Los Angeles, Ca
South L.A. narco that sold crack, meth out of storefront gets 12 years
A 54-year-old man, a member of what federal prosecutors referred to as the “Hoover Criminals Gang,” has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after he was found guilty of running a drug trafficking enterprise that distributed methamphetamine and crack cocaine, among other narcotics, out of his South Los Angeles storefront, authorities announced Tuesday.
From June 2017 to May 2018, according to a news release from the United States Attorney’s Central District of California Office, Andrew “Batman” Tate engaged in drug sales out of his store, TNN Market, and directed his employees to do the same.
He and a co-defendant, 59-year-old Bobby Lorenzo Reed, aka “Zo” and “Z,” who also owned a South L.A. store called H&E Smoke and Snack, supplied each other with narcotics and were implicated in dozens of illegal drug transactions and referrals.
Reed is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence in this case after pleading guilty to federal narcotics charges in June 2022.
The 54-year-old was the lead defendant in a indictment targeting the gang’s members and associates in an investigation dubbed “Operation Hoover Dam,” the release noted. Prosecutors secured 10 convictions in the case, with Tate being the last defendant sentenced.
“Tate participated in an extensive and long-running drug conspiracy to sell drugs, including methamphetamine and crack cocaine, in South Los Angeles,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. “Tate’s role in the drug conspiracy was significant; he was the head of the entire drug trafficking enterprise pumping drugs into a vulnerable area of Los Angeles.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, along with the Los Angeles Police Department and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, investigated the case.
Los Angeles, Ca
Widow of man shot dead in unprovoked attack on L.A. Metro bus speaks out
The wife of a man tragically gunned down on a Metro bus in Commerce last week is speaking out and sharing her pain over what investigators are calling a random and unprovoked murder.
The fatal May 16 shooting happened just before 5 p.m. aboard a Metro bus at Slauson and Boxford avenues.
Authorities say the suspect, 30-year-old Winston Apolinario Rivera, got on the bus in the 6200 block of Slauson and sat behind his victim, 32-year-old Juan Luis Gomez-Ramirez.
“As the bus came to a stop, the defendant allegedly walked to the rear exit, stopped behind Gomez-Ramirez, pointed a gun at his head and shot, instantly killing him,” prosecutors with the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Sarahi Lopez, the victim’s widow, told KTLA’s Chris Wolfe that she still feels compelled to visit the crime scene, parts of which are still stained with blood from the senseless shooting.
“With every day that passes, I feel more and more confused, like I don’t have any answers,” Lopez said in Spanish, as her attorney, Mario Acosta Jr., translated.
Lopez said she’s been agonizing over how the deadly incident happened, say her husband and father to their 1-year-old boy, was not the type to cause any conflict with anyone.
The couple worked as special education teachers in Mexico and had arrived in Los Angeles in February for a vacation. Wanting to stay longer, but needing cash, her husband landed a job packing clothes at a Commerce warehouse not far from where the shooting occurred.
Rivera was captured in the 6100 block of Peachtree Street, where he was hiding under a train, officials said. The 30-year-old has since been charged by the DA’s office with murder and a special allegation that he used a firearm while committing a crime.
“I need the killer to tell me why he did what he did,” Lopez said through her attorney. “I want him to be punished because he ended our family.”
Gomez-Ramirez’s killing came just hours after board members of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority held a press conference to talk about their response to a spree of high-profile violent incidents on and near buses and trains.
On May 13 alone, there were two separate stabbings aboard the Metro system. In the weeks leading up to those incidents, there was a stabbing on a train that left a grandmother dead in Studio City and another that left a bus driver and passenger in South Los Angeles injured.
On May 5, a driver on a Dash bus, which is operated by the city of L.A., was brutally assaulted by a homeless woman in an attack that was captured on video.
In March, a transient armed with an airsoft gun hijacked a Metro bus and crashed into the Ritz-Carlton in downtown Los Angeles.
The family’s attorney is now working to help Lopez with immigration issues, so she can stay in the United States and participate in the trial of her husband’s accused killer. The widow is considering a lawsuit against Metro and potentially other entities.
In the meantime, a GoFundMe has been organized to help her and her young son get by during this terrible ordeal.
Los Angeles, Ca
City yet to pay for cars destroyed in massive Los Angeles garbage truck fire
The owners of three cars burnt to scrap in the Los Angeles’ neighborhood of Harvard Heights during a massive city trash truck fire want to know why the cars have not been removed and when officials plan to reimburse them for their loss.
The May 13 fire occurred at around 2:15 p.m. in the 1700 block of Westmoreland Boulevard when flames erupted inside the trash truck and spread to nearby cars parked at the curb.
Firefighters quickly doused the flames with water and foam, but at least six parked vehicles caught fire, several of which appeared to be total losses.
“My Volkswagen Sport Wagon and my Smart Car are both total losses,” Kelton Green told KTLA.
With nothing to salvage and no vehicle to get around in, Green and others were hoping the city would act quickly to reimburse them for the extensive damage, but so far, the burnt-out vehicles remain on the residential street and at least one of the owners, who filed a claim with the city, said he has yet to hear from officials.
“I’ve been waiting for the city to contact us,” Alex De Leon, whose Lexus was destroyed in the fire, said. “I filed a claim, and we went to the city office, but we still haven’t heard anything back.”
First responders said they did not know what exactly sparked the fire, but that it may have started from an electrical fire inside the truck that ignited the truck.
Los Angeles, Ca
Skeletal remains found in San Bernardino Co. determined to be human
A death investigation is underway after human remains were found on a property in San Bernardino County over the weekend.
The discovery of skeletal remains was reported just before 11:30 a.m. Sunday in the 11400 block of San Timoteo Canyon Road in Loma Linda.
“The remains were determined to be human,” the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department stated in a news release Monday.
The Sheriff’s Department’s Specialized Investigations Division took over the investigation and recovered the remains, which included various bones.
The remains will “undergo an examination and autopsy to determine the identity of the deceased as well as the cause of death,” the Sheriff’s Department said.
The age and gender of the deceased were also unknown.
The area of San Timoteo Canyon Road where officials said the remains were found hosts a mix of businesses, residences and a large open field.
Anyone with information was asked to call Detective Michael Roth at 909-890-4904. Callers can remain anonymous by contacting We-Tip at 800-78CRIME or www.wetip.com.
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