Eight arrested in alleged murder Huntington Beach...

Eight arrested in alleged murder

Huntington Beach police arrested eight people on Friday in

connection with the killing of a 26-year-old Laguna Niguel man.

Police discovered the body of Cory Lamons in the back of a pick up

truck on April 6 during a traffic stop in Riverside.

Although police will not say why they pulled the vehicles over,

they did not expect to find a dead boby, Huntington Beach police Sgt.

Dave Bunetta said.

Six were charged with murder and two were charged with accessory

after the fact, said Deputy District Atty. Jack Levy.

Billy Johnson, 40, of Costa Mesa, Suzanne Miller, 24, of Mission

Viejo, Craig Tanber , 26, of Rossmoor, Jason Karr, 34, of Riverside

and Julie Parker and Patrick Carroll, both 24, of Huntington Beach

have been charged with murder.

Erin Brooks, 19, and Logan Stewart, 24, both of Capistrano Beach

were charged with being accessories.

The arrests were made throughout Orange County, and more arrests

are possible, Bunetta said.

Johnson was identified by police as a member of a white

supremacist gang called Public Enemy No. 1.

All eight were also charged with being members of a criminal

street gang, Levy said.

Six of the eight defendants appeared in court Monday, but no pleas

were entered. Karr and Stewart, who are being held in state prison,

did not appear in court. All eight are to be arraigned on June 4.

Sailor suffers heart attack during regatta

A 63-year-old man died Monday night after he had a heart attack on

his sailboat during a regatta in Newport Harbor.

Leo Vincent Collin, of Huntington Beach, had a heart attack at the

midway point of an American Legion Yacht Club race, said office

manager Linda Christensen. He died later at Hoag Memorial Hospital

Presbyterian.

Firefighters responded to a call shortly before 7 p.m. that a man

on a boat was complaining of chest pains, said Sgt. David Ginther of

the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Harbor Patrol.

Collin was pronounced dead at 7:35 p.m., according to the Orange

County Coroner’s Office.

Collin was a member of the club for about six years, Christiansen

said. She described him as “a nice guy.”

It was the club’s first race of the season.

Huntington woman killed in car crash

A Huntington Beach woman was killed in a car crash April 28 near

Beach Boulevard and MacDonald Avenue.

The crash happened at about 8:05 p.m. when Deanna Lutz’s black

Toyota Celica collided with several cars that were stopped at the

intersection.

Lutz, 25,of Huntington Beach,was pronounced dead at the

intersection, police said. A witness told investigators Lutz was

driving recklessly before the crash, authorities said.

Other drivers and passengers involved in the crash were treated

for minor injuries.

Seven convicted in tax-related crimes

Seven people, including three local residents, were convicted of

tax crimes after a 13-week trial in Federal court in Los Angeles on

Monday.

A jury found Lynne Meredith, 54, of Sunset Beach guilty of using a

group called We the People to sell thousands of people on illegal tax

plans using false taxpayer identification numbers and file fraudulent

returns, according to a news release from federal prosecutors.

Meredith was convicted of conspiracy, four counts of mail fraud,

two counts of using a false social security number, making a false

statement on a passport and five counts of failing to file a tax

return. The charges carry a combined maximum sentence of 50 years.

Also convicted of conspiracy and other charges were Gayle Bybee,

56, of Sunset Beach, Gregory Paul Karl, 54, of Solana Beach, Teresa

Manharth Giordano, 41, of Murrieta, and 45-year-old Murrietta

resident Willie Watts, 45, of Murrieta.

The jury convicted Nora Moore, 55, of Huntington Beach, and Betty

Erickson , 59, of Windsor, of three counts of failing to file a tax

return.

Sentencing is scheduled for July 23.