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.
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