Good Morning. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a shortage of a safe and adequate blood supply. Please join us for the LAPPL Community Blood Drive on February 14, 2021, from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Click here to schedule a COVID safe appointment to donate blood with the American Red Cross and help us save lives. 

A Los Angeles judge issued a preliminary injunction on Monday against Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, stating that he "cannot order his prosecutors to ignore laws that protect the public from repeat offenders." Judge James Chalfant's injunction will restrict Gascón from refusing to prosecute California's three strikes law and will restrict him from dismissing special circumstance allegations without legal grounds. "The District Attorney's disregard of the Three Strikes law 'plead and prove' requirement is unlawful, as is requiring deputy DA's to seek dismissal of pending sentencing enhancements without a lawful basis," the ruling reads. Just hours after he was sworn into office, Gascón announced several reform directives, including barring prosecutors from seeking the death penalty or filing most sentencing enhancements that can increase a defendants' prison term. The ruling is a victory for the union representing county prosecutors, the Association of Deputy District Attorneys for Los Angeles County, which sued Gascón over his new directives, arguing that they violate state law.

Homicide detectives asked for the public’s help Monday in identifying and locating two men involved in the fatal stabbing of a man in the Florence-Firestone neighborhood of South Los Angeles last year. The incident happened just before noon on Nov. 7, 2020, when a dispute between the men escalated into violence in the street on the 6700 block of Compton Avenue, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department said in a news release. Investigators believe two men pictured in a bulletin released Monday stabbed 31-year-old Lentrail Hicks before fleeing the scene in a 2005-2009 dark gray Toyota Prius. Hicks died of his injuries two days later, officials said. The suspects, described as two Hispanic men between 18 and 22 years old, were last seen in the vehicle heading westbound on 68th Street from Compton Avenue. Anyone with information about the identities of the suspects or the vehicle is asked to contact Detective Gail Durham or Detective Parga at 323-890-5500. Those who prefer to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.

Three people were arrested and more than 660,000 counterfeit items were seized in a search of a warehouse in downtown Los Angeles, where police also discovered three illegal assault weapons, authorities said Monday. While serving a search warrant at the warehouse in the 500 block of Towne Avenue, police "observed a manufacturing and distribution operation for counterfeit vape (cartridges) that included several well-known brands,'' the LAPD said. Other merchandise, including counterfeit hats, T-shirts, footwear and video games that were "in violation of recorded and registered trademarks'' were also seized. The more than 662,809 items would have totaled an estimated $7.1 million if genuine, police said. LAPD warned that buying phony merchandise can be a health hazard. "Manufacturers of counterfeit products are not beholden to the same rigorous materials and testing standards,'' the department said in a statement. "In order to prevent the risk of buying counterfeit, only buy from authorized vendors and directly from the manufacturers, and do your due diligence when researching the names and places of origin of your vape product suppliers.''

Police are seeking a driver who fled the scene of a weekend hit-and-run crash in Sun Valley that killed a 58-year-old man and were also seeking another motorist who gave the suspect a ride away from the scene. The accident occurred about 9 a.m. Saturday at the intersection of Coldwater Canyon Avenue and Roscoe Boulevard. LAPD investigators believe the driver of a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck ran a red light while traveling north on Coldwater Canyon and struck the driver’s side of a Morris Minor — a British classic car — that was going west on Roscoe. Harutiun Moukoian, a Glendale resident, died at the scene. Abandoning the Silverado, the driver was picked up at the scene in a silver Hyundai Tiburon, which had been following behind before the crash, police said. The Hyundai was later found abandoned nearby. “The driver of the Tiburon and the driver of the Silverado fled without identifying themselves or attempting to render aid to the victim,” according to an LAPD statement. Police asked anyone with information on the crash to call Detective Wade with the Valley Traffic Division at 818-644-8036.

The LAPD is asking for the public's help in finding a 3-year-old girl who they say was abducted by her father in January. Nevaeh Wisner was last seen Jan. 22 in the 10500 block of Antwerp Street in Watts with her father, Freddie Lee Wisner Jr., 40. Wisner Jr. is accused of going to the child's residence, taking her without consent from her guardian and not returning. A warrant was issued for the suspect. He was only allowed monitored visitation rights. "A protective custody warrant was issued for Nevaeh Wisner and an arrest warrant was issued for Freddie Lee Wisner Jr.," LADP said. Nevaeh is under the custody of the Department Children and Family Services. Nevaeh is described as Black, with black hair, brown eyes, weighs about 40 pounds and is 3 feet tall. Police say she has a medical condition and needs medical attention. The suspect is described as Black, with black hair, brown eyes and weighs approximately 220 pounds. He is about 6 feet 2 inches tall. Anyone with information is asked to call LAPD's Southeast Division at (213) 972-7828.

A man who was shot in the Florence area of the county died Monday at a hospital, and his killer remains at large. The shooting is believed to have occurred sometime Friday in the 1100 block of East 59th Street, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported. The man, whose name and age were not immediately released, “was transported to a local hospital by an unknown individual,” according to a sheriff’s department statement. Anyone with information on the case was urged to call the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.

A previously convicted real estate developer who induced victims to invest more than $1.5 million in a high-rise condominium complex in downtown Los Angeles that he falsely claimed to be developing was sentenced Monday to six years in federal prison. Mark John Chandler, 57, was also ordered to pay $1.7 million in restitution and serve a three-year term of supervised release following prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Calling Chandler a “financial predator,” U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson said the defendant had the ability to earn an honest living, but instead chose to “enrich himself at the expense of others.” Chandler, who was extradited from Vancouver, B.C., to Los Angeles two years ago, pleaded guilty in October to a single wire fraud charge. He admitted that from December 2009 to October 2011, he operated a scheme to defraud victims who believed they were investing in a high-rise commercial and residential property at 850 S. Hill St. In addition to soliciting cash, Chandler convinced victims to give him loans or obtain loans from others and give him the proceeds, and use their personally owned properties as collateral for loans he obtained, according to federal prosecutors.

A 29-year-old man was sentenced Monday to five years behind bars for using the internet to extort at least $150,000 from men in Los Angeles, Santa Monica and elsewhere who responded to online “bait ads” offering gay sex services. Over a period of six years, Tyler Buchanan purchased ads on Craigslist, Backpage and other websites that appeared to offer sex services for hire, primarily targeting gay men in multiple cities and states, including numerous locations in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Once a potential victim responded to Buchanan by contacting a listed phone number, the Nevada-based defendant would search online for personal information on the victim, then respond by text to elicit either conversation that was sexual in nature and/or an agreement to engage in a sex act for money, according to his plea agreement filed in Los Angeles federal court. After a text conversation that could be potentially embarrassing to the victim, Buchanan would threaten to disclose the texts — which often established the man’s sexual interest — as well as threaten to report the victim to law enforcement for solicitation of prostitution — unless extortion money was paid.

A San Francisco man who allegedly took part in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol as a self-proclaimed member of the far-right Proud Boys group was arrested by the FBI late last month at his family’s home in Texas. Officials identified Daniel Goodwyn, 32, through a series of videos, Instagram messages and Twitter posts as one of the Capitol rioters who charged through police barricades as Congress was certifying the results of the presidential election, according to an FBI complaint. Goodwyn was arrested in Corinth, Texas, on Jan. 29 and charged with knowingly entering a restricted building without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Goodwyn remained in custody Monday and is scheduled to appear in court Friday, an FBI spokeswoman said. It was not clear whether he had retained an attorney.

Health officials in Los Angeles County shared disturbing data involving our frontline workers. Los Angeles County Public Health director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said during Monday's briefing that the county is seeing 842 new COVID-19 cases from health care workers in the area. LA County also reported 2,741 new COVID-19 cases while seeing 93 new deaths from the virus across the area on Monday. The new numbers bring up the total number of cases across LA County to 1,149,064 while raising the death toll to 18,135. Officials also specified that Mondays tend to yield lower numbers "due to a lag in reporting." Monday's developments come as LA County will only administer second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine starting Tuesday, February 9 through the end of the week due to a shortage in the doses. County supervisors are expected to meet this week to discuss allowing the next group to receive vaccines, consisting of educators, teachers, childcare workers, food and agriculture workers and emergency responders.

Los Angeles County reported 4,860 new cases of COVID-19 and 193 additional deaths on Saturday, Jan. 6, and confirmed nine new cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. The number of coronavirus patients in county hospitals was 4,421, according to the state dashboard, with 28.8% of those people in intensive care units. The latest cases of MIS-C bring the total number of children infected in the county to 75, including one death. MIS-C is an inflammatory condition associated with COVID-19 and symptoms include fever that does not go away and inflamed body parts, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs. All 75 children with MIS-C in L.A. County were hospitalized and 44% were treated in the ICU. Of the 75, 32% were under the age of 5, 39% were between 5 and 11, and 29% were between 12 and 20. Latino children account for 76% of the reported cases, the department said.

Evidence is mounting that having COVID-19 may not protect against getting infected again with some of the new variants. People also can get second infections with earlier versions of the coronavirus if they mounted a weak defense the first time, new research suggests. How long immunity lasts from natural infection is one of the big questions in the pandemic. Scientists still think reinfections are fairly rare and usually less serious than initial ones, but recent developments around the world have raised concerns. In South Africa, a vaccine study found new infections with a variant in 2% of people who previously had an earlier version of the virus. In Brazil, several similar cases were documented with a new variant there. Researchers are exploring whether reinfections help explain a recent surge in the city of Manaus, where three-fourths of residents were thought to have been previously infected. In the United States, a study found that 10% of Marine recruits who had evidence of prior infection and repeatedly tested negative before starting basic training were later infected again.