Placentia Ca

For 13 years, police detectives suspected that two cousins were responsible for Placentia's No. 1 murder mystery, the slashing death of a promising Cal State Fullerton student. But each frustrated investigators by providing the other with an alibi. The physical evidence was never enough to tie them to the crime, and one of the men dismissed the police department's focus on him as a "waste of my time."

A state appellate court has dismissed a conflict-of-interest charge against former Placentia City Manager Robert D'Amato, a central figure in the town's controversial OnTrac rail project that was shelved in 2006. The 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana threw out the felony charge on the grounds that D'Amato did not stand to gain financially from an OnTrac management contract awarded by the city to Christopher Becker, Placentia's public works director at the time and a friend of D'Amato.

It's not a pretty fate for a grand dame. Placentia's historical Kraemer house sits abandoned with a broken balcony, boarded-up windows, a weed- and trash-choked lawn and broken glass strewn across the cracked driveway. The once-elegant 5,872-square-foot house, still flanked by birds-of-paradise bushes, is now a rotting shell. It used to be luxurious: five bedrooms, a guest house over the garage, a swimming pool, a hot tub and cabana, a lighted tennis court and a covered barbecue.

Placentia officials vowed Friday to fight claims by Caltrans that the small north Orange County city owes the state more than $36 million. The money was spent for a controversial rail corridor project that devastated the town's finances. "Our understanding of the contract is that the state has no legal right to ask for money back unless there is an erroneous or mistaken payment," Mayor Scott Nelson said during a news conference at City Hall.

When developers expressed interest in purchasing undeveloped land around the reservoir at the northwest corner of Placentia in 1972, the mayor got wise to their plans to turn the near-rural area into condominiums. He got in touch with the mayors of the bordering cities, Fullerton and Brea, and they came to a unique agreement to preserve the land and its reservoir. Bob Finnell, the Placentia mayor in question, was the key to the deal.

It's been a rough few years in Placentia, an old railroad town that dreamed of carving out trenches for the trains to eliminate the need for engineers to sound their horns as they rolled through town. After $55 million spent and a near municipal bankruptcy, the trench plans withered and died and two former city leaders were indicted on criminal charges. Now there's some good news around the bend.

A 16-year-old boy and a man were arrested Wednesday after a bungled robbery in which they held the owners and employees of a Placentia silk-screen shop hostage for several hours, police said. The would-be robbers burst into KBI & Associates and ordered the three employees to the rear of the shop, gagging and binding them with duct tape, police said. One of the two owners, Tom Garrity, was led to an office where the robbers demanded money.

An audit of a Placentia rail project plagued by financial difficulties and allegations of improper spending appears likely after prodding from Assemblyman Todd Spitzer. "We're not fearful of " an audit, said city spokesman Matt Reynolds. "It's probably a good thing. It will clear the air and show that the state money has been spent correctly."

Despite more than $7 million in unpaid bills, an ambitious rail project in Placentia will move forward -- even if it means spending city money that residents once were told would be used for a community center. Voting 4 to 1, the City Council approved a $7.9-million budget for the OnTrac project through February, mostly to finish an intersection upgrade and to quiet train horns along the Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks through downtown.

The executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Placentia was ousted Monday evening by its board of directors, less than a week after he was arraigned on charges that he swapped community-service credits for donations to the club. After Albert P. Rizzo, 52, of Corona acknowledged that his leadership abilities were compromised by the unfolding investigation, the board unanimously terminated his employment contract, a club official said.

A soon-to-be-released Caltrans audit will assert that Placentia improperly spent as much as $36 million in state funds to pay for an ambitious rail-corridor project that drove the tiny north Orange County city to the brink of bankruptcy, state and municipal officials said Wednesday.

Orange County's largest transportation agency agreed Monday to pay $200,000 to help fund a rail improvement project in Placentia but rejected the cash-strapped city's request that it actually take over the project. Placentia asked the Orange County Transportation Authority to take the lead in the project, which began six years ago but has advanced slowly. The work -- which is expected to result in the silencing of train horns -- involves improvements to eight street crossings.

An 89-year-old woman was killed Sunday in a hit-and-run accident by a driver pulling out of a church parking lot, police said. Jessie Ruth Pound of Placentia was taken to Placentia Linda Hospital, where she died at 9:42 a.m., about half an hour after the accident. Pound was run over while crossing a driveway at St. Joseph Catholic Church on Bradford Avenue. A witness described the driver of the white sedan as a woman in her 70s or 80s with curly brown hair who then headed south on Bradford.

Already at the brink of bankruptcy, Placentia may now owe Caltrans millions for the improper use of funds allocated to an ill-fated plan to improve rail corridors. A multimillion-dollar assessment could be a crippling blow to a city that has already gone $6 million in debt because of the failed $650-million project.

For 13 years, police detectives suspected that two cousins were responsible for Placentia's No. 1 murder mystery, the slashing death of a promising Cal State Fullerton student. But each frustrated investigators by providing the other with an alibi. The physical evidence was never enough to tie them to the crime, and one of the men dismissed the police department's focus on him as a "waste of my time."

It's been a rough few years in Placentia, an old railroad town that dreamed of carving out trenches for the trains to eliminate the need for engineers to sound their horns as they rolled through town. After $55 million spent and a near municipal bankruptcy, the trench plans withered and died and two former city leaders were indicted on criminal charges. Now there's some good news around the bend.

For nearly eight years, Placentia city officials and their team of private consultants have had big plans to spend hundreds of million of dollars rebuilding the busy railroad line through town. It was a project of national significance, promoters said, one that would become a model for other cities interested in improving the safety and efficiency of vital rail corridors. Now, the north Orange County town will have to think small. This month, Congress approved $38.

For more than 30 years, Placentia has celebrated its heritage with a festival and parade. The city will continue that tradition Saturday with the 34th annual event, starring Academy Award-winning director James Cameron, a former Placentia resident, as grand marshal. All festivities will take place from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Kraemer Park, at Chapman and Bradford avenues. Cameron, who directed the blockbuster movie "Titanic," will lead the parade, which begins at 10 a.m.

Caltrans is auditing $36 million in state funds given to Placentia's controversial OnTrac project -- the troubled rail plan that has pushed the northern Orange County city to the brink of bankruptcy. Department officials said they were reviewing OnTrac's funding to determine if it was properly spent. They declined to comment in detail, saying it was Caltrans policy not to discuss ongoing audits. The inquiry began in 2005. "They are looking at the whole thing," said City Councilman Russell J.

Grossly incompetent bookkeeping that plagued the failed OnTrac rail project is making it difficult for Placentia officials to determine the financial health of the city, the new finance director for the city said Wednesday. Although Terrence Beaman said he had found no indication of accounting fraud by former or current officials, his downbeat assessment only underscored the city's difficult situation. Placentia is about $30 million in debt and faces a $2.