Tracking this week’s cases in Los Angeles County Superior Court
Trump golf course intruder case moves through pretrial
Jeanine John Taele, the Marine Corps combat veteran arrested with a loaded firearm near President Trump’s Rancho Palos Verdes golf club days before the president’s August visit, remains in pretrial proceedings on multiple felony weapons charges.
Federal agents conducting a security assessment ahead of Trump’s visit first spotted Taele on the golf course grounds on July 31, taking photos and videos and appearing to monitor security-planning activities, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
When Taele returned to the property Aug. 2, he told agents he worked for the State Department on security detail and admitted to having a loaded firearm in his vehicle. Deputies searching his truck found a 9mm pistol, a 16-round magazine, and a badge reading “security protection agent,” according to federal prosecutors. A subsequent search of Taele’s Downey home turned up an illegally modified short-barreled rifle, according to NBC News.
Taele, who served combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan as a Marine corporal from 2008 to 2016, pleaded not guilty to state charges including possession of a short-barreled rifle and carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle, along with a separate second-degree robbery charge tied to an alleged November 2025 incident, according to CNN.
He also faces a federal charge for the unregistered short-barreled rifle, carrying a maximum 10-year sentence. A judge set bail at $250,000 and ordered Taele to stay away from Trump’s golf club pending further proceedings.
Fire-zone looting case from Palisades, Eaton fires still pending
More than a year and a half after Los Angeles County’s devastating January 2025 firestorms, the case against four young men accused of looting an Altadena home during the Eaton fire remains in pretrial proceedings.
Roy Sims, Ryan Sims, Naquan Dewey Reddix and Pierie Obannon each face one count of first-degree residential burglary, accused of entering an Altadena home on Jan. 8, 2025, during the height of the Eaton fire evacuations and stealing property, including an Emmy Award later recovered by investigators.
District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced the charges as part of a broader crackdown that included six other defendants accused of looting fire-ravaged homes and one man charged separately with arson at an Azusa park.
“Let me be clear: If you exploit this tragedy to prey on victims of these deadly fires, we will find you and we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law,” Hochman said at the time, according to Fox News.
Each defendant faces up to six years in state prison if convicted as charged.
Melany Avanessians of the Pasadena Branch is prosecuting.
Trader Joe’s siege shooter faces sentencing after 8-year saga
Gene Evin Atkins, convicted of second-degree murder in the 2018 death of Trader Joe’s assistant manager Melyda “Mely” Corado, was scheduled for sentencing Monday, though several outlets reported ahead of the hearing that it could be pushed to a later date.
A jury deliberated less than a day in August before convicting Atkins, 36, of second-degree murder after a first jury deadlocked on that charge in June while convicting him of 40 other counts, including attempted murder, assault with a semiautomatic firearm and 24 counts of false imprisonment of a hostage.
Corado, 27, was fatally struck by an LAPD officer’s bullet during a three-hour standoff after Atkins shot his grandmother and girlfriend, led police on a pursuit, and barricaded himself inside the Silver Lake store on July 21, 2018.
Atkins faces life in prison; the jury also found true an allegation that he personally used and discharged a firearm during the crime.
Corado’s family previously reached a $9.5 million settlement with the city of Los Angeles and two LAPD officers involved in the shooting, according to KTLA. Prosecutors have determined the officers acted lawfully in defending themselves and others, the outlet reported.
Benjamin Schwartz of the Major Crimes Division and Ani Bailey of the Target Crimes Division prosecuted the case.
Testimony resumes in 13-year Noguez corruption trial
Deputy District Attorney Bobby Zoumberakis of the Public Integrity Division continued presenting the prosecution’s case this week against former LA County Assessor John Noguez — born Juan Renaldo Rodriguez — as testimony resumes in a corruption trial more than 13 years in the making.
Noguez and co-defendants Ramin Salari and Mark McNeil are accused of manipulating the county’s property tax assessment system, allegedly reducing valuations for wealthy developers and campaign donors in exchange for bribes.
Noguez was first arrested in 2012 on 24 felony counts of bribery, conspiracy and misappropriation by a public officer; the case has been delayed by more than a dozen postponed preliminary hearings and years of pretrial litigation before finally opening for trial in April.
In his opening statement, Zoumberakis told jurors the case was about corruption and greed, saying Noguez and his co-defendants had manipulated the property tax collection system to gain political power and secure tax breaks for wealthy developers, according to Courthouse News Service.
The trial’s expected star witness, former assessor’s office employee Scott Schenter, has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and is expected to testify that Noguez gave veiled orders to “take care of my donors,” the outlet reported.
Noguez’s attorney has maintained his client is innocent of all charges.
