A prominent  dentist has been charged with murder after his mother was found dead in her Beverly Hills home last October, officials announced Wednesday.

Daniel Simon Yacobi, 36, of Bel-Air, faces a special circumstance allegation of murder for financial gain, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Yacobi’s mother, Violet Yacobi, 67, was found dead in her home on Oct. 10, 2017. Investigators believe she had been killed the previous day. Violet Yacobi was strangled, according to the Beverly Hills Police Department.

Her son was arrested on Feb. 12, following a lengthy investigation by the Beverly Hills police.

The DA’s office did not elaborate on the special allegation or motive behind the crime.

Yacobi, who remains in custody without bail, is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole, or the death penalty if convicted.

Yacobi has several dental offices in Los Angeles County, the AP reported.

The Palmdale mother of slain 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez, has pleaded guilty to charges in connection with his torture killing on Thursday, prosecutors said.

Gabriel Fernandez is shown in a photo posted to Facebook.

Pearl Fernandez, 34, entered the guilty plea to a count of first-degree murder during a pretrial hearing Thursday morning. She also admitted to special circumstance allegation of intentional murder by torture, according to a news release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Fernandez faces life in prison without the possibility of parole when she is sentenced on June 7, the release stated.

Her plea comes two months after a jury recommended her boyfriend, 37-year-old Isauro Aguirre, be sentenced to death for murdering the child in 2013.

Aguirre was convicted of first-degree murder on Nov. 15; jurors also found true a special circumstance allegation of torture. His sentencing is scheduled for next month.

Pearl Sinthia Fernandez appears in Lancaster court on May 28, 2013. (Credit: KTLA)

During Aguirre’s trial, prosecutors argued that the defendant participated in the systemic and severe abuse of Gabriel for months before he died on May 24, 2013.

The horrific abuse included being beaten, burned with cigarettes, whipped, shot with a B.B. gun, forced to eat cat litter and feces, and had been locked in a container for days, according to prosecutors and witness testimony.

Aguirre hated the little boy because he thought Gabriel was gay, which spurred his treatment of the child, prosecutors said.

Isauro Aguirre (left) appears in court with his attorney on Oct. 16, 2017. (Credit: KTLA)

Two days before her son died, Fernandez called 911 because her son was unresponsive after a beating, according to the Los Angeles Times, which cited grand jury testimony.

When paramedics responded to the home, they found the boy naked and suffering from numerous injuries, including a fractured skull, broken ribs and burns.

Aguirre and Fernandez were subsequently arrested.

The boyfriend was convicted Nov. 15 following a four-week trial, in which prosecutors accused Fernandez of conspiring with Aguirre to conceal their abuse from others.

Four L.A. County social workers who were assigned to Gabriel’s case have also been charged in connection with the case and will be tried. It was not immediately known when they their trials would begin.

A second defendant has been sentenced in the deaths of five men who were murdered at a Long Beach homeless encampment nearly 10 years ago, officials said Thursday.

David Cruz Ponce and Max Eliseo Rafael were found guilty of five counts of murder and one count of kidnapping. (Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

David Cruz Ponce, 37, was sentenced to death on Thursday after previously being convicted of five counts of murder and one count of kidnapping last September, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

The penalty was handed down about a month after 31-year-old Max Eliseo Rafael was given life in prison without parole on the same charges.

A jury affirmed the allegations that both men committed the killings during a kidnapping and while being actively involved in a gang, prosecutors said. The jury had also recommended the death penalty for Ponce, according to the Los Angeles Times.

In Ponce’s case, he was additionally convicted in the 2009 kidnapping and murder of Tony Bledsoe as well as two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon.

Five people killed in a Long Beach homeless encampment in 2008 are shown in an undated photo. (Credit: Shown are the five people killed at a Long Beach homeless encampment in 2008. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

The Nov. 1, 2008, violence left five people dead at a homeless encampment near the 405 Freeway in Long Beach: Lorenzo Villicana, Katherine Verdun, Hamid Shraifat, Frederick Neumeier and Vanessa Malaepule.

Following a three-year investigation, authorities determined Ponce and Rafael had gone to the encampment in search of Villicana, who apparently owed them drug money, and opened fire on him, the L.A. Times reported.

They then “executed” the others to ensure there were no surviving witnesses to the crime, a police official told the newspaper in 2012. The Times was also told that Malaepule was not homeless and a mother of six.

A case was build against Ponce and Rafael after they were recorded discussing the murders in a jail, according to prosecutors. Both men had been arrested on separate charges, the Times reported.

A homeless man has been charged with murder weeks after a 40-year-old was found stabbed to death at a parking lot in Pomona, officials announced Thursday.

Matthew Musick is shown in a photo posted on a GoFundMe page on Jan. 28, 2018.

Jonathan Scott Marsh, 54, allegedly killed Matthew Musick with a knife after getting into a fight outside a grocery store in the 100 block of West Willow Street the morning of Jan. 25.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Marsh, a homeless man, was suspected of stabbing the victim several times before fleeing the scene. Witnesses saw the assailant near the victim after the attack, police said.

Authorities did not provide details about the alleged fight.

Marsh was arrested two weeks after the incident, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

“My husband was an amazing person and a teacher and he didn’t deserve this,”  Darcy Musick said days after her spouse’s death.

The victim was described as a brilliant teacher, outdoorsman and welder with a master’s degree in math. He was working on his doctorate.

Matthew and Darcy Musick are shown in an undated photo provided by Darcy on Jan. 29, 2018.

His wife said she planned on honoring her husband’s passion for education by finishing veterinary school. A GoFundMe page has been set up for funeral expenses and Darcy Musick’s education.

Marsh was scheduled to be arraigned on March 12. If convicted as charged, he could face 26 years to life in prison, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a felon and alleged gang member accused in the deaths of his own cousin and a Whittier police officer.

Michael Christopher Mejia, 27, smiled and appeared to blow a kiss as he walked into the Norwalk courtroom where the decision was read Friday by Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Garrett Dameron.

Michael C. Mejia appears at his arraignment in Norwalk on Aug. 14, 2017. (Credit: KTLA)

Mejia previously pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one count each of attempted murder, carjacking and possession of a firearm by a felon on Aug. 14, 2017.

Friday's decision to seek capital punishment comes nearly a year after Whittier Police Department Officer Keith Boyer and Mejia's cousin Roy Torres lost their lives hours apart on Feb. 20, 2017.

Mejia is accused of fatally shooting his 47-year-old cousin in East Los Angeles early that morning. He then allegedly stole Torres' car and, about three hours later, crashed it into two other vehicles in Whittier.

When police responded to the crash, Mejia allegedly exited the car with a handgun and proceeded to shoot and kill 53-year-old Boyer and wound his partner, Patrick Hazell.

Boyer was a 27-year veteran of the Whittier Police Department, and the chief there described him as a “hero.”

Mejia was on probation at the time of the shooting and had been released from Pelican Bay State Prison less than a year before.

Days before the incident, he was released from a 10-day jail sentence for violating the terms of his release, one of five such jail stays for the same violation, the Los Angeles Times reported.

He was sentenced to two years for grand theft auto in 2014 and four years for second-degree robbery in 2010.

At the time of his most recent arrest, authorities described him as a “known gang member,” and prosecutors have filed a gang allegation against him. His 2010 conviction included a sentencing enhancement for gang involvement.

The last entry Boyer scribbled in his police notebook while responding to the crash was “Michael Mejia, 1191, Winter Gardens,” a reference to Mejia’s gang, according to testimony presented last June during a preliminary hearing in the case, according to the Whittier Daily News.

Mejia is scheduled to return to court for pre-trial hearing on April 6, and prosecutors indicated a trial could begin in July.

A recent threat to commit a shooting at El Camino High School in South Whittier was thwarted thanks to a safety officer who overheard the "disgruntled" student and alerted authorities, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said Wednesday.

An aerial view of El Camino High School in the unincorporated community of South Whittier is seen on Feb. 21, 2018. (Credit: KTLA)

Deputies from the Norwalk Sheriff's Station responded to the high school, located at 14625 Keese Dr., last Friday to investigate a criminal threats call, a news release from the department stated.

When they arrived, they learned a school security officer overheard the student "threaten the occurrence of a shooting at the school," the release read.

The 17-year-old apparently threatened to bring a firearm to the continuation school's campus after a disagreement with a teacher over headphones he had with him at the time, said Robert Jacobsen, the general counsel for the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District.

Students cannot possess electronic devices while class is in sessions, the Whittier Daily News reported.

The student apparently mumbled the shooting threat, then reiterated it after being prompted by the alert school safety officer.

“The safety officer did engage the student, and the student did comment that in three weeks he was going to bring a gun to school," Jacobsen said.

The student indicated he was going to “shoot up the campus,” but didn’t issue a threat against any specific individuals, he added.

After hearing the alleged threat, the security officer notified the school district, which sent personnel to the campus to investigate. School officials determined the incident should be reported to law enforcement and they contacted the Sheriff's Department, according to Jacobsen.

No weapons were found on the student, he said.

However, when investigators went to the teen's home, they found weapons and ammunition, according to the Sheriff's Department.

Sheriff Jim McDonnell credited "attentive" school resource personnel, as well as "diligent" investigators, with preventing what he said could have been a dangerous outcome.

The student, who has not been identified, was apparently arrested, although Jacobsen stated it was unclear when exactly the teen was taken into custody.

Parents were notified of the incident, he said.

Three safety officers are usually on the campus, according to Jacobsen. He described El Camino as a small, alternative school, with more than 200 students enrolled.

The sheriff will speak at a news conference at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday to provide more details about the case. Other authorities, including the two arresting deputies, school district officials and the security officer are also slated to be there.

A Temple City man and his adult daughter have been charged with having an illegal cache of weapons, including more than a dozen assault rifles, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced Wednesday.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra, second from left, stands on Feb. 21, 2018, next to L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey near a weapons cache seized at Steven Ponder's Temple City home. (Credit: KTLA)

The case against Steven David Ponder, 57, and Riley Elizabeth Ponder, 27, was filed after a Valentine’s Day raid on Steven Ponder’s home.

Ponder is banned from owning a gun because of his previous 2001 felony convictions for possession of a machine gun and counterfeiting money, Becerra said at a news conference in downtown L.A.

State Department of Justice Bureau of Firearms investigators who raided the Ponder home were looking for four illegal firearms that Ponder had registered, the attorney general said.

They found 28 firearms and 66,000 rounds of ammunition. The cache included:

• 13 AR-15-style rifles
• 11 “ghost guns” with no serial number, meaning they can’t be traced
• two fully automatic machine guns
• several rounds of tracer ammunition

A weapons cache seized at Steven Ponder's Temple City home is shown at a downtown L.A. news conference on Feb. 21, 2018. (Credit: KTLA)

"If someone has this kind of firepower and they are going through great pains to make sure that it isn't traceable, it is for ill-gotten gains," said L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey, who announced the charges against the Ponders.

Ponder's home was raided after he appeared in a unique state database – the Armed Prohibited Persons System, or APPS – that cross-references criminal and restraining order records with gun registration records.

Becerra emphasized that the type of action conducted against the Ponders is done only in California because of that database, the creation of which was authorized under state law in 2001.

The bill that called for creation the database was authored by Jim Brulte, who was then a state senator from Rancho Cucamonga and is now the chairman of the California Republican Party. The database first went into use in 2007, and $24 million was appropriated in 2013 to address a backlog in the system.

“We’re the only state that does this. It’s a shame – because we see tragedies occur way too often, and mass killings,” Becerra said.

A news release from Becerra's office describes California as the "first and only state in the nation to establish an automated system for tracking firearm owners who might fall into a prohibited status."

Some 2,000 people in L.A. County remain on the APPS list, down from 5,000 three years ago, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing Samuel Richardson, the Bureau of Firearms supervisor who oversees state agents who seize illegal guns.

Richardson described his agents' work as "one of the most dangerous jobs in law enforcement."

In the Ponder case, investigators found during the search that the daughter was allegedly in illegal possession of a weapon and ammunition. She was arrested immediately but posted bail and was released the next day, Feb. 15, when Steven Ponder was arrested. He was released on bail Feb. 16, the DA's office said.

Part of a weapons cache seized at Steven Ponder's Temple City home is shown at a downtown L.A. news conference on Feb. 21, 2018. (Credit: KTLA)

Booking photos of the pair have not been released.

Steven Ponder has been charged with: possession of a firearm by a felon; unlawful possession of ammunition; possession of a destructive device; unlawful assault weapon/.50 BMG rifle activity; possession of an assault weapon; possession of a machine gun; and possession of a short-barreled rifle or shotgun.

Riley Ponder has been charged with: possession of an assault weapon; possession of destructive device; and prohibited transfer of firearms.

They are both due for arraignment in Alhambra court — the father on March 19 and the daughter on March 8. Steven Ponder faces up to eight years in state prison if convicted as charged; his daughter could face five years.

The announcement of the arrest of the Ponders comes about two weeks after L.A. City Attorney Mike Feuer revealed the raid of the home of a North Hollywood man, Mark Morman, in a search of two illegal weapons. Investigators found 25 weapons, 2,000 rounds of ammunition and 44 magazines at Morman's home.

Correction: An earlier version of this article gave the incorrect year for when the APPS database was created. The story has been updated with more detailed information.

A man was charged with five counts, four of them felony, after two police officers were bitten by a robbery suspect at a cellphone store in Tarzana, officials said.

Paramedics and police respond to an officer needs help call at an AT&t Store in Tarzana on Feb. 19, 2018. (Credit: KTLA)

Jacob Smith, 23, faces two charges each of battery with injury on a peace officer and resisting an officer, as well as one misdemeanor count of petty theft, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in a new release.

The charges were handed down to days after Smith is accused of triggering a panic alarm and wounding the responding officers on Monday at the AT&T Store in the 18000 block of Ventura Boulevard.

The officers involved in the incident have not been identified, but both were treated for their injuries at Providence Tarzana Medical Center. At least one of the men sustained multiple bite wounds, police said.

Authorities have not released further details about their medical conditions.

Smith was expected to be arraigned Wednesday. If convicted as charged, he could face a maximum possible sentence of more than three years in state prison, prosecutors said.

The 23-year-old was being held on $225,000 bail, inmate records showed.

A man could face more than four years in prison after being arrested and charged following a pursuit that ended in a Metro Gold Line tunnel in Boyle Heights, authorities said Thursday.

Rafael Lopez, 27, is seen in a booking photo from Feb. 20, 2018, released by the Huntington Park Police Department.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced that Rafael Lopez Jr., 27, has been charged with six counts: fleeing a pursuing peace officer’s motor vehicle while driving recklessly; fleeing a pursuing peace officer’s motor vehicle and driving against traffic; driving or taking a vehicle without consent; receiving a stolen vehicle; hit-and-run driving resulting in injury to another person; and hit-and-run driving resulting in property damage.

Officers took the L.A. resident into custody after pursuing him for more than an hour late Tuesday, Huntington Park police said in statement.

A woman seen sitting on the passenger’s seat remained wanted by authorities as of Wednesday.

The chase began around 9:45 p.m. following reports of a stolen vehicle near Salt Lake and Gage avenues in Huntington Park, according to police.

Authorities said Lopez, who was driving a GMC pickup truck, pulled over when police caught up but he stopped cooperating and fled.

Lopez allegedly led the officers on a chase through the East L.A. area, at one point hitting a taxi cab in Boyle Heights. One passenger was taken to a hospital after complaining of pain, but no other injuries were reported.

A GMC truck is seen after it became stuck in a Metro Gold Line train tunnel following a pursuit on Feb. 20, 2018. (Credit: LAPD Transit Service Division)

The suspect drove at high speeds, ran through red lights and traveled on the wrong side of the road during the pursuit, prosecutors said.

Lopez then went on the light rail lines of the Metro Gold Line and into an underground tunnel, where he abandoned the truck, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Police found him hiding in a closet in the tunnel, authorities said.

Lopez was scheduled to be arraigned Thursday. Prosecutors asked bail to be set at $150,000.

If convicted as charged, Lopez could face up to four years and four months in state prison.

A 28-year-old Army veteran pleaded not guilty to an illegal firearm charge on Thursday, a week after he and his younger brother were arrested when a shooting threat at a Whittier area high school led authorities to uncover a cache of weapons in their home, officials said.

A man is seen walking on the campus of El Camino High School in South Whittier on Feb. 21, 2018, after a threat by a student was overheard by a school safety officer. (Credit: Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images)

Daniel Eriberto Barcenas was charged with one misdemeanor count of possession of an assault weapon after officials uncovered an AR-15-style rifle in his Norwalk home, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Sheriff’s deputies investigated the residence on Feb. 16 after Barcenas’ brother allegedly threatened to “shoot up the campus” of El Camino High School in South Whittier, where he is a student. The incident came two days after 14 students and three educators were gunned down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Officials previously told KTLA that the teen, who is not being identified due to his age, threatened to bring a firearm to school after a disagreement with a teacher over headphones. The claim was overheard by a school safety officer who alerted authorities.

The student was arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats, and a search warrant was served at his Norwalk home.

There, authorities say they found two AR-15 rifles, two handguns and 90 high-capacity magazines. All the firearms were unsecured, making them accessible to anyone in the house.

A weapons cache confiscated from the home of a 17-year-old who allegedly threatened to shoot up his Whittier-area high school is shown at a sheriff’s news conference on Feb. 21, 2018. (Credit: Steve Kuzj / KTLA)

Army veteran Barcenas allegedly told investigators the guns all belonged to him, and that he had bought them legally in Texas before sending them back to California.

On Wednesday, L.A. County Sheriff Jim McDonnell told reporters one of the weapons was not registered, which he said is a felony in California.

McDonnell also said Barcenas could face charges including possession of an assault weapon, import of high-capacity magazines, criminal storage of firearms and failure to register a personal handgun.

So far, he has only been charged with assault weapon possession, a misdemeanor. DA’s officials could not immediately be reached for comment on whether he was expected to face other counts.

Barcenas’ next court appearance, a pretrial hearing, is set for March 19, prosecutors said.

The 28-year-old could face a maximum possible sentence of 364 days in county jail if convicted as charged.

L.A. County sheriff’s detectives are continuing to investigate the case.

The developer of a controversial $72-million apartment project was charged Friday with making illegal campaign contributions to local politicians while seeking a change to the zoning of his property in L.A.’s Harbor Gateway neighborhood.

Samuel Leung, left, with his lawyer, Daniel V. Nixon, appears in Los Angeles Superior Court on Feb. 23, 2018. (Credit: Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Prosecutors with L.A. County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey’s office charged Samuel Leung, developer of the 352-unit Sea Breeze project, with one felony count of conspiracy to commit campaign money laundering and one felony count of offering to bribe a legislator. Leung made “tens of thousands of dollars” in illegal donations, the office announced.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Eugene Hanrahan declined to name the target of the alleged bribe. Sofia David, identified by prosecutors as Leung’s secretary, was also charged with one felony count of conspiracy to commit campaign money laundering.

The filing comes more than a year after a Los Angeles Times investigation showed that more than 100 donors who were directly or indirectly connected to Leung had made donations totaling more than $600,000 to L.A.-area politicians while his Sea Breeze project was being reviewed. Of those who donated, 11 denied making contributions or said they didn’t remember doing so when contacted by The Times.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.

A man who founded and operated a Los Angeles rehabilitation center for alcohol and drug abuse was convicted on Monday of sexually assaulting eight women, including patients at his facility who he provided with drugs, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

A jury found Christopher Bathum, 56, guilty of charges including rape, sexual penetration by foreign object, forcible oral copulation and sexual exploitation, the DA’s office said in a news release.

Christopher Bathum is seen in a booking photo released by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on Nov. 10, 2016.

During the trial, prosecutors argued Bathum preyed on women who were being treated at a rehab facility he owned and ran — Community Recovery of Los Angeles. Authorities have previously said Bathum owns 13 such facilities across L.A. and Orange counties, along with another six in Colorado.

Between 2014 and 2016, he would give drugs to women he was supposed to be treating for addiction, prosecutors said. Then, while the women were drugged, he would sexually assault them.

The women ranged in age from 20s to early 30s and many of the assaults were at treatment facilities run by Bathum, according to prosecutors.

He was convicted of a total of 31 criminal counts and now faces a maximum sentence of 65 years in state prison and lifetime sex offender registration.

No further information was released by the DA’s office.

A Santa Clarita man accused of posing as a ride-share driver and sexually assaulting multiple women over a period of 15 months in Los Angeles County is expected to be arraigned Tuesday on more than two dozen counts, prosecutors said.

Nicolas Morales, 44, was described as an “alleged serial rapist,” in a news release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

He is accused of raping and sexually assaulting seven women while posing as ride-sharing driver between October 2016 and January 2018,  prosecutors said.

Morales has been charged with a total of 27 felony counts, including nine counts of forcible oral copulation, six counts of rape, five counts of sodomy by use of force and four counts of sexual penetration by foreign object, the release stated.

He was also charged with one count each of assault with intent to commit a felony, attempted sodomy by use of force and attempted kidnapping to commit another crime.

Morales is alleged to have used a knife in some of the attacks, which occurred in areas throughout the county including Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Los Angeles and Alhambra.

If convicted as charged, the defendant faces up to 300 years in prison and would have to register as a lifetime sex offender.

Morales was arrested last Friday afternoon by the Alhambra Police Department, inmate records showed. He is being held on $1 million at the Men’s Central Jail near downtown L.A.

At his arraignment Tuesday, prosecutors will ask the judge to increase his bail to $10.3 million, according to the release.

Multiple law enforcement agencies are investigating the case, including the Alhambra and Los Angeles police departments and the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.

“These predators drive in areas where there are nightclubs and they prey on intoxicated victims or people they perceived to be intoxicated.” Los Angeles police Homicide Capt. Bill Hayes said. “Did they call an Uber? the predator will ask. And when the victim jumps into the vehicle, they don’t realize that is not the one they called.”
In this photo, a sticker with the Uber logo is displayed in the window of a car.
(Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

In January of last year, a woman climbed into what she thought was an Uber outside a Hollywood nightclub on a bustling stretch of Cahuenga Boulevard.

But instead of driving her home, authorities allege the man behind the wheel took her to a secluded area and repeatedly sexually assaulted her.

Los Angeles County prosecutors on Tuesday charged Nicolas Morales, 44, with raping seven women while posing as a ride-hailing service driver. Authorities allege he struck across the region, including Alhambra, Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, between October 2016 and January 2018.

Authorities said they are dealing with a string of sexual assault cases in which attackers pretend to be drivers to lure women into their vehicles. When customers call for an Uber or Lyft, they might not pay attention to the type of vehicle the service is sending and end up jumping into the first car that pulls over for them, they said.

Read the full story on LATimes.com. 

Warning: A photo below may appear graphic to some readers.

A 41-year-old man was charged after being arrested for the second time in connection with a violent, unprovoked attack on an 85-year-old woman in Koreatown, officials said Wednesday.

Richard Rene Colomo, 41, is seen in a photo released by the Los Angeles Police Department on Feb. 28, 2018.

Richard Rene Colomo faces charges of elder abuse and infliction of injury, and could receive a sentencing enhancement for causing great bodily injury to a person age 70 years or older, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.

The Feb. 10 attack he is accused in left Mi Reum Song, a Koreatown grandmother, suffering from significant injuries to her head and face, according to the Los Angeles Police Department, which described the incident as “heinous.”

A photo released by her family in the immediate aftermath showed the 85-year-old woman with extensive bruising and swelling around her eyes and nose, a cut to the forehead and her head in a bandage.

The victim had been walking to a grocery store near the intersection of Olympic Boulevard and Vermont Avenue when she was brutally struck in the face until she fell to the ground, where she hit a sidewalk curb and was knocked unconscious. She was found bleeding in the street, police said.

Mi Reum Song, 85, is seen after she was attacked on her way to a grocery store in Koreatown on Feb. 11, 2018. (Credit: Yujin Ko)

Colomo was walking in the area when he encountered Song and assaulted her without provocation, according to prosecutors.

The Bell Gardens resident had been previously arrested on Feb. 13, after the L.A. Police Department released surveillance video of a man running from the scene in an attempt to find the perpetrator.

However, because a suspect can not be held longer than two days without an arrest warrant or formal charges, Colomo was released on Feb. 15.

At that point, county prosecutors sent the case back to LAPD for further investigation, according to Paul Eakins, a public information officer with the DA’s office. After prosecutors revisited the case on Feb. 22, a warrant was filed for Colomo’s arrest on Feb. 23.

Police located and arrested the 41-year-old on Tuesday, according to LAPD, which also confirmed the charges.

Colomo was expected to appear in court Thursday for his arraignment. DA’s officials were requesting his bail be set at $80,000.

If convicted as charged, he could face up to nine years in state prison.

LAPD detectives are continuing to investigate the case.

A second defendant was convicted Friday in the 2015 killing of a 3-week-old baby abducted from her home in Long Beach as part of a woman’s bizarre plot to trick her boyfriend into believing she had given birth, officials said.

Eliza Delacruz is seen in a family photo released by authorities on Jan. 3, 2015.

Several of the infant’s family members were also left wounded by gunfire when their home was invaded, and another child was nearly swept up in the violence.

A jury found Anthony Ray McCall, 32, guilty on seven felony counts: first-degree murder, kidnapping, attempted kidnapping and four counts of attempted murder, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.

The Oceanside resident was involved in an elaborate plot hatched by a woman named Giseleangelique Rene D’Milian, who wanted her married boyfriend to believe she had given birth to twins while he was out of the country, according to investigators.

After tracking the mother of 3-week-old Eliza De La Cruz to their northern Long Beach residence, D’Milian enlisted McCall to storm the home, where he shot that baby’s parents and uncle while fleeing, prosecutors said.

De La Cruz was kidnapped on Jan. 3, 2015, and her body was found in a dumpster at a San Diego County strip mall the following day, although investigators believe she was killed the same day she was abducted. It is still unclear why she wound up dead.

Long Beach police on March 18, 2015, released sketches of a woman and man believed to be involved in the kidnapping and murder of 3-week-old Eliza Delacruz.

McCall was also found guilty of beating a 23-year-old woman with a baseball bat as he attempted to kidnap her 4-month-old son from an El Segundo hotel room about a month after De La Cruz’s death.

The baby was unharmed, and hotel employees were able to thwart the abduction when they knocked on the room’s door, causing McCall to flee.

The conviction comes more than three years after the violent events unfolded, and McCall and a third defendant still await sentencing. Todd Damon Boudreaux, 46, previously pleaded guilty to one count of being an accessory after the fact in October 2016.

Both McCall and Boudreaux are scheduled to be sentenced on March 19. McCall is facing multiple life sentences, prosecutors said.

D’Milian was sentenced to life in prison in January after pleading no contest to one count first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder.

The arsonist behind 47 fires from the San Fernando Valley to West Hollywood was found to be sane by a Los Angeles jury Monday, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Harry Burkhart, a 30-year-old German national, was found guilty in September 2016 of igniting dozens of fires across the county, prosecutors said. He now faces a maximum sentence of 88 years and eight months in state prison for the arson convictions.

When the trial first went through a sanity phase in September 2016, the jury deadlocked in determining whether Burkhart was sane or not, the Los Angeles Times reported. The judge then declared a mistrial.

With Burkhart convicted and now found to be sane, he will face sentencing on March 23.

Harry Burkhart is seen sitting in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom after he was found guilty of arson, involving 47 fires across L.A., on Sept. 1, 2016. (Credit: Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Burkhart set the fires over a span of several days during the holiday season between 2011 and 2012, beginning on Dec. 30, prosecutors said. He sparked the fires in the city of West Hollywood, San Fernando Valley and Hollywood areas by lighting them under vehicles or near homes using “various incendiary devices,” prosecutors said in a news release, without specifying what those objects were.

As the flames spread close to houses and apartment buildings, they left at least $3 million in damage, the Los Angeles Times reported.

He lit the fires in retaliation for his mother being arrested in the United States in connection with alleged crimes in Germany, prosecutors said.

When he committed the arsons in L.A., Burkhart was already suspected of burning down his family home in Germany, the Times reported, and he and his mother fled their native country as she was suspected of fraud.

The charges he was convicted of include 25 counts of arson of property, 18 counts of arson of an inhabited dwelling and two counts each of possession of an incendiary device, attempted arson and arson of a structure, according to prosecutors.

A man could spend up to three years in county jail if convicted as charged after stealing an actress's Oscar, officials  announced Tuesday.

Frances McDormand attends the 90th Annual Academy Awards Governors Ball at the Hollywood & Highland Center on March 4, 2018. (Credit: ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images)

Terry Bryant, 47, was charged with one felony count of grand theft of property exceeding $950 in value, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

The man was seen taking Frances McDormand's award during the Governors Ball after Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood, prosecutors said.

He also appeared to show off the Oscar in a now-deleted live video posted on a Facebook account for Terry Bryant Djmatari.

Los Angeles police said a photographer who didn't recognize Bryant as an Oscar winner helped nab the suspected thief. Officers took him into custody shortly before midnight, according to LAPD.

Bryant apparently had a ticket to the Governors Ball, police said.

A representative for McDormand told CNN  that "Frances and her Oscar were happily reunited" after a brief time apart.

Bryant was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday morning. The District Attorney's Office said if he's convicted as charged, he could face a maximum sentence of three years in county jail. Prosecutors requested bail to be set at $20,000.

A Brinks truck driver and former Los Angeles Sheriffs Department recruit was charged on Wednesday with stealing cash he was delivering to a Wells Fargo ATM in Newhall, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said.

Julio Cesar Jimenez was charged with grand theft, vandalism over $400 and arson of property, according to the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office media release.

All three charges are felonies, and Jimenez could face more than five years in prison if convicted as charged, the DA’s office said.

The 35-year-old stole more than $65,000 on Nov. 28, 2017 and burnt the Wells Fargo ATM on Dec. 1, 2017, according to the DA’s office media release.

A total of $120,000 was stolen from the ATM, the Los Angeles Times reported.

He was arrested on Feb. 15 after he became a LASD recruit, the DA ‘s office said. Jimenez was hired as a cadet and started training with the sheriff’s office on Dec. 18, 2017, the Sheriff’s Department previously confirmed.

According to the DA’s office media release, Jimenez is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday at the San Fernando Branch of the Los Angeles Superior Court.

The Sheriff’s Department is still investigating the case, the DA’s office said.

A former Monterey Park police officer faces a possible maximum sentence of 11 years in prison after a Los Angeles jury found him guilty of sexually assaulting women while he was on duty Monday, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

The former officer, 41-year-old Israel Sanchez, must register as a lifetime sex offender and will appear in court on April 24 for his sentencing.

He was convicted of over a dozen criminal charges, including five counts of sexual battery by restraint and another five counts of assault under color of authority, prosecutors said.

Israel Sanchez is seen in a photo provided by the Long Beach Police Department on May 17, 2016.

The crimes date back to four years ago, prosecutors said, when Sanchez would force his female victims to expose their bodies during traffic stops he was conducting — while he was working on duty.

On at least two different occasions, Sanchez “touched the women after ordering them to expose themselves,” the DA’s office said in a news release.

He assaulted the women — who ranged from 19 to 28 years old — between July and August 2014, prosecutors said.

A jury deliberated for about two days before finding Sanchez guilty of multiple sex crimes in addition to three counts of false imprisonment by violence and one count of soliciting a bribe on Monday.

Long Beach police investigated the case at the request of the Monterey Park Police Department.