze engulfed two homes in the Crestline area of the San Bernardino County Mountains Tuesday night leaving both in ruins.

Firefighters responded to calls of a house fire on Chillon Drive southeast of Lake Gregory around 9:30 p.m.

Videos showed arriving firefighters found one house fully involved in fire with flames already spreading to a second home.

Downed power lines sparked and explosions from propane tanks were heard as firefighters attempted to battle the tall flames.

It took crews nearly two hours to extinguish the burning homes and surrounding vegetation that caught fire, according to freelance media firm OnScene.TV.

One person was in unknown condition after being treated for smoke inhalation, OnScene.TV reported.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Officials with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, as well as local law enforcement, are searching for a 22-year-old inmate who walked away from a community reentry program facility in Los Angeles Tuesday.  

Authorities said an emergency prisoner count called at around 2:20 p.m. Tuesday confirmed that Samaki M. Tywman was missing after officials were alerted that he had tampered with his ankle monitor.  

The 22-year-old is described 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing approximately 179 pounds. He was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, black sweatpants and black tennis shoes, a CDCR news release detailed.  

The release also stated that Tywman was serving a five-year sentence for “discharging a firearm in an inhabited dwelling/vehicle/aircraft and second-degree robbery.”  

He entered CDCR’s Male Community Reentry Program, which allows eligible offenders in state prison to serve the end of their sentences at the reentry center where they are provided with programs to help transition back into the community, on Aug. 6, 2024.  

“Since 1977, 99 percent of the incarcerated people who have escaped or walked away from an adult male institution camp, in-state contract bed or Community Rehabilitative Program Placement have been apprehended,” officials added.  

Anyone who sees Tywman or has knowledge of his whereabouts is urged to call 911 or contact Special Agent Abraham Villasenor at 760-936-1851.  

A woman from Georgia who operated as a “money mule” in a large real estate wire fraud scheme was sentenced to jail time and probation in Ventura County late last week, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office said. 

Jasmine Shante Faniel, 39, participated in a scheme where scammers gain access to real estate transactions by impersonating trusted parties like escrow officers, real estate agents and title representatives, among others, the DA’s Office stated in a release issued Monday afternoon. 

“This fraud typically occurs through sophisticated computer scammers operating outside the U.S. who compromise emails between the parties,” officials said. “Once fraudsters gain access to the transaction, they target buyers’ closing fees, sellers’ proceeds, lenders’ funds and even commissions.” 

The legitimate parties in the transaction send funds to the “money mules” after they are deceived through intercepted or manipulated emails, the DA’s office elaborated. The “money mules,” said to be low-level participants in the fraud, receive the stolen funds and launder them to individuals higher up in the scheme who are typically located outside of the United States. 

In the case of Faniel, she was found to have opened multiple bank accounts in her home state under the name Teresa Dennis in March 2023. She used those accounts to accept and launder the funds stolen from a Ventura County family attempting to purchase their first home, authorities said. 

The native of Conyers, Georgia – a city in the Atlanta metropolitan area – received the funds from another co-defendant, Abdoul Aziz Bah, and subsequently transferred most of the money to a bank account in Nigeria, where it was laundered through international auto auctions, the DA’s office release stated.

Investigators said she only retained a small portion for herself. 

“The investigation in this case determined both defendants acted as ‘money mules’ and that they received the stolen $201,000 from the victims and then laundered it,” authorities said. “During the investigation, $33,500 of the victims’ stolen money was traced to an account in Georgia in Faniel’s false name, Teresa Dennis.” 

Bah was sentenced to one year in jail and two years of probation in late September, authorities said. He was also ordered to pay full restitution to the victims; he had already paid $5,000 in restitution before his sentencing. 

Faniel pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property over $950 and money laundering on Sept. 26. Following her plea, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office Real Estate Fraud Unit obtained a court order requiring the funds to be returned to the victims. As of Tuesday, $38,500 has been recovered and returned. 

She was sentenced to nine months in jail followed by two years of formal probation. 

The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office Real Estate Fraud Unit was assisted in the investigation by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Unit, which completed the extraditions of the defendants from Georgia.

Officials remind homebuyers to always verify wire transfer requests by calling a known member of the transaction to confirm the request is valid before ever wiring funds.