Parole

Gov. Jerry Brown has revoked a 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. The O.C. Register is reporting that Brown overturned the decision of a state board last year 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 the inmate "does not genuinely understand or accept responsibility for his actions...

in Tujunga Glendale Police officers arrested eight people when they tried to detain a parolee. Officers in the burglary and auto theft bureau were sent to a home Tuesday evening in the 10200 block of Pinewood Avenue in Tujunga, where they stopped two men who were leaving. The officers asked the people inside to open the door, but they refused. Once inside, officers found two handguns, two loaded semiautomatic handguns, ammunition, a spring-loaded switchblade, another knife with a 2-inch blade, drug-packaging materials and what appeared to be methamphetamines.

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.

Despite reassurances from state officials that the thousands of inmates due to be released early from prisons will be low-risk offenders, Glendale and Burbank authorities say the state is abdicating its duties, forcing their officers to act as parole agents. Starting Jan. 25, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation was allowed to begin releasing inmates early in an effort to relieve overcrowded prisons, cut costs and reduce the burden on overworked parole agents.

Despite reassurances from state officials that the thousands of inmates due to be released early from prisons will be low-risk offenders, Glendale and Burbank authorities say the state is abdicating its duties, forcing their officers to act as parole agents. Starting Jan. 25, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation was allowed to begin releasing inmates early in an effort to relieve overcrowded prisons, cut costs and reduce the burden on overworked parole agents.

Even Glendale's stormy Saturday weather couldn't rain on the parade of the city's first Philippine Lantern Festival as several participants gathered at the Glendale Marketplace to carryout this longtime Filipino Christmas tradition. Despite the spurts of showers throughout the day, members of Kultura Philippine Folk Arts and the city of Glendale Arts and Culture Commission spent the afternoon crafting traditional Filipino parols — which are Christmastime lanterns — then marching through the streets.

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 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.

Mary O'Keefe According to Sgt. Tom Lorenz of the Glendale Police Department, around 3 p.m. on Thursday afternoon, a Glendale patrol officer was flagged down by a citizen who stated that he had noticed a white pick-up truck parked in front of a duplex in the 2800 block of Altura Avenue in La Crescenta with two different license plates. After investigating, the officer found that the vehicle identification number had been reported as stolen in Bakersfield.