Former Long Beach Officer, Peninsula Crash Driver, are Sentenced

Former Long Beach Officer Gets One Year for Embezzlement

Damian Ramos, a Long Beach Police Department officer when he took custody of numerous guns from a business owner but failed to turn all of them in as evidence, was sentenced to a year in jail Wednesday after pleading guilty to embezzlement.

But Ramos, 33, will serve no more time in jail. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dorothy B. Reyes gave Ramos, 33, credit for 190 days already served in jail since his August arrest, plus  good-time and work-time credit earned, which added up to essentially cutting his time in jail by half. Ramos left the department after an internal investigation last summer led who was also sentenced to three years probation, later left the department.

Ramos -- who was on the police force for five years -- pleaded guilty Feb. 10 to one count of embezzlement by a public officer. He was arrested last Aug. 5 following an investigation by the Long Beach Police Department into missing weapons that'd been turned over to Ramos as evidence, the Long Beach Police Dept. said last summer. Another former Long Beach police officer, Derrick Dinsmore, was acquitted May 17 of two criminal counts stemming from the investigation. A Los Angeles Superior Court jury deliberated less than two hours before acquitting Dinsmore of one felony count of receiving stolen property and one misdemeanor count of petty theft.

Teen Driver in four-fatality Peninsula Crash Gets 18 Years

An 18-year-old driver involved  in a Peninsula street race that claimed four people's lives last summer was sentenced Wednesday to nearly 18 years in prison. Long Beach Superior Court Judge Joan Comparet-Cassan sentenced Denis Alberto Reyes following his no-contest plea to four counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and one count of unlawful driving or taking of a vehicle, according to Deputy District Attorney Karen Thorp. Reyes -- driving a stolen 1997 Ford Taurus -- was racing the driver of a black 2003 Ford Mustang on eastbound Ocean Boulevard when the two cars collided, causing the Mustang to spin out of control and smash into a large concrete sign in the median on Aug. 22, 2010.

Reyes, who was arrested later, was 17 at the time of the crash. He turned 18 last November just before he was ordered to stand trial as an adult. The Mustang's driver, Jesus Heredia Calixto, 18, and passengers Delysa Castro, 16, Javier Marquez Jr., 19, and Candice Ann Bustamante, 32, all of Long Beach, were killed. Marquez -- who was declared brain-dead at an area hospital -- was kept alive until his organs could be harvested and donated to about 50 people.

``We did something he would want to do,'' Javier Marquez Sr. said of donating his son's organs, noting that it was a way ``we could also help others through him.'' The victim's father said the family had gotten letters from some of the recipients of the donated organs, including a kidney and liver, which has helped them to cope by knowing that their son is still helping others even after his death."