Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office

Aug 19 2011

Overcharging customers

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—CVS will pay $2 million to settle a consumer protection lawsuit accusing the company of overcharging customers for sale items and engaging in misleading advertising, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced today.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis signed a final judgment this week under which CVS/pharmacy Inc. agreed to pay $1.2 million in civil penalties and $420,000 in investigative costs and contribute $300,000 to the state’s Department of Measurement Standards.

May 26 2011

Follow-up on 2006 action

In the wake of a predawn raid accompanied by flash grenades, tear gas, rubber bullets and conducted by a joint task force of federal, state and local law enforcement officials last Thursday, a spokesperson for the United States attorney general’s office said 21 alleged members and associates of the Black P-Stone gang were arraigned in federal court and trial dates have been set.

Apr 1 2011

John Floyd Thomas Jr.

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A 74-year-old man pleaded guilty today to the sexually motivated killings of seven women in the Southland during the 1970s and '80s and was immediately sentenced to seven life prison terms, one without the possibility of parole.

John Floyd Thomas Jr.—nicknamed the Westside Rapist—pleaded guilty to seven counts of first-degree murder involving victims who ranged in age from 56 to 80 years old.

Gregg Reese  |   OW Staff Writer
Mar 31 2011

Charged with 11 murders

 Trial proceedings for alleged “Grim Sleeper” defendant Lonnie David Franklin Jr. accelerated this past Thursday when Superior Court Judge Patricia M. Schnegg unsealed an indictment from the Los Angeles County Grand Jury.

This, in turn, paved the way for Franklin’s arraignment, where he was formally charged with the murders of at least 11 victims, most them young Black women, over a 20-year period, from 1985 to 2007. A twelfth victim survived after being raped and shot in November of 1988.

Oct 29 2010

Possession of Ecstasy

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.—Rapper/actor T.I.'s wife was charged today with a misdemeanor drug possession count stemming from the couple's arrest last month in West Hollywood.

Tameka Dianne Cottle, 35, is scheduled to be arraigned Monday at the Beverly Hills courthouse, according to Jane Robison of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

The criminal complaint charges Cottle with a single count of possession of Ecstasy.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.