Riverside County

A polygamist who tortured, starved, imprisoned and beat his wives and children for decades was sentenced to seven life terms in prison Friday by a judge who said the man's "reign of terror" warranted the harshest punishment available. Mansa Musa Muhummed, 55, spoke before sentencing and denied ever mistreating his three wives and 19 children. "I never tortured anyone," he told Riverside County Superior Court Judge F. Paul Dickerson III. "I don't know where that came from."

Raymond Lee Oyler, the Beaumont mechanic convicted of setting the 2006 Esperanza fire that killed five firefighters, was sentenced to death Friday by a judge who said the serial arsonist had set out to "create havoc." "He became more and more proficient," said Riverside County Superior Court Judge W. Charles Morgan. "He knew young men and women would put their lives on the line to protect people and property, yet he continued anyway."

Health officials have collected mosquitoes infected with West Nile virus in Hemet and Murrieta, and in the Lake Skinner and Nuevo areas -- the second time infected mosquitoes have been found this year in Riverside County, according to health officials. The mosquitoes were found during routine surveillance by the county Department of Environmental Health's vector-control staff. The California Department of Public Health confirmed the presence of the virus Friday. No cases of West Nile virus among humans have been reported in 2008.

After barely a day of deliberation, a Riverside County jury on Wednesday returned a verdict of death for Raymond Lee Oyler for starting the 2006 Esperanza fire in the foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains that killed five firefighters, destroyed 34 homes and charred more than 41,000 acres. Firefighters and the families of the victims hailed the decision and said it offered a measure of justice for a crime they said had torn a hole in the fabric of their lives.

By all appearances, Rebecca Kuzelka used her home to operate a child day-care business on a quiet, tree-lined street in Lake Elsinore. But a different picture of the 55-year-old mother emerged after her home was rocked by an explosion late Wednesday night. On Thursday morning, deputies arrested Kuzelka and her son Grey Kuzelka, 21, on suspicion of using their home to make bombs and grow marijuana. Another son, Benjamin Kuzelka, 23, injured his hand in the explosion and was hospitalized.

A federal judge in Riverside said Monday that he was prepared to close a sprawling trailer park in Thermal within two weeks unless its owner presented a detailed plan to repair water, electricity and building code violations at the property that is home to 6,000 tenants. "If I get the feeling that this is not going to happen, I'm going to close the place down. I'll send out federal marshals, and that will be it," said U.S.

A woman accused of setting a fire that destroyed six trailers, rendered eight families homeless and resulted in the evacuation of a notorious mobile home park in Thermal was acquitted on all charges Friday by a jury in Indio. An emotional Guadalupe DeAnda, 52, sobbed uncontrollably as the verdict was read, said her lawyer, public defender David Prendergast. The case went to the jury Thursday.

A federal judge took partial control of the Duroville mobile home park Monday, appointing three overseers, including a former diplomat, to investigate conditions, make emergency repairs and temporarily take over all financial operations of the Thermal shantytown. U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson in Riverside could have closed the park but decided instead to give the experts two months to make recommendations. "After 60 days I want to be able to make an intelligent decision," he said.

Paola Montufar was well-known in her tight-knit, working-class neighborhood just off a busy thoroughfare leading to Pechanga Casino in Temecula. In the California Sunset subdivision, an area teeming with kids, neighbors got used to seeing the 15-year-old palling around with friends and her little brother, Rogelio, who was always by her side. "She was a very sweet, energetic, pretty girl. She was nice to everybody," said Irene Gonzalez, a neighbor and mother of some of Paola's friends.

The Riverside County district attorney and Sheriff's Department will join forces with the U.S. attorney's office to crack down on convicted gang members who return to the country after being deported, authorities announced Tuesday. Until now, county officials had to wait until a deportee who had returned committed a crime that fell under county jurisdiction to arrest and prosecute him. As part of the agreement, a Riverside County deputy district attorney will be appointed special assistant U.S.