A Jurupa Valley gang member accused of shooting a man and forcibly taking another’s vehicle was charged Friday with attempted murder and other offenses.

George Eduardo Ayala, 25, was arrested by Riverside County sheriff’s deputies Wednesday in connection with the two unrelated incidents.

Along with attempted murder, Ayala is charged with carjacking, auto theft, robbery, felony evading and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations. He made his initial court appearance Friday afternoon before Superior Court Judge David Gunn, who appointed a public defender.

Ayala is being held on $1.7 million bail at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.

According to sheriff’s Sgt. Nathan Padilla, on the night of Nov. 3, Ayala allegedly carjacked a man at gunpoint in Jurupa Valley, fleeing the area before deputies arrived.

Four days later, the convicted felon allegedly confronted a man in the 5800 block of Samantha Place in Jurupa Valley, shooting the victim twice, inflicting non-life-threatening wounds, Padilla said.

Ayala allegedly fled the scene, but according to Padilla, sheriff’s Gang Task Task Force investigators quickly identified him as the gunman, culminating in his arrest that afternoon on Fort Street.

He was allegedly driving the stolen car.

According to court records, Ayala has served time in state prison and has prior convictions for burglary, receiving stolen property, being in possession of a controlled substance and resisting arrest.

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A Hawthorne man is due in court Tuesday afternoon on federal charges alleging that he intentionally drove his domestic partner and two severely autistic children off a pier into the ocean to collect proceeds on accidental death insurance policies he had purchased on their lives.

Ali F. Elmezayen, 44, is scheduled to appear in downtown Los Angeles before a U.S. magistrate judge, who will consider a motion by prosecutors to have him held in jail without bond.

Elmezayen was arrested Nov. 7 by special agents with the FBI after being charged with defrauding insurance companies. He made his initial court appearance the next day, when he was ordered held without bond pending Tuesday’s detention hearing.

According to a criminal complaint, Elmezayen purchased several accidental death insurance policies providing more than $6 million in coverage on himself, his domestic partner and his children in 2012 and 2013. He allegedly paid nearly $6,000 a year for these policies — even though he was earning less than $30,000 a year — and he called at least two of the insurance companies to confirm they would not investigate claims made two years after the policies were purchased.

On April 9, 2015 — two years and 12 days after he bought the last of his insurance policies — Elmezayen allegedly drove a car with his partner and two youngest children off a wharf at the Port of Los Angeles, according to federal prosecutors. He allegedly swam out the open driver’s side window of the car, while his partner, who did not know how to swim, survived when a nearby fisherman threw her a flotation device.

The two children, ages 8 and 13, were unable to escape the car and drowned, authorities said.

Elmezayen then collected more than $260,000 in insurance proceeds from American General Life Insurance and Mutual of Omaha Life Insurance on the accidental death insurance policies he had taken out on the children’s lives, according to the complaint.

In addition to posing as his domestic partner in communications with the insurance companies without her knowledge, Elmezayen allegedly made several false statements, including stating that the cause of his children’s deaths was accidental and that he had no other insurance policies on his children.

“This case alleges a calculated and cold-hearted scheme to profit off the deaths of two helpless children,” U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said. “The alleged conduct shocks the conscience, and we will use every tool available to us to ensure that justice is done.”

The criminal complaint specifically charges Elmezayen with mail fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for posing as his domestic partner in calls to the insurance companies.

During last week’s court hearing, a preliminary hearing was scheduled for Nov. 23, and Elmezayen was ordered to appear for an arraignment on Nov. 29. If he were to be convicted of the charges in the complaint, Elmezayen would face up to 20 years in federal prison for each of the fraud counts. The charge of aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory consecutive sentence of two years in prison.

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Felony charges were filed Tuesday against a 21-year-old man who allegedly threatened violence at a high school he once attended in West Covina.

Dereck Pena of West Covina was set to appear in a Pomona courtroom Tuesday in connection with a case charging him with two counts of criminal threats, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Pena — a former student at South Hills High School — allegedly communicated threats of violence against the school to an ex-girlfriend, according to Deputy District Attorney Eric Neff.

Officers investigated, deemed the threat credible and a search for the suspect was launched, according to West Covina Police Dept. Sgt. Tim Rogers.

“A search warrant was obtained for the suspect’s residence, which revealed replica assault rifles, replica handguns, replica body armor and two real machetes,” Rogers said.

Pena was arrested Thursday at his home, according to police. He has remained behind bars since then, jail records show.

If convicted as charged, Pena could face up to three years and eight months in state prison, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

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A 40-year-old San Juan Capistrano executive either bludgeoned or stabbed his business partner to death in the victim’s office to remove an “obstacle” to settling thorny lawsuits, a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday.

Ed Younghoon Shin, 40, had racked up gambling debts in Las Vegas and was fending off allegations of “improperly” taking $700,000 to $900,000 from his previous employer when he allegedly killed 32-year-old Christopher Ryan Smith in June of 2010, Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy said.

Shin’s attorneys declined to make an opening statement Tuesday and are planning to do so later this month.

Shin and Smith met while working in the advertising leads industry in Orange County and agreed to set up their own company 800XChange, which primarily focused on handing off leads to debt consolidation companies, Murphy said.

The “affable, charming” Shin was as successful as Smith, a surfing enthusiast who grew up in Watsonville, California, Murphy said.

Shin was the chief financial officer while Smith was the chief executive officer of the companies they subsequently formed.

Things were “going gangbusters” for the duo until Shin began shuttling back and forth from Las Vegas on private jets to bet “obscene” amounts of money, Murphy said.

And tensions rose when Shin’s prior employer sued the defendant and the victim over allegations of “improper redistribution of funds” in the range of $700,000 to $900,000, Murphy said. Then Shin got hit with a separate lawsuit, Murphy said.

Eventually, Shin negotiated a potential settlement of the litigation, but was given a five-month deadline, which allegedly became a problem when a now-suspicious Smith would not sign off on the agreement unless he received new protections against embezzlement.

“We need to make sure he doesn’t have room for fraud. He’s itching to do it again,” Smith wrote his attorney in an email on June 4, 2010, Murphy said. That evening, the attorney received an email, purportedly from Smith, declaring he agreed to a buyout from Shin and wished to go on a “surf safari” around the world, Murphy said.

Murphy alleged it was Shin who wrote that email as the start of a drawn-out attempt to cover up the murder.

The next day Shin emailed company employees that they would have the week off with pay while he negotiated Smith’s future with the company, Murphy said. The prosecutor alleged that Shin spent the days following the killing cleaning up the evidence.

Still, when employees returned to work they were met with such a fetid odor that they attempted to overcome it with candles and carpet deodorizer, Murphy said.

Shin kept up an email dialogue masquerading as Smith with the victim’s brother, Paul, who worked at the company, and Smith’s parents for about nine months, Murphy said. But clues popped up throughout that led the family to worry about Smith, Murphy said. Shin said Smith abruptly left his girlfriend of two years to travel the world with a new girlfriend, Tiffany Taylor, Murphy said.

While Shin and Paul Smith were on a Las Vegas trip, Smith met an “atmosphere model” at the casino named Tiffany Taylor, who did not know Chris Smith, Murphy said. Shin had emailed a picture of Tiffany Taylor — while pretending to be Smith — to the victim’s brother, and it was the same photo of the former Playboy model, Murphy said.

Smith’s father, Steve, eventually came to Orange County in April and hired a private investigator to find out what happened to his son, Murphy said. They reported him missing to Laguna Beach police, who eventually handed off the investigation to Orange County sheriff’s deputies because it was determined from forensic evidence that Smith was killed in his office, Murphy said.

Investigators found blood in the carpet, ceiling and in Smith’s Range Rover, Murphy said. The way the blood spattered led investigators to suspect the victim was beaten to death or stabbed, Murphy said.

“It was Helter Skelter,” Murphy said.

“The evidence is going to show that man brutally beat or stabbed Chris Smith to death,” Murphy said, pointing to Shin.

The overpowering stench employees experienced “was rotting human tissue,” Murphy said.

Kenny Kraft, who has been charged with being an accessory after the fact for allegedly helping Shin cover up the murder, is expected to testify under immunity, Murphy said.

Investigators never found the body, Murphy said.

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A Hawthorne man Tuesday was ordered to remain behind bars pending trial on federal charges alleging that he intentionally drove his domestic partner and two severely autistic children off a pier into the ocean to collect proceeds on accidental death insurance policies he had purchased on their lives.

Ali F. Elmezayen, 44, was arrested Nov. 7 by special agents with the FBI after being charged with defrauding insurance companies. At the conclusion of a detention hearing Tuesday in downtown Los Angeles, U.S. Magistrate Judge Alka Sagar ruled that Elmezayen is a flight risk and a danger to his now former partner and remaining child — on whose lives he continues to pay large insurance premiums.

Elmezayen — a native of Egypt with no legal status in the United States — has access to “significant financial resources” in his native country, Sagar said.

“The risk of flight is a serious one in this case,” the judge said from the bench, adding that Elmezayen poses a “risk of danger to the mother of his children and his oldest child.”

According to a criminal complaint, Elmezayen purchased several accidental death insurance policies providing more than $6 million in coverage on himself, his then-domestic partner and his children in 2012 and 2013. He allegedly paid nearly $6,000 a year for these policies — even though he was earning less than $30,000 a year — and he called at least two of the insurance companies to confirm they would not investigate claims made two years after the policies were purchased.

On April 9, 2015 — two years and 12 days after he bought the last of his insurance policies — Elmezayen allegedly drove a car with his partner and two youngest children off a wharf at the Port of Los Angeles, according to federal prosecutors. He allegedly swam out the open driver’s side window of the car, while his partner, who did not know how to swim, survived when a nearby fisherman threw her a flotation device.

The two children, ages 8 and 13, were unable to escape the car and drowned, authorities said.

Elmezayen then collected more than $260,000 in insurance proceeds from American General Life Insurance and Mutual of Omaha Life Insurance on the accidental death insurance policies he had taken out on the children’s lives, according to the complaint.

In addition to posing as his domestic partner in communications with the insurance companies without her knowledge, Elmezayen allegedly made several false statements, including stating that the cause of his children’s deaths was accidental and that he had no other insurance policies on his children.

“This case alleges a calculated and cold-hearted scheme to profit off the deaths of two helpless children,” U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said. “The alleged conduct shocks the conscience, and we will use every tool available to us to ensure that justice is done.”

The criminal complaint specifically charges Elmezayen with mail fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for posing as his domestic partner in calls to the insurance companies.

Elmezayen’s federal public defense attorney, Cuauhtemoc Ortega, told the court Tuesday that he would contest the allegations, saying he was “surprised” there haven’t been state murder charges filed against his client.

The case was declined for prosecution by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office last December for “insufficient evidence,” spokesman Greg Risling said.

During a previous court hearing, Elmezayen was ordered to appear for a post-indictment arraignment on Nov. 29. If he were to be convicted of the charges in the complaint, Elmezayen would face up to 20 years in federal prison for each of the fraud counts. The charge of aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory consecutive sentence of two years in prison.

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Felony charges were filed Tuesday against a 21-year-old man who allegedly threatened violence at a high school he once attended in West Covina.

Dereck Pena of West Covina is set to appear in a Pomona courtroom Wednesday to be arraigned on two counts of making criminal threats, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Pena — a former student at South Hills High School — allegedly communicated threats of violence against the school to an ex-girlfriend, according to Deputy District Attorney Eric Neff.

Officers investigated, deemed the threat credible and a search for the suspect was launched, according to West Covina police Sgt. Tim Rogers.

“A search warrant was obtained for the suspect’s residence, which revealed replica assault rifles, replica handguns, replica body armor and two real machetes,” Rogers alleged.

Pena was arrested last Thursday at his home and has remained behind bars since then, jail records show.

If convicted as charged, he could face up to three years and eight months in state prison, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

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A former Dunbar Armored employee accused of smuggling $300,000 in cash out of the armored truck company’s storage facility in Vernon was granted bond Wednesday pending trial.

Eric Miranda, 37, of East Los Angeles agreed to post a $150,000 bond — $50,000 in cash and a $100,000 property deed — and will be released under stringent pretrial conditions, including location monitoring, according to U.S. Magistrate Judge Rozella A. Oliver.

The judge also restricted Miranda’s travel to the Los Angeles area and ordered that he have no contact with former or current Dunbar employees, or any potential witnesses in the case.

The bond amount was set following a discussion between prosecutors and Miranda’s federal public defense attorney. The U.S. Attorney’s Office had initially moved to raise Miranda’s bond to $200,000.

Miranda was arrested on Oct. 21 as he entered the United States from Mexico and subsequently made his first appearance in federal court in San Diego. He was arraigned after being transported to Los Angeles by the U.S. Marshals Service.

Miranda is named in a four-count indictment filed in Los Angeles federal court charging him with conspiracy to commit bank theft from the Dunbar cash storage facility. He also is charged with three counts of bank theft.

The indictment alleges that Miranda stole cash from the Dunbar vault by using dummy stacks of $100 bills that he switched out for genuine stacks.

Miranda allegedly created the phony stacks of $100,000 by taking hundreds of $1 bills and sandwiching them between $100 bills in order to make them appear to be stacks of $100 bills totaling $100,000, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors allege Miranda then smuggled the dummy stacks into the Dunbar vault, where he and an alleged co-conspirator switched them for real stacks of $100,000. The two then allegedly marked the dummy stacks to ensure they were not placed into circulation.

Finally, Miranda smuggled the real stacks of money out of the vault room by hiding them in a postal box, the indictment alleges. On more than three occasions in late 2017 and early 2018, Miranda smuggled a total of $300,000 out of the Dunbar facility, federal prosecutors allege.

None of the cash has been recovered, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors allege in court papers that photos found on Miranda’s cell phone depict large sums of bundled cash and images of firearms. In recommending that the judge set Miranda’s bond at $200,000, prosecutors wrote that the defendant should be considered a flight risk due to his ties to Mexico.

If convicted of the charges in the indictment, Miranda would face up to 35 years in federal prison.

Miranda’s alleged co-conspirator — Monique Castruita, 35, of Maywood — has also been charged in the case and is scheduled to be arraigned later this month.

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An unlicensed driver accused of killing four people when he plowed into their vehicle at a Jurupa Valley intersection while driving under the influence was charged Thursday with four counts of DUI gross vehicular manslaughter.

George Marchan Ponce, 30, allegedly caused the deadly collision last month that killed 23-year-old Marco Aguilar, 20-year-old Nicholas Cahill, 25-year-old Jellsey Clinton and 20-year-old Daniel Smith — all of Riverside.

Along with the manslaughter counts, Ponce is charged with driving on a suspended or revoked license.

He’s being held on $300,000 bail at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside and is slated to make his initial court appearance Thursday afternoon at the Riverside Hall of Justice.

Ponce was hospitalized for over two weeks, recovering from injuries suffered in the crash, before doctors cleared him to be booked into jail.

According to Riverside County sheriff’s Sgt. Brian Gutierrez, the crash happened about 11:45 p.m. on Oct. 23 at 56th Street and Van Buren Boulevard.

The sergeant alleged Ponce was at the wheel of a pickup going north on Van Buren, when he tried to make a sharp turn to head west on 56th and lost control.

“The driver failed to negotiate the turn and traveled into southbound lanes on Van Buren … (where he) collided with the vehicle occupied by the four individuals,” Gutierrez said.

The speed at which the defendant was traveling remains under investigation.

Two other motorists going south on Van Buren were hit by debris from the wreck as it happened, but they avoided impact, according to Gutierrez.

He said paramedics reached the location within a few minutes and pronounced all of the victims in the impacted car dead at the scene.

Ponce was in his vehicle when deputies arrived and was taken into custody without a struggle.

According to court records, the defendant has prior convictions for battery on a domestic partner and hit-and-run resulting in property damage, both misdemeanors.

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Felony charges were filed Friday against an ex-con and a woman who allegedly broke into a Palm Springs residence and held the elderly homeowner and a caretaker hostage.

Juan Antonio Beltran and Itati Maribi Ceja, both 22-year-old residents of Indio, are accused of breaking into the senior’s home in the 2200 block of Sunshine Circle South at around 1:45 a.m. Wednesday.

The pair assaulted and restrained the homeowner and the victim’s caretaker, then “ransacked the residence,” police allege. Officers established a perimeter around the home and arrested the suspects after they tried to run out the back door, according to police.

The victims, whose names were not released, were hospitalized for treatment of injuries of unknown severity.

Both defendants are faces charges of robbery, burglary and false imprisonment of a hostage, while Beltran is additionally charged with kidnapping, elder abuse, making criminal threats, dissuading a witness and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Beltran “had several felony convictions prior to this incident” and was on parole, while Velador has no prior criminal record, according to Palm Springs police. The pair are slated to appear in an Indio courtroom Friday afternoon.

The Palm Springs Police Department is “actively seeking witnesses” and asked anyone with information to call the PSPD Detective Bureau at (760) 778-8411 or report anonymously to Crime Stoppers at (760) 341-7867.

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A 38-year-old man was charged Friday with several felonies stemming from an explosion at a condominium in an unincorporated area near Tustin.

Kevin Sean Welch was charged with three counts of possession of a destructive device or explosives in or near private residences, two counts of use of a destructive device with the intent to injure, and single counts each of intent to unlawfully make a destructive device and possession of unregistered dangerous fireworks, all felonies, as well as a misdemeanor count of possession of fireworks without a permit.

Welch was being held on $1 million bail.

Deputies were called just before 9 a.m., Wednesday, to a condo in the 12700 block of Newport Avenue, Carrie Braun of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said.

When deputies got to the home, a man who lived there admitted there was a “loud explosion, but he wasn’t being very forthcoming with deputies,” Braun said.

The deputies saw that a terra cotta chiminea-type object had been blown apart in Welch’s yard, with a piece of shrapnel landing in a neighbor’s yard, Braun said. They also spotted what appeared to be a pipe bomb.

Deputies evacuated residents of four neighboring condominiums, Braun said. Newport Avenue was closed from Wass Street to Warren Avenue.

Deputies disassembled the pipe bomb in the condo just after 4 p.m. and collected a large amount of bomb-making materials in the residence, Braun said.

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A felon who allegedly injured two Coachella Valley sheriff’s deputies during an arrest was charged Friday with battery and resisting arrest.

Devin Dalton, 29, of San Bernardino, is accused of injuring a deputy while resisting arrest Monday night in unincorporated Desert Hot Springs, then injuring a second deputy while he was handcuffed and being treated at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs.

Deputies were initially dispatched around 6 p.m. Monday on a domestic disturbance call at a residence in the 19000 block of Chuckawalla Trail, according to sheriff’s Investigator Armando Munoz.

The department did not elaborate on the nature of the disturbance call, but said in a statement that while attempting to arrest Dalton, “a physical struggle ensued and deputies had to use force to place Dalton under arrest.”

The tussle left Dalton and one of the arresting deputies with minor injuries, according to Munoz.

Dalton was taken to Desert Regional Medical Center, where he allegedly “assaulted another deputy while handcuffed, requiring Palm Springs pPolice to respond to assist the deputy.” That deputy sustained moderate injuries, but has since been released from the hospital.

Dalton pleaded not guilty to all charges Friday afternoon and will return to court Nov. 29 for a felony settlement conference.

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An elementary school principal was charged with murder Monday for allegedly driving drunk and killing a woman in a head-on crash in Palmdale.

Mary Noel Kruppe, 35, of Pearblossom, is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday at the Antelope Valley Courthouse, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

About 6:50 p.m. on Nov. 15, Kruppe was driving a 2014 Jeep Wrangler southbound on 50th Street East, north of Avenue P, when she allegedly veered left into oncoming traffic, causing a head-on collision with a 2010 Mazda driven by 29-year-old Jessica Ordaz of Lancaster.

Ordaz was pronounced dead at the scene, and Kruppe, a principal at Enterprise Elementary School in Lancaster, was taken to a hospital with moderate injuries, according to the California Highway Patrol.

If convicted as charged, Kruppe faces a maximum sentence of 15 years to life in prison.

Prosecutors plan to ask for bail of $2 million.

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A 21-year-old La Palma man pleaded not guilty Monday to sexually assaulting four victims dating back to 2015 in Tustin.

Matthew Michael Taylor was arrested Friday, a day after being charged with two counts of rape, and one count each of sexual penetration by a foreign object, statutory rape, forced sodomy and forcible oral copulation, all felonies, along with a misdemeanor statutory rape count.

Taylor, who also faces a sentence enhancement allegation for multiple victims, was ordered to return to court Nov. 26 for a pretrial hearing.

In August 2015, Taylor allegedly met an underage girl online and sexually assaulted her in a car parked at the District at Tustin Legacy shopping center, said Tustin police Lt. Bob Wright.

The victim reported the alleged assault when she returned to her home in the state of Washington, and authorities there contacted Tustin police, Wright said.

On March 11 of this year, Orange County sheriff’s deputies were called to a residence in Rancho Santa Margarita, where a 15-year-old girl reported she was sexually assaulted in a vehicle after she had been drinking, said Carrie Braun of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Details on the other two alleged victims were not immediately available. A message left with the prosecutor on the case was not immediately returned.

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An elementary school principal is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday on a murder charge for allegedly driving drunk and killing a woman in a head-on crash in Palmdale.

Mary Noel Kruppe, 35, of Pearblossom, is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday morning at the Antelope Valley Courthouse, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

About 6:50 p.m. on Nov. 15, Kruppe was driving a 2014 Jeep Wrangler southbound on 50th Street East, north of Avenue P, when she allegedly veered left into oncoming traffic, causing a head-on collision with a 2010 Mazda driven by 29-year-old Jessica Ordaz of Lancaster.

Ordaz was pronounced dead at the scene, and Kruppe, a principal at Enterprise Elementary School in Lancaster, was taken to a hospital with moderate injuries, according to the California Highway Patrol.

If convicted as charged, Kruppe faces a maximum sentence of 15 years to life in prison.

Prosecutors plan to ask for bail of $2 million.

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Nine people are facing felony charges for allegedly offering homeless people on Skid Row money and cigarettes in exchange for false and forged signatures on ballot petitions and voter registration forms, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday.

Kirkland Kauzava Washington, 38, Richard Howard, 62, Rose Makeda Sweeney, 42, Christopher Joseph Williams, 59, and Norman Hall, 61, are scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom.

Also charged in the alleged voter fraud scheme are Harold Bennett, 53, Louis Thomas Wise, 36, Jakara Fati Mardis, 35, and Nickey Demelvin Huntley, 44.

The charges include voter fraud, circulating a petition with false names, use of false names on a petition and registering a fictitious person, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

The defendants allegedly engaged in the solicitation of hundreds of false and/or forged signatures on state ballot petitions and voter registration forms by offering homeless people $1 and/or cigarettes for their participation during the 2016 and 2018 election cycles, prosecutors said.

It was not immediately clear which ballot petitions the alleged scheme involved.

Washington, Bennett and Wise are each charged with eight counts and could face up to six years and four months in state prison if convicted as charged, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

The other five defendants are charged with four counts each and would face a maximum of four years and eight months behind bars if convicted.

The case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department and the FBI’s Los Angeles field office.

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An elementary school principal charged with driving drunk and killing a woman in a head-on crash in Palmdale was ordered Tuesday to remain jailed in lieu of $2 million bail while awaiting arraignment next month.

Mary Noel Kruppe, 35, of Pearblossom, is set to be arraigned Dec. 19 at the Lancaster courthouse on a murder charge stemming from the death of 29-year-old Lancaster resident Jessica Ordaz last Thursday.

Kruppe was behind the wheel of a 2014 Jeep Wrangler that was traveling southbound on 50th Street East, north of Avenue P, when it veered left into oncoming traffic about 6:50 p.m. and collided head-on with a 2010 Mazda driven by Ordaz, authorities said.

Ordaz was pronounced dead at the scene, and Kruppe, a principal at Enterprise Elementary School in Lancaster, was taken to a hospital for treatment of moderate injuries, according to the California Highway Patrol.

If convicted as charged, Kruppe could face up to 15 years to life in state prison, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

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Felon charges were filed Tuesday against a probationer accused of possessing several illegally modified firearms — including a “cane gun” — as well as drugs and a stolen vehicle.

Andy Ralphie Acuna, 35, of Jurupa Valley was arrested Friday during a Riverside County sheriff’s anti-gang task force investigation in the 5400 block of 34th Street.

The defendant, who’s being held in lieu of $25,000 bail at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside, is slated to make his initial court appearance Tuesday afternoon at the Riverside Hall of Justice on one count each of being a felon in possession of a gun, being in possession of controlled substances and receiving a stolen vehicle, and two counts of being a felon in possession of drugs while armed.

According to sheriff’s Sgt. Nathan Padilla, task force investigators were searching for a pickup truck stolen out of Riverside when they located the vehicle Friday morning parked outside the defendant’s residence.

A probation compliance check was conducted at the property, and during the search for contraband, a “slam-fired shotgun,” also known as a “zip gun,” was seized, along with a single-fire gun configured exactly like a walking cane, Padilla alleged.

Drugs and drug paraphernalia were also allegedly located at the home, according to investigators.

Acuna was taken into custody without a struggle. His girlfriend, 27-year-old Kayla Leanne Webb, was also arrested for alleged probation violations, but was soon released on her own recognizance.

According to court records, Acuna has prior convictions for grand theft, being a felon in possession of a firearm and shoplifting.

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Felony charges were filed Tuesday against a 23-year-old man who was out on bail in an attempted burglary case when he allegedly broke into a woman’s Fullerton apartment and stabbed her when she confronted him.

Terele Tommy Lee Jones was charged with attempted premeditated murder and burglary, with sentencing enhancement allegations of the personal use of a deadly weapon, inflicting great bodily injury and committing a secondary offense while out on bail.

Jones allegedly broke into the 63-year-old victim’s apartment in the 2300 block of Iris Court about 10:30 p.m. Friday. Fullerton police Sgt. Carin Wright said the defendant is accused of stabbing the victim up to 10 times before fleeing. He was caught a short time later in the same neighborhood. the sergeant said.

The woman, whose name was withheld, has since been released from a hospital, Wright said.

Jones was previously charged with attempted burglary, resisting arrest, battery against a jailer and vandalism, all felonies, for crimes he allegedly committed on June 28, according to court records.

Jones was also charged with drunken driving in Seal Beach on May 27, according to court records, which say his blood-alcohol content was .19 — more than double the legal limit.

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Nine people are facing felony charges for allegedly offering homeless people on Skid Row money and cigarettes in exchange for false and forged signatures on ballot petitions and voter registration forms, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday.

Kirkland Kauzava Washington, 38, Richard Howard, 62, Rose Makeda Sweeney, 42, Christopher Joseph Williams, 59, and Norman Hall, 61, were arraigned Tuesday in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom, where they pleaded not guilty to charges of voter fraud, circulating a petition with false names, use of false names on a petition and registering a fictitious person.

Also charged in the alleged voter fraud scheme are Harold Bennett, 53, Louis Thomas Wise, 36, Jakara Fati Mardis, 35, and Nickey Demelvin Huntley, 44. The status of their arraignment hearings was not immediately available.

Prosecutors allege the defendants solicited hundreds of false and/or forged signatures on state ballot petitions and voter registration forms by offering homeless people $1 and/or cigarettes for their participation during the 2016 and 2018 election cycles.

A spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office said she was “unable to discuss those specifics” regarding which ballot petitions the alleged scheme involved.

Washington, Bennett and Wise are each charged with eight counts and could face up to six years and four months in state prison if convicted as charged, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

The other five defendants are charged with four counts each and would face a maximum of four years and eight months behind bars if convicted.

The case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department and the FBI’s Los Angeles field office.

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MyNewsLA.com photo by Alexander Nguyen

An elementary school principal charged with driving drunk and killing a woman in a head-on crash in Palmdale was ordered Tuesday to remain jailed in lieu of $2 million bail while awaiting arraignment next month.

Mary Noel Kruppe, 35, of Pearblossom, is set to be arraigned Dec. 19 at the Lancaster courthouse on a murder charge stemming from the death of 29-year-old Lancaster resident Jessica Ordaz last Thursday.

Kruppe was behind the wheel of a 2014 Jeep Wrangler that was traveling southbound on 50th Street East, north of Avenue P, when it veered left into oncoming traffic about 6:50 p.m. and collided head-on with a 2010 Mazda driven by Ordaz, authorities said.

Ordaz was pronounced dead at the scene, and Kruppe, a principal at Enterprise Elementary School in Lancaster, was taken to a hospital for treatment of moderate injuries, according to the California Highway Patrol.

If convicted as charged, Kruppe could face up to 15 years to life in state prison, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

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