Irvine woman dies in highway car crash...

Irvine woman dies in highway car crash

An Irvine woman died after her car crashed into a tree on Coast

Highway in Newport Beach Monday night.

Zoya Fateri, 49, was driving her 2004 Lexus ES 330 west on Coast

Highway near Dover Drive when she struck a corner and lost control of

her car, Newport Beach Police Sgt. Steve Shulman said.

The car skidded into a tree on the north side of the street,

causing major damage to the driver’s side, he said.

Fateri died at the accident scene at 9:15 p.m., Orange County

supervising deputy coroner Rod Thomas said.

Police believe no other cars were involved in the accident.

Costa Mesa man shot, killed in Garden Grove

A 23-year-old Costa Mesa man was shot and killed as he drove his

car early Sunday morning in Garden Grove.

William Ngo, also known as Abdul Kadhar and Rahman Kadhar, had

gone out to breakfast early that morning with some friends at a

nearby restaurant and was left alone in his car, Garden Grove Police

Lt. Mike Handfield said.

He was driving north on Haster Street near Aspenwood Avenue when

someone fired multiple gunshots at his 2002 Nissan Altima, Handfield

said.

Ngo was struck at least once and continued to drive for about 200

yards before he struck a pole.

Garden Grove Police are asking anyone with information to call

(714) 741-5815 or their 24-hour hotline at (714) 741-5003.

Information can be given anonymously.

Yacht buyer pleads not guilty to grand theft

A man who bought a yacht from a retired Newport Beach couple in

November, just before they disappeared, pleaded not guilty to grand

theft charges Tuesday in Santa Ana.

Long Beach resident Skylar DeLeon, 25, was arraigned Tuesday

afternoon in Superior Court Judge Daniel Didier’s courtroom.

Prosecutors said DeLeon paid $18,000 in $100 bills for work on a

boat he owned in 2003, but he had a Costa Mesa company do an

additional $7,000 worth of work for which he did not pay.

The boat disappeared from the boatyard, and DeLeon later traded it

to a man for his boat, prosecutors said.

DeLeon purchased a 55-foot cabin cruiser in November from Tom and

Jackie Hawks, who had lived on the boat, Well Deserved, in Newport

Harbor. He told police he paid $400,000 cash for that boat.

Police arrested him in December and charged him with money

laundering and being in possession of money earned through

large-scale drug sales. Those charges were later dropped, and he was

charged with grand theft.

He has not been charged in connection with the Hawkses’

disappearance.

Despite national media coverage of their disappearance, they have

not been heard from since they sold their boat.

DeLeon is being held without bail at Orange County Jail for

violating parole stemming from a burglary conviction.

He is scheduled to appear Friday at Harbor Justice Center for

pretrial motions.

-- Marisa O’Neil