Crime Victims Hispanics

Two distraught couples stood waiting for him one early morning last fall outside his cubbyhole in Santa Ana City Hall. "Are you Jose Vargas? Are you the man whose picture is in the newspaper? We have something to tell you about this place that took our money," the new immigrants said. They explained in Spanish how an employment agency had charged them and dozens of others $40 but provided no jobs. Officer Vargas dispensed with the police report.

Police are investigating whether a shooting rampage that left three people dead in a bedroom community serving Aspen was a hate crime against the area's growing Latino population, a prosecutor said Thursday. Mike Stagner, 42, faces three charges of first-degree murder and four of attempted murder. His public defender declined to comment Thursday after a hearing was set for July 16. Prosecutor Mac Myers said police were investigating whether Tuesday night's shootings were racially motivated.

Sheriff's investigators said Monday they are seeking three people suspected of stealing thousands of dollars in a long-running lottery scam that targets Latinas. In recent years, the three have taken amounts ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 from victims by promising them million-dollar winnings on lottery tickets, said Jim Amormino, spokesperson for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

After reviewing psychiatrists' reports, a judge Wednesday suspended the criminal case against Marie Elise West, the first person charged with a capital hate crime in Los Angeles County, and declared her mentally incompetent to stand trial. The 35-year-old Hermosa Beach woman was charged with running down and killing restaurant worker Jesus Plascencia outside a Van Nuys bagel shop on Sept. 1, allegedly making anti-Latino slurs shortly afterward. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael S.

A Chinese American college student who sent threatening e-mail messages to Latinos at universities, corporations and government agencies around the country pleaded guilty Monday to federal hate crime charges. Kingman Quon, 22, of Corona had been charged with seven counts of interfering with federally protected activities. Quon, who is free on bond, will be sentenced April 26 by U.S. District Judge Edward M. Rafeedie. He faces up to seven years in prison and $700,000 in fines.

A former Cal Poly Pomona student who sent threatening e-mail messages to Latinos at universities, corporations and government agencies around the country was sentenced Monday to two years at a federal "boot camp" for young offenders. Kingman Quon, 22, apologized in court "for letting my immaturity get the best of me" when he sent the hate messages with threatening ethnic slurs and denunciations of affirmative action.

Alarmed over growing fraud by unscrupulous Spanish-speaking legal consultants, a group of activists and lawyers have launched a campaign of public education and are seeking a crackdown by law enforcement officials. For the past few months, volunteers have targeted Los Angeles' Latino population with weekend seminars teaching them how to avoid rip-off artists. Concerns have been brought to the district attorney's office.

Latino gays and lesbians who are victims of hate crimes will be encouraged to fight back through the courts and through counseling in a campaign started Thursday by a Los Angeles advocacy group. The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center will use billboards, magazine ads and fliers in English and Spanish to urge Latino homosexuals to report verbal slurs as well as physical abuse to its Anti-Violence Project.

After morning chores feeding the cows, chickens and goats, Lionel Cordova, the farmer's son, plops down on the couch, picks up the remote and aims it at the TV. Click. On it goes. And off goes Lionel into the world of channel surfing that most Americans take for granted. But as Cordova jumps from a Spanish-language version of "The Jetsons" to an old war movie to CNN, the apparatus that make his TV viewing possible is anything but ordinary.

Questionable auto-leasing arrangements and deceptive practices aimed at Latinos have emerged as major new sources of consumer fraud complaints, according to a survey released Tuesday by consumer advocate agencies. Although those two categories have not displaced the big three complaint generators--used-car sales and repair, home improvement and construction, and telephone solicitation--they do represent the fastest-growing problem areas, enforcement officials said.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ordered a psychiatric evaluation Friday for a white woman who has been charged with murder and hate crimes after allegedly using her car to run down and kill a Latino man in Van Nuys earlier this month. Marie Elise West, 35, of Hermosa Beach, is the first person in Los Angeles County to be charged under a state law that permits capital punishment for a hate-crime slaying, according to the district attorney's office.

Latino gays and lesbians who are victims of hate crimes will be encouraged to fight back through the courts and through counseling in a campaign started Thursday by a Los Angeles advocacy group. The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center will use billboards, magazine ads and fliers in English and Spanish to urge Latino homosexuals to report verbal slurs as well as physical abuse to its Anti-Violence Project.

Sheriff's investigators said Monday they are seeking three people suspected of stealing thousands of dollars in a long-running lottery scam that targets Latinas. In recent years, the three have taken amounts ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 from victims by promising them million-dollar winnings on lottery tickets, said Jim Amormino, spokesperson for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Sheriff's investigators said Monday that they are seeking three people suspected of stealing thousands of dollars in a long-running lottery scam that targets Latinas. In recent years, the three have taken amounts ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 from victims by promising them million-dollar winnings on lottery tickets, said Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

A former Cal Poly Pomona student who sent threatening e-mail messages to Latinos at universities, corporations and government agencies around the country was sentenced Monday to two years at a federal "boot camp" for young offenders. Kingman Quon, 22, apologized in court "for letting my immaturity get the best of me" when he sent the hate messages with threatening ethnic slurs and denunciations of affirmative action.

A Chinese American college student who sent threatening e-mail messages to Latinos at universities, corporations and government agencies around the country pleaded guilty Monday to federal hate crime charges. Kingman Quon, 22, of Corona had been charged with seven counts of interfering with federally protected activities. Quon, who is free on bond, will be sentenced April 26 by U.S. District Judge Edward M. Rafeedie. He faces up to seven years in prison and $700,000 in fines.

Alarmed over growing fraud by Spanish-speaking charlatans posing as legal consultants, a group of activists and lawyers has quietly launched a campaign of public education and is seeking a crackdown by law enforcement officials. For the past few months, volunteers have targeted Los Angeles' Latino population with weekend seminars teaching how to avoid rip-off artists. The activists have taken their concerns to the district attorney's office.

The 1400 block of East 59th Place burns with four makeshift shrines, one for each fatality in a 24-hour period. The yellow crime scene tape is stuffed in garbage cans, ready for pickup. An uneasy calm prevails amid the shellshocked residents, who watch every car for more danger.

After morning chores feeding the cows, chickens and goats, Lionel Cordova, the farmer's son, plops down on the couch, picks up the remote and aims it at the TV. Click. On it goes. And off goes Lionel into the world of channel surfing that most Americans take for granted. But as Cordova jumps from a Spanish-language version of "The Jetsons" to an old war movie to CNN, the apparatus that make his TV viewing possible is anything but ordinary.

Los Angeles developer Marshall Redman was sentenced to jail Monday for leading a massive land swindle that defrauded as many as 2,500 buyers and escaped the reach of local and state authorities for years. Many of his victims ended up living in makeshift homes on undeveloped land in the High Desert, with no running water or electricity. Redman sold the properties to his mostly Spanish-speaking clients on false promises that utilities and other improvements were coming.