Cars

Barrett-Jackson car auction officials have chosen not to renew their contract for 2013 with the Orange County Fairgrounds, officials confirmed Friday. The news came during the Orange County Fair Board's meeting Thursday, when the board members heard of Barrett-Jackson's disappointment that compared to its other auctions, the event in Costa Mesa was not as profitable as they might have hoped. The fair's loss with Barrett-Jackson's withdrawal might be as much as $500,000, board members said.

A Huntington Beach man accused of embezzling more than $3 million from customers at a luxury car business pleaded not guilty to 41 felonies Monday, authorities said. Prosecutors allege Farhad Ebadat, 37, promised clients of his Costa Mesa business that he would sell their Rolls Royces, Ferraris, Lamborghinis and other luxury cars on consignment, but instead diverted payments to a personal account. Between 2009 and 2012, Ebadat owned and operated Costa Mesa Bellagio Motors on Placentia Avenue and sold cars worth $25,000 to $225,000 on consignment, according to the Orange County district attorney's office.

The recovery of a stolen Mercedes-Benz by Irvine police this week has led to the arrest of four people, including a man they believe was involved in multiple car thefts and burglaries in Irvine, police announced. Officers saw a Mercedes-Benz with a paper license plate speeding on Lake Forest Drive at about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday and followed it into a neighborhood where the driver and two passengers pulled into a residential driveway, turned off the headlights and ducked down, according to a release from the Irvine Police Department.

A driver was taken to a local hospital after hitting four parked vehicles on Balboa Boulevard on Tuesday morning, according to Newport Beach police. Police received a call about 9:15 a.m. reporting a crash at 128 E. Balboa Blvd. in which a 2007 Chevrolet Avalanche flipped over after striking four parked vehicles, according to police spokeswoman Kathy Lowe. The driver, who was alone in the truck at the time of the crash, was taken to a hospital. No information was available about the driver's condition.

Police arrested two suspects after a pursuit came to an end at East Coast Highway and Dahlia Avenue in Corona del Mar on Thursday afternoon, a Westminster police official said. The driver, Lawrence Palomarez, 35, of Gardena, and his passenger, Priscilla Avelos, 39, of Anaheim, were booked on suspicion of possession of stolen property at Orange County Jail, said Sgt. Cameron Knauerhaze. Palomarez was also booked on suspicion of felony evading arrest, Knauerhaze added. The chase begin at about noon when Westminster police spotted a maroon 1996 Honda Accord that was stolen in Anaheim in mid-October, according to Newport Beach police.

Do you know who, or what, is behind the AQMD? If you're from Southern California, you're likely aware that this bureaucratic acronym stands for the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Sounds innocuous, right? It's anything but. These are the un-elected cronies of various cities and counties in our piece of the once-Golden State. They are current or former members of the Assembly or Senate. They are highly placed political insiders. They are well-connected types who wrangled high-paying jobs just to mess with our puny, unimportant little lives.

Firefighters responded to the Costa Mesa Motor Inn early Tuesday after a driver struck the building and fled the scene, authorities said. About 1:37 a.m., the Costa Mesa Fire Department received a call that a vehicle drove into an unoccupied room of the motel at 2277 Harbor Blvd., according to the Fire Department. Firefighters arrived at the motel in five minutes, and they determined that the damage to the structure was significant enough that the urban search and rescue team needed to shore it up, officials said.

An 81-year-old Newport Beach man died Monday morning after his car veered off the road and crashed into a retaining wall, according to police. A witness driving behind the man said he appeared to be slumped over the steering wheel while traveling eastbound on West Coast Highway between Orange and Prospect streets, Newport Beach police spokeswoman Kathy Lowe said. The victim was later identified Monday afternoon as John Shattuck, who Lowe said died at the scene. Police received reports of the crash about 8:40 a.m., and the highway was shut down to one lane for about three hours following the accident, Lowe said.

There has been some conflict in the neighborhood. The problems are not so much the differences of opinions as they are the way the opinions are being expressed. Last week at the block party, one woman railed on another expressing her discontent with how her neighbor's table had been set up. This started a yelling match that sucked in several other neighbors. Feelings were hurt. People were talking. Things got blown out of proportion. We started the neighborhood meeting this week with a review of our agreed upon shared values: security, cleanliness, respect, community sharing and justice.

A man who made a 911 call accusing Costa Mesa Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer of driving drunk is believed to be a former Riverside police officer. The caller identified himself to a police dispatcher as Chris Lanzillo, according to a tape of the call obtained by the Daily Pilot on Friday afternoon using the state public records act. Sources with knowledge of the investigation confirmed that Lanzillo is a former police officer turned private investigator...