Valley News: North Hills Killing Unsolved

Burbank

A 70-year-old Burbank man was charged today with murder for allegedly killing his 65-year-old wife by beating her in the head with a
chair leg.

Joseph Robert Brancato appeared briefly in Pasadena Superior Court, but his arraignment was rescheduled for July 21 in downtown Los Angeles. He remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail.

North Hills

The following alert was sent out by the LAPD Mission Division:

Los Angeles. Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Mission Area gang detectives are looking for two to three suspects involved in a gang-related shooting last month.

On June 18, 2011, shortly after 8 p.m., an 18-year-old Hispanic male left an apartment complex in the 8400 block of Langdon Avenue in North Hills and confronted a suspect who was vandalizing the front of an apartment building. While he was speaking with the tagger, a second suspect approached and began shooting at him with an unknown caliber handgun, striking him in the torso. The victim then took cover behind a cement planter, and the two suspects ran to a waiting truck and left the area.

The suspects are described as follows: Suspect one, who shot the victim, is described as a 20- to 25-year-old Hispanic male with a shaved head. He stands between 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs about 225 pounds. Suspect two, who was tagging the apartment building, is described as a 17- to 20-year-old Hispanic male with black hair. He stands about 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs about 120 pounds. It is unclear from the video footage if there is a third male Hispanic suspect or if suspects one or two drove the truck.

At the time of the incident, the victim was taken to a local hospital in critical condition. He is now listed in stable condition.

**Video surveillance footage showing the suspects and their truck is available at www.lapdtv.org**

Anyone with information about this crime is urged to call LAPD Mission Area gang detectives at  (818) 838-9932. During non-business hours or on weekends, calls should be directed to the Mission Area watch commander at (818) 838-9820 or to 1-877-LAPD-24-7. Anyone wishing to remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477). Tipsters can also contact Crime Stoppers by texting to phone number 274637 (C-R-I-M-E-S on most keypads) with a cell phone. All text messages should begin with the letters “LAPD.” Tipsters may also go to www.LAPDOnline.org, click on "webtips" and follow the prompts.

Woodland Hills

The co-owners of several medical supply stores were convicted of attempting to con Medicare out of about $20 million by using phony
claims for equipment and in-home nursing services that typically were not provided to beneficiaries, federal prosecutors said today.

Evans Oniha, 49, of Rancho Palos Verdes was convicted late Thursday in Los Angeles federal court of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, four counts of health care fraud and one count of false statements relating to health care matters, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.  

His partner, 50-year-old Camillus Ehigie, who co-owned and operated the stores in Culver City, Lawndale and Woodland Hills, pleaded guilty Tuesday to multiple health care fraud charges in connection with the scheme.

Granada Hills

Two former bank employees, a mortgage broker and
three others are facing federal charges stemming from their alleged involvement in a mortgage fraud scheme in which bogus loan applications and bribery were used to con lenders out of about $4 million, prosecutors said today.

Anthony Lewis, 38, of the San Fernando Valley, Maria Arriaza, a 33-year-old former escrow officer from Palmdale, and 36-year-old Deon Jackson, a mortgage broker from Gardena, are charged with wire fraud and conspiracy, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Jennifer Le, 29, an ex-loan processor from the South Bay, is charged
with conspiracy. Matthew Balsz, a 31-year-old former U.S. Bank employee from the South Bay, and 34-year-old Freddy Lentz, a former Bank of America employee from the Antelope Valley, are charged with accepting bribes to assist the scheme, federal prosecutors said.

The U.S. Attorney's Office alleges that Lewis and co-conspirators
obtained about $4 million from various financial institutions by lying on loan applications used to purchase homes in the names of straw buyers.

Lewis found houses for sale, and gave bogus loan applications to Jackson and Le for processing, prosecutors allege.

As a mortgage broker, Jackson allegedly reviewed the documents and told Lewis what further information was necessary to qualify straw borrowers for loans. Lewis then obtained fake bank statements and other forms, while Jackson and Le submitted the phony loan applications to lenders, prosecutors allege.

Once the loans were approved and the funds wired to Arriaza's Diamond Clear Escrow in Granada Hills, she disbursed money intended for the purported buyers to co-conspirators at Lewis' orders, prosecutors allege.  

In order to conceal the true nature of the disbursements, Arriaza
allegedly prepared false settlement statements.

Le, Balsz and Lentz are expected to make their initial Los Angeles
federal court appearances on Monday.

-- The City News Service contribued to this report.