$120,000 Dollar Bail for LAPD detective accused of embezzling witness protection funds, From Bail Bondsman in Los Angeles

A veteran Los Angeles police detective has been charged with embezzling more than $30,000 in city funds that were supposed to be used to protect and relocate three witnesses to crimes in South Los Angeles.

Det. Leonard Avalos, 44, is expected to be arraigned next week on one charge of embezzlement by an officer and six felony counts of grand theft, authorities said Friday.

Avalos was taken into custody without incident Thursday by Los Angeles Police Department detectives while he was off duty in Placentia, LAPD Det. Gus Villanueva said.

LAPD investigators discovered the alleged theft in the fall of 2008 when they questioned some of the detective's accounts of the witness protection funds he had requested from the department, officials said.

At the time, Avalos was investigating assaults, including shootings, police said. In such cases, victims often fear for their safety and are willing to testify only if they are given money to move away from the location of the crime.

Avalos, a 17-year department veteran, could not produce receipts to verify that he had given the money to the witnesses, according to prosecutors.

Authorities said police questioned the three witnesses and learned that one had received $100, another had received $500 and the third received no city funds.

Police suspect that Avalos began pilfering the witness funds dispersed to him by the LAPD Fiscal Operations Division in February 2008.

The amounts he allegedly stole each month escalated, according to prosecutors. He is accused of stealing $6,000 in March 2008. Two months later, the amount increased to nearly $7,000; in June 2008 it topped out at more than $13,000, according to court documents.

Avalos was placed on home leave by the LAPD about a year ago, once the investigation revealed the extent of the missing funds.

If convicted, Avalos could face up to six years and four months in prison. On Friday, Avalos was in Men's Central Jail in lieu of $120,000 bail.

We will update the story as it relates to bail as we receive the bail information.

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$1,050,000 Dollar Bail for Inglewood man in connection with 1995 killing, From Bail Bondsman in Inglewood

Inglewood police announced the arrest Wednesday of a suspect in a 15-year-old slaying, marking the first successful investigation for the department's new cold-case unit.

Donald Bridgewater, 58, was booked last Thursday on suspicion of murder in the Oct. 28, 1995, slaying of William Goins at his home in the 10600 block of 2nd Avenue, Inglewood police said in a statement.

Goins had stab wounds in his head and neck, department officials said. There was evidence of a struggle. At the time, Bridgewater was one of several suspects in the killing, but police were unable to link him to the case.

The case went unsolved. But in March 2008, the Inglewood Police Department formed a Cold Case Unit to review and investigate 472 unsolved murders in the city since 1971.

The unit includes three retired police homicide detectives working under the department's homicide unit.

Investigators reopened the Goins case and submitted physical evidence from the crime scene to the Orange County Crime Lab for DNA analysis. Bridgewater is being held in lieu of $1,050,000.00 Dollar bail.

“Because You Have the Right to Bail”

For a Bail Bondsman, Bail Information or Bail Bonds in Inglewood, please visit:
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For General Information on Bail Bonds and how Bail Bonds work or a Bail Bonds Service near you please visit:
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For information on jails and courts throughout Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties please visit http://www.citiesweserve.com/