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Local News

• Folsom man who led violent robbery ring gets life-plus sentence



A Folsom man and two other men have been sentenced in federal court to lengthy prison terms for their roles in a series of violent crimes and robberies.

U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb sentenced John That Luong, 38, of Folsom to life in prison, plus 80 years. Kevin Lattanaphom, 32, of Oakland, was sentenced to life in prison, plus 45 years, and Hoang Al Le, 39, of Daly City, to 28 years and four months, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation news release issued this week.

The case was investigated by the FBI and Stockton Police Department.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorneys William S. Wong and Jason Hitt, who prosecuted the case, evidence during the trial showed that between December 1995 and January 1996, Luong's criminal organization planned and carried out four armed robberies, and attempted a fifth, of computer chip companies and a Stockton jewelry store.

Two of the robberies included an "action" team that conducted brutal home invasions of owners from targeted businesses to extract burglary alarm codes, security information and keys to the business. Once the information and keys were obtained, a second "transport" team would drive to the business and steal the property.

During the invasion of Stockton jewelry store owner Vuth Hong's home, Hong and his family were brutally tortured for approximately four hours. The robbers used a blowtorch, a hot iron and firearms to extract information, according to the news release. Lattanaphom eventually shot and killed Vuth Hong. Vuth's brother Srun Hong was shot four times but survived.

The defendants were found guilty on Dec. 14, 2007. Luong was found guilty on nine counts for his part as the leader and organizer of four violent armed robberies, one of which included the murder of Vuth Hong and shooting of Srun Hong. The jury returned seven guilty verdicts against robbery crew member and gunman Lattanphom, and two guilty verdicts against Le.

Another defendant in the case, robbery crew chief Minh Hunh, 37, received nine guilty verdicts. His sentencing was continued, according to the news release.

In an earlier trial in 2003 arising from the same indictment, robbery crew members Thy Chann, 34, Bao Lu, 30, and Son Van Nguyen, 34, all of Oakland, were convicted of the same armed robberies and sentenced by Judge Shubb to life in prison.

• Folsom pharmacy robbed twice in a month



By Chelsea Phua cphua@sacbee.com

Folsom police say a robbery on Friday at a local pharmacy shared many similarities with one that happened a month ago at the same business.

No one was injured in both incidents, police said.

About 6:30 p.m., employees at Folsom Medical Pharmacy reported the robbery at the store in the 1300 block of East Bidwell Street.

They told police that a masked man entered the store, displayed a handgun and demanded pain medication. He then fled the store with an undisclosed amount of a controlled substance, police said.

The man is described white, about 6 feet tall weighing about 200 pounds. He was wearing a ski mask and a red sweatshirt. No vehicle was seen, police said.

Police said the way the crime was committed was similar to what happened during a robbery at the store Jan. 25. Suspects' descriptions in both cases also matched. In both cases, the men were masked and asked for pain prescription before fleeing.

Anyone with information is asked to contact WeTip at 1-800-78-CRIME or www.wetip.com. Callers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward.

• Sacto 9-1-1: Samaritans save woman, children from being hit by train



A woman driving in Folsom with her two young daughters drifted onto light rail tracks after falling asleep at the wheel earlier tonight, but the family was saved by passersby who pulled them from the vehicle minutes before a a train smashed into the car, police said.

No one was injured in the incident, which occurred just after 7 p.m. near the Iron Point light rail station, Folsom police Lt. Perry Albers said.

The woman was driving a 2007 Honda Civic northbound on Folsom Boulevard with her daughters, ages 10 and 7, when she fell asleep and the car drove through a ditch and onto the railroad tracks, where it came to a stop, Albers said.

Witnesses stopped and rushed to the car, helping the family of three get out of the vehicle. Two minutes later, a Regional Transit light-rail train with one operator and four passengers smashed into the car and demolished the passenger side, Albers said.

The wreck slightly damaged the train, but it was able to continue after the tracks were cleared of debris.

Albers said no one in the car or on the train was hurt.

"Not a scratch," he said. "It could have been a whole different outcome."

• Folsom-based trash hauler again tops $1 billion in revenue



Another year, another billion dollars.

For the second consecutive year, Folsom-based trash hauler Waste Connections Inc. has topped $1 billion in revenue.

The company said Monday that 2009 revenue was $1.19 billion, up more than 13 percent over $1.05 billion in 2008.

Net income for the year was $109.8 million, or $1.37 per share, compared with $102.9 million, or $1.44 per share, in 2008.

The company had adjusted net income of $29.3 million, or 37 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with $24.3 million, or 30 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Fourth-quarter revenue was $309.9 million, a 19.4 percent increase over $259.6 million in the final quarter of 2008.

"Our results in the quarter once again exceeded the upper end of our expectations, positioning us well for 2010," said Ronald Mittelstaedt, company chairman and CEO. "… We reported record free cash flow for the year of $192.3 million, or 16.1 percent of revenue, despite increasing capital expenditures year-over-year. "

In its financial report, Waste Connections said it expects "approximately 7.5 percent revenue growth" this year, "excluding additional acquisitions." That much growth puts Waste Connections on a path to generate revenue of $1.28 billion in 2010.

In a little more than a dozen years, Waste Connections has seen profits grow via a business plan of acquiring small, privately held waste firms, typically avoiding large urban markets with intense competition for customers.

Waste Connections, founded in 1997, provides solid waste collection, disposal and recycling services to about 2 million residential, commercial and industrial clients in 26 states, mostly in the West and South. It employs about 6,000.

The complete financial report and more information can be viewed at www.wasteconnections.com.

• New casino-restaurant complex hiring in Rancho Cordova




The Cordova Casino and Restaurant has undergone a multimillion-dollar renovation to transform a 20,000-square-foot warehouse into a gaming and dining complex. Rancho Cordova officials hope it will attract visitors to spend money in town.

A 20,000-square-foot restaurant and card room complex will open at the end of this month in a Rancho Cordova outlet warehouse that is undergoing a multimillion-dollar face-lift.

"It's gorgeous," said Curt Haven, the city's economic development director.

The Cordova Casino and Restaurant is expected to provide an attraction for visitors and residents to spend money in town, he said.

The restaurant complex will include a sports bar and grill and a fine-dining room that is greatly needed in a town with few such options, Haven said.

The Cordova Casino and Restaurant is owned by John Park, who also owns a similar operation in Petaluma.

The new casino and restaurant will employ about 150 people and is still looking for cashiers and security personnel. A job fair for line cooks will be offered today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Thursday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the casino site.

The site, highly visible to traffic on Highway 50, was once a restaurant that changed into the Bridal Mart, said Kenneth Noack Jr., a senior vice president with Grubb & Ellis Co., who brokered the sale.

The Bridal Mart is downsizing and moved into the Nimbus Winery, he said.

"This is a great opportunity from a sales-tax revenue standpoint. It's a classy facility, not seedy, not back-alley; it's polished and top-cabin," he said of the card room.

The city allows only two card rooms in town and another existing one has closed, Haven said.

The city manager in Petaluma, where the same owner operates Casino 101 and City Limits Bar & Grill, said the business draws a significant out-of-town crowd, but the city has never done targeted research on economic benefits.

"It does a brisk business and they keep the tables occupied," said John Brown, the city manager. "From our standpoint, it doesn't create the problems you might want to associate with gambling."

The Rancho Cordova card room will be reminiscent of high-roller style rooms, with touches such as a grand fireplace, vaulted ceilings and state-of-the-art bar over two-levels, said Bree-Ann Deemer, a spokeswoman for the card room.

The room will offer all the popular games, such as Pai Gow and Texas hold 'em, a game that has expanded the poker player demographic to include more women and younger players.

At least one in 10 of card room customers are female, Deemer said, and the new room is designed to make women feel welcome.

California has 90 licensed card rooms, said Pamela Mares, a spokeswoman for the California Gambling Control Commission, which regulates them. Sacramento has four licensed card rooms.

Restrictions on card rooms, such as hours of operations and number of tables and types of card games, are controlled by the local jurisdictions, Mares said.

Card rooms can offer only card games and cannot have slot machines or games such as blackjack or baccarat.

The card room is at 2801 Prospect Park Drive, where the job fairs will be. For information on other job opportunities or to apply, go to www.fortiss.net. Fortiss is a Los Angeles-based company that provides services for casinos, such as hiring.

The casino is expected to open Feb. 26, with a grand opening planned for March.

• Intel's Folsom campus is set to go solar



Intel Corp.'s Folsom campus is targeted to have the largest of eight new solar power systems the company plans to install in four states.

Intel announced Monday that it has new contracts for generating approximately 2.5 megawatts of solar energy at new solar power projects in California, Oregon, Arizona, and New Mexico.

Intel spokesman Mark Pettinger said the approximately 1-megawatt-plus solar field to be built in Folsom will cover about six acres of ground on the southwest portion of Intel's property between Highway 50 and Iron Point Road.

The solar field will provide up to 7 percent of the Folsom campus' overall power supply.

Intel said the Folsom site will be one of the largest non-utility ground-mounts in California. It's the only one of the planned Intel installations that does not involve solar panels installed on rooftops.

Intel's Folsom campus employs nearly 6,000.

The Santa Clara-based chip maker said the announcement is part of a larger commitment to green, efficient energy use on its campuses.

"Intel is committed to renewable energy to reduce our own carbon footprint as well as to spur the market and make renewables more economically feasible for individuals and businesses to deploy," said Brian Krzanich, vice president and general manager of Intel's manufacturing and supply chain.

He added: "These announcements represent our broader commitment, which includes diversifying our energy portfolio through solar and other clean energy investments, and this will continue to be a priority for us around the globe."

Pettinger said Intel has approved the Folsom system and has submitted applications to the city of Folsom. The design is being reviewed by the city and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District.

Subject to approvals, Intel said it hopes to break ground in Folsom by March 22 and have the system generating power by June 30. All of the new solar installations are expected to be completed over the next seven months.

Pettinger said the contractor on the Intel systems is Foster City-based SolarCity Corp. Financial terms of the project were not disclosed.

Intel's announcement comes on the heels of a large-scale solar project at Aerojet in Rancho Cordova.

In November, Roseville-based Solar Power Inc. inaugurated a 3.6-megawatt solar-power project – the region's largest – and announced plans to install an additional 2.4 megawatts on-site by spring.

When completed, the panels will meet just over 10 percent of the rocket producer's electricity demand and help SMUD meet its goals of expanding solar power and reducing greenhouse gases.

The first phase of the Aerojet project cost about $20 million. The federal government provided a tax credit of 30 percent of the system's capital cost.

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Regional News

• Metro Fire describes blaze at temple as suspicious



Sacramento fire authorities say the cause of a blaze that swept through a south-area Sikh temple is suspicious.

Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District firefighters responded to the blaze at the Sikh house of worship about 11:30 p.m. Thursday.

The temple, originally built as a house and later converted into a Sikh temple, is in the 7600 block of Rangeview Lane, near Highway 99 and Stockton Boulevard.

Two rooms in the structure were burning when firefighters arrived.

Firefighters searched the building after quickly extinguishing the blaze. The lone occupant escaped after being awakened by a smoke detector, said Capt. Rusty Dupray, fire district spokesman.

The fire remains under investigation, and an arson investigator has determined that the fire is suspicious, officials said. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has been notified.

• Sacramento lawyer to run against DA Jan Scully



Sacramento lawyer Julius M. Engel will run for district attorney in the June primary, county election officials said today, giving Jan Scully her first opponent since she won the office 16 years ago.

Engel was one of several contestants for the position when Scully defeated then-incumbent Steve White for the district attorney's job in 1994.

In the interim, Engle has unsuccessfully run for Superior Court judge three times.

Federal prosecutor Todd Leras took out paperwork to run for district attorney, but told The Bee earlier today that he will not seek to replace Scully.

County elections spokesman Brad Buyse said Leras did not return the paperwork by today's 5 p.m. deadline.

• Court hearing for convicted sex offender postponed



The convicted sex offender arrested for allegedly being on the grounds of Del Campo High School has had his first court appearance postponed from today until April 15, the Sacramento County District Attorney's office said.

Hugh Levell Stewart, 55, a sexually violent predator with a lengthy record of sex offenses, faces two misdemeanor counts charging that he violated state law forbidding a sex offender from being on a school's grounds and that he lied about his registry as a sex offender.

In a jailhouse interview with The Bee Thursday, Stewart denied any wrongdoing or ever being at the school. He has since been released on $5,000 bail.

• Sacramento judge: Jury made mistake freeing murder suspect




At the trial's outset, Rosalie Uribe pleaded no contest to child endangerment charges.

A judge said from the bench today that he disagreed with a jury's verdict in his courtroom last month that acquitted a Sacramento man of murder in the death of a 3-year-old boy.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy M. Frawley's comments came in the sentencing of Rosalie Uribe, who pleaded no contest to child endangerment charges for placing her three children in the care of Joseph Skates, the man the jury turned loose.

"Don't be confused by that verdict," Frawley told Uribe, who sniffled and wiped tears from her eyes during the judge's excoriation of her and her ex-boyfriend at today's sentencing. "Joseph Skates got the benefit of the doubts that the jury apparently had. But their verdict was not innocent."

Frawley then made it clear that he felt the jury made a mistake Feb. 11 when it acquitted Skates.

"I personally was convinced by the evidence," Frawley told Uribe. "He killed your son."

The judge blasted Skates for never calling 911 when Manuel "Manny" Maciel sustained his fatal injuries Nov. 7, 2008 and instead called "his protector, his mother."

Frawley said he agreed with the prosecution theory in the case that Skates killed Maciel, who died of blunt-force trauma injuries to the head, because the boy had wet his pajamas.

"He is an emotional person," Frawley said of Skates. "He didn't deal with it right. He flew off the handle. He didn't want to kill Manny. But he reacted, and he did kill Manny."

Noting published reports in The Bee that Uribe has sought to get back together with Skates since the acquittal, Frawley advised the 26-year-old woman to "think about it."

"He's the person who killed your child," Frawley said.

Jesse Ortiz, the attorney who represented Skates at the murder trial, said today that Frawley's comments were "out of line."

"First, it's a total slap in the face to our justice system, and specifically our jurors who worked hard throughout this case and came to their verdict based on the evidence," Ortiz said.

Ortiz also disagreed with the judge's statement that Skates was not "innocent" in the case, "because a person accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty by the district attorney. That never happened. So they did find him innocent."

Before Frawley launched into his assessment of the Skates case, he denied a motion by Uribe's lawyer to reduce her conviction in the child endangerment case from a felony to a misdemeanor.

The judge said that Uribe lied to Child Protective Services workers about the source of injuries Manny had suffered in the weeks before his death, injuries that were reported to the agency by the boy's relatives.

"Because you lied, because so much time had elapsed and some of those injuries had begun to heal, CPS didn't have the legal authority to take the action that would have saved Manny's life," Frawley said. "They couldn't initiate a court action. They had no authority because you came up with half-baked lies that favored Joseph Skates."

A CPS case worker warned Uribe to not leave her children in Skates' custody, Frawley said, but she ignored it.

"And that's why you're a convicted felon," the judge said.

Frawley went on to sentence Uribe to three years probation and 90 days on the sheriff's work project, the deal to which prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed when she pleaded no contest on the eve of Skates' trial.

Uribe's lawyer, Alice Michel, also told the court that Uribe had her parental rights terminated on Thursday to her surviving sons, who are 7 and 5. They are now living with an aunt in Madera.

• Sacramento jury convicts man of murder in torture case



A Sacramento jury today convicted Daniel James Norman of first-degree murder in the April 20, 2008, killing of Wilbur Reynolds in his home in Foothill Farms.

Norman, 43, also was convicted of burglary a break-in at the home of the 76-year-old victim, who died in a blaze that the defendant's partner set in the residence in the 5400 block of Rambler Way.

According to evidence in Norman's trial, he drove a parolee named David Hamilton to Reynolds' home the day of the killing.

Deputy District Attorney Anthony Ortiz said Hamilton then put Reynolds through "six hour of torture, six hours of hell" before Hamilton set the blaze in which the victim succumbed.

Hamilton was shot and killed by a Sacramento sheriff's detective when they came to arrest him at a Roseville motel the night Reynolds was slain.

The prosecutor said Norman, who was convicted on the theory that he aided and abetted a burglary that resulted in a homicide, used credit cards that Hamilton stole from Reynolds to buy methamphetamine for the two of them.

A taped conversation of Norman talking on the phone with friends on a county jail line after his arrest provided some of the critical evidence prosecutors used against him.

"I kinda maybe knew he was going to steal some (expletive deleted), but that's different, that's not murder," Norman said, according to a transcript of the conversation. "It's was supposed to be a straight run-in and grab a few things, then run out. That's what it was supposed to been."

Following nervous laughter, Norman continued, "It didn't work that way."

Reynolds suffered burns to 72 percent of his body after intruders beat him. Norman and Hamilton ransacked the victim's house in the 5400 block of Rambler Way.

Hamilton knew Reynolds through a woman the victim had taken into his home. Hamilton then became upset with Reynolds after the Foothill Farms man reported him to his parole agent for domestic violence.

"We're very proud of the sacrifice my grandfather made in stopping these men from being able to hurt anybody else," said Shuana Woodward, Reynold's granddaughter. We're proud he fought the fight he did."

Woodward also thanked Ortiz, the police and "anybody else who helped for the outcome of this."

• 2 Sacramento area inmates denied paroles; 3rd gets another chance



Two men serving life sentences for Sacramento area crimes were recently denied paroles, but a woman who killed man in 1988 who she suspected of being a child molester received a second chance at earning a parole.

Robert Ramirez Vela Jr., a 34-year-old child killer, was given a 10-year denial and Frederick Brinkley, a 47-year-old kidnapper, was given a five-year denial in hearings earlier this month, said Margot Bach, spokeswoman for the Board of Parole Hearings.

Both men can request a rehearing every three years if they can show there has been a change in circumstances in his case or that new information is available.

However, board members who heard the parole request of Joy Celeste Pense reached a "split decision," Bach said. Pense, 43, was convicted of killing Tracy James Helling, 19, of Concord. Pense said she killed him because she believed he had molested the 3-year-old girl who she babysat, according to Bee reports.

This means Pense will soon get a hearing before the full board, Bach said.

If you want to give your opinion of an inmate's suitability for parole, you may mail a letter to:

Martin Hoshino, executive director

Board of Parole Hearings

1515 K Street

Sacramento, CA 95811

For more information on the Board of Parole Hearings, go to:

http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Divisions_Boards/BOPH/

Previous coverage:

Sacramento child killer among inmates up for parole hearings - March 4, 2010

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National News

• Tests didn't duplicate Prius problem

Technicians who tested a Toyota Prius after its owner claimed its gas pedal stuck were unable to recreate the same condition, according to a draft congressional memo obtained Sunday by CNN.


• 3 tied to U.S. consulate in Mexico killed

Three people connected to the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, were killed in a drive-by shooting in the violent border city, a senior White House official said Sunday.


• Rain clobbers East coast

Half a million homes remained without power across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic region on Sunday, as rain continued to pound states from West Virginia to Connecticut for a second day.


• D.C. handing out 500,000 female condoms to fight HIV

On a Saturday at the Lamar Edward Salon, a small cluster of women watch a demonstration of a new product.


• Boehner: Gitmo plan 'makes no sense'

The top Republican in the House and a senior White House adviser on Sunday debated a plan for closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay and moving some of the terrorism suspects held there onto American soil.


• Kissinger released from hospital

Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was discharged from a hospital in Seoul on Sunday after being treated for a stomach virus.

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