RL NEWS: April 3, 2015

One Dead, 15 Injured in Wilmington Hotel Fire

Wilmington — A man died and 15 other people were injured, April 2, after a fire broke out in a hotel in Wilmington.

One of the people injured leaped out of a window in an attempt to escape the fire.

The fire broke out at about 3 a.m. The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a fire at the Wilmington Hotel, two-story 20-unit building, at 111 East C. St.

More than 100 firefighters extinguished the blaze in about 50 minutes. There were 29 occupants in the hotel. LAFD arson investigators have deemed the incident “suspicious.”

Seven Charged in Scheme to Pay Kickbacks to Boeing Official

LOS ANGELES – Seven defendants have been charged in a scheme to pay kickbacks to a procurement official at a subsidiary of the Boeing Co. that supplies satellites and satellite parts to federal government entities, including NASA.

A series of cases related to the kickback scheme were announced April 2, after prosecutors learned that a federal judge unsealed documents related to four of the defendants who previously pleaded guilty in under seal proceedings.

At the center of the scheme is an executive at a San Gabriel Valley metal company that was a subcontractor to Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems, which supplies satellites and satellite parts to NASA, the Department of Defense, the National Reconnaissance Office and the United States Air Force.

The executive, Alfred Henderson, was arrested on March 30. The 60-year-old Pico Rivera resident was arraigned on a 15-count grand jury indictment that was unsealed after his arrest. Henderson is the vice president of A&A Fabrication and Polishing Inc., which operates in Whittier and Montebello. A&A was also charged in the indictment.

Henderson pleaded not guilty on March 30. He was released on a $25,000 bond and was ordered to stand trial on May 26. Representatives of A&A will appear on behalf of the company in federal court on April 13.

The indictment alleges that Henderson and A&A paid kickbacks to Mark Allen, 60, of Fresno, who was a procurement officer at Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems in El Segundo. The kickbacks were paid to Allen through an outside sales representative, Raymond Joseph, 66, of Los Angeles, related to purchase orders to A&A for tooling parts used to manufacture of satellites that were sold to the U.S. government. The indictment alleges that Allen provided Henderson with confidential information that gave A&A an improper advantage in bidding and ensured that A&A would receive purchase orders from Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems.

The indictment also alleges that, after Boeing decided to stop doing business with A&A due to work quality and performance issues, Henderson devised a scheme to do business through a “front” company, Nace Sheet Metal Company, which was owned and operated by Cesar Soto, 47, of Chino. The indictment against Henderson alleges that Soto and an A&A employee, Randy Mitchell, 62, of Whittier, misrepresented that A&A’s facility was actually operated by Nace and that Henderson unlawfully used Soto’s name on price quotes to Boeing.

In a court order filed late Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II, unsealed criminal cases against Mark Allen, Raymond Joseph, Cesar Soto and Randy Mitchell. All four previously pleaded guilty and are pending sentencing.

Garcetti Unveils New Easy-To-Read Parking Signs
LOS ANGELES — On April 3, Mayor Eric Garcetti installed the first of 100 new easy-to-read parking signs that use streamlined graphics and colors to explain confusing parking restrictions.

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation will test the signs during a six-month pilot program on Spring and Main Streets between 2nd and 9th Streets in downtown Los Angeles.

The LADOT Parking Signage Pilot Program makes Los Angeles the first city in the country to create grid-style parking signs. The signs use graphics in green and red to pictorially summarize parking restrictions. The new signs are being placed alongside existing signs, in accordance with state law. A web address on the sign solicits input from drivers about the signs during this initial phase of the program:  http://parkinginfo.lacity.org. In Phase II of the pilot program, LADOT will work with the California Traffic Control Devices Committee to gain final approval to completely replace existing parking signage with the new signs.
In addition to the redesign, the new signs also feature attached Gimbal and BKON bluetooth low-energy beacons, donated to the city at no cost to taxpayers. The transmit-only beacons can send information readable by smartphones and connected vehicles and provides the foundation for developers to create apps that provide parking and other information. The signs’ QR code and web address also direct users to websites where they can find parking information: http://parkinginfo.lacity.org

Future, opt-in uses for the beacons could also include payment options or neighborhood event notifications.  Developers interested in creating accompanying apps are encouraged to visit www.lamayor.org/beacons for more information.

For more information about the Parking Signage Pilot Program, see the attached fact sheet.  For more information about the beacons, visit www.gimbal.com and www.bkon.com