Courtesy of Santa Ana Police Department

Edwin Echeverria's alleged victims were 10 to 14, police say.

UPDATE, DEC. 5, 12:05 P.M.: Edwin Echeverria faces 14 felony counts and a sentence of 275 years to life in state prison for molesting at least five boys, the Orange County District Attorney's office (OCDA) just announced. The Santa Ana 22-year-old has been charged with 11 felony counts of lewd act upon a child under 14 and three felony counts of lewd acts upon a child with sentencing enhancements of committing the crime against more than one victim. Echeverria is still being held on $1 million bail pending an arraignment hearing some time today at the Central Jail.

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$$$: Assistant Sheriff Haidl: Somehow, California's Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) agency let a used-car salesman have full police powers without a minute of required POST training

During his life, Don Haidl--the booze-loving, foul-mouthed, piano-playing, Rancho Cucamonga auto-auction king with underworld ties and a hatred for journalists--dreamed of playing cop, so he secretly paid more than $100,000 to Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona, grabbed an assistant sheriff's badge, gun, patrol car, full police powers and, for occasions when he craved public adulation, a fancy uniform with high-ranking, lapel stars.

When he testified in Carona's 2008 federal corruption trial and helped to put his pal in prison for 66 months to save himself from incarceration, the ultra-wealthy Haidl admitted he'd partly wanted the badge to impress his associates, enhance his stance in business negotiations and, if necessary, escape DUI charges after one of his nights out at swank bars.

He also recalled delight from blasting the siren on his Orange County Sheriff's Department (OCSD) car to alert his neighbors to his status and to awe his youngest son, Greg, who would go on to secure infamy in the international-headlines-grabbing Haidl Gang Rape case, in which an unconscious, 16-year-old girl was sexually assaulted with a Snapple bottle, pool cue, apple juice can and a lit cigarette.

It shouldn't be surprising then that the scrappy Haidl--who passed away in December 2012 at the age of 61 (he looked 81)--could still generate scandal in death.

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Courtesy of Orange County Sheriff's Department

You don't want to see this guy tonight.

UPDATE, DEC. 5, 9:47 A.M.: The Orange County Sheriff's Department this morning announced DUI saturation patrols from 7 tonight through 3 a.m. Saturday in the cities of Aliso Viejo, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel and Laguna Woods. The ops, which are also funded by a California Office of Traffic Safety grant, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, put extra patrol deputies in areas known for DUI-related stops, crashes and fatalities.

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Andrew Galvin

Feeding the homeless at Santa Ana's Civic Center

Looking back at the demise of Orange County's plan to put a homeless shelter on Santa Ana's Normandy Place, it's easy to see it as another example of spineless politicians wilting before an angry onslaught of residents who, like not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) protesters everywhere, agree on the need for a shelter but say it doesn't belong in their neighborhood.

But interviews with some of the principal players in the months-long battle yield another analysis, one that questions the wisdom of trying to tip-toe around NIMBYs, as the county, still smarting from last year's NIMBY revolt in Fullerton, arguably did. The tip-toeing inflamed Santa Ana residents, who saw it as an attempt to cut them out of the process. Later, when elected officials at both the county and city declined to utilize an anti-NIMBY provision in state law, the strategy -- if it can be called that -- failed.

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Josue Rivas / OC Weekly

Protesters march for Michael Brown in downtown SanTana

A Ferguson solidarity march last week in Minneapolis turned ugly when a man drove through activists and pinned a teenage girl under his car, sending her to the hospital. The incident made news rounds (with media capturing footage) and went viral online--and that's where we meet Santa Ana Police Sergeant Michelle Miller.

On her Facebook page, the sarge shared a wacky right-wing article titled "Driver Plows Through Ferguson Protestors In Minnesota."

"I would have done the same," she wrote. "I'm surprised this didn't happen more." A friend added, "what are these savages thinking?"

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Courtesy Touch The Wall

Filmmaker Grant Barbeito remembers being doubtful at first about shooting video of his friend's 14-year-old swimmer daughter, Missy Franklin. But after seeing her impressive skills in person, he became an immediate acolyte, going on to persuade friend and fellow filmmaker Christo Brock into shooting video of Franklin. Brock himself was skeptical until meeting Franklin.

"We weren't looking to shoot a swimmer, but we got extremely lucky when an older professional by the name of Kara Lynn Joyce decided to come train in Colorado, and then all of a sudden we knew we had a story," says Block.

That story became the blossoming friendship and cameraderie between Franklin and Joyce, which is the subject of the new documentary Touch The Wall. Co-directed by Barberito and Brock, the film opens this Friday at the Regency South Coast in Costa Mesa.

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Super Streetbike Magazine

Probably not the one doling out punishment.

The Newport Beach Police Department is targeting bicyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians Sunday--that is, BAD bicyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians.

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Courtesy of Orange County Sheriff's Department

From the John Doe's jeans

The Orange County Sheriff's Department on Thursday released this photo from a pair of men's jeans.

No, our fearless deputies have not gone all America's Top Model on us.

Lei jeans and black Vans sneakers (size 9) were on the body of a male found in the water channel near Magnolia Street and Orangewood Avenue in Garden Grove on Monday. The sheriff's Coroner Division and the Garden Grove Police Department are trying to figure out who he is.

They hope the clothing will jog someone's memory. The fellow stood 5-foot-4, and the Lei jeans he wore had a patterned pocket. Investigators believe he had been dead for some time.

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Michael Studinger/NASA

Glaciers in the Amundsen Sea Embayment in West Antarctica

A 21-year analysis of Antarctica's fastest-melting region shows the melt rate of glaciers there tripled during the past decade, according to new research by UC Irvine and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena.

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OC Weekly photo

A child of a past or current Weekling at the beach

New UC Irvine research has found that high fecal counts frequently detected at "baby beaches" or "mom beaches" may not be diaper-related but are instead caused by small drainpipes.

No, "small drainpipes" is not my euphemism for rugrats with runny noses.

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