Arrests

Stepping into the political minefield of immigration reform, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano soon will direct federal agents to focus more on arresting and prosecuting American employers than the illegal laborers who sneak into the country to work for them, department officials said Monday.

An alleged Whittier gang member wanted in an attack on two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies nearly nine years ago has been arrested in Mexico, authorities announced Monday. Emigdio Preciado Jr., who had been listed as one of the FBI's 10 most wanted, was arrested Friday night in the rural town of Corral Piedras, officials said. The community is in Nayarit state, along Mexico's central coast. He was arrested by Mexican federal police after a tip by U.S. authorities.

By all appearances, Rebecca Kuzelka used her home to operate a child day-care business on a quiet, tree-lined street in Lake Elsinore. But a different picture of the 55-year-old mother emerged after her home was rocked by an explosion late Wednesday night. On Thursday morning, deputies arrested Kuzelka and her son Grey Kuzelka, 21, on suspicion of using their home to make bombs and grow marijuana. Another son, Benjamin Kuzelka, 23, injured his hand in the explosion and was hospitalized.

A Baldwin Village man who stabbed his former girlfriend and her daughter was shot to death Tuesday morning by a neighbor who was arrested in the slaying after an eight-hour standoff with Los Angeles police. The incident began when Rhett Wilkins, 44, stabbed the two women shortly before 6:30 a.m. at an apartment complex in the 4000 block of Stevely Avenue, said Officer Karen Smithe.

The daughter of a suspect accused of plotting to bomb New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport is free on $50 bond following her detention on suspicion of weapons possession unrelated to the alleged plot. Sauda Kadir, 31, said police detained her after they saw photos taken last Christmas showing relatives posing with "toy guns." Her father, Abdul Kadir, was arrested this month in Trinidad and Tobago, accused with three others of plotting to blow up a jet fuel artery feeding the airport.

The Islamic militia movement that controls Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, arrested two members for killing two people who were watching a World Cup soccer match, the group's leader said. The two allegedly shot a teenage girl and a businessman who defied their orders to stop watching a Tuesday match. Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys said the group had not officially banned TV. The fighters will be charged with manslaughter under Islamic law; punishment could include compensation for the victims' families.

Chinese police detained at least five parents for 24 hours to block a news conference at which they planned to publicize the plight of their children, who are suffering from kidney stones as a result of drinking tainted baby formula. The parents were seized about 11:30 p.m. Thursday and taken to a hotel often used by police as a temporary detention center on the outskirts of Beijing.

The man arrested at Los Angeles International Airport with a truck full of guns and nearly 1,000 rounds of ammunition said Saturday that he is a law-abiding weapons enthusiast who had no idea he might be breaking the law. A day after he was arrested on suspicion of felony transportation of an assault rifle, Phillip Dominguez said he was confident he would be exonerated. "In the post-Sept.

Marlo "Bow Wow" Jones was a well-known gang intervention worker in South Los Angeles. Last March, the former member of the Grape Street Crips was working on a gang reduction effort with USC football Coach Pete Carroll. Connie Rice, the prominent civil rights attorney, called Jones a charismatic figure who could bring rival gang sects together. Police officers who worked with Jones said he helped prevent retaliatory shootings.

A Los Angeles Fire Department inspector was arrested Monday for allegedly accepting a bribe during a sting operation, Los Angeles Police Department officials said. Dennis Archie, 58, of Thousands Oaks was booked on suspicion of commercial bribery by detectives, said LAPD Officer Karen Smith. Police allege that Archie demanded and took a $500 bribe from a board and care facility operator to sign off on a compliance check to allow changes to be made to the facility.