Domestic violence charges have been filed against a parolee accused of kidnapping his girlfriend and beating her while leading authorities on an hourslong pursuit that ended when he ran into a Rowland Heights discount store last month, officials announced Friday.

Alexis Leonardo Avina, 29, of Buena Park, is facing one felony count each of kidnapping, injuring a girlfriend, false imprisonment by violence and fleeing a pursuing peace officer’s motor vehicle and driving against traffic, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.

Prosecutors are seeking sentencing enhancements for the allegations that the defendant caused great bodily injury and is an ex-felon with prior convictions for assault with a firearm, carrying a loaded firearm and carrying a concealed dirk or dagger with gang allegations in 2008, 2010 and 2013.

Police have also said Avina was released early from prison under AB 109.

The dangerous chase unfolded the evening of April 24, after a witness reported seeing a man beating a woman inside a car around 5 p.m.

Officers located the sedan in South Gate, near the corner of California Avenue and Firestone Boulevard, but Avina allegedly refused to pull over.

The vehicle is seen crashing through a chain link fence in the Florence-Firestone unincorporated area of South Los Angeles on April 24, 2019. (Credit: KTLA)

During the pursuit that ensued, the driver was seen maneuvering recklessly through southern Los Angeles and Orange counties, at one point mowing down a chain-link fence and driving across Roosevelt Park in South L.A.’s Florence-Firestone neighborhood. People had to scramble to safety as the sedan tore through pedestrian areas, aerial video from Sky5 showed.

The 31-year-old victim attempted to get out of Avina’s car several times during the chase, prosecutors said. In the aerial footage, it also appeared as if she tried to take control of the steering wheel at one point.

The ordeal last about three hours, ending when Avina ditched the sedan in a 99 Cents Only Store parking lot in Rowland Heights.

The defendant then ran inside the shop, which was packed with customers. Authorities had to evacuate the location before he could be taken into custody.

The woman was pulled from Avina’s car by first responders and treated at a hospital in Pomona.

If convicted as charged, Avina could face a maximum sentence of more than 43 years to life in state prison, officials said.

Charges in the case were filed last Friday, May 10, and Avina was expected to be arraigned this Friday.

A 33-year-old woman suspected of kidnapping a young boy from a McDonald’s restaurant in downtown Los Angeles is scheduled to be arraigned Friday.

Maralyn Ramos, a resident of Tucson, Arizona, has been charged with a single count each of kidnapping and grand theft auto, according to the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office.

Ramos was allegedly captured on surveillance video picking up the 4-year-old boy and walking out of the fast-food restaurant on Olympic Boulevard and Central Avenue about 3:15 p.m. Tuesday, authorities said.

The defendant tried to get into a vehicle, but was stopped by a bystander, according to prosecutors. She let go of the child before fleeing on foot.

The Los Angeles Police Department released surveillance video the following day as they asked the public’s help to identify the suspect.

On Thursday, Ramos was arrested  in downtown in the area of Agatha Street and San Pedro Street, according to LAPD.

She was found in a stolen car, the DA’s office said.

Ramos could face up 11 years and eight months in prison if convicted as charged.

She was being held on $100,000 bail, but prosecutors said they will ask a judge to increase it to $170,000.

A film director pleaded not guilty Friday to hitting his wife and lighting a broom on fire at their Hollywood Hills home while their 7-month-old daughter was inside.

Scott Speer, who has directed two “Step Up” sequels, entered the plea for felony charges of arson, injuring a spouse, child abuse, criminal threats and resisting arrest, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.

The charges stem from an April 18 incident in which Speer, 36, allegedly got into an argument with his wife and hit her.

“He is accused of threatening to set things on fire at their Hollywood Hills residence, lighting a broom on fire, and placing the burning broom next to the house,” the news release states.

The couple’s baby was inside the home at the time, prosecutors said, and the fire was eventually put out. Speer was arrested shortly after.

He faces up to 11 years and eight months in prison if convicted and is expected to return to court for a preliminary hearing on June 17.

The Los Angeles Police Department investigated the case.

The man suspected of fatally shooting rapper Nispsey Hussle outside his clothing store in South L.A. and wounding two others was indicted by a grand jury, authorities announced Tuesday.

Eric Holder Jr., 29, was indicted on a count of murder, two counts each of attempted murder and assault with a firearm and one count of possessions of a firearm by a felon, according to a news release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

He entered a not guilty plea on Tuesday, when the indictment was unsealed.

Read: Indictment of Eric Holder Jr. in killing of Nipsey Hussle

Prosecutors had charged him on April 4 with the same counts, but obtaining a grand jury indictment means they can skip a preliminary hearing and head to trial, the Associated Press reported.

Holder allegedly shot and killed the 33-year-old Grammy-nominated artist outside The Marathon Clothing store in the Hyde Park neighborhood of South Los Angeles on March 31. Two other men standing with Hussle — whose real name was Ermias Asghedom — were shot but not seriously injured.

Holder was arrested two days later in Bellflower.

Investigators believe the shooting stemmed from some type of dispute between the two, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore said in the aftermath of the deadly incident.

Holder is scheduled to return to court for a pretrial hearing on June 18. His bail has been increased to $6.53 billion, according to the DA’s office.

He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted on all charges.

Candles surround a photograph of rapper Nipsey Hussle at a makeshift memorial in this undated photo. (Credit: Los Angeles Times)

A man who admitted to being under the influence of alcohol and drugs when he was involved in a crash that killed a mother of three and seriously injured her young daughter in North Hills is headed to prison, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

A judge ordered 23-year-old Jose Armando Macias Jr. of North Hills to spend 12 years and eight months in state prison at the defendant’s sentencing hearing on Tuesday, according to a statement from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

The sentence — part of a plea agreement — was handed down after Macias pleaded guilty in March to felony charges of driving under the influence of alcohol and a drug and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, the release stated.

He also admitted to an allegation of inflicting great bodily injury on a child under the age of 5.

On the night of Nov. 26, 2017, Macias was driving impaired when he lost control of his pickup truck and slammed into 34-year-old Ruch Chinchilla, who was removing her 23-month-old daughter from a car seat prosecutors said.

The vehicle had been parked in front of her home on Woodley Avenue near Parthenia Street.

Chinchilla was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the release. Her little girl was critically injured but survived.

The victim also had two other children, a then-newborn born and a teenage son.

A man who was involved in an hourslong standoff with police in Santa Monica in 2015 was convicted of fatally stabbing another man in South Los Angeles, officials announced Wednesday.

David Carrillo, 32, of Los Angeles, was found guilty Tuesday of second-degree murder and a special circumstance that he used a folding knife during the crime, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department

Carrillo fatally stabbed Wesley Morejon, 30, outside a fast-food restaurant on the 8900 block of Vermont Avenue on Feb. 10, 2015, the prosecutor in the case said.

Carrillo and Morejon knew each other from a substance abuse program the two men attended, and they were involved in an argument before the stabbing.

Nearly two weeks later, on Feb. 22, 2015, Carrillo barricaded himself in a Santa Monica apartment building along the 800 block of Ocean Park Boulevard, prompting a 5-hour stand off with Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials. He was eventually taken into custody with the help of a police dog, officials said.

Carrillo is scheduled to be sentenced on June 26.

A 21-year-old man could spend more than two decades behind bars after a jury found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter for a 2017 shooting in Pomona, authorities announced Wednesday.

The guilty verdict for Timothy James Molano McKinney of Rancho Cucamonga also includes a special allegation of personally using a firearm during the commission of the crime, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said.

McKinney was accused of fatally shooting 33-year-old Joseph Aguilar during a party at the victim’s home in the 500 block of East McKinley Avenue on June 16, 2017.

An altercation between Aguilar and McKinney’s friends had broken out and continued outside, where McKinney took out a handgun and shot the victim, according to prosecutors.

Authorities responded to the scene, and Aguilar was taken to the hospital. He died of his injuries.

Police found and arrested McKinney two days after the incident, the District Attorney’s Office said.

McKinney is set to be sentenced on June 4. He could face 21 years in state  prison, the District Attorney’s Office said.

Pomona police investigated the case.

Authorities provided no further details.

Prosecutors have declined to file charges against actor Rick Schroder after an arrest on suspicion of domestic violence.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said in documents Tuesday that Schroder’s girlfriend on May 1 told a 911 operator he punched her at his home in Malibu.

But prosecutors say she was uncooperative with deputies when they arrived, and the next day said she suspected he hit her by accident because she startled him as he was sleeping.

They also declined to file charges after an arrest about a month earlier in an incident that Schroder’s girlfriend two days later called “a big misunderstanding.”

The 49-year-old Schroder is known for starring in the TV series “Silver Spoons” and “NYPD Blue.”

An email to his publicist seeking comment wasn’t immediately returned.

A shirtless man who was caught on video throwing rocks at vehicles in the Mid-City area has been charged with attempted carjacking and assault with a deadly weapon, officials announced Thursday.

Emmanuel Moncada, 32, also faces 11 counts of throwing an object at a vehicle or an occupant of a vehicle with intent to do great bodily harm, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. The criminal complaint also alleges that Moncada used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a rock, during the attempted carjacking.

The incident was reported about 3:50 p.m. Tuesday when the Los Angeles Police Department received a call about a transient who was throwing rocks at vehicles near the intersection of Venice Boulevard and South Fairfax Avenue.

Moncada allegedly broke windows as he threw large rocks at passing cars. Video shows him repeatedly throwing a rock at the windshield of a Metro bus until it shattered, then going into the bus and trying to drive away.

Witnesses managed to subdue him, but during the melee, Moncada allegedly hit a man who tried to intervene with a rock.

He faces a maximum sentence of 15 years and 10 months in prison if convicted. Prosecutors are recommending that his bail be set at $480,000.

A woman suspected of fleeing from officers in a wild RV chase through Los Angeles County pleaded not guilty to nine criminal charges Thursday, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said.

A dog leaps from a moving RV during a pursuit in the San Fernando Valley on May 21, 2019. (Credit: KTLA)

Julie Ann Rainbird, 52, led authorities on a pursuit Tuesday evening as she drove at high speeds and crashed multiples times, officials said. At one point, a dog leaped out of the moving RV — a moment caught on live video as Sky5 flew over the scene.

The chase began around 7 p.m. in Valencia before ending about 30 minutes later in Tarzana, when Rainbird lost control of the vehicle, crashed into another car and struck a tree before running from the scene, according to authorities.

Other drivers were injured when she rammed the RV into other vehicles throughout the chase, prosecutors allege.

Another dog was also inside the vehicle as Rainbird allegedly fled authorities. Both animals were recovering a day later, with one of them injured and taken for treatment at an emergency clinic.

Rainbird's bail has been set at $395,000 and she has been charged with fleeing a pursuing peace officer’s motor vehicle causing serious bodily injury, hit-and-run driving resulting in serious injury to another person and cruelty to an animal, according to prosecutors.

She also faces three counts each of assault with a deadly weapon, RV, and hit-and-run driving resulting in injury to another person. Prosecutors said she also has a 2015 conviction for multiple identifying information theft.

Rainbird is expected to appear in court on June 3 and faces up to 14 years in state prison if convicted.

Bryan Blancas, 18, is seen in a booking photo released May 22, 2019, by the Long Beach Police Department.

A teen is facing possible life in prison after being charged Thursday in connection with a brutal beating recorded on cellphone video outside a Long Beach high school last week, prosecutors said.

Bryan Blancas, 18, is accused of six counts including assault and violation of civil rights in the May 15 attack outside the Poly Academy of Achievers and Leaders at 1545 Long Beach Blvd., the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.

The victim’s mother, Rasheena McCord, told KTLA her son is a 16-year-old special needs student.

Video of the incident shows the boy was outnumbered, apparently jumped by a group of at least five who threw him to the ground before repeatedly punching and kicking him.

Officials allege that Blancas dealt several blows to the victim’s head, face and torso after the boy had tried to run.

McCord said her son was left with cuts, bruises and a torn eardrum.

Prosecutors did not specify why Blancas is accused of violating the victim’s civil rights, though they did say the victim is black.

Asked why her son was targeted, McCord replied, “I’m not sure.” He’s not a gang member, she said, but she believes the assailants were group of young Latino men who asked her son, “Where are you from?”

“It has something to do, maybe, with some type of initiation thing,” she told KTLA.

McCord said she heard other young black males got jumped recently, and the issue has prompted a group of parents and volunteers to begin physically monitoring the campus each day.

Rakeem Addison, who is one of those volunteers, said they’re working with students in an attempt to stop violence before it breaks out.

“What we’re trying to do is show individuals the street stuff cannot come to the kids,” Addison said.

Blancas, who was arrested Tuesday in Long Beach, is not the only person in custody in connection with the assault.

Two other teens, ages 16 and 17, were taken into custody that same day. Their names are not being released due to their status as juveniles.

Both were booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon that is not a firearm and are being held at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall, police said in a news release.

A search warrant was also served at a residence, and additional suspects are still being sought, investigators said Wednesday.

On Thursday, Blancas pleaded not guilty to two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of violation of civil rights, one count of dissuading a witness by force or threat and one count of battery, the DA’s office said.

If convicted as charged, he would face a maximum possible sentence of life plus 17 years in state prison, officials said.

The defendant is scheduled to return to court June 3 for a pre-hearing conference.

He was being held on $1.04 million bail.

Late Marvel Comics mastermind Stan Lee’s former manager was arrested Saturday on suspicion of theft and elder abuse, the Los Angeles Police Department said.

Keya Morgan appears in a photo released by the Los Angeles Police Department on May 25, 2019.

Keya Morgan a.k.a. Keyarash Mazhari, 43, was taken into custody after an investigation determined that the manager took more than $262,000 from Lee’s autograph signing sessions, authorities said.

The manager had been previously arrested in June last year on suspicion of generating false 911 calls after reports surfaced that Morgan “falsely imprisoned” 95-year-old Lee in a secured Beverly Hills condominium after taking him out of his Hollywood Hills home in the middle of the night, police said.

Authorities say Morgan was trying to deceive Lee into thinking that he was in danger and that he needed to be moved to a secure location.

Lee was “removed from Morgan’s control” two days after the incident.

“Mr. Lee had a large estate worth over an estimated $50 million with no clear protection from opportunists who could insert themselves into his life and take control of it,” LAPD said in a written statement.

Stan Lee speak onstage at Stan Lee Creators Roundtable at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 7, 2016, in New York City. (Credit: Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images)

Police said that no one had clear legal authority to act on Lee’s behalf but “Morgan exerted his control and influence over Lee.”

The comic book legend’s daughter requested a restraining last year alleging that Morgan was manipulating the mentally declining Lee, the Associated Press reported.

The investigation started in March 2018, months before Lee’s death in November, and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office later issued a warrant for Morgan’s arrest.

Morgan is facing charges including a felony count of false imprisonment, three counts of grand theft from an elder or dependent adult, a felony count of an aggravated white collar crime over $100,000 and one misdemeanor count of elder abuse, LAPD said.

It is unclear where Morgan was taken into custody but LAPD said the Scottsdale and Phoenix Police Departments assisted with the arrest.

No further details were immediately available.

A former business manager has been charged with false imprisonment and stealing money from the late comic book creator, Stan Lee, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.

Keya Morgan, aka Keyrash Mazhari, was arrested over the weekend in Arizona and is facing several charges in an elder abuse case involving 95-year-old Lee, who died last November.

Morgan was charged with one felony count of false imprisonment of an elder by use of fraud and deceit, three felony counts of grand theft from an elder of more than $950 and one misdemeanor count of elder abuse for knowingly and willfully inflicting mental suffering on Lee, prosecutors said in a news release.

Prosecutors allege Morgan, 43, stole more than $100,000 from Lee through fraud and embezzlement in May and June 2018, and kept him falsely imprisoned in a location outside of his residence.

Morgan is expected to be extradited to Los Angeles County.

If convicted as charged, he faces a possible maximum sentence of 10 years in custody. Prosecutors recommend Morgan’s bail be set at $300,000.

The elder abuse case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Bureau of Investigation, and the Los Angeles Police Department.

A Los Angeles Police Department officer pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a grand theft charge for receiving more than $8,000 in wages last year for work she did not perform, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said.

Monica Renee Moore, 47, was charged with one count of grand theft for falsely reporting 18 shifts that she said she worked between April and October in 2018, the DA said.

She received $8,543 in compensation for those days, according to prosecutors.

Moore faces up to three years in state prison if convicted, according to the DA.

A preliminary hearing for Moore is scheduled on June 26 at a Los Angeles court.

The case is under investigation by LAPD and no further details on the case were available.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office found that the Inglewood City Council violated state law in connection with a special meeting in June 2017 to approve an agreement with a Clippers-controlled company to explore building an arena in the city, but the D.A. declined to take any action.

In a two-page letter sent to council members earlier this month and obtained by the Los Angeles Times, Deputy Dist. Atty. Bjorn Dodd wrote that the meeting agenda violated the Brown Act, the state’s open meetings law, by not providing a sufficient description of the matter to be discussed.

“Violations relating to the agenda description of an item of business could render the action by the city council null and void,” the letter said. “However, because the complaint was received after the time limits to remedy the violation, no action will be taken at this time.”

The City Council approved the agreement with Murphy’s Bowl LLC a second time in July 2017 after complaints about the notice given for the first meeting. The agreement was approved a third time in August 2017 to narrow the possible area for the project and make clear eminent domain wouldn’t be used on an “occupied residence or church.”

Read the full story on LATimes.com.

A man accused of fatally beating a Long Beach woman using an electric scooter earlier this month has pleaded not guilty to murder, Los Angeles County District Attorney officials announced Wednesday.

Amad Rashad Redding, 27, is accused of killing Rosa Elena Hernandez, 63, as she was walking home on May 13.

The attack occurred in the afternoon near 64th Street and Obispo Avenue. Redding allegedly knocked the victim over and began “kicking and stomping on her head,” according to the DA’s Office. He then allegedly grabbed a nearby E-scooter and hit her repeatedly with it.

Redding, who was described as a transient, ran from the area but was eventually taken into custody later that day. Officials said the attack was random.

Redding’s bail was set at $2 million and he faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

He is set to return to court for a hearing on June 13.

A former youth basketball coach has pleaded no contest to sexually assaulting nine teen boys while working in the Santa Clarita Valley, officials announced Wednesday.

Jeremy Haggerty is seen in a photo provided to the Santa Clarita Valley Signal in August 2014.

Jeremy Andre Haggerty, 34, had been charged with six counts of lewd act upon a child and three counts of sexual battery, all felonies, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

He worked as a basketball coach at several schools, including two in the Santa Clarita Valley, and also worked as a personal basketball trainer.

Prosecutors said that he assaulted the teens over the course of nearly a decade while they were under his coaching or training. The crimes apparently occurred inside the homes of the victims, who ranged in age from 14 to 17 years old.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department began an investigation into Haggerty last August, when one of the victims reported an assault.

Haggerty’s training sessions included massaging the teens, and he told told parents that the physical treatment mirrored methods being used by college-level and professional basketball players, Sgt. Brian Hudson told KTLA at the time of Haggerty’s arrest last year.

He is expected to be sentenced on July 3 and faces nine years in prison.

A Lancaster woman has been charged with stabbing her boyfriend to death at their Lake Los Angeles home last month, prosecutors announced Thursday.

Melissa Buranasombati is accused of stabbing Edward Cole, 31, in the chest and killing him on April 9, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. He was pronounced dead at a hospital, coroner’s records show.

Buranasombati, 31, is being held at Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood on $2,075,000 bail, inmate records show.

She was expected to be arraigned Thursday and faces a maximum sentence of 26 years to life in state prison if convicted.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department continues to investigate the case.

Lance Cpl. Carlos Segovia Lopez is shown in a photo provided to KTLA by a family friend.

Two defendants were convicted in the 2016 shooting death of a teenage Marine on leave from Camp Pendleton in South Los Angeles, prosecutors said Thursday.

The jury deliberated less than two hours Wednesday afternoon before finding Oscar Aguilar, 28, and Esau Rios, 31, guilty of murder in the killing of 19-year-old Lance Cpl. Carlos Segovia Lopez in the Jefferson Park neighborhood where they lived, the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.

Segovia, also of L.A., was visiting his girlfriend’s home near 31st Street and Western Avenue when he noticed a group near his car around 11 p.m. on Sept. 16, according to investigators.

The Marine confronted the men, and Rios allegedly told Aguilar to approach the victim as he sat in his car. Segovia was shot once in his head, officials said.

Segovia was subsequently declared brain dead. His mother fought to keep him on life support, but he died three days later.

Others who knew Segovia told KTLA he actively volunteered in his community, helped the homeless and encouraged at-risk youth to join the Marines. A vigil held at the crime scene after his death was attended by L.A. City Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson, and Mayor Eric Garcetti was at his funeral.

Both his killers were known gang members, according to court testimony.

Lance Cpl. Carlos Segovia Lopez is seen in an undated photo provided by his family.

Along with murder, Aguilar and Rios were both convicted of shooting at an occupied motor vehicle. Aguilar was additionally found guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm, prosecutors said.

The defendants are facing sentencing enhancements after the jury found true allegations that a handgun was used in the killing, and that the crime was committed on the behalf of a gang. Aguilar is facing an additional enhancement for personally using a firearm in the shooting, according to the DA’s office.

Last June, a third defendant, 21-year-old Ricky Valente, also of Jefferson Park, pleaded no contest to being an accessory after the fact as part of a plea deal negotiated with prosecutors. He’s expected to be placed on three years of formal probation at his June 26 sentencing, officials said.

Aguilar and Rios are both scheduled to be sentenced July 8.

Rios is facing 50 years to life in prison. Before he is sentenced, Aguilar must face another trial on allegations that he has prior felony convictions.

A man convicted of killing a mother whose body was discovered along a desolate road in the Gorman area before her three children were kidnapped has been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole, prosecutors said Friday.

Alex Valdez, 31, was found guilty of first-degree murder back in February, according to a news release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. A special circumstance allegation that Valdez killed a witness was also found true.

The victim, Kimberly Harvill, was discovered dead by a passing motorist near State 138 in a remote part of Gorman on August 14, 2016.

Valdez and Joshua Robertson, 29, killed the mother of three because she witnessed a shooting in Fresno two days prior, according to prosecutors.

Joshua Robertson and Brittany Humphrey are shown in photos released by the Pueblo Police Department after their arrest Aug. 25, 2016.

After Harvill was murdered, her children — then ages 5, 3 and 2 — were kidnapped by Robertson and her half-sister, 24-year-old Brittney Sue Humphrey, according to the DA’s office.

The children were found abandoned but safe in a New Mexico motel on Aug. 24, 2016, authorities said.

One day later, Humphrey and Robertson were arrested in Colorado. Valdez was later taken into custody in Fresno.

Robertson entered an open, no contest to plea to a variety of charges back in January, including a count of first-degree murder and three counts of kidnapping, according to the release.

He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Humphrey entered a no contest plea to three counts of kidnapping in September 2017, the DA’s office said.

She was sentenced to 13 years in prison.