SANTA MONICA CRIME WATCH

Arraignment for Suspect in Samo Scuffle

Police said that on April 8, 2014 Mr. Blair Moore was arraigned at the West Los Angeles Airport Court for the assault incident that occurred at santa monica high school on April 4, 2014. He was charged with: 2 counts of 71 (a) PC, threatening a public school official, 1 count of 626.10(a) (2) PC, possession of a box cutter on school grounds, 1 count of 11357 (d) H&S, possession of less than 28.5 grams of marijuana on school grounds, and 1 count of 242/243.6 PC, force or violence against a school employee in retaliation for an act performed in the course of his or her duties.

All charges filed were misdemeanors. Moore pled not guilty to all charges, and was released on his own recognizance (OR) with an order not to harass, strike, threaten, or assault the victims named in the case. A pretrial hearing was set for April 21, 2014.

8 Months More for Escapee

An inmate who walked out of a downtown Los Angeles jail by impersonating another inmate and then spent three weeks on the lam pleaded no contest Thursday to one count of escape.

Christopher Lee Brown, 37, is expected to be sentenced to eight months in prison -- on top of his original sentence of four years and eight months -- when he returns to court next week, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said. Rather than serve his time in county jail as originally ordered, prosecutors said Brown would instead be sentenced to state prison.

Brown escaped from the Twin Towers Correctional Facility the night of March 12, just hours after he was sentenced to more than four years in jail for stealing computer equipment from an Alhambra medical center. He was in the jail's Inmate Reception Center about 10 p.m. when he somehow "impersonated another inmate" and walked out a "release area door," the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said in a statement.

Jail officials did not discover Brown was missing until later that night, when a count "revealed the inmate was not where he was supposed to be," the statement said. The jail was searched but closed-circuit television footage showed Brown "leaving through the release area."

Sheriff's Cmdr. Mike Parker pointed to a lapse in security, saying it "appears that mandated security practices may not have been followed." He said the "identified security concerns were immediately remedied."

Brown was found three weeks later outside a youth and family center in Santa Monica, sheriff's officials said.

Authorities said he was taken into custody without incident by Santa Monica police.

SMPD to Conduct DUI Checkpoint Friday

The Santa Monica Police Department's Traffic Unit will be conducting a DUI/Driver's License Checkpoint on April 18, 2014, at an undisclosed location within the city limits between the hours of 7:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m.

Officers will be looking for signs of alcohol and/or drug impairment, along with proper licensing credentials. Police say this will only result in a momentary delay for motorists. When possible, specially trained officers will be available to evaluate those suspected of drug-impaired driving. Recent statistics reveal that 30 percent of drivers in fatal crashes had one or more drugs in their systems, Police said A study of active drivers showed more tested positive for drugs that may impair driving (14 percent) than did for alcohol (7.3 percent). Of the drugs, marijuana was most prevalent, at 7.4 percent, slightly more than alcohol.

Sex Offender in Wheelchair Arrested

A 36-year-old registered sex offender from Stockton, CA with a no-bail parole warrant was arrested on Friday, April 4 after bringing attention to himself in the form of blocking traffic in downtown Santa Monica while in a wheelchair.

Officers of the Santa Monica Police Department received a call from a number of motorists who had complained a man in a wheelchair was blocking the roadway in the area of Fourth Street and Broadway at 5:40 am on this day.

The officers sped to this location to investigate. Upon arrival the officers discovered the man in the wheelchair. The officers tried to speak with him only to find he was very belligerent and incoherent. They noticed saliva was flying off his lips as he spoke.

Due to the demeanor of this individual the officers suspected he was either intoxicated, mentally unstable, or both. The officers ran a computer check on him and discovered he was also a registered sex offender who was wanted on a no-bail parole warrant out of the City of Stockton, California.

The officers arrested him and he was held on a no-bail parole hold.