Rearview Mirror: OC Week in Review

SUNDAY {06.28.15}Car nearly falls off Balboa ferry

A car crashed through a barrier on a Balboa Island ferry and dangled from the back as the boat sailed in Newport Harbor. The man driving the Prius told the Orange County Sheriff’s Department’s Harbor Patrol that the car lurched forward and crashed through the barrier, its front tires hanging off the back of the vessel when the ferry began to move. The Harbor Patrol tied the vehicle to another car on the ferry, and operators sailed the boat back to its slip. A tow truck pulled the car back onto the ferry. No one was injured in the incident, authorities said. (Daily Pilot)

Snag could hold up sale of St. James

Parishioners lined the oak pews at St. James the Great Episcopal Church for what was expected to be the final service in the building at 3209 Via Lido, Newport Beach. Bishop J. Jon Bruno of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles announced in May that the church building and two nearby parking lots were being sold for about $15 million to Legacy Partners Residential, which plans to build 22 high-end townhomes on the site. Robert Williams, spokesman for the diocese, said the sale is still underway. However, a lawsuit filed by the bishop Friday in Orange County Superior Court against the Griffith Co., the former property owner, could indicate problems with the sale, parishioners said. (Daily Pilot)

MONDAY {06.29.15}Man sentenced for car embezzlement

A Huntington Beach man who owned and managed a Costa Mesa luxury-car dealership was sentenced to 13 years in state prison for embezzling about $2 million in a scheme involving Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Rolls-Royces. Farhad Ebadat, 39, pleaded guilty to 16 counts of embezzlement, 13 counts of money laundering and 11 counts of grand theft, with sentencing enhancements for aggravated white-collar crime over $500,000 and $1.3 million. He also was ordered to pay nearly $2.1 million in restitution, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office. From 2009 to 2012, Ebadat owned Costa Mesa Bellagio Motors, which specialized in buying and selling luxury vehicles, according to the district attorney’s office. (Huntington Beach Independent)

Bank robber gets five years

A former Newport Beach dentist was sentenced to five years in prison for stealing more than $21,000 during a string of bank robberies along the Southern California coast, according to a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles. The FBI dubbed Damian Newhart, 41, the “rolled-sleeves bandit” because he usually wore a button-down shirt with rolled-up sleeves during the heists. A federal judge also ordered Newhart to pay back the money he stole from seven branches in Huntington Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Santa Monica. In an agreement with the U.S. attorney’s office finalized in March, Newhart pleaded guilty to three counts of bank robbery and admitted that he had held up all seven branches. (Daily Pilot)

TUESDAY {06.30.15}Finance committee member resigns amid allegations

A longtime Orange County Republican Party loyalist stepped down from the Newport Beach Finance Committee this week on the heels of allegations that he stole money from U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher while working as his campaign treasurer. Jack Wu was appointed in January to the finance committee, an advisory body to the City Council on budget issues. Wu, 44, of Newport Beach, said in a Tuesday email that he would resign from the committee. Wu, who owns Costa Mesa accounting firm Wubell, was Rohrabacher’s treasurer for seven years. The Republican congressman from Costa Mesa fired Wu in May after finding $187 in an account that was supposed to contain about $185,000, according to Rohrabacher’s attorney, Charles Bell. Criminal charges have not been filed, and Wu did not respond to requests for comment. (Daily Pilot)

Suspect arrested in stabbing case

A known gang member with a lengthy criminal history was arrested on suspicion of stabbing a man to death in a Costa Mesa neighborhood, police said. John Raymond Breceda, 37, of Santa Ana was in Orange County Jail on an unrelated charge when Costa Mesa detectives arrested him on suspicion of murder. Breceda is the second person arrested in the May 30 slaying of Floriberto Villasenor Cortes, 44, of Santa Ana, who was found bleeding on the frontyard of a house in the 2900 block of Peppertree Lane. Investigators arrested Maricela Raye Gomez-Lee, 50, of Santa Ana at a Lake Elsinore home last week. (Daily Pilot)

WEDNESDAY {07.01.15}Angels’ GM Dipoto steps down

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim general manager Jerry Dipoto resigned, while former general manager Bill Stoneman was named an interim replacement for the remainder of the season. The front-office shake-up brought an abrupt end to the tumultuous 3 1/2-year reign of Dipoto, the forward-thinking executive whose numbers-based approach sometimes clashed with the supposedly set-in-his-ways Mike Scioscia, baseball’s longest-tenured manager. Dipoto, 47, confirmed his resignation via text message at noon. The Angels announced the move 6 1/2 hours later, in the seventh inning of a 3-1 loss to the New York Yankees. (Los Angeles Times)

New top man in blue for Costa Mesa

Costa Mesa’s new chief of police, Rob Sharpnack, was sworn in at a ceremony at City Hall. Sharpnack, the first police chief to be promoted from within the Costa Mesa department in more than 50 years, has spent almost his entire policing career in the city. He was hired as a custody officer in 1993, then went through the police academy as a Long Beach Police Department recruit before quickly being hired back in Costa Mesa. (Daily Pilot)

Former church volunteer convicted on abuse charges

A former Costa Mesa Sunday school volunteer was convicted of sexually assaulting five boys and trying to abuse a sixth. Christopher McKenzie, 51, was charged with 20 felony counts, including lewd acts with children under 14, using a minor for sex acts, distributing pornography to a minor and possession of child pornography. He could face life in prison at his Sept. 4 sentencing. McKenzie met three of the boys at Rock Harbor church in Costa Mesa and often got close to his victims by offering them money to help him at his job cleaning pools around Orange County, according to prosecutors. (Daily Pilot)

THURSDAY {07.02.15}Tougher time getting into UC for Californians

With the number of University of California applicants at an all-time high, California residents faced slightly tougher odds in landing an acceptance to fall’s freshman classes, while students from other countries received somewhat more admissions offers than in the past, according to university statistics released Thursday. About 60% of the 103,117 California applicants were offered a freshman spot on at least one of UC’s nine undergraduate campuses, down from nearly 63% of the 99,955 applicants last year, the figures show. UC Irvine was among the most aggressive in seeking to boost non-Californians, offering freshman spots to 9,413 students, up from 6,564 last year. (Los Angeles Times)