New Santa Ana | Tag Archives: theft

Female suspect allegedly steals Buddhist statues from a temple she vandalized before

Posted on March 17, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in Crime, Little Saigon, Santa Ana, Vietnamese Leave a comment

Santa Ana Police Department

Advisory: SAPD Detectives Request Assistance In Locating Suspect Wanted In Theft Of Buddhist Statues

On February 26, 2016, the Chua Truc Lam Yen Tu Buddhist Temple located at 1924 West 2nd street had two of its Buddhist statues stolen from their property. Surveillance video recorded a female removing two statues (each about 2 feet tall) from a shrine adjacent to the sidewalk in front of the temple. The same female suspect returned to the temple on March 6th, 2016 and stole a third statue. Each statue is valued at $1,000.

After viewing surveillance video, the victim recognized the suspect as the same suspect that was arrested in 2015 for vandalizing another temple. The victim remembered the media coverage from the previous incident and searched the Internet for the story. Continue reading→

Santa Ana man will only be in prison for three years despite charges involving drugs, theft and a police pursuit

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in Crime, OCDA, Santa Ana 2 Comments

Westley Alvarez , a 27-year-old man with a prior conviction, pleaded guilty Wednesday to multiple felonies charging him with shooting another man with a pellet gun before leading police on a chase through several Orange County cities, according to the O.C. Register.

Alvarez got into an argument on Sept. 26, 2015, with another man that he knew from their Santa Ana neighborhood, according to the SAPD.

The victim thought that Alvarez had broken into his car earlier and he asked him if he did. The defendant reacted by getting out of a vehicle that he had stolen, retrieving a BB gun from the vehicle’s trunk, and then shooting the other man with it multiple times from six or seven feet away. Continue reading→

Former office manager arrested by the SAPD for stealing $511K in company funds

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Crime, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Young Ah Kim

Santa Ana Police Department

Advisory: SAPD Detectives Arrest Former Office Manager For Theft Of $511,000 in Company Funds
Arrested: Young Ah Kim (47) Cypress

Booking Charges: CPC 487 Grand Theft and CPC 471 Falsifying/Altering Business Records

Young Ah Kim from Cypress, CA was employed as the office manager for California Systems, a computer component retailer, in 2006. Kim was responsible for maintaining customer accounts and was fired in 2012 for job performance issues.

California Systems conducted an audit and discovered that in November of 2011, Kim began embezzling money from the company. Kim would collect checks from clients and falsified the client’s account to show that it was paid. Using a forged document showing she was authorized to cash checks for the company, Kim cashed checks in excess of $500,000 over an eight month period. Continue reading→

Irvine man carjacked by a young woman with a knife

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Crime, irvine Leave a comment

Irvine Police Department Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PRESS RELEASE: 03-09-15

Subject: Suspect Sought in Irvine Carjacking

Contact : Farrah Emami, Public Information Officer, 949-724-7112, FEmami@cityofirvine.org

IRVINE, CA – The Irvine Police Department (IPD) is seeking the public’s help identifying and locating a suspect, who carjacked a victim in a parking structure.

The suspect is described as a female, Hispanic, age 20’s, 5’2” tall and 130 pounds. She was wearing a navy blue hooded sweatshirt and jeans.

Shortly before 6:00 p.m., the suspect approached a female victim, who was sitting in a vehicle with the windows closed in a parking lot on the 17000 block on Von Karman Avenue. The suspect confronted the victim and attempted to carjack her by ordering her out of the car, but the victim refused and the suspect fled. Continue reading→

$30K worth of paintings stolen from the Santa Ana Artists Village

Posted on July 27, 2013 by Art Pedroza Posted in Arts and Culture, Crime, Santa Ana 10 Comments

Joseph Hawa, an artist at the Santora Arts Building, in Downtown Santa Ana, since 1999, lost eight to 10 paintings in a burglary. Hawa said that he discovered the theft Wednesday, and guessed that it may have taken place on Monday night or Tuesday, according to the O.C. Register. He said the paintings were worth about $25,000 to $30,000.

Santa Ana artist Alicia Rojas posted this comment on Hawa’s Facebook page: Continue reading→

Santa Ana mom busted for taking a former American Idol contestant’s phone

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Art Pedroza Posted in Crime, Santa Ana, SAUSD 4 Comments

Bertha Avalos

Santa Ana Police Department Advisory: Mother arrested for theft of iphone and property belonging to Todrick Dramaul Hall former contestant on the American Idol

On 06/13/13 Todrick Dramaul Hall was a former contestant on the TV competition American Idol was present at Hazard Elementary School to perform with several others for the principal’s retirement ceremony. While present at the school, Hall was standing outside and was signing autographs and appearing in photographs for the students. While signing autographs, he placed his phone down on a school bench behind him. His phone, an Apple iPhone 5 64gb, which is held inside a wallet designed to hold the phone, ID, credit cards, and money. Hall advised he set his phone down for approx 20 minutes and discovered it was missing at 1445 hrs. Hall did not see anyone take his phone. Continue reading→

Remarks by District Attorney Tony Rackauckas regarding Bustamante charges

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Art Pedroza Posted in Carlos Bustamante, Courts, Crime, Orange County, Republican Party, Santa Ana 2 Comments

Remarks by District Attorney Tony Rackauckas
Charges Against Carlos Bustamante

July 3, 2012

When a person is elected to public office, or accepts a taxpayer-funded high-ranking executive position, that person owes a duty of trust to the public to protect the powers of that position.

One holds such a position not as an owner, but as a steward for a limited time. Holding such a position is a privilege bestowed by the public, and we must do all we can to safeguard the public’s trust. Continue reading→

Councilman Bustamante charged with sexual assaults and theft of public funds

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Art Pedroza Posted in Carlos Bustamante, Civic Affairs, Courts, Crime, Orange County, Republican Party, Santa Ana 1 Comment

Orange County District Attorney
Press Release, For Immediate Release: July 3, 2012
Contacts: Susan Kang Schroeder, Chief of Staff, Office: 714-347-8408, Cell: 714-292-2718
Farrah Emami, Spokesperson, Office: 714-347-8405, Cell: 714-323-4486

SANTA ANA CITY COUNCILMAN AND FORMER HIGH-RANKING EXECUTIVE FOR COUNTY OF ORANGE CHARGED WITH SEXUAL ASSAULTS AND THEFT OF PUBLIC FUNDS

SANTA ANA – A Santa Ana City Councilman who was a former high-ranking executive for the County of Orange until recent allegations related to this case surfaced has been arrested and charged with sexually assaulting seven subordinates and committing grand theft of public funds. Continue reading→