Man Dies in Police Custody
LONG BEACH — Forty-seven-year-old Manuel Ornelas died in police custody on Sept. 5 after being taken to a hospital in Orange County.
Ornelas was taken into custody at about 10:40 a.m. that day in the 3200 block of Ladoga Avenue after Long Beach Police Department officers received a call about Ornelas being under the influence of some type of narcotic.
Ornelas was acting violently and destroying the residence. Arriving officers had to use force to detain the man. After he was detained, officers recognized he was unresponsive and they immediately began life saving measures until Long Beach Fire Department personnel arrived. Long Beach Fire Department took him to a hospital in Orange County, where he was later pronounced deceased.
The preliminary investigation revealed one of the residents at the location called police after finding his roommate, Ornelas, was acting bizarrely and breaking things inside the residence. Arriving officers observed the suspect throwing items from out of a second story window, including a television. The suspect also broke out several windows of the residence. Officers also observed that Ornelas was bleeding profusely, possibly from cuts that he sustained while breaking out the windows. Officers requested that the fire department respond and stand by based on the suspect’s bizarre behavior.
The suspect exited the house and officers used verbal commands to direct him to surrender, however the suspect did not comply. Ornelas fled into the garage where officers confronted him. Officers attempted non-lethal means, which included continued verbal commands, an electronic control device, physical force, and a carotid restraint, to take him into custody. After several minutes, officers were able to take the suspect into custody. While officers were monitoring his medical condition, he went into cardiac arrest. Officers began life saving measures, which were taken over by the LBFD upon their arrival.
The Orange County Coroner’s office is conducting an independent investigation to determine the cause of death.
Anyone with information regarding this incident should call (562) 570-7244 or visit www.LACrimeStoppers.org
Eight Indicted for Bogus Student Substance Abuse Counseling Claims
LONG BEACH – On Sept. 2, eight people were indicted for allegedly participating in a scheme that submitted more than $50 million in fraudulent bills to a California state program for alcohol and drug treatment services for high school and middle school students. In many instances, these were not provided or were provided to students who did not have substance abuse problems.
Six of the defendants who worked at the Long Beach-based Atlantic Health Services (formerly known as Atlantic Recovery Services) were arrested that morning by federal authorities.
The indictment, which charges the defendants with health care fraud and aggravated identity theft, alleges that Atlantic Recovery Services received more than $46 million from California’s Drug Medi-Cal program after Atlantic Recovery Services submitted false and fraudulent claims for group and individual substance abuse counseling services.
“According to the indictment, ARS and its employees engaged in a long-running fraud scheme to steal tens of millions of dollars from a program with limited resources that was designed to help underprivileged youth in recovery,” U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker said. “In the process, the defendants and ARS branded many innocent young people as substance abusers and addicts in order to boost enrollment numbers and billings.”
The defendants named in the indictment are:
• Lori Renee Miller, 54, of Lakewood, the program manager at Atlantic Recovery Services who supervised substance abuse recovery managers and counselors;
• Nguyet Galaz, 41, of Montclair, who oversaw services provided at approximately 11 schools in Los Angeles County;
• Angela Frances Micklo, 56, of Palmdale, who managed counselors at approximately nine schools in Los Angeles County, including several in the Antelope Valley;
• Maribel Navarro, 48, of Pico Rivera, who managed counselors at approximately 10 schools in Los Angeles County;
• Carrenda Jeffery, 64, of the Mid-City District of Los Angeles, who managed counselors at approximately three schools;
• LaLonnie Egans, 57, of Bellflower, who managed counselors at three schools;
• Tina Lynn St. Julian, 51, of Compton, who worked as a counselor at two schools; and
• Shyrie Womack, 33, Egans’ daughter, also of Bellflower, who worked as a counselor at three schools.
Galaz and Micklo are expected to self-surrender in the coming weeks. The six other defendants were taken into custody without incident that day and were arraigned on the indictment this United States District Court.
That day arrests are the result of a 40-count indictment that was returned by a federal grand jury on Aug. 26 and unsealed this morning.
The eight defendants are all former employees of Atlantic Recovery Services, which received contracts to provide substance abuse treatment services through the Drug Medi-Cal program to students in schools in Los Angeles County. The schools included various sites operated by Soledad Enrichment Action, and public schools in Montebello, Bell Gardens, Lakewood, and the Antelope Valley.
Atlantic Recovery Services allegedly submitted bogus claims for payment to the Drug Medi-Cal program for a decade, according to the indictment. Atlantic Recovery Services shut down in April 2013, when California suspended payments to the company.
According to the indictment, the claims submitted to the Drug Medi-Cal program were false and fraudulent for a number of reasons, including:
• Atlantic Recovery Services billed for services provided to students who did not have substance abuse disorders or addictions and therefore did not qualify to receive Drug Medi-Cal services;
• Atlantic Recovery Services billed for counseling sessions that were not conducted at all;
• Atlantic Recovery Services billed for counseling services that were not conducted in accordance with Drug Medi-Cal regulations regarding length, number of students, content and setting;
• Atlantic Recovery Services personnel falsified documents, including treatment plans, group counseling sign-in sheets, progress notes and update logs (which listed the dates and times of counseling sessions); and
• Atlantic Recovery Services personnel forged student signatures on documents.
Previously, 11 other defendants pleaded guilty to health care fraud charges stemming from the ARS scheme. Those defendants are former Atlantic Recovery Services managers Cathy Fernandez, 53, of Downey; Erin Hoover, 37, of Long Beach; Elizabeth Black, 51, of Long Beach; Helsa Casillas, 44, of El Sereno; and Sandra Lopez, 41, of Huntington Park; and former ARS counselors Tamara Diaz, 45 of East Los Angeles; Margarita Lopez, 40, of Paramount; Irma Talavera, 27, of Paramount; Laura Vasquez, 52, of Pico Rivera; Cindy Leticia Ortiz, 29, of Norwalk; and Arthur Dominguez, 63, of Glendale.
Another defendant – Dr. Leland Whitson, 75, of Redondo Beach, the former Medical/Clinical director of Atlantic Recovery Services – previously pleaded guilty to making a false statement affecting a health care program.
The dozen defendants who have already pleaded guilty are pending sentencing by U.S. District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez.
Each of the eight defendants named in the indictment unsealed potentially face decades in federal prison if convicted. For example, if convicted, Miller faces a statutory maximum sentence of 324 years in federal prison.
An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.
LASD Boating Accident Leaves One Person Dead, Another Missing
CATALINA ISLAND — The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Avalon Station deputies are conducting a search for a missing person after a boating accident left one person dead and two others injured. The incident took place shortly after 1 a.m. Sept. 6, just off the coast of Catalina Island.
Deputies from the Emergency Services Detail along with the U.S. Coast Guard have responded to the island and are currently assisting in the search.
At this time, the identities of the people involved will not be released pending notification of the descendant’s next of kin.
There is no further information available at this time.
Details: (310) 510-0174
Inmate Dies at Carson Sheriff’s Station Jail
CARSON — Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide detectives are responding to the Carson Sheriff’s Station Jail to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of an inmate that took place shortly after 5:45 a.m. Sept. 8.
The inmate, a 44-year-old black man, was pronounced dead at the scene.
There is no further information available at this time.
Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to call (323) 890-5500 or visit http://lacrimestoppers.org.
Los Angeles To Host First U.S.-China Climate Leaders Summit
LOS ANGELES — On Sept. 4, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that U.S. and Chinese subnational leaders will be making new climate agreements at the U.S.-China Climate Leaders Summit. The summit will take place Sept. 15 and 16, in Los Angeles.
The summit is the first official convening of U.S. and Chinese subnational leaders on climate change under the Climate Change Working Group. It represents a key opportunity to galvanize climate action before December’s United Nations climate conference in Paris.
During the summit, leading cities from both countries will also be sharing best practices and discussing objectives in their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fight global climate change. Outcomes from the summit will be discussed at the state visit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. the following week.
The summit results from the historic joint climate announcement by Obama and Xi this past November. Garcetti visited China the week after that announcement and offered Los Angeles as the host of this first annual event.
In the joint announcement by Obama and Xi, the United States committed to reduce its emissions 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels in 2025, and China committed to peak CO2 emissions around 2030. The announcement also launched a U.S.-China Climate-Smart/Low-Carbon Cities initiative to respond to growing urbanization and increasingly significant greenhouse gas emissions from cities.
The summit in Los Angeles marks the first effort of that initiative and will bring together local leaders from both countries for a multiple-day conference featuring a high-level plenary at which leaders declare their resolve, ambition, and actions; working-level technical exchanges to share experience and best practices; and an exhibition to engage the private sector. Breakout sessions and panel discussions will cover topics including:
• Low-Carbon City Planning
• Climate Finance, and Carbon Markets , and Incentive Programs
• Low-Carbon Urban Form and Transportation and Zero Emission Vehicles
• Climate-Smart Buildings and Green Infrastructure
• Low-Carbon Energy
• Urban Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Change
Every Animal Counts
LOS ANGELES – On Sept. 3, City Controller Ron Galperin released an audit that indicated the Los Angeles’ Department of Animal Services is making progress toward its goal of making Los Angeles a “No Kill” City. Still, this past year about one of every four lost or abandoned animals that entered the city’s six animal shelters was euthanized.
The audit looked at the question of whether the department’s statistics could be relied upon and concluded, in general, that they could be.
From July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015, 14,083 cats, dogs, rabbits, roosters, snakes and other animals were euthanized by the city. That’s less than half as many as the city was euthanizing in 2003, when former Mayor James K. Hahn publicly set a goal of making Los Angeles a “No Kill” city by 2008.
The numbers appear to represent a downward trend. From Fiscal Year 2013-14 to FY 2014-15, the number of cats euthanized dropped 2 percent, from 8,018 to 7,856; and the number of dogs euthanized went from 4,664 to 3,880, a drop of 17 percent.
Newborn cats represent the largest single group of animals euthanized. In FY 2013-14, the last year for which such statistics are available, 4,250 cats that were less than eight weeks old were killed. (Eighty newborn dogs were euthanized during the same period.)
Officials with the Animal Services Department stated that newborn cats are particularly susceptible to diseases and need to be fed every two to three hours around the clock. Officials said that is not possible because staff and foster care options are limited.
Another reason for euthanizations: lack of shelter space. In FY 2013-14, 414 cats (5 percent) and 1,231 dogs (26 percent) were euthanized because shelters ran out of room. Galperin called that unacceptable.
“Lack of space should never be a reason to end an animal’s life,” Galperin said.
Galperin says the data also revealed disparities in euthanasia rates at the City’s six animal shelters. For example, in West LA, they euthanize 14 percent of animals. In the West Valley, 19 percent, and in South LA, 36.6 percent of animals that enter the shelter are euthanized.
“We’ve known for quite a while that the zip code people live in often correlates to their health and even to their lifespan — with people often living healthier and longer in more affluent zip codes,” Galperin said. “The same seems to be true for cats, dogs and other animals in certain parts of the city.”
Galperin said the disparity most likely stems from a host of factors, including differing adoption rates, spay and neutering rates, and the financial ability of residents to get quality medical care for their pets.
In his letter to the City Council accompanying the audit, Galperin recommended that the Council ensure the department has adequate resources and personnel. He also called on the department to study potential alternative means to care for abandoned animals, including partnerships with non-profit animal welfare organizations.
Galperin’s audit was undertaken initially to address some public skepticism about the statistics that the Department of Animal Services produces. After examining data from FY 2011-12 through FY 2013-14, auditors found that the department’s statistical reporting was reasonably accurate.
One exception: sterilization figures, an area where the department under-reported its successes by not incorporating in the numbers the thousands of publicly-subsidized sterilizations performed by private veterinarians on the City’s behalf. Sterilization programs are widely regarded as being key to successful “No Kill” programs.
An interactive map of City shelters with data about each facility can be found online at ControlPanel.LA