@RubenNews

Springer's booking photo.

​Updated at the bottom with the suspect's ID, more info from the sheriff's department. First posted at 11:36 a.m.

Miramonte Elementary School in South L.A. is turning into a big shop of horrors.

Following this week's arrest of former teacher Mark Berndt, charged with committing lewd acts on 23 of his students, the L.A. County Sheriff's Department is confirming that a second teacher has been arrested.

That teacher ...

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Carmen Trutanich

​City Attorney Carmen Trutanich announced Thursday that his office is suing Northern Trust, a firm that manages investments for the city pension fund, in an effort to recoup $95 million in market losses.

"I'm coming," Trutanich said. "We're coming. And we want our money back."

If Trutanich prevails in the lawsuit, he can expect a substantial windfall for his own office. Trutanich could collect attorney's fees, plus significant civil penalties that would be split between his office and the county.
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Glendale police

Puncel.

​John Puncel, the former college volleyball coach arrested for allegedly taking lewd "upskirt" videos of a woman at Glendale Galleria this week is suspected of similar crimes at L.A.'s famed Grove shopping center.

If the accusations are true, this guy and his trusty camera phone have been getting around.

In fact, the same day (Jan. 31) cops in Glendale say he was holding his phone low to capture a skirt wearing woman as she rode an escalator, he had also captured noontime images of an underage girl at The Grove. So says the girl's mom:

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The Occupy octopus.

​Occupy L.A. wants its murals back.

Local leaders of the 99 percenter movement sent a letter to the city Department of Cultural Affairs asking for it to return the artwork, including a 24-by-16 piece depicting a federal reserve bank as an evil octopus, which was painted during the two month occupation of the City Hall lawn.

So far, it appears, the city ain't budging:

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LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy embroiled in Miramonte: He needs to tell what Sid Thompson did.

​Parent hysteria at Miramonte School today -- parents are pulling kids out of school over alleged pervert teacher Mark Berndt and the arrest of a second teacher -- could degrade into a McMartin Preschool witch hunt or Wenatchee child sex orgies B.S. Both of those were false, created by lying children, social workers and cops who suggested answers to the children, and freaked-out parents. Together they all ruined the lives of innocent caretakers and teachers.

We're heading there if LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy doesn't clear the air. But instead he was evasive on KNX today. He should explain now why LAUSD Superintendent Sid Thompson in 1994 let Berndt teach AFTER L.A. County Sheriff's detectives urged the D.A. to prosecute Berndt for fondling. Deasy is protecting the legacy of the disastrous Sid Thompson. Instead, Deasy needs to:

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NFL

​Are you ready for some ... jail?

Thought so.

Nothing like a few bars to make a big, football-loving brawler turn into a bawl-er.

Ever the Buzz Killington, the LAPD is going balls out -- no pun intended -- for Superbowl weekend, including a "saturation patrol" and DUI checkpoints.

We're putting our money on them. So here's the deal, sports fans:

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famouschihuahua.com

​We're a sad bunch of self-centered, narcissistic, good-looking people, Los Angeles.

Stop checking yourself in the mirror for just a second to realize that when you start a trend involving living beings, they reproduce, and the world is stuck with them.

Witness the sorry plight of the Chihuahua, which went from "it" dog to castoff faster than you can say Lana Del Rey:

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Disney

​Clarification at the bottom.

There's no stopping the costumed characters of Hollywood Boulevard. After the LAPD tried to ban them from the area near Highland Avenue, they sued and won: Freedom of speech.

And now they're free to kick the shit out of each other once more.

The surly, salty folks who hustle for a buck posing for pictures with tourists got into a brawl this week, police said:

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CBS2 / KCAL9

​The horrific tale of Mark Berndt, the South L.A. third-grade teacher accused of binding and gagging at least 23 of his students, keeps getting worse.

He was accused of fondling a girl in 1994 and, even though chargers were never brought, it didn't appear that the L.A. Unified School District paid any special attention to his activities.

Now CBS Los Angeles is reporting another possible sex crime involving Berndt:

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Carmen Trutanich: The $1 Million Man

​Updated below. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich will announce this week that he has raised more than $1 million in the race for L.A. County District Attorney.

Trutanich has a commanding fundraising advantage, though he has still not officially declared his candidacy. His nearest competitor is prosecutor Mario Trujillo, who has raised $439,000.

(Update, Thursday: Campaign reports show that Trutanich raised $990,000 by the Dec. 31 reporting deadline. Trujillo raised $427,000. The above figures reflect what each candidate reported to the ADDA as of the last week of January.)

Another prosecutor, Alan Jackson, is close behind Trujillo, having raised $376,000 by the Dec. 31 reporting deadline. (Jackson's campaign said he has since boosted his total to $406,000.)

The biggest disappointment in the group ...
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​Discrimination is an ugly thing (says the guy who gets keys tossed at him at the valet stand), so it's important we don't accuse innocents.

The city of Palmdale today announced that, in fact, that was the case when the California NAACP and The Community Action League brought a suit against it for alleged housing discrimination in government-supported apartments.

Turns out ...

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Fast Times

​Yes, there is a god, said the surfer.

Free marijuana floating in the ocean was just there for the taking. Unfortunately, sheriff's deputies got to it before any of the guys at Venice Pier could.

Damn it:

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hotgirlswithiphones.com

​Okay, guys. We know you're sizing up potential mates for that overpriced Valentine's Day meal.

And we know you all want your investment to pay off. (Yeah, boys think this way. Really).

Well, here's a little intel for you:

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IMDB

Robert Aaron Stephens.

​Creeps come in all shapes and sizes, it seems.

Not to make light of the victims, but you almost pity this guy:

He's got Hollywood looks, and he calls himself an actor.

But cops say Robert Aaron Stephens preyed on women who went out on dates with him:

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Family Guy

Herbert.

​The annals of criminal stupidity usually come down to one thing:

Choosing the wrong victim.

Not to endorse picking on the vulnerable, but our pages here have been awash with stories of retards who targeted cops and or other able-bodied victims only to get their asses thoroughly kicked. We love it.

On that note, Jack Goodwin is one of those bad boys you don't want to f--- with. And he's ...

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L.A. County Sheriff's Department

Berndt was accused of fondling a girl in 1994

​New information is coming out about the alleged 'sex game' teacher, and it's not looking good for LAUSD, a district that has continually failed to fire its screwed-up teachers.

Police say Mark Berndt, the former Miramonte Elementary School teacher who allegedly bound and gagged students and spoon-fed them his semen, fondled a young girl in 1994, but the district attorney's office never filed charges.

L.A. County Sheriff Sgt. Dan Scott found the information while going through files on Wednesday evening. The Los Angeles Times reports:

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Frederick's of Hollywood

​Okay fellas, here's what you're getting your girl for Valentine's Day:

A bra that matches her skin tone! Ah!? No? Well, anyway, if you're in the market, you might have a hard time fulfilling that wish, even if the gift was going to be for yourself.

That's because it's difficult to find bras that match the color of, well, ladies of color. An L.A. woman this year has set out to change that:

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Daniel Bagel

​Dearest perverts:

Try not to take "upskirt" videos of women going up or down escalators ... while cops are watching you!

Doing so while everyone else is watching you is bad enough.

But Glendale police this week said they had their peepers on Sylmar's John Puncel as he whipped out his cellphone camera, started to record, and held it so low as a woman in a skirt cruised by on an escalator. Smooth:

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Rajiv Patel

​This year's Academy Awards are loaded with controversy, and they haven't even been handed out yet.

Brett Ratner pulled out of producing the show after uttering an anti-gay slur. Then onetime friend-of-the-tranny Eddie Murphy followed him out the door (irony?). Now it looks like The Help is poised to take home many a statuette, even though some (some?) African Americans aren't happy with a film by white folks, for white folks, about demeaning black work.

Who said bad news comes in threes?

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Out with a bang.

​Today is a very special day.

Today is the day that all 400 redevelopment agencies (RDAs) across California -- including the massive L.A. Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) -- are shut down for good. And all the property taxes they've been raking in, for buildings within areas they've declared "blighted," will now go directly to the state for essential costs like education and emergency services.

Woot woot! This calls for a little celebration. Leave it to oddball Los Angeles citywatchers John Walsh and Miki Jackson, of HollywoodHighlands.org, to host a bona fide funeral party (emphasis on the party) for the CRA ...

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