Campus Police

UC Irvine police expect to ask prosecutors to press charges by the end of this week against a UCI student accused of raping another student over the weekend. Brian Timothy Russell, 21, of Irvine, was arrested Saturday morning at his apartment in the Vista Del Campo apartments in the 62600 block of Arroyo Drive, hours after a female UCI student filed a rape report with the UCI Police Department on campus. Russell and the victim allegedly met through a mutual acquaintance at a party in one of the Vista Del Campo apartments, not the suspect’s, police said.

Marisa O'Neil Nine UC Irvine students spent the night in the county jail Tuesday after campus police arrested them for blocking work crews from a trailer park earmarked for destruction this summer. Students, some park residents, gathered outside the Irvine Meadows West park on Tuesday to try and prevent soil sampling, scheduled that morning on the 80-space property, which is home to 100 students. The university announced in 1999 that it would close the park on July 31, to build a new parking lot as part of its expansion plans.

Deepa Bharath and Jon Lindsey UCI CAMPUS -- Campus police had to use batons to quell an angry mob of students Thursday night after an event that featured speakers on issues relating to the current conflict in the Middle East, officials said. No injuries or arrests were reported, and no charges were filed, officials said Friday. The event titled "Perspectives on Peace: Things you won't hear anywhere else about the Middle East," was organized by several Jewish groups on campus, including Hillel and the Anteaters for a Free Israel.

Boys' basketball is back at Newport Harbor High. Principal Michael Vossen said the school has reinstated the program, three weeks after he suspended it because of criminal threats made against then-coach Larry Hirst and his wife. The question facing Vossen and the Sailors is what kind of an impact has a turbulent past four months had on the program. "We want to take the program into a positive place right now," Vossen said. "The first step in doing that is hiring a new coach.

Marisa O'Neil Sending letters to students, such as those who took part in a campus protest last month, warning them of impending disciplinary action is normal procedure, a school official said. Letters went out to about 20 students, nine of who were arrested on suspicion of failure to disperse after they blocked work crews from entering a campus trailer park set for demolition this summer. The letters, sent via e-mail, notified the students that they have seven days to schedule an appointment with the office of student judicial affairs, or they may face academic sanctions.

Costa Mesa police have taken at least five OCC students to court over hit-and-run complaints. One of the students was pulled from class and arrested in the school’s parking lot, police said. Last week, traffic investigators arrested the student after he allegedly hit another car and then hurried off to class as if nothing happened, authorities said. Most of the offenses have been attributed to parking mishaps and bad maneuvering, said Traffic Investigator Jeff Horn. All have been misdemeanors involving only property damage and no injuries.

Crime at Orange Coast College has dropped by more than half over the last three years and by more than 33% in 2006 compared with 2005, according to a recently released annual report. The college's public safety department handled 24 crimes in 2006, most of which involved burglaries and vehicle thefts. There were 36 in 2005, 48 in 2004 and 52 in 2003. There have been no reports of murder, rape or robbery on campus for several years. "Most of our crimes are crimes of opportunity, not confrontation — burglarized vehicles, stolen bicycles and graffiti," said John Farmer, the department's chief.

-- Danette Goulet A Corona del Mar High School ninth-grader who threatened to shoot and kill a fellow student on a school bus last week will return to class this week after serving a five-day suspension. The boy reportedly had an argument Sept. 19 with a ninth-grade girl on the afternoon school bus. He threatened to kill her, telling her that he had a gun, said Newport Beach Police Sgt. Mike McDermott. The next day, the bus driver reported the incident to a school security guard.

Orange County prosecutors declined to press charges against a UC Irvine student arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting another student he met at a party the night before, authorities said Thursday. County prosecutors said there wasn’t enough evidence to go forward, said Farrah Emami, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office. “We have declined to file that case because based on the evidence we were unable to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a crime was committed,” Emami said.

UC Irvine police are investigating an incident in which an FBI agent reportedly had an altercation on campus with members of the Muslim Student Union. On Monday night, according to the Muslim group's spokeswoman Marya Bangee, a car stopped near Ring Road while the students were taking apart their display for the "Israel: Apartheid Resurrected" seminar event. Bangee said the driver appeared to try to run down student Yasser Ahmed, and that campus police later said that the man was a federal agent.

Boys' basketball is back at Newport Harbor High. Principal Michael Vossen said the school has reinstated the program, three weeks after he suspended it because of criminal threats made against then-coach Larry Hirst and his wife. The question facing Vossen and the Sailors is what kind of an impact has a turbulent past four months had on the program. "We want to take the program into a positive place right now," Vossen said. "The first step in doing that is hiring a new coach.

IRVINE — UC Irvine remained peaceful Thursday afternoon, despite the flames of controversy that erupted about a Koran-burning Christian pastor's planned visit. Students gathered in front of Langson Library, some sitting on blankets, facing the area covered in caution tape where the Rev. Terry Jones intended to speak. However, Jones was told not to come on campus after UCI police received intelligence informing them of suspicious activity associated with the visit that aroused safety concerns.

SANTA ANA - Rhoda Harris, who sat next to a student who later protested the Israeli ambassador's speech, testified Monday that she was upset by the protestors' repeated disruptions. Harris, a resident of a Laguna Woods retirement community, said the disruptions in February 2010 made it hard to fully understand Ambassador Michael Oren's speech at UC Irvine. "I couldn't hear, there was shouting, and I was emotionally distracted," she said. "When you're focused on the disruption, you're not focused on the speaker.

COSTA MESA — Despite fears that the city would make cuts to police officers stationed on school campuses, or try and replace them with non-sworn officers, an elected official said Monday that the council would actually like to maintain and expand the program. Councilman Steve Mensinger said the city wants to supplement the Student Resource Officer, or SRO, program, with sworn reserve officers to fill in the current officers' four-day a week schedule. "The main focus is to have 100% coverage," Mensinger said.

The body of the wanted UC Irvine student who allegedly strangled and beat his wife was found Friday afternoon in San Juan Capistrano in what appears to be a suicide, UCI officials said. Gregory Scott Turner's body was found in his royal blue 2006 Chevrolet pick-up truck around 4:30 p.m. Friday, said Tom Vasich, UCI spokesman. Turner's family was notified. The Orange County Sheriff Coroner's office is investigating the cause of Turner's death. Police had been looking for Turner, 33, who fled his Verano Place home at UCI, leaving his wife strangled, beat in the face and unconscious, since Wednesday evening, Vasich said.

Student protesters who were arrested by campus police for disrupting Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren’s speech at UC Irvine could face a host of academic repercussions — from simple warnings to suspensions to all-out expulsions, a university spokeswoman said Wednesday. The university, which released the names of the 11 protesters, said that Monday night’s incident, in which the protesters repeatedly interrupted Oren at the UCI Student Center, will now be forwarded to the Orange County district attorney’s office for possible prosecution.

It’s always a good sign for a school when the only thing a police K-9 unit can sniff out from nearly 1,100 lockers has to be planted there by police as part of a training exercise. In a reminder to students about campus safety and to help train the dog, Newport Beach police searched the lockers of students at Ensign Intermediate School while the students and teachers remained in their classrooms. Lockers are generally not opened unless the dog alerts police, officials said.

Three UCI students were robbed at gunpoint in their dorm room Sunday evening, campus police said. The robbers took a number of valuable items and no one was injured. At 6:30 p.m., two men burst into one of the rooms in the Mesa Court housing area, one armed with what appeared to be a “black semi-automatic replica handgun,” victims told police. After tying up the victims, the men took a laptop computer, money from one victim’s wallet, cell phones and clothing, stuffing it all into a large blue duffle bag, UCI Police Lt. Baltazar De La Riva said.

Costa Mesa police have taken at least five OCC students to court over hit-and-run complaints. One of the students was pulled from class and arrested in the school’s parking lot, police said. Last week, traffic investigators arrested the student after he allegedly hit another car and then hurried off to class as if nothing happened, authorities said. Most of the offenses have been attributed to parking mishaps and bad maneuvering, said Traffic Investigator Jeff Horn. All have been misdemeanors involving only property damage and no injuries.