Apartment Choice

A 19-year-old Centralia man is facing a charge of first-degree arson after he allegedly removed smoke detectors from his apartment and lit a fire, according to court documents .   Kelsey T. Rasmussen, 19, made his first appearance on the class A felony charge Thursday in Lewis County Superior Court .   Despite his lack of criminal history, Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Paul Masiello asked Superior Court Judge Andrew Toynbee to impose $50,000 bail in the case, saying Rasmussen admitted to lighting the fire and intentionally removing smoke detectors .   Toynbee imposed the bail amount, saying Rasmussen poses a “serious risk to community safety.” According to court documents , crews from the Riverside Fire Authority responded to a report of a fully- involved structure fire at 8:55 p.m. Wednesday in the 1200 block of Windsor Avenue.   They arrived to find smoke coming from the top floor of a two- story home converted into a duplex.   Officers from the Centralia Police Department ...

In June, Crystal Tenner said, a neighbor introduced her to a friend of his and said the man would be living in her apartment to provide protection . The friend, Franco "Beast" Ochoa, stayed with Tenner for two days. During that time, he beat her, sliced her with a machete and set her apartment on fire, according to court documents . Ochoa, 50, and his 42-year-old wife, Amalia Lopez, who Tenner said was present and participated in at least one assault, are charged with crimes including torture and face life in prison if convicted. Each is being held on $1 million bail. According to newly released court documents , Tenner, interviewed by sheriff's investigators while recovering from her injuries, said the neighbor introduced her to Ochoa on June 23. She let Ochoa inside her apartment in the 300 block of Troy Street because he was "being nice" to her. Once inside, his demeanor changed. Tenner said Ochoa started putting on clothing owned by her cousin, Jovan Taylo...

Saying they were there to do work, the four talked their way inside the apartment. They walked around, as if inspecting the place, but provided only vague answers to the residents’ questions before one stranger turned to the others. “Do you want to do this now or another time?” he asked. “I’m ready,” another said. With that, they attacked — the beginning of 11 terrifying hours for a family tied up and held captive overnight in their Silver Spring , Md., apartment, according to court documents filed in Montgomery County. Police say five intruders entered this Silver Spring apartment building Aug . 1 and held a family captive all night. The family was targeted, police say, because at least one of the intruders knew that a woman at the apartment worked at a check- cashing store; holding her at knifepoint, the intruders demanded she turn over store keys and an alarm code. On Monday, the final suspect charged in the home invasion — the four initial attackers allegedly were join...

Flipping houses is always a gamble, but it's not typically as bad a bet as authorities say it was for investors who trusted Benjamin Myung Sik Rose . The 35-year-old Colorado Springs man stole more than $450,000 from multiple people through a Ponzi scheme from August 2016 through April 2017, according to an arrest warrant. He pretended to be a licensed contractor who fixed up and resold houses, but instead gambled away the money he took from investors, police say. He was not a contractor, did not buy houses and used altered bank statements , emails from banks and property deeds as part of his scheme, the affidavit says. To keep the victims investing, he provided initial returns using other investors' money, investigators said. Rose turned himself in Aug. 17 after police obtained a warrant for his arrest on suspicion of forgery and multiple counts of theft, all felonies. He previously was arrested Jan. 2 on suspicion of defrauding his in-laws, John and Johanna Moe, out of ...

CLOSE Do you know what to do if you see something bad happening? Here are some tips. Keri Hensley/USA TODAY NETWORK Wochit Alan Rodriguez (Photo: Courtesy El Paso Police Department ) A five- decade prison sentence was handed down last week to a man who pleaded guilty to robbing and killing another man during a drug-deal gone wrong. Alan Rodriguez , who was 20 years old at the time of the shooting, was sentenced to 50 years in prison on Aug. 8 after he pleaded guilty to murder in connection with the death of Frank Christopher Hernandez , according to court records. He was originally charged with capital murder, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of murder as part of a plea agreement with state prosecutors, according to court documents. 2016: Man arrested in fatal drug-robbery shooting Rodriguez allegedly shot Hernandez, 30, at about 1:50 a.m. Sept. 21 at the victim’s apartment in the 4500 block of Lawrence Avenue in the Angel's Triangle area, according to El Paso Police Depa...

Three Gloucester residents were told this week that they face time behind bars even if they agree to guilty pleas on charges they acted as a maintenance crew to enter an elderly North Andover woman 's apartment and make off with a safe containing jewelry, documents and other belongings last December. Superior Court  Judge Timothy Feeley told Michael Lorenzana, 39, of 14 Sadler St., that he could expect a prison sentence of three years and a day, while Sean Peres, 36, of 3 Lighthouse Way, would face two years and a day in state prison for their roles in the scheme that targeted an 81-year-old woman.  Barbara Brooks Williams , 50, of Gloucester, would face a 2 1/2-year term in a house of corrections, said  Carrie Kimball Monahan , spokeswoman for the office of Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett . The three were in court Thursday for a lobby conference designed to let defendants know what terms a judge would impose if they choose to enter guilty pleas rather then go to trial...

view slideshow (4 images) PREV         NEXT A couple who owns a small plot of farmland on Park Avenue near the Lincoln Tunnel alleges that the Township of Weehawken has blocked their efforts for 15 years to clean up their property and develop it into luxury apartments. Konstantinos and Helen Natsis, who have fought numerous court battles against Weehawken over their property at 353 Park Ave., have also leveled allegations of political retaliation in recent media interviews . The troubles began around 2004, when the Superior Court of New Jersey ordered the township to perform a slope stabilization project on the Natsises’ property. That project was done to bring the slope in line with the town’s steep slope ordinance . The ordinance limits development on the Palisades Cliffs to protect its structural integrity and the integrity of properties above it. The town’s work included repairing pipes and installing fencing to avoid rock slides . The town also worked on a leaking clay...

by Alec MacGillis Maryland’s two U.S. senators and four of its U.S. House representatives , all Democrats, sent a letter today to the large real- estate company owned by the family of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump ’s son-in-law and senior adviser, demanding information about the company’s management of 17 apartment complexes it owns in the state. The letter to Kushner Companies came in response to a May 23 article co-published by ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine investigating management practices at the rental complexes, most of which are in the suburbs of Baltimore, as well as an article this week in The Baltimore Sun that revealed additional details . The original story described the highly aggressive legal tactics that Kushner Companies has used to pursue tenants who owed back rent or had left their leases early — even tenants who left the complexes well before the company bought them in 2012 and the years following. In many of the hundreds of cases brough...

Jim Pantaleo’s phone winked out sometime after 6:00 a.m. on Aug. 1, 2012. The last message he sent before it died was to his wife, Allison. “Love you forever,” it said. And then, nothing. Jim had spent the day before writing and drinking, slowly. From his perch at the corner of an L-shaped bar at a pub in Toronto’s east end, he tapped away at his laptop. He sipped beer and he did shots of “liquid cocaine,” a mix of Jagermeister and Goldschlager schnapps. Jim had arrived at the pub, Rails and Ales, at about 3 p.m. “He seemed very normal,” says Len Grammenopoulos, the bar’s owner. He ate some food. He joked around. Sometime after midnight, he sent his mother an email with seven letters inside. At about 2:30 a.m., he paid his tab — maybe $60, $70. He high-fived Len and he walked out. “I remember him saying ‘I’m gone,’” Len says. “And that was it.” Jim was gone. When Jim and Allison Pantaleo first met — as coworkers at a pub called Gabby ’s on the Danforth — it was something close to ...

The Shadowood condominium complex , on South Lakes Drive in Reston, has been ordered to stop charging fees for rules violations because its original master deed doesn 't allow it. The court ruling has implications for condo and homeowner associations across Virginia. (Elizabeth Razzi/The Washington Post) UPDATE, Monday, 9 a.m.: In Saturday’s condo board elections , Shadowood’s owners defeated both the incumbent secretary and treasurer, replacing them with two new officers. The next election, for board president Olivia , is in March. ORIGINAL POST: In Reston, there is a condominium complex called Shadowood that has written itself into Virginia history. For years, the Shadowood Condominium Association imposed fees for things like calling the management office or having the wrong color blinds . It towed tenants’ cars for unpaid fees — on the day before Thanksgiving. It turned off the heat or air conditioning to apartments of owners who were in arrears or in violation of its many ...