BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS High-speed chase ends...

BRIEFLY IN

THE NEWS

High-speed chase ends in Newport

A 46-year-old man led police on a high-speed chase on Tuesday

through Costa Mesa that ended inside an office building near John

Wayne Airport.

California Highway Patrol officers arrested Kenneth Olsen after he

led them on an hourlong chase that reached speeds up to 100 miles per

hour, Officer Katie Lundgren said. The CHP took him into custody

after he parked his car outside an office building at 4630 Campus

Drive in Newport Beach and ran into an attorney’s office before

turning himself in, she said.

The chase started just after 11 a.m. when Garden Grove police

tried to pull over Olsen for an expired registration tag at Haster

Street and Lampson Avenue, Garden Grove Police Lt. Paul Prince said.

The driver of the white sedan drove off, taking surface streets to

the eastbound Garden Grove Freeway, where he continued south on the

Santa Ana Freeway past San Clemente, turned around and went north on

the Santa Ana Freeway, transferred onto the San Diego Freeway through

Costa Mesa, took the San Joaquin Hills Toll Road south and exited at

Jamboree Road, Prince said.

During his arrest, Olsen reportedly shouted that he was on parole

and was from Canada. Prince said that Garden Grove police could not

find a confirmed city of residence for the suspect, who did appear to

be on parole.

Olsen faces felony charges of evading a police officer, Prince

said. CHP officers turned Olsen over to Garden Grove police for

booking.

Tran volunteer won’t be prosecuted

The state attorney general’s office has decided not to investigate

the possession of voted ballots by a volunteer for a candidate in the

March 2 primary election, Senior Assistant Atty. Gen. Gary Schons

said Thursday.

In early February, a volunteer for Republican 68th Assembly

District candidate Van Tran brought a number of absentee ballots to

the Orange County Registrar of Voters to exchange them for Republican

ballots, which is allowed by state election law, but some of the

ballots appeared to have been filled out and so should not have been

handled by anyone but an election official.

The registrar of voters’ office referred the matter to the Orange

County district attorney’s office, who asked the attorney general to

review it. Schons said he did not investigate the matter but

conducted an evaluation and determined that while there may have been

a technical violation of the law, it did not merit prosecution.

All of the 46 voters whose ballots were involved wanted new

ballots, including the two who had filled their ballots out, Schons

said.

“We found no grounds for a criminal investigation or prosecution,

and we’ve closed the matter,” he said.