Parole

A man who shot a 17-year-old La Crescenta high school girl to death after her prom night celebration has been granted parole despite opposition from the Orange County district attorney's office. Paul Crowder has been in prison for nearly 20 years for fatally shooting Berlyn Cosman, a high-achieving student who had earned a college basketball scholarship to Missouri Western State University. Crowder was granted parole last year but then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reversed that decision.

Amber Willard LOS ANGELES -- A Los Angeles man who was convicted of conspiring with a Glendale woman to kill another woman was sentenced Monday to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Roberto Felix, 31, was convicted by a jury in March of the conspiracy, as well as attempted murder and soliciting a murder. The Glendale woman, Rosa Maldonado, was sentenced last month to life in prison with the possibility of parole on the same charges. Maldonado hired Felix to shoot the wife of her lover in 1999, prosecutors said.

Gretchen Hoffman A felon wanted on suspicion of violating his parole holed himself up inside a home, forcing the evacuation of nearby residents to an elementary school, Glendale Police said. Officers went to the home in the 1300 block of Highland Avenue about 3:05 p.m. Saturday, but the 29-year-old Glendale man refused to come out, Officer Leticia Chang said. Members of the department's Special Response Team and crisis negotiators were called to the scene, and residents were evacuated to Mark Keppel Elementary School.

GLENDALE ? A 56-year-old homeless man on parole for rape was arrested on Tuesday night after allegedly making a lewd remark to two underage girls waiting for a train at the Glendale Transit Center, police said. Harold Robert Fuller was arrested on suspicion of child annoyance just after 9 p.m. for allegedly telling the two 16-year-olds to get on top of his body, Glendale Police Officer John Balian. "I saw this ? transient walk up toward them with a shopping cart, and as he got near them, he leaned over and I heard him breathing really heavily," Glendale Police Officer Dean Hess said.

These were taken from the Glendale Police Department: AREA 1   300 block of West Colorado Street Lonnie Jones, 51, was arrested Jan. 13 on suspicion of violating parole, burglary and petty theft with priors.   1300 block of South Brand Boulevard Miguel Lopez, 56, was arrested Jan. 13 on suspicion of violating parole and making threats.   1500 block of Dixon Street John Garcia, 39, was arrested Jan. 13 on suspicion of making threats.

GLENDALE — The early release of certain inmates imprisoned for domestic abuse has prompted members of the city’s Commission on Status of Women to urge victims to take a stand in protecting themselves. With April being Sexual Assault Awareness Month, commission Chairwoman Paula Devine said the message is critical given that the thousands of “low-risk” inmates who have been released early from prison without parole supervision. “They are coming into our area,” she said.

PASADENA ? A Superior Court judge sentenced a Glendale man to 15 years to life in state prison Friday for setting a fire that killed his 94-year-old grandmother last March. Antranik Khajarian was found guilty last month of second-degree murder, arson causing great bodily injury, arson to an inhabited structure and possession of a flammable material in connection with a fire that killed his grandmother Arpine Demerjian on March 1 at the family's Wonderview Drive home. Before serving the sentence for the murder charge, Khajarian will first have to serve a five-year sentence for the arson to an inhabited structure charge, which includes a two-year sentence for the possession of a flammable material charge, Deputy Dist.

Paul M. Anderson LOS ANGELES -- A former California Highway Patrol dispatcher was convicted Wednesday of first-degree murder in the brutal slaying of his ex-girlfriend. Jurors took just more than a day to reach the verdict against Anthony Roy Shivers. His guilt was never in question since Deputy Public Defender Alan Gelfand conceded his client killed Glendale resident Jeanette Cohen on Aug. 10, 1997. What was at issue was whether Shivers was guilty of first- or second-degree murder.

Glendale police arrested five people June 24 on charges ranging from parole violations, warrants and suspicion of possession of narcotic paraphernalia at a home in the 3700 block of Hillway Drive in the Whiting Woods area of Glendale. "We have had a number of complaints by neighbors of disturbances and the people who lived there," Glendale Police Department Sgt. Tom Lorenz said. According to police reports, a black and white police car was driving in the area last Saturday morning.

Man arrested for allegedly exposing himself near school SOUTHWEST GLENDALE -- A 46-year-old Los Angeles man was being held without bail Wednesday on suspicion of violating his parole by exposing himself on a sidewalk near Edison Elementary School, authorities said. Ruben Ochoa, 45, was arrested Monday in the 600 block of South Pacific Avenue after a woman flagged down a Glendale Police officer to complain about him. The woman reported that Ochoa was standing on a sidewalk with his pants down and his hands in his underwear, according to police reports.

A 36-year-old man was sentenced Thursday to life in prison for kidnapping a Burbank woman in 2006 and raping her in a Glendale hotel room , officials said. Edward Nikolayan must also serve six to eight years concurrently for the additional charges of drugging, raping and assaulting the woman. “He treated her like a piece of meat,” Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Brook White said during Nikolayan's sentencing. “She could have died.” Nikolayan won't be eligible for parole for at least seven years and will be required to register as a sex offender.

For the second time, Gov. Jerry Brown has reversed a state decision to grant parole to a 39-year-old man who killed a 17-year-old Crescenta Valley High School student nearly 21 years ago. In his March 16 decision, Brown stated that Paul Crowder, who is serving 15 years to life plus four years for killing Berlyn Cosman, has not showed remorse for the death following a post-prom party. Brown also contended Crowder continues to pose “a danger to society if released from prison.” “His failure to accept responsibility by minimizing his culpability for the murder casts doubt over his claims of remorse and indicates that he has not truly learned from his mistakes,” Brown stated in his decision.

Gov. Jerry Brown has revoked a 2010 decision to grant parole to a man who in 1991 shot and killed a 17-year-old Crescenta Valley High School student on prom night, essentially upholding the same decision made by his predecessor. In the three-page letter issued Nov. 4, Brown overturned a June 2010 state board decision to grant parole to 39-year-old Paul Crowder - who is serving 15 years to life, plus four years for killing Berlyn Cosman - after determining that he “currently poses a danger to society if released.” The same parole decision had been reversed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, but the Los Angeles County Superior Court overturned his ruling and sent it back for Brown's consideration.

Family members of a 17-year-old Crescenta Valley High School student shot to death in 1991 say they disagree with her father's support of a state decision to grant parole to her killer. Mark Cosman wrote in support of granting parole to his daughter's killer, Paul Crowder, a blessing that factored heavily in the decision of the state parole board's recommendation. But other family members of the slain girl, Berlyn Cosman, say they were never consulted and have initiated a letter-writing campaign to the governor in an effort to stop Crowder's release.

A man who shot a 17-year-old La Crescenta high school girl to death after her prom night celebration has been granted parole despite opposition from the Orange County district attorney's office. Paul Crowder has been in prison for nearly 20 years for fatally shooting Berlyn Cosman, a high-achieving student who had earned a college basketball scholarship to Missouri Western State University. Crowder was granted parole last year but then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reversed that decision.

The decision to grant parole to a 39-year-old man who in 1991 shot and killed a 17-year-old Crescenta Valley High School student on prom night was met with muted public reaction Thursday. Attempts to reach the family of Berlyn Cosman - who was shot June 1, 1991, as she slept in her room after a prom night party at the Sterling Crown Suites Hotel in Anaheim - were unsuccessful, and community members who've been involved in the safe-prom cause since her death declined to comment on the parole decision, which was issued Wednesday.

GLENDALE — A former Glendale police officer and attorney convicted of seducing young girls online was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of violating the terms of his parole, including possessing computers, officials said. Parole agents took convicted sex offender Arthur Crabtree, 49, into custody during a routine parole compliance search after they found two laptop computers and other suspicious material in his east Glendale home, said James Symington III, the Los Angeles area parole administrator for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

A 52-year-old parolee was sentenced Wednesday to two years in state prison for pilfering hundreds of dollars from charitable donation boxes at Catholic churches in Glendale and Burbank. Peter Manuel Galindro, who has remained in custody since being arrested on Jan. 10, pleaded no contest to two felony counts of burglary. He was also sentenced to three years parole. Stacked against him was Galindro's criminal record that dates back more than 20 years, said Los Angeles County Deputy District Atty.

GLENDALE — The early release of certain inmates imprisoned for domestic abuse has prompted members of the city’s Commission on Status of Women to urge victims to take a stand in protecting themselves. With April being Sexual Assault Awareness Month, commission Chairwoman Paula Devine said the message is critical given that the thousands of “low-risk” inmates who have been released early from prison without parole supervision. “They are coming into our area,” she said.