BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS Business suffers $40,000...

BRIEFLY IN

THE NEWS

Business suffers $40,000 fire damage

A two-alarm fire gutted a Costa Mesa business early Thursday

morning, causing about $40,000 in damages, fire officials said.

No one was injured in the 1:07 a.m. fire at a single-story strip

mall in the 800 block of West 19th St., Battalion Chief Gregg Steward

said.

A second alarm was called because of the fire’s potential to

spread to other units in the strip mall, he said.

The fire was put out in minutes, but it caused extensive fire and

smoke damage to the one unit, Steward said. No other units were

affected.

Steward said a cause for the fire has not been determined yet, nor

has the origin.

About 38 firefighters from Costa Mesa, Newport Beach and

Huntington Beach responded.

The fire is still under investigation.

Former choir coach must stand trial

An Orange County Superior Court ruled Wednesday that a 27-year-old

former voice coach for the All-American Boys Choir accused of

repeatedly molesting a student must stand trial.

The judge made the decision after hearing testimony from the lead

investigator about how Roger A. Giese assaulted a 17-year-old Buena

Park boy over a four-year period at his Irvine home while giving

private voice lessons.

Giese was arrested in September and has since left the choir,

headquartered at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.

Choir administrators have said none of the alleged incidents took

place in any of their facilities.

Giese is scheduled to be arraigned on four counts of lewd acts

upon a child and other related charges on March 17.

-- Deepa Bharath