Authorities

An Irvine man died and a woman suffered head trauma and fractured ribs after the car they were traveling in crashed into a tree in front of a Costa Mesa hotel Friday night, Costa Mesa police said. The driver was 33-year-old Tyler Cohee, according to the Orange County coroner's website. The passenger, a 21-year-old Irvine woman, is in critical condition at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, a Costa Mesa police press release said. The collision occurred at 9:03 p.m. in front of the Ayres Hotel & Suites, 325 Bristol St., Costa Mesa.

Emergency crews rescued a climber stranded on Ladder Rock off Corona del Mar, officials said Tuesday. The Newport Beach Fire Department received a call at 8:37 p.m. Monday reporting that someone was trapped on the 35-foot high, 100-foot wide rock, which has restricted access, near Cameo Shores. A boy, whose age was not available, had apparently climbed the rocky area with friends, but was unable to descend. In all, Newport firefighters and lifeguards, Huntington Beach's police helicopter, an Orange County Sheriff's Department rescue boat and an oceanfront homeowner's private security team assisted in the two-hour rescue effort, according to a Fire Department news release.

Authorities are looking for sexual assault victims who they believe may have been targeted by a Newport Beach man. Adel Regragui, 42, is charged with three felonies of forcible rape, two felonies of forcible oral copulation, felony sexual penetration by force and sodomy by force. He faces up to 115 years in prison, if convicted, according to a news release from the Orange County district attorney's office. He is also facing sentencing enhancements for allegedly assaulting multiple victims and tying and binding another victim.

COSTA MESA - When federal and local authorities raided Chadd McKeen's marijuana dispensary Tuesday morning, he was shocked. He said his store, Otherside Farms, is cleaner, more transparent and in line with state medicinal laws compared to others in Costa Mesa. Police and federal authorities executing a search warrant at the business Tuesday seemed to agree. "This place is [expletive] awesome," one man was heard saying over security video, while others tried to open the door to where the marijuana plants are hung out to dry. "I would definitely buy my weed here," another joked.

Two Orange County boys were in the custody of their mother Tuesday after their father was accused of throwing his 7-year-old son overboard from a boat after the boy would not stop crying, authorities said. Sloane Briles, 35, of Irvine was booked on suspicion of child endangerment and resisting arrest. He was released Monday after posting bail. Briles and his girlfriend were aboard the tour boat Queen on a cruise of Newport Harbor just before 2 p.m. Sunday when the couple got into an argument in front of his 6- and 7-year-old sons from a previous marriage, said Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino.

A teenage couple was arraigned in a Newport Beach court Friday on charges that they conspired to murder a friend and left threatening messages on the friend's Facebook page, authorities said. Jessica Gascon, 18, of Santa Ana pleaded not guilty to felony counts of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit a crime and assault with a semiautomatic firearm, court documents show. Her 17-year-old boyfriend, also of Santa Ana, pleaded not guilty to felony counts of conspiracy to commit a crime, attempted murder, assault with a semiautomatic firearm, criminal threats and discharge of a firearm into an inhabited dwelling, according to court documents.

A business owner has pleaded guilty to illegally sending computers to Iran through the United Arab Emirates, the Department of Justice announced Thursday. In addition, in a federal courtroom his business partner also pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice charges, according to the DOJ. Massoud Habibion, 49, a co-owner of Costa Mesa-based Online Micro, faces up to five years in prison. Mohsen Motamedian, 44, also an Online Micro co-owner, faces up to 20 years in prison for the obstruction of justice charges.

A dozen people who authorities say are linked to an intricate, multimillion-dollar operation involving illegal pot shops in Los Angeles and Orange counties were arrested Thursday. Authorities believe John Melvin Walker, also known as “Pops,” distributed at least a ton of marijuana through the operation of nine stores from Costa Mesa to Whittier. The stores generated tens of millions of dollars in income, with one Dana Point store alone bringing in about $2.4 million, the U.S. attorney's office said.

The search for a Newport Beach doctor reported missing near Tucson, Ariz., has been suspended, authorities said Tuesday. Last week, Pinal County Sheriff's deputies began a search for Dr. Kenneth Litwack, 71, who went missing from a clinic where he was being treated for foot neuropathy. Staff at Sierra Tucson called Litwack's wife, Louise Litwack, about 3 p.m. Aug. 16 to tell her that her husband hadn't been seen in at least an hour. Sheriff's deputies in the area searched for Litwack, looking for footprints near the clinic.

A dead man found in a gas station driveway likely died of self-inflicted stab wounds, authorities said Wednesday. FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of this story said authorities announced this information Thursday. It was Wednesday. Police first suspected Richard Swartz, 66, whose last known address was in Costa Mesa, was murdered. His body was found in an Mobil gas station driveway at Lincoln Avenue and Sunkist Street in Anaheim on March 19, according to Anaheim Police Sgt. Bob Dunn.

Chip Fesko keeps a folder of his past correspondence, a nearly inch-thick stack of the words that cause less-resilient authors to pack it in: "We have now had a chance to consider your material, and we regret to say that it is not right for us. " "After a great deal of discussion, we came to the unhappy conclusion that we are not ready to expand our market... " "Thank you for your recent query. ... Unfortunately, it does not suit our editorial needs at the moment. " That binder, quite a bit thicker than Fesko's actual manuscript, contains some rejection letters so old they were written on manual typewriters.

If it were possible to tally up all the moments of my life so far, the top activities would probably be watching "Simpsons" reruns, talking to computers over the telephone, and asking fellow diners, "Are you gonna eat that?" The activity of "swapping the places of the letter E and the letter R" wouldn't make the top three, yet it would nonetheless rank surprisingly high. "In theatres now!" "An exciting night of live theatre. " "The festival will take place in the city centre.

One of the two hikers who went missing in Trabuco Canyon and inspired a $160,000 search effort has been charged with possession of methamphetamine, officials said. Deputies are reporting that they found 497 milligrams of methamphetamine in 19-year-old Nicolas Cendoya's car while they were searching for the Costa Mesa pair, said Farrah Emami, a spokeswoman with the district attorney's office. Cendoya was sent a letter to appear in court on May 22 to answer to the felony charge, which was filed Tuesday.

The Costa Mesa home of a man who blew himself up last month contained an array of laboratory equipment, mysterious liquids and powders and a homemade shotgun, court documents show. Costa Mesa police responded to a home in the 3100 block of Bermuda Drive about 7:45 p.m. on April 14 after neighbors reported a loud bang or explosion. When officers arrived, they found Kevin Harris, 52, decapitated in the doorway. A cardboard box with wires was found next to the body, according to documents filed in Orange County Superior Court late last week.

The one-time "Queen of Porn" will not face battery charges stemming from her arrest on the Balboa Peninsula, authorities said. The Orange County district attorney's office chose not to file charges against Huntington Harbour resident Jenna Jameson, whose real name is Jenna Marie Massoli, following her arrest on assault allegations over the weekend, according to D.A. spokeswoman Farrah Emami. "We have declined to file, due to insufficient evidence to prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt," she said.

A man seriously injured after a crash in Irvine has died, authorities said. Theodore Brewsaugh, 29, of Mission Viejo, died at 10:31 p.m. Saturday at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, according to the Orange County coroner's office. Brewsaugh was in a Mazda 3 hatchback with a 27-year-old woman and two dogs, stopped at Irvine Boulevard and Sand Canyon Avenue about 1:20 a.m. March 31 when a Toyota 4Runner rear-ended the hatchback, authorities have said. One dog was killed and Brewsaugh was taken to the hospital in serious condition, authorities said.

A dead man found in a gas station driveway likely died of self-inflicted stab wounds, authorities said Wednesday. FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of this story said authorities announced this information Thursday. It was Wednesday. Police first suspected Richard Swartz, 66, whose last known address was in Costa Mesa, was murdered. His body was found in an Mobil gas station driveway at Lincoln Avenue and Sunkist Street in Anaheim on March 19, according to Anaheim Police Sgt. Bob Dunn.

Justin Muchnick likes to challenge himself to get good grades. At age 14 and away at Phillips Academy Andover school in Massachusetts he needs to live up to the challenge. Muchnick, a straight-A student, is a scholar-athlete. He went through the Corona del Mar Sharks Wrestling Club and is now a freshman varsity wrestler for PAA in the 132-pound weight class. Away from the mat, he has also wrestled with time management and test preparation. When he saw his mother, Cynthia, writing a book about studying skills it made sense for him to offer his own tips, and make some edits.

Nick Contopoulos was running late for work when he rushed out the door Feb. 19 in hopes of making it to the 6 a.m. astronomy course he teaches at Orange Coast College. Behind the wheel of his car, he thought he heard gunfire. "For some reason I said, 'Oh, that's a shotgun.' It just sounded that way," Contopoulos said. Just before he merged from the Santa Ana (5) Freeway onto the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway, the Irvine resident spotted a white pickup stopped ahead of him. As he braked behind the pickup, he saw a man walking with the stock of a shotgun mounted to his shoulder.

Newport-Mesa school officials this week voted to explore installing solar panels at school sites to save on their energy bill. The district will pay an independent contractor up to $45,000 to evaluate whether the up-front investment could pay off in savings. "The dilemma that we often run into on these energy-saving projects is the numbers are all run by the vendor, and that's a little bit of the fox in the hen house as far as I see it," Deputy Supt. Paul Reed told board members Tuesday.