Bel Air

BEL AIR—On Monday, April 15, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported an industrial accident transpired at 1 p.m. on 970 N. Moraga Drive. Officials arrived on scene to find one adult male trapped under a forklift.

There was a quick response from LAFD Crews including individuals specially trained, certified and equipped for Urban Search & Rescue operations. An adult male worker who was trapped beneath a toppled forklift that had been carrying steel rebar at a construction site, proved beyond medical help and he died at the scene.

LAFD personnel secured and stabilized the scene, as they prepared to assist the Medical Examiner with the discreet and dignified recovery of the victim’s remains. Details regarding the age and name of the victim has not been disclosed to the public. No other injuries were reported during the incident.

By Trevor

BEL AIR—On February 6, the threat of flooding and mudslides continues, as residents navigate through damage and debris causing evacuations throughout our coverage area. As of 7:19 a.m. (PST) Flash Flood Warnings remain in effect for Santa Monica, West Hollywood, and Beverly Hills until at least 10:00 a.m. (PST).

KTVU’s Steve Paulson updated some of the rainfall totals as of February 6, at 7:15 a.m. (PST).

The Sepulveda Dam has a rain accumulation of 12.36.”
The Bel Air Hotel, 12.28”
The Cogswell Dam which is located within the Los Angeles National Forest has seen rainfall accumulations of 12.13.”
Woodland Hills, 11.98”
And Malibu Hills at 11.70”

A photograph posted on social media platform X depicts young people using a floating raft in the flood waters. Some children are playing in the rain or mud while others still have suffered great losses including the lives of at least three people and an unsurmountable amount of property damage.

On February 5, the Santa Monica Police Department warned motorists of the shutdown of the big inline in Santa Monica. Mudslides have been reported across Los Angeles County trapping vehicles in the mud.

According to the National Weather Service, California can expect one more day of rain before the storm system begins to move east.

According to the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) posted the following message on X:

“The Atmospheric River that came ashore in CA continues to drench SoCal. Other parts of the West may see inches of rain/feet of snow, especially the southwest. South/Southeast and N. Plains look very wet too.” One other post from five days ago addresses drought conditions.

“Drought coverage in the US has significantly dropped this winter. 19.7 percent of the US is in drought compared to 22.9 percent last week….” No mention of the impact recent rainfalls has had on their previous drought predictions.

Canyon News reached out to one of the government entities watching drought conditions for clarification to see if recent rainfall and flooding would solve the recent alleged water shortage. Environmentalists watching SOCAL drought conditions previously predicted that current drought conditions would result in water restrictions and a water crisis.

Jason Ince from the public affairs office of California Water Resources responded with the following message:

“Southern California has seen significant precipitation over the past several days, bringing the region’s precipitation total for the season close to average. The Sierra Nevada snowpack, which provides significant water supplies for Southern California, also received a significant bump over the past week, from just 52 percent of average on January 31 to 75 percent of average today. While still below average, the snowpack’s improvement is a positive sign for Southern California water supplies.”

By Sharon

BEL AIR—Actress, singer and dancer Jennifer Lopez has sold her Bel Air property for more than $34 million, TMZ first reported on Monday, October 23. The actress first listed the property in February 2023 for over $42.5 million.  Lopez purchased the property back in 2016 for $28 million.

The home has a total of 9 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, a guest house, a gym, an infinity pool, an amphitheater that seats over 100 people and a screening room that seats 30 people.

The agent with the listing on Lopez’s Bel Air property was Brett Lawyer from Carolwood Estates. Jennifer Lopez recently purchased a home in Beverly Hills for $60 million with husband, actor Ben Affleck. The couple married back in the summer of 2022.

The actress got her start as a ‘Fly Girl’ dancer on the sketch comedy series “In Living Color” in 1991. She has starred in the films “Selena,” “Anaconda,” “The Cell,” “Hustlers” and recently the Netflix action-thriller, “The Mother.”

She has released a total of 8 solo albums during her music career including the singles, “If You Had My Love,” “Waiting for Tonight,” “I’m Real,” “Love Don’t Cost a Thing,” “Jenny from the Block” and “All I Have.” She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013.

By Trevor

BEL AIR—On Friday, May 12, the Los Angeles Police Department announced that three suspects involved in a triple homicide back in January 2023, have been identified. Dejean Thompkins, 28, Dontae Williams, 23 and Daries Stanford, 28 – all residents of Chicago, Illinois – have all been arrested and are awaiting extradition back to Los Angeles to face charges.

On January 28, at around 2:30 a.m., LAPD West Los Angeles officers responded to 911 calls about a shooting in the 2700 block of Ellison Drive. When officers arrived at the scene, they observed three victims – later identified as Iyana Hutton, 33, Nenah Davis, 29, and Destiny Sims, 26 – shot dead inside of a car outside of the residence. Four additional victims were wounded and transported to local hospitals. 

According to LAPD Robbery Homicide Division Captain, Johnathan Tippet, Hutton, Davis and Sims were life-long friends and residents of Chicago. The three victims were visiting Los Angeles in support of a Chicago rapper – whose identity was not disclosed – and were returning to their vacation rental after a night of bowling the night the incident occurred. Thompkins, Williams and Stanford – driving a blue four-door Tesla – reportedly approached the residence, and in an ambush-style attack, shot 30 rounds that killed the three victims and shot four additional victims, who all survived and whose identities are being withheld. 

Two semi-automatic weapons were believed to have been used in this incident.

The LAPD’s investigation connected Thompkins to another homicide investigation that occurred in North Hollywood, on December 16, 2022. Julian Bynum was shot multiple times on the sidewalk in front of an apartment complex on the 6800 Block of Simpson Avenue. LAPD did not disclose if Stanford and/or Williams were involved in this incident.

In both these cases the suspects used ambush style tactics on their unsuspecting victims, Tippet said. 

On April 10, Thompkins was arrested in Chicago. On April 26, Williams reportedly fled and was located in Gary, Indiana, where he was arrested. On May 10, Stanford was arrested in Manhattan, New York. 

The victims in the two homicides are not reportedly connected. All suspects and victims – both deceased and surviving – are residents of Chicago. Thompkins, Williams and Stanford are believed to be gang affiliated and reportedly live within miles from the neighborhoods in which the victims lived or are from. No further details were disclosed. 

LAPD Homicide detectives are unable to disclose the motive behind both homicides at this time, but believe that Hutton, Davis and Sims were not the intended targets. Bynum is believed to have been the suspects intended target.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Major Crimes Section, has filed four counts of murder against Thompkins and three counts of murder against both Williams and Stanford. All three suspects are also being charged with six counts of attempted murder and six counts of assault with a semi-automatic firearm. 

Additionally, the LA District Attorney’s Office approved filing enhancements against the suspects involved in this case. The investigation remains ongoing. 

BEL AIR—A home invasion in Bel Air that occurred on Friday, April 28, left an elderly couple injured. 

Just before 1 a.m. that day three to four masked suspects entered the residence located on the 1300 block of Casiano Road. The couple was watching TV when the suspects ransacked the home and tied the couple up. The victims are said to be a woman in her 60’s and a man in 70’s. They were both found with bruises. According to reports the male victim was struck several times in the head during the invasion which lasted more than an hour.

The couple’s son later arrived at the scene and discovered his parents. Both police and paramedics were on their way to the scene. They sustained non-life threatening injuries and were not required to be transported for medical attention. 

According to investigators the suspects got away with a large amount of cash but did not disclose the exact amount that was taken. 

The suspects have not been found and police are currently investigating the case. They are looking through the neighborhood to see if anyone has surveillance video of the attackers.

The suspects have been described as all male but other information that could help identify them has not been released. 

Anyone with information is asked to call the LAPD at 1-877-527-3247.

BEL AIR—The pilot who was found dead in an airplane that crashed on a hillside above a home at 3045 Beverly Glen Circle on Saturday, April 29, has been identified as 38-year-old Alon Inditzky of Woodland Hills. 

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, Inditzky was flying the small, single-engine Cessna C172 from Bermuda Dunes in Palm Springs to Camarillo when he made a last-minute decision to land at Van Nuys airport. Radar contact was lost about a minute or so later, Elliot Simpson, NTSB’s senior aviation accident investigator told KTLA5. 

By 8:09 p.m., Air Traffic Control notified the Los Angeles Fire Department that they lost radar contact with Inditzky’s plane and asked LAFD to search a foggy, “large swath of mountainous territory near Stone Canyon Road and Mulholland Drive.” By 11:20 p.m., the wreckage was located on a steep hillside and Inditsky’s remains were found at the scene. 

“No other persons were believed aboard,” said Brian Humphrey, spokesperson for the LAFD. 

There was no mayday signal or signs of distress before the crash, the NTSB noted. 

The preliminary investigation is expected to take 2 weeks and will include investigations into Inditzky’s qualifications, his recent history, his training, as well as the aircraft itself and its maintenance history. 

The wreckage still remained on the hillside as of Monday, May 1, KTLA 5 reported.

By Lacy

BEL AIR—One person was killed after a plane crashed on Saturday, April 29. Emergency services were contacted at 8.10 p.m.  after air traffic control lost contact with the pilot near Stone Canyon Road and Mulholland Drive.  The aircraft was flying over Sherman Oaks at the time. Officials with the Los Angeles Fire Department noted that the plane was believed to be flying between Santa Monica Airport and Van Nuys Airport when signal was lost.

The plane is a single engine Cessna 172. Helicopters were deployed to search the area until they were grounded at 10.20 p.m. due to foggy conditions.

“LAFD helicopters and ground crews searched the large fog shrouded region for nearly an hour before an LAFD helicopter localized a signal from an aircraft Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon,” said Los Angeles Fire Department Spokesman Brian Humphrey.

A signal was picked up in the Beverly Glen Terrace and Beverly Glen Boulevard area, but the exact location remained unknown. The pilots cell phone carrier was contacted by officials to help locate the plane.

Emergency crews located the airplane on a steep hillside above a home in the 3000 block of Beverly Glen Circle shortly after 11 p.m. The pilot was pronounced dead at the scene.

“LAFD responders have discovered one person deceased at the scene,” said Humphrey. “Though no other persons were believed aboard, a search of the immediate area will be conducted to confirm no other victims.”

The name and age of the victim has not been released to the public.

By Rob

BEL AIR—A Bel Air billionaire, gas station tycoon and an alleged former leader of the Armenian mafia – Lev Aslan Dermen, 56, also known as Levon “The Lion” Termendzhyan  – has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for conspiring with members of a Utah-based polygamist sect known as the Kingston Group, in a $1 billion renewable fuel tax credit fraud scheme, the U.S. Department of Justice released in a statement. After a seven-week trial, Dermen, Jacob Kingston, 46, Isaiah Kingston, 42, Rachel Kingston, 67, and Sally Kingston, 45, were sentenced by a federal jury in Salt Lake City, Utah on Friday, April 7. 

The Internal Revenue Service administers refundable tax credits in an attempt to promote and increase the amount of renewable fuel produced and used in the United States. 

From 2010-2018, Dermen – the owner and operator of Noil Energy Group, a California-based fuel company; SBK Holdings USA, a Beverly Hills real estate investment company; and Viscon International, a Nevada fuel additive corporation – co-conspired with Jacob and Isaiah Kingston – owners and operators of Washakie Renewable Energy – to ship millions of gallons of biodiesel fuel within the U.S. and from the U.S. to foreign countries and back to make it appear that qualifying renewable fuel was being produced and sold. Dermen and the Kingston’s created fraudulent production and transportation records and cycled over $3 billion through multiple bank accounts in order to legitimize their fraudulent tax claims. 

Rachel (Isaiah’s mother) and Sally Kingson took part in the scheme by backdating documents and creating fake invoices. As a result, the IRS ultimately paid out over $511 million in renewable tax credits to Washakie, which the Kingston’s distributed amongst their family, and to Dermen and foreign associates in Turkey. Dermen and the Kingston’s used the fraudulent proceeds to buy mansions in Huntington Beach, California and Utah, a yacht in Turkey, land for a planned casino in Belize, a 2010 Bugatti Veyron, a chrome Lamborghini and a gold Ferrari.

Lev Aslan Dermen (left) with Jacob Kingston (right).

Throughout the scheme, Dermen assured the Kingstons that they were protected by his “umbrella” of corrupt law enforcement and were immune from criminal prosecution. In exchange, the Kingstons transferred over $134 million to laundering companies in Turkey and Luxembourg.

Dermen was found guilty of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering. In addition to his prison sentence, Dermen is ordered to pay $442,615,520 in restitution to the IRS, and a money judgment of more than $181 million.    

Jacob Kingston, the CEO of Washakie, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, filing false claims with the IRS, money laundering and conspiracy to commit the same, obstruction by concealing and destroying records and conspiracy to commit the same and witness tampering, and was sentenced to 18 years in prison and ordered to pay $511 million in restitution to the IRS.

Jacob (left) and Isaiah Kingston, provided by Weber County Sheriff’s Department.

Isaiah Kingston, the CFO of Washakie, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, aiding and assisting in the filing of false partnership tax returns, money laundering and conspiracy to commit the same and obstruction by concealing and destroying records and conspiracy to commit the same, and was sentenced to 12 years in prison and also ordered to pay $511 million in restitution. 

Rachel Kingston pled guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit the same and obstruction by concealing and destroying records, and was sentenced to seven years in prison. Sally Kingston pled guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering and was sentenced to six years. 

The U.S Attorney’s Office and the Justice Department’s Tax Division will seize all assets acquired in what is described as “one of the most egregious examples of tax fraud in U.S. history.” 

This is not the first time the Kingston Group, also referred to as “The Order,” have found themselves in legal peril. Last year, there was a lawsuit against
the Group alleging unpaid labor, sexual violence and
human trafficking.
By Lacy

BEVERLY HILLS—The city of Beverly Hills indicated in a press release that the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) will issue a new Health Officer Order that requires customers to show proof of their COVID-19 vaccination prior to entering indoor bars, wineries, breweries, nightclubs and lounges.

Under the modified Order, employees and customers are required to have at least one vaccine dose by October 7 and both doses by November 4.

The New Health Officer Order will require workers and attendees at outdoor mega events (consisting of crowds over 10,000 people) to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours before working or attending the event.

Attendees at indoor mega events are already required to show proof of vaccination or a negative test prior to entry. These requirements will also apply to theme parks within the county.

While not required, LACDPH also recommends vaccine verification at indoor portions of restaurants to reduce transmission risk.

This announcement impacts businesses in the City of Beverly Hills. When available, theupdated Health Officer Order can be viewed at beverlyhills.org/coronavirus.

To find the nearest vaccination site, visit VaccinateLACounty.com or beverlyhills.org/covidvaccine. For questions about business impacts from the new Health Office Order, email businessrecovery@beverlyhills.org.

To stay updated on the latest COVID-19 news, visit beverlyhills.org/coronavirus or call the City’s COVID-19 Hotline Monday-Friday from 9:30 a.m. – 6 p.m. at 310-550-4680.

By Donald