PUBLIC SAFETY
A 25-year-old man pleaded not guilty in Pasadena Superior Court Monday to starting a small fire several days before and six miles north of where the Station fire began, officials said.
Babatunsin Olukunle, who is a Nigerian national, was charged with one count of unlawfully causing a fire on forest land, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s detectives had been looking for Olukunle to ask him questions about the Lady Bug fire, which occurred Aug. 20 and was named after the Lady Bug turnout on Angeles Crest Highway.
U.S. forest firefighters extinguished the blaze before it could grow to more than an acre.
The firefighters had asked Olukunle to remain at the scene, but he did not, sheriff’s officials said.
Though authorities said there was no evidence linking Olukunle to the deadly Station fire, they still wanted to talk to him about it.
Two Glendale residents were indicted Wednesday on charges that they allegedly billed more than $1.4 million in false claims to Medicare through fraudulent medical supply companies, officials said.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles charged Edgar Srapyan, 26, and Mariya Bagdasaryan, 54, with conspiracy to commit health-care fraud for allegedly submitting false claims for power wheelchairs and accessories to Medicare from October 2007 to December 2008.
Bagdasaryan was arrested Wednesday morning, but authorities are still looking for Srapyan, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Srapyan and Bagdasaryan were among 18 other people who were indicted for allegedly bilking Medicare for more than $26 million, Assistant U.S. Atty. Vince Farhat said.
CITY HALL
Cocaine and marijuana use in Glendale is significantly higher than the county average, according to a preliminary report Thursday to a cross section of nonprofit, health and school district officials.
The Quality of Life Indicators report, which measures everything from water quality to infant mortality rates, culled data from a number of sources, including Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, the U.S. Census Bureau and the city’s own statistics, among others. The first report was released in 2002 after seven years of development.
