Gary Elliot

A Lake Forest man who admitted faking his death more than a decade ago and leaving behind a wife and seven children in Illinois pleaded guilty Friday to a federal charge of falsifying a passport. Gary Elliott, 49, faces up to six months in federal prison when he is sentenced April 29. U.S. Magistrate Gary L. Taylor refused to let Elliott post bail, saying he poses a flight risk.

A Lake Forest man who admitted faking his death more than a decade ago and leaving behind a wife and seven children in Illinois pleaded guilty Friday to a federal charge of falsifying a passport. Gary Elliott, 49, faces up to six months in federal prison when he is sentenced April 29. U.S. Magistrate Gary L. Taylor refused to let Elliott post bail, saying he poses a flight risk.

Gary Andres Elliott, the man who abandoned a wife and seven children in an Illinois farming town 14 years ago and assumed the name of a dead Simi Valley toddler while living in Orange County, was indicted Friday on a federal charge of making false statements in applying for a passport. Though the maximum penalty for the offense is five years in jail and a $250,000 fine, attorneys said they expect Elliott, 49, to plead guilty to the charge and be free by the end of the month.

Gary Andres Elliott, the man who abandoned a wife and seven children in an Illinois farming town 14 years ago and assumed the name of a dead Simi Valley toddler while living in Orange County, was indicted Friday on a federal charge of making false statements in applying for a passport. Though the maximum penalty for the offense is five years in jail and a $250,000 fine, attorneys said they expect Elliott, 49, to plead guilty to the charge and be free by the end of the month.

No exhibits have opened, no labs have materialized, but the proposed Ventura County Discovery Center has already taught residents a key lesson in science--political science. Before an enthusiastic audience of children and adults, Thousand Oaks council members forged a compromise that gives the proposed museum a shot at leasing the former City Hall, but retains the city's flexibility to consider better offers.

After pleading with the City Council for nearly two hours to save the city's historic civic center for a children's museum, proponents got a very unexpected answer. Council members unanimously agreed early Wednesday morning to help with plans to raise funds for the project. "If the city is serious about this center, we ought to step up to the plate.

Even theaters intent on spoon-feeding their audiences a steady diet of Broadway musicals must take a break now and then from "Godspell" and "Fiddler on the Roof." And there's something to be said for offering a show that isn't so familiar that its songs are emblazoned on every theatergoer's brains along with the national anthem and "Happy Birthday to You."