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"James at 15" star filed false documents to get public assistanceJames at 15 just got five years' probation. Lance Kerwin, the 1970s child star who is now a pastor in Hawaii, pleaded guilty to falsifying documents in order to get state medical help and food stamps. Kerwin, who owns three homes on the mainland, apologized and paid $21,822 in restitution, according to thegardenisland.com. "I'm sorry," said Kerwin, who played the title role on the 1977 NBC series, before being sentenced. "The last thing I want to do is to make a statement to minimize what I have done." Kerwin, 49,...

TV star Lance Kerwin has died at age 62. The small-screen actor — who appeared in the 1970s series “James at 16” and the made-for-TV movie “Salem’s Lot” — passed away Tuesday in California. The sad news was announced on Facebook by his daughter, Savanah. A cause of death has not been disclosed. “We appreciate all the kind words, memories, and prayers that have been shared,” his daughter wrote. “As the coming weeks progress, I will share more information about after-life ceremonies.” Kerwin was born in 1960 in Newport Beach, California. The youngest of five brothers, he grew up in...

A man who died in 1999 has been identified as a suspect in the 1980 killing of an Irvine mother in Newport Beach, thanks to advances in DNA technology and investigative genetic genealogy, police announced Monday. Kenneth Elwin Marks is believed to be the person responsible for killing 42-year-old Judith “Judy” Nesbitt on Nov. 26, 1980, while she was showing her family’s boat to a man she thought was a potential buyer, Newport Beach Police Department officials said in a news release. That afternoon, Marks followed Nesbitt into the boat’s sleeping quarters and, after a violent struggle, shot the mother...

The vandalism last weekend of a sculpture of Republican Party icon Ronald Reagan that’s long greeted passersby of artist Miriam Baker’s home on Balboa Island’s South Bayfront has generated outcry from her neighbors and friends. Baker first learned of the incident from her nephew, who at about 9 a.m. Sunday discovered the artwork, which stands next to some potted geraniums on her front patio, had been defaced by someone using what appeared to have been foam insulation. “It’s incomprehensible that there is a person that nasty around that would do it out of meanness and small mindedness,” said Baker, who...

A 27-year-old man from San Dimas has been arrested after vandalizing a church in Newport Beach, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage. The incident occurred Saturday morning at the United Methodist Christ Church by the Sea. Video footage from the church, built in the 1930’s, shows windows boarded up after the 27-year-old allegedly shattered stained glass windows that were given as gift to the church many years ago. Officials at Christ Church by the Sea estimate that the vandal caused $80,000-$100,000 worth of damage. So far, police have not identified the 27-year-old man or said why he wanted...

A 26-year-old Irvine man has been charged with ambushing two Chapman University alumni who were stabbed to death in their apartment near Angel Stadium. Ramy Fahim, the defendant, worked at the office of a wealth management firm in Newport Beach with one of the victims, 23-year-old Griffin Robert Cuomo, Anaheim police said. The other man who was killed, Jonathan Andrew Bahm, also 23, had no prior connection to Fahim, Sgt. Shane Carringer said.

Video vixen Tawny Kitaen's cause of death has been revealed. Kitaen, known for her roles in a number of ‘80s music videos, died on May 7. A spokesperson for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department in California confirmed to Fox News on Wednesday that the star's cause of death was dilated cardiomyopathy. The manner of death was ruled natural. According to the spokesman, other significant conditions included: mild coronary atherosclerosis; mirtazapine, mirtazapine metabolite, alprazolam, acetaminophen, pregabalin, and hydrocodone. Kitaen was 59 years old when she died at her home in Newport Beach, California. Her daughters, Wynter and Raine, first confirmed their...

Tawny Kitaen, the actress and model best known for starring in Whitesnake’s iconic music video for “Here I Go Again,” has died. She was 59-years-old. Variety reports that Kitaen died at her home in Newport Beach, CA yesterday, Friday, May 7. No cause of death has been revealed. Kitaen’s music video debut came in RATT’s 198x clip, “Back for More.” She went on to appear not only in Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again” video, but several of the band’s other clips as well, including “Still of the Night,” “Is This Love” and “The Deeper the Love.” She was also married...

Coleman was previously arrested on suspicion of DUI in August by police in Laguna Beach, and court records indicate she was charged with DUI and having a blood alcohol content over .08% in that incident.

Authorities did not provide details on Neal’s illness, but said he was not exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms. Before his hospitalization, he was being held at the Theo Lacey maximum-security jail in Orange. In February 2019, Neal was identified as a suspect in the sex assault and killing of 11-year-old Linda Ann O’Keefe, a case that had stymied investigators for more than four decades. O’Keefe was abducted while walking home from school in the summer of 1973. Her strangled body was later found dumped in a ditch in Newport Beach’s Back Bay. DNA evidence collected at the crime scene eventually linked Neal...

Defendant paid $9,000 to have online college classes taken on behalf of her son BOSTON – A California woman was sentenced today in connection with paying $9,000 to have an individual take online classes for her son, in order to earn credits to facilitate his graduation from Georgetown University.Karen Littlefair, 57, of Newport Beach, Calif., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs to five weeks in prison, two years of supervised release which includes 300 hours of community service, and a fine of $209,000. In January 2020, Littlefair pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to...

Covered in yellow tarps and wheeled into an ambulance, two coronavirus-positive great-grandparents said goodbye to their family last month and headed to the hospital — on one condition. Dolores said her and her husband Louis Amen never expected to get the virus, because they don’t often leave the house. “I’ll only go to the hospital if we can have room together,” said survivor Dolores Amen. She said her and her husband Louis Amen never expected to get the virus, because they don’t often leave the house. “When I saw them drive away in the ambulance wrapped like that, I thought...

After taking Isaac from the zoo, Kasbar put him in a plastic drawer without ventilation and then abandoned him in front of a hotel in Newport Beach hotel with two notes that said "Lemur (with tracker)" and "This belongs to the Santa Ana Zoo it was taken last night please bring it to police." Isaac was returned unharmed to the zoo, according to the release. Several other animals escaped after their enclosure was opened by Kasbar but they were all recovered, the release said. In addition to his prison sentence, Kasbar was sentenced to pay restitution of $8,486 to the...

Rep. Harley Rouda (D-Laguna Beach) is scheduled to speak next week in Newport Beach at a Wake Up Newport gathering Oct. 3 in the Friends Room of the Newport Beach Central Library, 1000 Avocado Ave. Rouda announced Tuesday that he favors the House of Representatives pursuing impeachment of President Trump because of “repeated betrayals of his oath to preserve, protect and defend our nation’s Constitution.”

Prosecutors say that [Mark] Riddell worked closely with [Rick] Singer, [founder of the Edge College & Career Network, also known as The Key — a for-profit college counseling and preparation company offering families help in getting students into competitive colleges and universities]. In conversations recorded by investigators, Singer called Riddell his “best test-taker.” The Bradenton Herald’s review of the federal complaint document revealed that Riddell earned at least $240,000 from his involvement in the scheme and Proctored [or corrected] at least 16 exams for students. “I would really appreciate the opportunity to Proctor the test because I’m applying to grad...

Southern California authorities have arrested a suspect in connection to a nearly half-century-old murder case. Newport Beach police and Orange County prosecutors said they'll reveal details of their probe of a 1973 slaying during a 10 a.m. press conference on Wednesday. Authorities declined to immediately disclose details of the arrest, but Newport Beach police said last year they were taking a fresh look at the 1973 slaying of 11-year-old Linda O'Keefe. The girl lived in the Corona del Mar neighborhood of Newport Beach and was last seen alive on July 6, 1973, as she walked home from summer school. O'Keefe...

As Michael Avenatti floats a 2020 presidential run, court records reveal the lawyer and his companies owed millions in unpaid taxes and judgments. ... questions over his finances remain—and could become a sore spot on the campaign trail, as creditors pursue him and his former companies. Both the Eagan Avenatti law firm and a shuttered Seattle coffee chain, which Avenatti says he no longer owns, owe millions in unpaid taxes and judgments.. ... Tax liens filed in Orange County also show that Avenatti has personally owed at least $1.2 million in federal taxes on top of the corporate debts. ......

The Newport Beach city council voted unanimously earlier this week to challenge California's sanctuary law, joining a dozen other cities that are not interested in complying with the sanctuary policies. It's the third city in the past two days to take such action, joining about a dozen others in recent weeks.

The Star-Spangled Banner survived the rocket’s red glare and bombs bursting in air – only to face a modern-day threat – silly town ordinances and petty bureaucrats. I’m not sure if it’s an epidemic of anti-American nincompoopery sweeping across the fruited plain or if it’s a general lack of common sense. Maybe it’s both. I’ll let you be the judge of that.

Laguna Beach's LSD culture in the 1960s, a cranky widower befriended by his chatty neighbors and a man who's dealing with the fallout from his reality show days are all stories that will be told at the Newport Beach Film Festival this year. At this, the 17th annual festival, there are more than 400 features, short films and documentaries from 50 different countries. It's a chance to see things that likely won't appear elsewhere, especially in the United States. The festival starts this Thursday and runs until the following Thursday. "The largest misconception about any film festival is that these...