HIKERS LOST OVERNIGHT IN SOCAL. CANYON: RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA (AP) — Two people lost in the Cleveland National Forest contacted Orange County sheriff's officials by cell phone and said they went hiking in Holy Jim Canyon but were unable to find their way back.
The cell phone lost power soon after the call Sunday night.
Reserve deputies searched overnight for the hikers on the ground, but officials say fog prevented the use of helicopters Sunday night and Monday morning. The search is centered on an area of heavy brush near Trabuco Creek Road.
Sheriff's Lt. John MacPhearson says a vehicle belonging to one of the hikers has been found.
OC TEEN LOSES ARMS, LEGS TO BACTERIAL INFECTION: IRVINE (AP) — An Orange County
Kaitlyn Dobrow, 18, of Huntington Beach fell ill in February with meningococcal disease.
Her mother, Kathi, says the bacteria caused blood clots that cut off circulation to her daughter's hands and feet. Over the course of a month, doctors were forced to amputate.
She remains hospitalized and had another surgery Friday at UC Irvine Medical Center.
It's unclear how she contracted the disease.
EX-OC SHERIFF WANTS SENTENCE REDUCED: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lawyers for former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona are seeking a sentence reduction that could free him from federal prison.
A judge is considering Monday whether changes in the law mean his 5½-year sentence should be cut in half.
He was acquitted on charges of conspiracy, mail fraud and witness tampering following a two-month trial.
But Carona was found guilty of another count of witness tampering after former assistant sheriff Don Haidl secretly recorded a conversation in which Carona asked him to lie to a grand jury.
Prosecutors accused Carona of corruption, taking bribes, doing favors for campaign contributors and philandering.
FONTANA POLICE DOG INJURED IN 2-STORY FALL: FONTANA (AP) — A police dog sent into a home in search of a man who violated parole was thrown out a second-story window and injured, authorities said Monday.
The dog landed on his head, suffered a large gash, bled through the nose and was staggering after the incident Sunday afternoon, according to a Fontana Police Department statement.
A veterinarian examined the dog, named Jaris, Monday afternoon and said he had no major internal injuries. He's taking the rest of the week off to recover and is expected to return to work the K-9 unit next week.
The incident occurred when officers went to a Mango Avenue home in search of Bryan Bills, 28, who was a wanted parolee considered armed and dangerous, the statement said.
After a woman at the home told them she was there alone, officers heard movement upstairs and asked for permission to search the premises.
Police said the man was spotted trying to escape out a second-story window so the dog was sent rushing in. According to police, the suspect used the dog's momentum to throw him out the open window. After a brief struggle, the man was eventually arrested.
Bills was arrested and booked into jail for investigation of intentional injury to a police service dog, resisting an officer with force and parole violations.
DOD EMPLOYEE ARRESTED ON BRIBERY CHARGES: SAN DIEGO (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a Department of Defense employee who oversaw construction contracts at Camp Pendleton used his position to extort bribes from businesses seeking to work on the California Marine Corps base.
Daphne Hearn announced Monday the arrest of Natividad Lara Cervantes. Hearn is the special agent in charge of the San Diego office of the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
Hearn alleges Cervantes referred to himself as the "Godfather at Camp Pendleton."
She says he was arrested Thursday in San Diego after allegedly accepting $10,000 in cash that was presented as part of a $40,000 bribe by a witness cooperating with federal agents.
Prosecutors say Cervantes believed he was receiving the money in exchange for a $4 million flooring contract.
ARREST MADE IN KIDNAPPING OF LOS ANGELES GIRL: LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man was arrested in connection with the kidnapping of a 10-year-old girl who was snatched from her San Fernando Valley home in the middle of the night and abandoned hours later, police said Monday.
Daniel Martinez, 29, was taken into custody Sunday in Northridge and booked for investigation of kidnapping. He was being held on $1 million bail.
Tobias Dustin Summers, a 30-year-old transient with a long criminal record, was identified by authorities over the weekend as a suspect in the case.
Police initially said they were looking for two suspects but noted they were focusing their efforts on Summers, who may have fled to the San Diego area and changed his appearance by shaving his head.
The girl was abducted around 3 a.m. Wednesday and found about 12 hours later wandering near a Starbucks several miles away. She was barefoot, had bruises and scratches, and wasn't wearing the same clothes she had on when she vanished.
