Michael Grosbard

The prosecutor who recently angered top officials in Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti's office for questioning the handling of a politically connected defendant has won a $10,000 award from a national justice organization. Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Grosbard won the honor from the Foundation for Improvement of Justice, which honored him along with nine others for "seeking justice regardless of the personal consequences."

The prosecutor who recently angered top officials in Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti's office for questioning the handling of a politically connected defendant has won a $10,000 award from a national justice organization. Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Grosbard won the honor from the Foundation for Improvement of Justice, which honored him along with nine others for "seeking justice regardless of the personal consequences."

Stone Temple Pilots lead singer Scott Weiland was back in a Pasadena drug rehabilitation center Thursday--one day after walking out of a court-ordered stay at the residential facility. Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Grosbard said the 28-year-old singer cited "personal reasons" for his departure after turning himself in Thursday afternoon, and that the court was satisfied that drugs were not involved in the incident. A warrant that had been issued Wednesday for Weiland's arrest was quashed.

A mail clerk was charged with rape Monday in connection with the nightlong sexual assault of an 83-year-old woman in her home last week, authorities said. Mark Curtis Robb, a former rock drummer who had lived near the widow for more than six years, was accused of assaulting the woman during an eight-hour ordeal ending at dawn Thursday.

Two men have been sentenced for their roles in a March robbery in Pomona that left a police officer wounded and sparked a televised four-county chase. Regino Deharo Jr., 21, of Santa Ana, who shot Pomona Police Officer Roger Mathews in the arm and led police from four agencies on a 50-mile chase, was sentenced in Pomona Superior Court to 60 years in prison, Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Grosbard said.

A drug dealer was sentenced Friday to the maximum term of 23 years in state prison and fined more than $3 million for his role in the second-largest seizure ever of cocaine and cash in California. The fine, imposed by Superior Court Judge J. Stephen Czuleger, was the largest ever in a trial in the Los Angeles Criminal Courts Building. "We asked for a fine of over $1 million, but the judge kept going," Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Grosbard said.

A West Covina woman who authorities believe embezzled more than $500,000 from business owners was sentenced to three years in prison Friday and her husband and daughter received lesser sentences. Diana Curavo, 54, and her husband, 42-year-old Jeffrey Curavo, surrendered at the Pasadena Courthouse, prosecutor Michael Grosbard said.

A kidnapping and extortion case involving Troy High School students ended last week when two men pleaded guilty to felony false imprisonment of a classmate and were sentenced to three years' probation, a prosecutor said Tuesday. Saminder Singh Grewal and Randeep Singh Dhillon were among seven students charged with kidnapping a 17-year-old Troy High School student at gunpoint and offering "protection" in exchange for money, Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Grosbard said.

Twenty Polish Gypsies accused of burglarizing the homes of elderly people throughout Southern California last winter have been ordered to stand trial on burglary, conspiracy and receiving stolen property charges. After a 17-week preliminary hearing, Pasadena Municipal Judge Judson W. Morris Jr. ordered that the defendants be arraigned in Pasadena Superior Court on Sept. 23.

An attorney entered a not guilty plea Tuesday for a politically well-connected South Pasadena police officer accused of an off-duty hit-and-run crash that his colleagues allegedly covered up. Scott D. Ziegler, 33, was not in Pasadena Municipal Court on Tuesday morning when attorney Darryl Mounger entered the plea on his behalf on one count of misdemeanor hit and run and one count of misleading a police officer. Ziegler was not required to attend the arraignment.