Briefly In Public Safety

Death of woman ruled a suicide

A 38-year-old Glendale woman who was found dead in her car Monday morning committed suicide, police said.

The woman’s husband called police before 8 a.m. to report that he had found his wife dead in her car near Adams and Green streets, Glendale Police Officer John Balian said.

Responding officers found the woman in the car with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, he said.

“If it looks like it is a homicide, then obviously it’ll be a homicide investigation,” Balian said. “But at this point in the investigation, we are handling it as a suicide.”

Murder case against man is continued

A Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge postponed a preliminary hearing Wednesday for a Glendale man accused of fatally stabbing a 32-year-old Glendale woman in August.

Hector Marroquin, 23, is accused of laying in wait before stabbing Joanne Sarkis multiple times on Aug. 27 at the Glendale Windsor Club, a substance-abuse treatment center on Windsor Road. Sarkis was taken to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where she died as a result of multiple stab wounds.

Marroquin is eligible for the death penalty. The hearing was moved to March 12 in Pasadena Superior Court, Department B. Marroquin is being held without bail at Los Angeles County Jail.

Woman victimized in lottery scheme

A 54-year-old Glendale woman reported that she was bilked out of $5,000 in an apparent lottery fraud on Monday, police said.

The woman was walking to the Glendale Galleria when an unidentified man — who was about 25 years old, 5 feet 10 inches tall, 160 pounds and said he was from Ecuador — approached her and asked her to cash a lottery ticket on his behalf, according to a police report. He told her he could not cash the ticket on his own because he is an illegal immigrant, the report said.

The woman agreed to be taken to a Citibank branch, where she withdrew $5,000 and handed it over to the man, the report said.

The man, who was in a car, took the money and drove away.

This type of lottery scheme is fairly common, and criminals often team up to make themselves more convincing to their victims, Glendale Police Officer John Balian said.