Police arrest two after spinout Two Norwalk...

Police arrest two after spinout

Two Norwalk men were arrested in Huntington Beach after a

slow-speed chase spun to an end.

Police made the arrests after officers used a technique known as a

pit maneuver to cause the truck the men were riding in to spin out of

control.

Deshon Herbert, 26, and Roy Garcia, 38, were each charged with

possession of stolen property and being a felon in possession of a

firearm. Herbert was also charged with evading a police officer. Both

men, who were also wanted on warrants for parole violations, were

booked at Huntington Beach jail.

At about 10:30 p.m. March 3, police saw a Ford F-450 utility truck

that had been reported stolen near the intersection of Gothard Street

and McFadden Avenue, police said.

“Officers attempted to stop the vehicle, which failed to yield. A

slow-speed pursuit within Huntington Beach ensued,” Sgt. Gary Faust

said.

Police ended the chase near the intersection of Gothard Street and

Ellis Avenue by using a pit maneuver. In the maneuver, an officer

uses a police car to make contact with a pursued vehicle and causes

it to spin so the driver loses control.

“If done correctly, you’re not going to cause major damage,” Sgt.

Dave Bunetta said.

Minor damage was reported on the Ford and on the police car,

Bunetta said.

Bunetta said the police department’s standing policy in most

situations is for officers to request permission before executing a

pit maneuver. In this case, police chasing the men asked for and

received a supervisor’s approval to spin out the truck.

Final suspect in fraud case sentenced

A Huntington Beach man on Monday was sent to federal prison for 15

years for defrauding people who thought they were giving to charity.

Gabriel Bernardo Sanchez, 37, of Huntington Beach, also received a

$25,000 fine for his role in setting up the con, in which he and

three others used a fake Costa Mesa church to solicit donations for

nonexistent charities. Sanchez was the last of the four to be

sentenced.

Sanchez received the same prison term as Huntington Beach resident

Timothy James Lyons, who was sentenced in February. Both Sanchez and

Lyons were sentenced after a trial, while the other men indicted,

Roger Nolan Lane and Steven Lawrence de la Torre, pleaded guilty to

fraud charges in October. Lane and de la Torre were sent to prison

for 46 months and fined $10,000.

The judge declined to sentence Sanchez, like Lyons, to any

community service because the judge did not want Sanchez near any

charities, Asst. U.S. Atty. Ellyn Lindsay said.

The judge also did not require any restitution to be paid, since

the nature of the fraud made it impractical.

“Here we have tens of thousands of victims who gave $20 or $30,”

Lindsay said.

Rape suspect to have hearing today

A preliminary hearing is scheduled today for a Garden Grove

teenager accused of raping a woman in Huntington Beach.

Prosecutors allege that in August 2003, George Allen Plumb, 19,

raped, robbed and kidnapped a woman at gunpoint in a laundry room at

Harbor Lights apartments in the 4000 block of Boardwalk Drive. Plumb

was 18 when he was arrested on Aug. 16.

Proceedings will be held at the West Justice Center of Superior

Court at 8141 13th St. in Westminster.