PUBLIC SAFETY Newport settles claim with Veches...

PUBLIC SAFETY

Newport settles claim with Veches victim

The city has settled one of five claims made by parents of boys

inappropriately touched by a former recreation coordinator who

supervised the city’s after-school programs and holiday camps.

Officials declined to say which of the claims has been settled out

of court because the agreement is sealed.

Trenton Veches was sentenced to life in prison on July 11 for

sucking the toes of several young boys enrolled in the city’s

programs. A jury in May found the 32-year-old man guilty of 23 counts

of felony lewd act with a child and two misdemeanor counts of sexual

assault. He had also pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of

possessing child pornography.

* Newport Beach Police are investigating an anonymous letter that

threatens to pay back a former planning commissioner who in the late

1980s helped bring down a successful chain of seafood restaurants.

The letter sent to the Daily Pilot, addressed to “Mr. Person”

typed in all capital letters and written without periods, presumably

talks about getting back at former Planning Commissioner James “Buzz”

Person was helping police arrest Francis Delaney -- then owner of

Delaney’s Seafood Restaurant in Cannery Village -- on bribery charges

13 years ago.

Newport Beach Police are looking into whether the letter is real

or a hoax, officials said.

* Newport Beach Police are looking for a man in connection with a

takeover-style armed robbery of a Bank of America branch office in

Corona del Mar Monday morning. Police said the man walked into the

bank in the 3300 block of East Coast Highway wearing a white surgical

mask and latex carrying an item he said was an explosive device.

He took an undisclosed amount of money from the teller and then

ordered the employees into the bank’s vault and customers to lay on

the floor.

* Dennis Rodman on Thursday testified in a civil trial that he has

no recollection of meeting a woman who accused the former NBA star of

drugging her, taking her to his West Newport home and sexually

assaulting her several times.

Jo Len McGowen accuses Rodman of sexual battery, negligence and

false imprisonment in March 2001. She said he savagely assaulted her

as she slipped in and out of consciousness.

Rodman’s attorney argued that McGowen’s statements to the police

were inconsistent. No criminal charges were filed in the case. The

trial is expected to continue Monday at the Central Justice Center in

Santa Ana.

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@latimes.com.