Pictured: Joshua Hall after the riot.

CHINO -- An inmate at the California Institution for Men has pleaded guilty to a felony for helping to set fire to a barracks in the Aug. 8, 2009 riot at the prison.

Caris Lynn McDougald, 25, pleaded guilty Friday in Chino Superior Court to a count of unlawfully causing a fire. A trial in his case was under way, with a jury seated Thursday to hear the case.

McDougald's guilty plea was entered as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors that carries a six-year prison sentence, said Deputy District Attorney Anil Kaushal. McDougald is scheduled to be sentenced May 2.

A correctional officer testified during a preliminary hearing last year that he saw McDougald add paper and other flammable material to a fire that was set at Joshua Hall, which was destroyed in the blaze. The hall will cost about $1.66 million to replace, according to testimony.

The officer, Lee Rogers, testified that he recognized McDougald by his distinctive dreadlocks. Rogers said he saw other inmates adding material to the fire but was unable to identify them.

More than 300 inmates were injured in the riot -- dubbed a "racial disturbance" in a police report -- which lasted 12 hours after being sparked the evening of Aug. 8, 2009.

Pictured: Eileen Nicole Ponce-Orta and her daughter Alina.

LOS ANGELES -- A judge today dismissed a lawsuit brought against the city of Pomona by the family of a murdered woman whose relatives discovered her body inside an abandoned van.

Relatives of Eileen Nicole Ponce-Orta discovered her body on the floor of her van on Feb. 15, 2008 after Pomona police called her husband to pick up the vehicle, which was left beside Pomona Superior Court.

As part of an earlier missing-person's report for Ponce-Orta, her family members informed police that the van was also missing.

Joseph Gary Orta, a 37-year-old cousin of Ponce-Orta's husband, was convicted of first-degree murder last year for Ponce-Orta's slaying. The Azusa man was sentenced to 56 years to life in prison.

The lawsuit dismissed today was brought by the three people who discovered Ponce-Orta's body: her husband, Nicolas Ponce; her mother, Tracy Ponce; and her brother, Enrique Ponce.

All three claim they suffered emotional distress when they found the Covina woman's body, which was covered by sheets inside the van.

Tracy Ponce said this afternoon that the officer who found the van failed to search it before its release despite evidence of foul play. Ponce-Orta's purse was left on the passenger seat and its contents were dumped out, Ponce said.

"All the officer had to do was get his butt off the car and look through the window," Ponce said.

Ponce and the lawyer for the plaintiffs, Kurt E. Kananen, said they plan to appeal Judge James R. Dunn's ruling, which was made in the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles.

In explaining his ruling, Dunn said police officers are immune from civil liability for actions taken during missing-persons investigations, Kananen said.

"Of course we believe that his ruling was not correct, and, in more detail, we believe that he unfairly expanded the immunities for police officers for their negligence in dealing with regular citizens," Kananen said.

Though she disagreed with the judge's ruling, Ponce said her main concern was seeing Orta prosecuted for her daughter's slaying.

"Honestly, we're moving on with our lives," she said. "My granddaughter Alina (Ponce-Orta's daughter) is doing great. ... I'm thankful we had justice in the murder case."

RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- The prosecution rested its case today in the trial of two men charged with committing a string of armed robberies two years ago across the Inland Valley.

Jose Antonio Rivera, 36, and Cruz Rodriguez Vasquez, 25, are accused of robbing 20 businesses -- from Pomona to Fontana -- between June 2009 and October 2009.

The men primarily targeted mobile phone stores such as Metro PCS. Half the robberies occurred in Ontario, said Ontario police Detective Roger Planas, who testified today to conclude the prosecution's case.

Rivera, of Ontario, and Vasquez, of El Monte, were arrested after committing a robbery in Upland on Oct. 8, 2009 when an officer saw their car in the area and realized it matched the description of the getaway car used in prior robberies, Planas said.

Both men confessed to committing several robberies in interviews with detectives following their arrest, Planas testified.

"(Vasquez) told me he's been unemployed and he has a 20-year-old girlfriend he has a 5-year-old son with," Planas testified. "He has to help provide for the 5-year-old boy and the 20-year-old girlfriend, and he has bills to pay."

Jurors are expected to begin deliberating next week in West Valley Superior Court after attorneys in the case deliver closing arguments.

During the robberies, Rivera was armed with a handgun, while Vasquez acted as the getaway driver, said Deputy District Attorney Deborah Ploghaus.

The men, who met through work in Chino, stole on average about $700 from each store, with the highest yield being about $1,200, Planas said.

In addition to the 10 robberies in Ontario, Rivera and Vasquez committed robberies in Pomona, Claremont, Montclair, Upland, Rancho Cucamonga and Fontana, Ploghaus and Planas said.

The stores they robbed include Islas Tropical Fruits in Ontario, Aloha Grill in Upland, a Chevron gas station in Claremont, Red Hill gas station in Rancho Cucamonga, and a Zap Wireless store in Upland.

Rivera is charged with 28 counts of robbery and seven counts of attempted robbery. Vasquez is charged with 27 counts of robbery and eight counts of attempted robbery.

POMONA -- A retrial began this week for a 24-year-old man accused of shooting a man to death to avenge his brother's killing.

At his first trial, held in December, Joel Martin was convicted of second-degree murder for the Feb. 4, 2009 shooting death of Carlos Espinoza.

Espinoza, 22, was shot six times while waiting at a bus stop at Mission Boulevard and Buena Vista Avenue in Pomona.

While jurors in the December trial unanimously agreed that Martin was guilty of murder, they deadlocked on the issue of whether he used a firearm in the course of Espinoza's slaying.

Prosecutors opted to again take Martin's case to trial because the gun allegations, if found true, could lengthen Martin's prison stay by 25 years. Second-degree murder carries a prison sentence of 15 years to life.

Prosecutors allege that Martin shot Espinoza because he believed Espinoza was friends with the men who killed his brother, Miguel Martin, about two months earlier.

According to testimony in December from a woman who was with Espinoza during the shooting, a Chevy Astro Van pulled up alongside the bus stop at about 1:30 p.m.

A man in the passenger seat of the van briefly exchanged words with Espinoza before opening fire with a handgun, the woman said.

Espinoza was shot twice in the chest, once in the back, once in the leg, and once in each arm.

Before he lost consciousness, Espinoza told authorities that his killer was a man he identified by the nickname "Guero," whose brother had recently been killed.

Joel Martin later admitted to police that "Guero" was his nickname.

Detective Mark McCann testified today in Pomona Superior Court that based on Espinoza's statements, Joel Martin was the primary suspect in the killing.

But after Espinoza's death, Martin fled Pomona. His family said he moved to Mexico to care for his grandmother, McCann testified.

In March 2010, McCann learned that Martin's brother was living in Portales, N.M. The detective testified that he had a hunch Martin might also be living there.

When McCann asked federal authorities to search for Martin, his hunch was confirmed. Martin was arrested in New Mexico and extradited to California in early April 2010.

Deputy District Attorney Bjorn Dodd said he expects to rest his case against Martin on Monday, the next day the trial is in session.

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LOS ANGELES -- An alleged serial killer whose victims included a Claremont woman slain in 1986 pleaded guilty today to seven counts of murder.

John Floyd Thomas Jr.'s guilty pleas were entered in the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, who agreed not to seek the death penalty.

Thomas, 74, was sentenced today by Judge George Lomeli to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Thomas' prosecutor, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Rachel Moser Greene, said the decision to not seek the death penalty against Thomas was approved at the highest levels of her office.

She said that because of Floyd's advanced age and the lengthy appeals process for inmates sentenced to death, Floyd would likely reach age 100 before being executed.

A sentence of life without parole "achieves the same end, pragmatically speaking," as a death sentence, Greene said.

"He's going to be denied his liberty until nature takes its course," Greene said.

Thomas, dubbed the "Westside Rapist" in the 1970s while allegedly committing a string of unsolved rapes, was arrested two years ago after investigators obtained a sample of his DNA and found that it matched physical evidence from several unsolved killings.

Prosecutors eventually charged Thomas with seven counts of murder for slayings committed between 1972 and 1986. Most of the the victims, who ranged in age from 56 to 80, were also sexually assaulted.

Of the seven victims contained in the charges, only one lived in Claremont or the surrounding area, though authorities believe Floyd may be responsible for three other suspicious deaths and several unsolved sexual assaults there in the 1980s, when he lived in the area.

The Claremont killing for which Floyd now stands convicted is that of 56-year-old Adrienne Askew, who was raped and strangled on June 25, 1986 in her apartment at Bonita Terrace Apartments, 660 W. Bonita Ave.

The other six victims -- who were killed between 1972 and 1976 -- include three women in Los Angeles, two in Inglewood, and one in Lennox, an unincorporated community near Inglewood.

When Floyd's arrest was announced, officials from the Los Angeles Police Department said he may have been responsible for as many as 30 killings in the 1970s and 1980s.

Police said Floyd targeted older women who lived alone. He would break into their homes, rape them, then strangle them to death while obscuring their faces with bedding such as a sheet or pillow.

Floyd's DNA sample was obtained in October 2008 by investigators who were building a DNA database of sex offenders.

Floyd had twice been convicted of sexual assault, most recently in 1978 for the rape of a Pasadena woman.

Before his arrest in 2009, Floyd worked for the State Compensation Fund in Glendale. He had held his job at the agency since 1989.

ONTARIO -- An alleged pimp stands accused of committing numerous crimes against a 17-year-old girl and a 30-year-old woman who police believe he was grooming to work as prostitutes for him.

Tremaine Ulysses Smiler, 38, of Ontario, allegedly raped both victims and tortured them by burning them with a hot iron.

The 30-year-old woman's lips were disfigured when Smiler burned her face with a clothing iron, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing from an Ontario police officer.

Smiler's prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Karen Schmauss, said today that Smiler has been convicted of similar acts against women in the past, and could face life in prison if found guilty in his current case.

"If he's not stopped, he'll just do it again and again," Schmauss said.

Smiler remains jailed in lieu of $2 million bail at West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga. He is next due April 15 in West Valley Superior Court.

The 18 felony counts Smiler currently faces stem from alleged acts in July 2009 in Anaheim and Ontario.

The 17-year-old girl told police she met Smiler that month while both were living at the Econo Lodge in Ontario at 724 S. San Antonio Ave.

The girl said she and Smiler had consensual sex twice in Ontario before he took her to Anaheim with a prostitute, where the group spent several days in a motel.

According to Officer Ryan Ronveaux, one of Smiler's reasons for making the trip was to teach the 17-year-old about the prostitution trade.

"To observe how the prostitutes would flag down your John Does, each sex act that prostitutes do, how much it cost, and what exactly what went on with it," Ronveaux testified at a preliminary hearing in September.

While the girl and Smiler were in Anaheim, he allegedly used pliers to pinch one of her nipples and threatened to harm her and her family. He later forced her to have sex.

"You better make me happy, or your kids are going to get hurt," Smiler told the girl, who has two children, according to Ronveaux's testimony.

Later during their trip to Anaheim, Smiler became angry at the girl when he saw her talking to another pimp, Ronveaux testified.

"He plugged a hair straightener into an electrical outlet and heated it up," the officer testified. "... He proceeded to apply the hot straightener to the victim's pubic area."

The girl contacted police about three days after returning to Ontario.

On July 27, 2009, the 30-year-old woman, who was an ex-prostitute and transient, met Smiler at about 1 a.m. in the area of Euclid Avenue and Philadelphia Street in Ontario.

Smiler invited her to a nearby home where he was staying.

The woman said she worried Smiler was a pimp, but she accepted his invitation because she was desperate to shower and wash her clothes, according to testimony at Smiler's preliminary hearing from Officer Gregory Clinton.

While she was with Smiler at the house, he burned her butt and face with a hot clothing iron. Perhaps the woman's worst injury was a burn to her lips, which left them badly mangled, Clinton testified.

"It was burned skin," he said. "It was disfigured. Her lips were disfigured."

Schmauss said the victims' allegations are similar to Smiler's past acts of violence against women.

In 1998, he was sentenced to four years in prison in Victorville for torturing and sodomizing his girlfriend, who he accused of cheating on him. He burned the woman's nose with a hot iron, Schmauss said.

He was sentenced to five years in prison in 2004 for forcing a woman in Upland to have sex at knifepoint, Schmauss said.

In Smiler's current case, Schmauss said she doesn't expect to offer him a plea agreement because no offer would carry a sentence shorter than life.

"It's going to go to trial, because we're not making any offers," Schmauss said. "My offer is life in prison."

Pictured: Ethan Esparza

POMONA - The man charged with murdering 3-year-old Ethan Esparza in a drive-by shooting nearly five years ago targeted the home because he often received hostile comments and aggressive looks from a man who stood out front, according to court testimony today.

The accused shooter, 27-year-old Pablo Adame, didn't know Ethan, his family, or the man who often bothered him when he walked by the home in the 800 block of East Columbia Avenue in Pomona.

But he was "fed up" from what he perceived as harassment, and opened fire on Nov. 19, 2006 during a party at the house, according to testimony from Manuel Gonzales, a former gang associate of Adame's.

Of the estimated seven shots Adame allegedly fired from his Cadillac Escalade at about 6:20 p.m., one of the bullets struck Ethan, killing him.

The party at Ethan's grandparents' home was thrown to celebrate the toddler's fourth birthday, which would have come the day after his death.

Gonzales and other witnesses testified today in Pomona Superior Court during Adame's preliminary hearing, in which prosecutors must present enough evidence against Adame for the case to proceed to trial.

The hearing is scheduled to resume this morning.

Gonzales testified that the night of the shooting, Adame told him and other members of their Compton-based gang about the incident.

But Adame, who went by the moniker "Youngster," believed he'd shot the man who'd been giving him problems. He was apparently unaware he'd killed a toddler, Gonzales testified.

"He said he lit up on that guy that was messing with him," Gonzales testified. "That's what he said."

Two other victims of the shooting were called to testify today by the prosecution.

But Adrian Ramirez and David Diaz remained silent, and went to extreme lengths to telegraph their intention to not cooperate with authorities.

Ramirez, who was 16 at the time of Ethan's death, was shot in the hip when Adame allegedly opened fire. Diaz, then 15, was also allegedly an intended target but was not hurt.

The men, who are both serving prison terms, refused to raise their right hands to be sworn in to testify. They refused to give their names. They refused to respond to all questions from a prosecutor and a judge - even questions that seemed relatively innocuous.

Ramirez, who a detective said was an uncle or godfather to Ethan, has a tattoo on the right side of his neck that says, "RIP Ethan."

Yet he refused to respond when Deputy District Attorney Bjorn Dodd showed him a picture of Ethan and asked if he recognized the boy.

"Let me ask you this: Did Ethan mean anything to you? Are you afraid to answer that question?" Judge Robert Martinez said.

David Diaz, who is serving a 16- month sentence, also sat stone-faced when shown Ethan's picture.

"Do you recognize the child in that photograph? Yes or no? You're ordered to answer the question," Martinez said. The judge found Diaz in contempt of court and ordered that he serve five days in jail.

Ramirez was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murder for the 2009 shooting death in Pomona of Arthur David Perez, 25.

Pomona police Detective Dan Kono said after the hearing that the men might have remained silent because they fear retribution in prison.

"I just think they're in an environment where taking the stand and testifying might cost them their lives," Kono said.

At the time of the shooting, Adame was living in Pomona at his grandmother's house. He was originally from the Paramount area, but he moved to Pomona after being released from prison, Kono said.

According to detectives who investigated Ethan's killing, Adame's gang did not have any long-standing disputes with any Pomona gangs.

Adame's sole motive in the shooting was to respond to what he felt was harassment from members of a teenage tagging crew that hung out in front of Ethan's grandparents' house, Kono said.

Gonzales, Adame's former gang associate, was in custody and dressed in blue jail scrubs during his testimony. He is serving a 15-year prison term for assault with a deadly weapon and other crimes.

He testified that he left his gang and is now segregated in his prison's "special needs yard." He said his family members were relocated because of the potential danger they face for his cooperation with law enforcement.

"I wanted to talk to (police)," Gonzales testified. "It was wrong. Killing a little kid is not good."

Gonzales testified that two or three years ago, while he and Adame were both in Kern Valley State Prison in Delano, Adame approached him on the prison recreation yard and asked him to stay quiet about Ethan's killing.

Gonzales said Adame likely wanted to keep his responsibility for the shooting quiet in prison because killing a young child is a "no-no" among gang members.

"If people find out, it's going to ruin his (gang) career," Gonzales said.

Adame's sister, who asked that she remain unnamed, said in an interview that she believes Gonzales is lying about her brother's alleged confession. She said her brother would not respond so violently to taunts from strangers.

"It sounds ridiculous," she said.

POMONA - A 24-year-old man convicted of murdering a man to avenge his brother's slaying had his future prison sentence significantly lengthened today when a jury convicted him of a key "special allegation" that he used a firearm.

A jury of seven men and five women deliberated two days in Pomona Superior Court before unanimously agreeing this afternoon that Joel Martin used a firearm in Feb. 4, 2009 killing of Carlos Espinoza.

Espinoza, 22, died after a gunman in a passing Chevy Astro van shot him six times while he waited at a bus stop near Mission Boulevard and Buena Vista Avenue in Pomona.

Prosecutors allege Martin targeted Espinoza because he was friends with the alleged gang members who shot and killed his brother two months earlier.

The trial that ended today was Martin's second. At his first trial, held last year, a jury convicted him of second-degree murder but deadlocked on whether he personally discharged a firearm.

Prosecutors pursued a second trial in Martin's case because the special allegation carries an extra prison term of 25 years to life.

Second-degree murder carries a sentence of 15 years to life. With today's verdict, Martin now faces a prison term of 40 years to life, said his attorney, Antonio Bestard. Martin is scheduled to be sentenced April 26.

Police identified Martin as the suspect in the shooting based on the dying words of Espinoza, who told two officers that the shooter was a man he knew by the nickname "Guero," whose brother had recently been shot to death.

But after the shooting, there was no trace of Martin in Pomona. More than a year passed before Detective Mark McCann discovered that Martin was living with his brother in Portales, New Mexico.

When McCann interviewed Martin after his arrest, Martin denied his involvement before finally confessing that he was Espinoza's killer. He also acknowledged that "Guero" was his nickname.

In his closing argument to the jury, Bestard suggested that Martin's confession was false, and only contained facts about the killing that were gleaned from the detective's questions.

Martin's prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Bjorn Dodd, dismissed Bestard's theory as implausible.

"Why would he ever admit to being in that van or being part of it?" Dodd said.

Pictured: Ethan Esparza

POMONA - After hearing testimony for two days about the fatal shooting here of 3-year-old Ethan Esparza, a judge ruled today that there's enough evidence for the boy's alleged killer to stand trial.

Pablo Adame, a 27-year-old Paramount native, is accused of firing several shots on Nov. 19, 2006 at a group of teens gathered outside a home in the 800 block of East Columbia Avenue where Ethan's upcoming birthday was being celebrated.

Ethan, who was playing in the front yard, died after being struck in the chest by one of the bullets. He would have turned four the next day.

According to witnesses who testified during a preliminary hearing in Pomona Superior Court, Adame was upset over taunts and aggressive stares he received from young men who often stood in front of the home in the 800 block of East Columbia Avenue.

Adame was an alleged member of a Compton-area gang, and was living in Pomona at his grandmother's house after being released from prison.

Some of the young men who angered Adame were among the intended targets in the shooting, according to authorities.

Adrian Ramirez, then 16, was shot once in the hip area, and David Diaz, then 15, was fired at but not hit.

Judge Robert Martinez ruled this afternoon that prosecutors presented sufficient evidence during the preliminary hearing for Adame to stand trial on one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder.

Adame is next due in court April 19. He remains jailed in lieu of $4 million bail.

Among the witnesses who testified today was Ethan's grandmother, Maria Del Pilar Torres, who lived at the home where Ethan was shot.

She testified that at the time of the shooting, there were several small children playing in front of the home, including Ethan, who was playing with a small toy car his grandfather give him for his birthday.

Torres said she didn't have a view of the shooter. But she did recognize Adame in court as a man who would sometimes walk past her house.

"He would only go by," she testified. "I never saw him inside my house."

Torres began crying during her testimony when a prosecutor showed her a photo of Ethan lying in a hospital bed.

One of Adame's alleged gang associates, Ramon Magdeleno, was called to testify about Ethan's killing. He is serving a 10-year prison term in Oregon for attempted murder and was handcuffed during his testimony.

On the witness stand, Magdeleno denied he knew anything about Ethan's shooting. But after his denial, the prosecution played an audio recording in court that showed otherwise.

The recording was from a phone call that Madgeleno placed to his sister from Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario, Oregon after Detective Dana Kono visited him to ask about Ethan's killing.

He first asked his sister if she remembered "Billy" or "Youngster," both of which are nicknames for Adame.

He then said a detective from Pomona visited him that day and asked if he knew who shot Ethan. He told his sister he knew, but refused to assist the detective.

The final witness called to testify in the preliminary hearing was Detective Dan Kono. He said he interviewed Ramirez and Diaz - members of the "tagging crew" who often stood in front of the home where Ethan was shot.

Diaz told him that while he and his friends stood in front of the home, they often flashed gang signs "to passersby they didn't know," Kono testified.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA - After hearing testimony Tuesday during a preliminary hearing, a judge ruled that prosecutors have enough evidence for a priest's molestation case to proceed to trial.

Alejandro Castillo, the 57-year-old former pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Ontario, is accused of molesting a then-12-year-old parishioner in 2008.

Judge Colin J. Bilash ruled Tuesday that Castillo must stand trial on eight counts of committing lewd or lascivious acts with a child. One of the counts alleges the sexual contact was forcible, said Deputy Distrist Attorney Karen Schmauss.

The judge's ruling in West Valley Superior Court came following testimony from Ontario police Detective Mark Guski.

Castillo, called "Father Alex" by parishioners, is accused of molesting the boy at the church between October and December 2008.

Schmauss said Castillo offered to let the boy to spend the night at the church while he was playing soccer in Ontario. The boy, who is now 15, lives outside of the city, Schmauss said.

Castillo was arrested Oct. 25, 2010 at a parishioner's home in the 600 block of West Zenia Court in Ontario. Police began investigating the abuse allegations in July.

Castillo, who worked at the church for seven years before his arrest, remains free on $300,000 bail. He is next due in court April 28.

POMONA - A 28-year-old drunken driver who killed two of his passengers after driving into a tree last year in La Verne pleaded guilty today to two counts of murder.

Alan Michael McConnell of Covina entered his pleas in Pomona Superior Court after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors. A trial in his case was set to begin this week.

He is scheduled to be sentenced April 22, according to a news release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

McConnell's agreement with prosecutors carries a sentence of 15 years to life, which is half the penalty of 30 years to life he could have received if convicted in a trial.

McConnell is accused of driving into a tree in the median of Foothill Boulevard near Moreno Avenue at about 12:45 a.m. on Jan. 23, 2010.

Two of his passengers were killed in the crash: Telassie Dague, 22, and Renee Hardy, 20, both of Rancho Cucamonga. McConnell suffered only minor injuries.

McConnell's blood-alcohol content was measured after the crash at 0.15, nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08.

Before the accident, McConnell, Dague and Hardy had been drinking in the bar at the Chaparral Lanes bowling alley in San Dimas. They were reportedly on their way to another bar.

One of Dague's friends testified at a preliminary hearing last year that she pleaded with the group not to drive because all three were visibly drunk.

Before driving into the tree, McConnell collided with another car when he ran a red light at Foothill and Damien Avenue in La Verne.

The driver of the other car testified last year that McConnell appeared to pull over to the side of the road before speeding away at about 70 mph.

McConnell's car caromed off the curb on the right side of the street, then made a hard left turn across lanes into the median of Foothill, where it hit a tree, according to the driver of the other car.

McConnell faced prosecution for murder rather than vehicular manslaughter because he has a prior conviction for DUI.

LOS ANGELES - The key witness in a triple-murder case spent nearly the entire day today on the witness stand, detailing two killings she saw as well as the frequent beatings and rapes she allegedly suffered at the hand of one of the defendants.

The woman, a former Las Vegas resident whose name is withheld for fear of retaliation, testified during a preliminary hearing for three alleged Pomona gang members charged with murder.

Robert Caballero, 33, is charged with three counts of murder for the following killings: the Sept. 29, 2009 shooting death of Armando Vidana, the strangulation of Lorraine Minjarez on Nov. 5, 2009, and the beating death the following day of David Padilla.

Two other men - 28-year-old Pete Trejo and 20-year-old Andrew Valenzuela - are each charged with one count of murder for allegedly assisting Caballero in one of the killings.

Much of the Las Vegas woman's testimony in the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center bordered on surreal.

She said she was held captive by Caballero and kept awake for several consecutive days around the time Minjarez and Padilla were killed, when the woman was 18.

"I was with him at all times," she testified. "I wasn't to be left alone."

She said she was injected with methamphetamine against her will by Caballero, and was high for several straight days. Caballero was also constantly using meth, the woman said.

Caballero, her one-time boyfriend, allegedly beat her and raped her numerous times. He allegedly forced her to perform oral sex on a man who paid Caballero for the act.

Caballero also repeatedly threatened to kill the woman, and described in detail the various methods he might use to kill her, she testified.

But the woman seemed most shaken when describing her forced participation in the slayings of Minjarez and Padilla, who Caballero allegedly killed because he feared they would turn him over to police.

Caballero allegedly forced the woman to slice Minjarez's throat after he strangled her, and forced her to hit Padilla with a rock, she testified.

Caballero told her that if she ever spoke to authorities about the killings, she'd be equally guilty because of her participation, the woman testified.

The woman is set to retake the witness stand Thursday morning.

The woman and Caballero met in October 2009 at the Las Vegas apartment complex where they both lived, the woman testified.

She later learned Caballero was staying in Nevada to avoid police in Pomona, where he was wanted for killing Vidana, she testified.

They began a dating relationship about a week after meeting, and she agreed to travel with him to Pomona because she wanted to see her mother, who lived in the area. The woman said they arrived in Pomona on about Oct. 30.

During their visit they stayed at the homes of several of Caballero's friends. Caballero and his friends were constantly using meth, searching for meth, and committing crimes or begging to obtain money to purchase more meth, the woman said.

While Caballero, the woman and others were out searching for a robbery victim the night of Nov. 4, Minjarez, 32, reportedly told Caballero that she knew he shot Vidana, a rival gang member, and might turn him in.

The next day, Caballero traveled into the San Gabriel Mountains with Minjarez, the witness and Trejo.

Once the group reached an isolated spot in the mountains, Caballero strangled Minjarez to death, the woman testified. He debating aloud about whether to kill the witness, but opted not to.

Instead, he forced her to slice Minjarez's throat with a knife and urinate on her body, reportedly so that her DNA would be left on Minjarez's body, the woman testified.

"How does it feel to have committed a murder?" Caballero allegedly told the woman after Minjarez's death.

The next day, Caballero traveled with Valenzuela, Padilla and the witness to an area in Chino where train tracks pass under the 60 Freeway.

The purpose of the trip, as stated by Caballero, was to kill the woman from Las Vegas.

But once the group arrived under the freeway overpass, Caballero ordered Valenzuela to kill Padilla, the woman testified.

Caballero told Padilla he failed to place a phone call to cover for Minjarez's slaying, and he feared Padilla might be setting him up, the woman testified.

Valenzuela hesitated following Caballero's order to kill Padilla - both were members of the same gang - but Caballero gave him an ultimatum, the woman testified.

"Robert told him, 'It's either you or him,'" the woman testified.

Valenzuela began strangling Padilla, and Caballero ordered the woman to assist by beating Padilla with a rock. Before Padilla, 29, was dead, Caballero and the woman walked away to let Valenzuela complete the slaying, the woman testified.

Caballero was arrested the following day after police found him driving a car belonging to Minjarez, who had been reported missing.

The woman from Las Vegas was in the car with him, and authorities believe Caballero might have planned to kill her next.

LOS ANGELES - Anthony Caballero potentially faced the death penalty two years ago when he was charged with murder in connection with his cousin's alleged string of three killings.

But this afternoon he took the witness stand a free man, having accepted a plea bargain in which he admitted to a lesser charge in exchange for his testimony.

Caballero, of Pomona, testified that he didn't know his cousin planned to allegedly strangle a woman in November 2009 when his cousin asked for a ride into the San Gabriel Mountains.

The 25-year-old said he believed his cousin, Robert Caballero, was making the trip up Mount Baldy Road to party and possibly have sex. Two women and one of Caballero's male friends, Pete Trejo, came along on the daytime trip.

Anthony Caballero testified that he didn't learn the truth about Robert Caballero's trip until several days later, when he heard his cousin's name on the news and saw pictures on TV of the spot where he dropped off the group.

According to prosecutors, Robert Caballero allegedly strangled one of the women, 32-year-old Lorraine Minjarez, and with the assistance of Trejo buried her in a shallow grave near Mount Baldy Road.

Anthony Caballero's testimony came during a preliminary hearing for Robert Caballero, Trejo, and Andrew Valenzuela, three alleged Pomona gang members charged with murder in connection with three slayings in September and November 2009.

Prosecutors have charged Robert Caballero, 33, with three counts of murder: for Minjarez's slaying, for David Padilla's killing in Chino the following day, and for the Sept. 29, 2009 shooting death in Pomona of Armando Vidana.

Trejo, 28, is accused of helping Robert Caballero kill Minjarez, while Valenzuela, 20, is accused of killing Padilla - a member of the same Pomona gang - upon orders from Caballero.

The preliminary hearing, in which prosecutors must present evidence against the defendants for the case to proceed to trial, is set to resume Friday morning in the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles.

Anthony Caballero testified that his cousin called him asking for a ride home at about 8:30 a.m. the day of Minjarez's killing.

But when Anthony arrived at the house in Pomona where his cousin was staying, Robert suggested a trip into the mountains.

He promised Anthony Caballero that he'd be back in Pomona in time for Anthony to take his wife to the hospital that afternoon for a scheduled surgery, according to Anthony's testimony.

From the time he met with his cousin to the time he left him that afternoon, Anthony Caballero said he never suspected his cousin killed one of the women on the trip.

He said the group appeared normal, and Minjarez seemed to be in a good mood. She was singing during the trip into the mountains, Anthony Caballero testified.

He said the only passenger in his car who seemed abnormal was Robert Caballero's girlfriend. The woman, then 18, seemed like he was high, he testified.

It was shortly after 10 a.m. when Robert directed Anthony to pull over in the mountains on the side of the road. Robert Caballero, Trejo and the two women then set off east down a trail, Anthony Caballero testified.

Several hours passed and the group hadn't returned, so Anthony set off down Mount Baldy Road to an area where he got reception on his cell phone. He testified that he had to call his wife to explain he'd be late in picking her up for her surgery.

When Anthony drove back up Mount Baldy Road after placing the call, he saw Robert Caballero, Trejo and the then-18-year-old woman walking on the side of the road.

Anthony asked his cousin where the other woman was, and Robert replied, "Don't worry about her," according to Anthony's testimony.

Anthony Caballero's testimony verified much of the account of Minjarez's slaying given in testimony the last two days by Caballero's former girlfriend. She completed her testimony this morning.

LOS ANGELES - A judge ruled this afternoon that three Pomona men must stand trial for murder and other charges in connection with a string of three alleged gang killings two years ago.

The ruling by Judge Ronald S. Coen came at the conclusion of a three-day preliminary hearing in which prosecutors presented evidence linking the defendants to the shooting death of a Pomona man, the fatal strangling of a Covina woman, and the bludgeoning death of an El Monte man.

At the center of the case is 33-year-old Robert Louis Caballero, an alleged member of Pomona's 12th Street gang and the only defendant charged with three counts of murder.

According to police and other witnesses who testified in the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, Caballero shot and killed a rival gang member, 25-year-old Armando Vidana, in Pomona on Sept. 29, 2009.

Knowing he was wanted by police for Vidana's slaying, Caballero left Pomona and spent the next month in Las Vegas. He returned to Pomona a month later with an 18-year-old girlfriend he met in Las Vegas, according to testimony.

After arriving in Pomona, Caballero allegedly went on a weeklong methamphetamine-fueled crime spree in which he repeatedly beat and raped his girlfriend, participated in a robbery and shooting, and orchestrated the killings of Lorraine Minjarez, 32, and David Padilla, 29.

The other two alleged gang members charged in the case are 28-year-old Pete Trejo, who is accused of assisting Caballero in Minjarez's killing, and 20-year-old Andrew Valenzuela, who allegedly killed Padilla upon orders from Caballero. Each man was held to answer today on one count of murder.

Caballero and the other two defendants are eligible for the death penalty. Prosecutors won't decide until later whether to pursue death, Deputy District Attorney Bjorn Dodd said.

The three men are next due in court April 22. They have not been offered bail. Caballero and Trejo are jailed at Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles, while Valenzuela is jailed at the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic.

According to testimony today, Vidana, a member of the Cherryville street gang, was shot 8 times, including once in the head, in the early morning hours of Sept. 29, 2009.

Authorities tied Caballero to the shooting through ballistics testing, and through witnesses who said that in the weeks following the shooting, Caballero admitted he killed Vidana, according to testimony.

After Caballero returned to Pomona from Las Vegas in late October, he and his then-18-year-old girlfriend spent several days with many of Caballero's friends, family members and gang associates.

Minjarez, who was one of Caballero's friends, and Padilla, who was his cousin, came along with Caballero and his girlfriend when they robbed a prostitute the night of Nov. 4.

The night of the robbery, Minjarez told Caballero she knew he was avoiding police because of Vidana's killing, and she made a comment that Caballero believed was a threat to turn him in, according to testimony.

Because of her threat, Caballero allegedly strangled Minjarez to death the following day in an isolated area of the San Gabriel Mountains near Mount Baldy Road.

According to testimony from Caballero's former girlfriend, Trejo kept watch during the strangling, then helped Caballero bury Minjarez and cover the burial site with large boulders.

After he killed Minjarez, he allegedly directed Padilla to place a phone call related to Minjarez's slaying, according to testimony.

Caballero believed Padilla botched the phone call, and he suspected Padilla, an alleged member of the El Monte Flores street gang, might be setting him up.

The day after he killed Minjarez, Caballero allegedly recruited two other gang members - Padilla and Valenzuela - and asked them to travel with him to an isolated area in Chino under the guise of helping him kill his girlfriend.

But when the group of four - Caballero, his girlfriend, Padilla and Valenzuela - traveled to an area where train tracks pass under the 60 Freeway, he ordered Valenzuela to kill Padilla, according to testimony in the preliminary hearing.

Valenzuela at first refused, but Caballero allegedly threatened to kill Valenzuela if he refused to carry out the order.

Valenzuela then strangled Padilla with a shoelace and bludgeoned him with a large rock. The stone Valenzuela used was so heavy he could only lift it with two hands, according to testimony from Caballero's former girlfriend.

The day after Padilla's death, Pomona police arrested Caballero following a brief high-speed chase in eastern Pomona and western Montclair. He was driving Minjarez's car, a silver Dodge Charger.

His girlfriend was in the car during the chase, and authorities believe Caballero might have killed her next had police not located him.

Pictured (L-R): Orban and Jelinek.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- A former correctional officer has reached a plea bargain with prosecutors in connection with the alleged kidnap and rape last year of an Ontario Mills waitress.

Jeff Thomas Jelinek, 31, pleaded no contest to three felonies Wednesday after entering into an agreement that requires him to testify against his co-defendant, said Deputy District Attorney Deborah Ploghaus.

Jelinek's plea agreement carries a sentence of five years and four months, Ploghaus said.

Jelinek's co-defendant is Anthony Nicholas Orban, a former Marine and Westminster police detective who allegedly kidnapped a woman at gunpoint on April 3, 2010 in the parking lot at Ontario Mills.

Orban, 31, allegedly beat and sexually assaulted the 26-year-old mother for more than an hour in a parked car in Fontana, according to a police report and testimony at a preliminary hearing.

Though prosecutors do not accuse Jelinek of participating in the alleged assault, he was charged with rape and other crimes under the theory that he aided and abetted Orban by standing beside him during the alleged kidnapping.

And after the assault, Jelinek picked Orban up and tried to delete incriminating text messages from him, according to prosecutors.

At the time of the incident Jelinek worked at the California Institution for Men in Chino.

Jelinek pleaded no contest in West Valley Superior Court to an accessory charge, false imprisonment and assault with a firearm on a person.

The convictions carry a strike toward the state's three-strikes law, Ploghaus said.

The remaining charges against him -- which could have carried a life prison sentence -- will be dismissed at sentencing, according to court records.

A trial for Orban, of Irvine, is scheduled to begin Monday, according to court records.

When Orban was interviewed following his arrest, he told police he had no memory of the alleged assault. He also said he was taking prescription medication.

Orban's attorney and wife have said they believe the prescription medication contributed to Orban's actions and memory loss.

"There's no denying what happened," Orban's wife, Tracy Orban, said in a November TV news interview. "Something happened to his brain."

Orban's defense team is expected to call several expert witnesses to testify about the effects of the medication.

Orban's attorney, James Blatt, did not return a call seeking comment today. Jelinek's attorney, Ciprian Turcu, also did not return a call seeking comment.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- A jury found a 36-year-old Ontario man guilty of nearly three dozen felonies today in connection with a series of armed robberies.

The verdicts reached in West Valley Superior Court will likely result in a prison sentence long enough to keep Jose Antonio Rivera in custody the rest of his life, a prosecutor said.

Rivera and another man, 25-year-old Cruz Rodriguez Vasquez, are accused of committing about 20 armed robberies of local businesses over five months in 2009.

Half the robberies were committed in Ontario, while others occurred in Pomona, Claremont, Montclair, Upland, Rancho Cucamonga and Fontana, according to testimony during the men's trial.

Rivera threatened employees with a gun during the robberies, and Vasquez, of El Monte, helped during the heists and served as the getaway driver, according to prosecutors.

Rivera is scheduled to be sentenced May 5 by Judge Shahla Sabet.

He was convicted today of 28 counts of robbery and seven counts of attempted robbery, as well as numerous "special allegations" for using a firearm that will lengthen his prison sentence.

A different jury was seated to hear Vasquez's case. They are set to resume their deliberations Tuesday morning, said Deputy District Attorney Deborah Ploghaus.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- A 25-year-old man was convicted of 28 felonies this afternoon for participating in a series of armed robberies across the Inland Valley.

Prosecutors believe Cruz Rodriguez Vasquez will face a prison sentence of at least 20 years as a result of his convictions, which were reached by a jury after six days of deliberations in West Valley Superior Court.

Prosecutors accused Vasquez and another man, 36-year-old Jose Antonio Rivera, of holding up 20 businesses in a five-month period in 2009.

Rivera was armed with a handgun during the robberies, while Vasquez was responsible for gathering cash and driving the getaway vehicle, according to prosecutors.

"(Vasquez's) job was to basically take the money from the register," said Deputy District Attorney Deborah Ploghaus.

Half the robberies were committed in Ontario, while other robberies occurred in Claremont, Pomona, Montclair, Upland, Rancho Cucamonga and Fontana, according to authorities.

Vasquez, of El Monte, was convicted of 22 counts of robbery and six counts of attempted robbery.

On Monday, a jury convicted Rivera of all 35 counts against him -- 28 counts of robbery and seven counts of attempted robbery.

The men are scheduled to be sentenced May 5 by Judge Shahla Sabet.

Ploghaus said Monday that Rivera will likely be sentenced to a prison term long enough to keep him in custody the rest of his life.

Vasquez and Rivera primarily targeted mobile phone stores such as Metro PCS, according to police.

They also targeted Islas Tropical Fruits in Ontario, Aloha Grill in Upland, a Chevron gas station in Claremont, Red Hill gas station in Rancho Cucamonga, and a Zap Wireless store in Upland.

The men, who met through work in Chino, stole on average about $700 from each store, with the highest yield being about $1,200, police said.

The men were arrested after committing a robbery on Oct. 8, 2009 in Upland. Both men then confessed to detectives.

"(Vasquez) told me he's been unemployed and he has a 20-year-old girlfriend he has a 5-year-old son with," Ontario police Detective Roger Planas testified during Vasquez's trial. "He has to help provide for the 5-year-old boy and the 20-year-old girlfriend, and he has bills to pay."

FONTANA -- A man convicted in the fatal shooting in 2007 of Rialto police officer Sergio Carrera Jr. was sentenced today to 14 years in prison.

Krist Antonio Wiggins' sentence was the longest possible based on verdicts by juries, who convicted Wiggins of involuntary manslaughter plus a "special allegation" that he discharged a firearm.

Before Wiggins, 35, was sentenced by Judge Steven A. Mapes in Fontana Superior Court, he apologized to Carrera's family members and deflected blame for the Oct. 18, 2007 killing.

"I'm sorry about the tragedy and loss that has happened," Wiggins said. "I did not commit this crime. My condolences."

Carrera was one of several members of Rialto's SWAT team who entered Wiggins' apartment on West Cascade Drive to perform a search warrant.

Wiggins, who had skipped bail in Mississippi on charges of selling cocaine, fled into a bedroom as officers entered his apartment and later struggled on the floor with an officer.

During the struggle the officer's assault rifle fired three times, with one of the shots hitting Carrera, 29, in the face.

Carrera, a Moreno Valley native who'd recently moved to Beaumont, left behind a wife, a son who is now five and a newborn daughter who is now three, his family said. He worked at the Rialto Police Department for four years.

There were two trials in Wiggins' case.

At his first, a jury convicted him of involuntary manslaughter but hung on the "special allegation" that he personally discharged a firearm. A second trial ended with a conviction on the special allegation.

Carrera's family members said today that they believe the first jury erred when they found Wiggins not guilty of murder and instead convicted him of involuntary manslaughter.

"Wiggins deserves to be locked up for the maximum amount of time," Octavio Magana, Carrera's brother-in-law, said in a statement during the hearing. "He already got away with murder."

Carrera's sister, Shirley Carrera Magana, said her life has changed drastically as a result of her brother's death.

"I will never see my best friend again, nor will I have my only brother," she said.

After the hearing, the Maganas said they felt Wiggins' apology was insincere.

"Throughout the whole trial he would snicker, smile," Octavio Magana said.

Wiggins has been jailed since Carrera's death, and he was credited today with nearly four years of custody time which will be shaved off his prison sentence.

He's expected to be in prison for another eight and a half years, Carrera's family members said.

When he completes his prison term in California, Wiggins could be extradited to Mississippi to be prosecuted for allegedly selling cocaine.

After being arrested in that case, a judge lowered Wiggins' bail to $30,000 and he posted bond. He then fled the state to avoid the charges, according to authorities.

POMONA - Two men were sentenced to prison Tuesday after pleading no contest to several crimes in the shooting death of a 31-year-old Montclair woman.

Nelssa Tovar was shot and killed at a south Pomona motel on Feb. 28, 2009 by one of three alleged gang members who came to kill her boyfriend in retaliation for an earlier slaying, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing.

The man accused of shooting Tovar, 19-year-old Florencio Reyes, and another man who opened fire during the incident, 26-year-old Albert Martinez, both pleaded no contest in Pomona Superior Court to attempted murder and other charges. Their pleas came as part of plea agreements with prosecutors.

Reyes was sentenced by Commissioner Wade Olson to 29 years and eight months in prison, while Martinez was sentenced to 48 years and four months, according to court records.

Deputy District Attorney Bjorn Dodd said a plea bargain has been offered to a third man charged in the case, 33-year-old Cesar Sierra, though he won't know until April 26 - Sierra's next court date - whether Sierra wants to accept the offer.

"It sounds like there's a reasonable chance of that, but I have to wait until the 26th to see," Dodd said.

According to testimony at a preliminary hearing, Martinez was tapped by his gang to kill Tovar's boyfriend, Jorge Sandoval, in retaliation for the Feb. 4, 2009 death of Carlos Espinoza, who was shot at Mission Boulevard and Buena Vista Avenue in Pomona.

Martinez scheduled a meeting with Sandoval under the guise of collecting on a drug debt. He recruited Sierra and Reyes to come with him to Sandoval's room at Motel 6 on South Garey Avenue, according to testimony.

Tovar was sitting on the bed in Sandoval's room when Martinez, Sierra and Reyes entered. Martinez robbed Sandoval, then accused him of being involved in Espinoza's killing, according to testimony.

Sandoval ran into the bathroom when Martinez mentioned Espinoza. He closed the door behind him, laid down on the ground and held his feet to the door to hold it shut, according to testimony.

Martinez fired a handgun seven times into the bathroom door. All the shots failed to hit Sandoval. While Martinez was shooting, Reyes shot Tovar in the head, killing her, according to testimony.

Reyes later told Martinez and Sierra that he shot Tovar - whose killing was unplanned - because he didn't want to leave any witnesses, according to testimony.

POMONA -- A judge declared a mistrial this week after a jury deadlocked in its deliberations over the guilt of an 18-year-old man charged with murder and other crimes for an alleged gang killing in south Pomona.

Prosecutors accused Ramiro Hernandez of acting as the driver in a Dec. 19, 2009 car-to-car shooting in which the other driver, 21-year-old Edgar Silva, was shot in the head and killed.

Authorities have not been able to identify the gunman in Silva's killing.

At the conclusion of Hernandez's trial Tuesday in Pomona Superior Court, jurors declared they were "hopelessly deadlocked" in their deliberations over the most serious charges against Hernandez -- murder and attempted murder.

Ten jurors believed he was guilty, while two felt he was not guilty, according to court records. The jury found him guilty of a misdemeanor for possessing ammunition as a minor.

Hernandez is set to return to court Friday for a pretrial hearing. He remains jailed in lieu of $2 million bail at Men's Central Jail in Los Angeles.

A man who was with Silva during the shooting testified in a preliminary hearing that when he and Silva first saw the other car, a man in the front passenger seat flashed gang signs and the vehicle left the area.

The men saw the car a second time at about 9 p.m. near Garey Avenue and Philadelphia Street. The passenger fired about four shots with a handgun at Silva's vehicle, according to Silva's friend's testimony.