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Jose Ometeotl, the city manager of Lynwood, California suggested that the shooting of two Los Angeles County deputies over the weekend was not surprising and even indicated that it was payback for how law enforcement has treated the community. The story: Ometeotl posted a meme on his Instagram page featuring 1960’s black leader Malcolm X alongside the words “chickens come home to roost.” He wrote that “the shooting of anyone is a wholly unacceptable occurrence in society” and “[t]he fact that someone randomly opened fire on deputies is to be expected in the society we live in today.” Ometeotl pointed...

LYNWOOD, Calif. - A suspect is in custody in Lynwood after a standoff connected to a carjacking in the city, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which added the suspect was not immediately connected to the shooting of two deputies in Compton on Saturday.

A battle over the integrity of the election process is coming to a head this week in Lynwood, where the City Council has defied the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder and refused to set a date for a recall election targeting four of its members. The registrar-recorder's office concluded in June that there were enough signatures on recall petitions to force a special election for the four officials, two of whom were recently indicted on public corruption charges. But when Lynwood's elected city clerk tried to certify the recall petition, the City Council voted to strip her of all election duties,...

Five current and former leaders of this suburban Los Angeles city were charged Thursday with the misappropriation of more than $100,000 in public funds. Mayor Louis Byrd, Mayor Pro-Tem Fernando Pedroza and former City Council members Armando Rea, Arturo Reyes and Ricardo Sanchez were scheduled to be arraigned Friday, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said in a statement. Authorities allege the five collected thousands of dollars in taxpayer money by charging personal expenses to city credit cards and other schemes. In one case, prosecutors said Pedroza charged $1,500 on a city credit card to pay for an exotic...

LOS ANGELES - A former mayor of suburban Lynwood was convicted Tuesday of federal charges involving the funneling of millions of dollars in city contracts to a sham consulting company he secretly controlled. Paul Richards, 49, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit extortion, fraud, money laundering and depriving the public of honest services. Prosecutors accused Richards of arranging to have more than $2.5 million in city contracts awarded to a consulting company, Allied Government Services, that listed his sister, Paula Cameo Harris, as its president. Last week, Richards denied wrongdoing and told jurors he did not disclose his ties...

Mexican drug cartels operating in cities in the U.S. are buying up legitimate businesses to launder money and using some of the proceeds to win local mayoral and city council seats for politicians who can shape the policies and personnel decisions of their police forces, according to Rep. Tom Tancredo "The Tijuana-based Felix drug cartel and the Juarez-based Fuentes cartel began buying legitimate business in small towns in Los Angeles County in the early 1990s," "They purchased restaurants, used-car lots, auto-body shops and other small businesses. One of their purposes was to use these businesses for money-laundering operations. Once established...

A maintenance firm contracted to work on an abandoned and foreclosed home in Illinois owned by Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. made a startling discovery while draining the flooded basement: pipe bombs and tear gas grenades were uncovered when the water had been removed, leading the surprised workers to notify both Countrywide and local authorities. Police were reported to have responded to the scene at 3245 203rd St. in Lynwood (Chicago Heights), IL.......

The city manager of a Los Angeles-area suburb was put on paid administrative leave Tuesday after his social media post on the ambush shooting of two sheriffs' deputies over the weekend was heavily criticized. Jose Ometeotl was put on leave pending an internal investigation, Lynwood City Councilman Salvador Alatorre told Fox News following the council's closed session meeting Tuesday night. Alatorre put forth the motion to discipline or dismiss Ometeotl following his personal Instagram post that read "chickens come home to roost" after two deputies were shot multiple times while sitting in their patrol vehicle Saturday in the nearby city...