Police Investigations

A Catholic priest from Ontario has been removed from active ministry after being accused of sexually abusing two adolescent boys, according to the Diocese of San Bernardino. The Rev. Alex Castillo, 57, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe church in Ontario, was removed June 25, a day after the diocese received "credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors" from family members, diocese spokesman John Andrews said. The allegations were made public in a letter read during weekend Mass at the four churches where Castillo had served.

Santa Monica officials have ordered an independent review of the Police Department's conduct during an investigation of a school board member who witnessed a fight between two youths. The decision came Tuesday after school board member Oscar de la Torre, a critic of the Police Department, accused the department of pursuing a politically motivated probe into an incident in March next to the Pico Youth & Family Center he operates. After a four-month child endangerment investigation of De la Torre by Santa Monica police, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office last week declined to file charges against the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District board member.

UC San Diego police are investigating an incident in which a noose was found suspended in a campus stairwell. The thin piece of rope, crudely fashioned into a loop, was found July 21 in a stairwell in Mandeville Hall, an auditorium where recitals and other performing arts events are held. So far, police have no leads as to who might have created the noose. They are seeking help identifying witnesses. It is the latest incident with racial overtones on the campus in recent months.

Beverly Hills police Wednesday announced the arrest of three suspects in the stabbing of the 21-year-old son of a Japanese filmmaker who was found fatally wounded outside a spacious hillside home in Trousdale Estates. The deadly stabbing occurred in an exclusive Beverly Hills neighborhood unaccustomed to such violence. The three suspects were booked on suspicion of murder and were being held Wednesday evening in the city jail, the Beverly Hills Police Department said. Their names were not released.

A wounded 3-year-old boy and his 5-year-old brother were found hiding Monday at an Anaheim home where police say a day earlier the father shot and killed his wife before turning the gun on himself . The youngest of the children, who was wounded during the Sunday night violence, was found hiding near trash cans at the side of the house after his brother, who was not injured, called 911, Anaheim Police Sgt. Tim Schmidt said. Around the time that police believe the shooting happened, a passerby called police to report shots fired, but the bodies were not found until the next morning.

A machete-wielding porn performer went on a rampage at a Van Nuys production facility, killing one of his former co-stars and badly wounding two other men, Los Angeles police investigators said Wednesday. Police said the assailant, porn actor Stephen Clancy Hill, was last seen driving a blue Toyota RAV4. The attack was reported around 10:20 p.m. Tuesday at Ultima DVD Inc., a video distribution business where Hill did production work and apparently lived, police said. Police said they are investigating whether Hill was angry with his colleagues after learning that he was being fired and evicted.

Authorities investigating a former TV chef who allegedly tried to have his wife killed are looking into reports that the couple had fertility problems and that the man planned to take his own life after his wife was slain, sources close to the investigation said. Juan-Carlos Cruz, the cookbook author and onetime Food Network personality, was charged Monday with attempted murder and solicitation to commit murder. Prosecutors say he solicited homeless men in Santa Monica to kill his wife.

In January, Los Angeles Police Det. Nate Kouri was ordered to stop working. One of the LAPD's most productive homicide investigators sat idle for six weeks, unable to follow any leads on old cases or pick up new ones. Kouri was not being punished for misconduct or for botching an investigation. He was benched for working too hard -- and he is not the only one. With the city reeling from its worst financial crisis in decades, the LAPD has stopped paying officers overtime wages, except in rare situations.

The Burbank Police Department and Los Angeles County district attorney's office launched investigations Tuesday into the actions of officers who tried to stop a high-speed pursuit by firing at the suspect while he was stopped in rush-hour traffic. Officials said they are looking at the tactics used Monday afternoon by the Burbank officers, who fired at the suspect on two occasions during the wild chase. Of biggest concern is one officer's decision to fire into the suspect's stolen sport utility vehicle while he was in the middle of traffic on Barham Boulevard near the 101 Freeway.

Lacking witnesses but blessed with hundreds of hours of video, the cops and spooks worked the case of the slain weapons smuggler like a movie in reverse. Dubai's cameras never blink. The security system allows law enforcement to track anyone, from the moment they get off an airplane, to the immigration counter where their passport is scanned, through the baggage claim area to the taxi stand where cameras record who gets into what cars, which log their locations through the city's automated highway toll system, all the way to their hotels, which also have cameras.