Handyman to stand trial on attempted murder...

Handyman to stand trial on attempted murder

A transient handyman accused of tying up a woman and setting her

house on fire will stand trial on charges of attempted murder and

arson on April 27, court officials ruled Friday.

Kevin Duane Carpenter, a handyman whose last known address was in

Lake Forest, had worked on the house in the 1800 block of Galaxy

Drive more than twice. He was living in a motel on Newport Boulevard

in Costa Mesa at the time of the alleged attack, police said.

A man identified as Carpenter bound the woman living in the home

and her female assistant and hit them both on the head, police said.

The women told police that the assailant had a handgun.

The suspect then set several fires throughout the home, causing a

large portion of it to burn and collapse, officials said. Both women

escaped uninjured from the burning home.

Detectives tracked Carpenter to the motel from a citation he had

dropped in the Back Bay while allegedly trying to flee. He was booked

on suspicion of attempted murder and arson and will be represented by

a public defender.

Driver charged with manslaughter

The woman accused of killing her baby sister while speeding down

Costa Mesa streets will stand trial on April 27 on charges of

vehicular manslaughter and child endangerment, the court ruled

Friday.

Araceli Vega, 24, of Santa Ana, was arrested after an accident

that caused the death of her infant sister, Diana Vega, who was in

the back seat in a car seat.

Araceli Vega was driving on Sunflower Avenue, heading to a

day-care center to pick up another relative’s children, when she

allegedly lost control of the vehicle. The right front tire struck

the curb, causing the car to veer off the street, roll several times

and crash into a concrete wall about 125 feet away from the point of

impact, police said.

Costa Mesa Police Lt. John FitzPatrick said that skid mark

analysis showed Vega was traveling at least 62 mph and that witnesses

reported her to be weaving in and out of traffic before the

collision.

Vega was released from the Women’s Intake Center Feb. 21 after

posting a bond for $100,000 bail. She is ordered to return to court

April 27 for trial.

Store has to trash groceries after outage

An extensive power outage hit the Newport Beach Gelson’s on Friday

evening, causing them to shut the store, employees said.

An employee, who would not give his name because of store policy,

said the store lost power for six to seven hours Friday afternoon,

forcing the upscale market to throw out pounds of fresh produce.

Store officials closed the store down until power was restored in the

evening.

Newport Beach police logs had no record of the outage, but evening

watch commander Sgt. Rob Morton said he was advised of a planned

power outage from midnight to 6 a.m. in the area between Jamboree

Road and MacArthur Boulevard, including the Newport Bluff Apartments.

The late-night outage was scheduled for repairs, but was not

expected to affect many people, as public services, such as

intersections, would be powered by a generator, Morton said.

Several police cars sent to serve warrant

A team of investigators from the Orange County Sheriff’s

Department served a search warrant in the 20700 block of Redlands

Avenue on Thursday, garnering attention from neighbors.

Sheriff’s Lt. Dave Wilson said patrol officers were advised by

South County investigators that they would be serving a search

warrant at a house in the Pegasus tract of Santa Ana Heights. Wilson

said one of his patrol units provided backup, but that the operation

was strictly in the hands of the investigators.

“Our patrol people weren’t involved,” Wilson said. “Investigations

does that whole deal.”

All calls to investigators in the South County office were

deferred to Public Information Officer John Fleishman, who did not

return calls by press time Friday.

-- Lolita Harper