A Beltless Youth
By Miles Clements

Los Angeles International Airport
Mon., March 19, 8 a.m.
We’re not sure why—their reasons are their own—but airport police stopped a young woman for questioning. When they ran her information through a computer, they found the 25-year-old was wanted on an outstanding warrant on a prostitution charge in Long Beach. They arrested her and drove her to the Long Beach Police Department, booked her on a misdemeanor prostitution charge, and released her on her own recognizance.

1000 block of East Ocean Boulevard
Mon., March 19, 4:30 a.m.
Apartment dwellers were startled—we’re guessing awakened—by strange noises in their bathroom. On closer inspection, they heard the bathroom window rattling—as if someone were trying to pry it open. Finding nothing, they examined all their windows—and discovered a teenager peeking into their apartment. His pants, they noticed, were pooled around his ankles. They summoned Long Beach police, who found the Beltless Youth down the street, sitting on someone else’s front porch. He was arrested and booked on felony charges of residential burglary and indecent exposure, plus two misdemeanor charges of loitering and peeking into an inhabited residence.

Unknown block of Anaheim Street
Tues., March 20, 2:57 a.m.
Police say it was around closing time when a young bartender apparently decided to make his move. Spotting a woman just about to get into her car, they say the bartender allegedly rushed the woman, shoved her into her seat, kissed her and tried to remove her clothing. She wiggled away and ran down Anaheim Street, having the great good fortune to spot a patrol car. She flagged it down. Officers arrested the man and booked him on a felony charge of assault with the intent to rape.

5900 block of Orange Avenue
Wed., March 21, 8:15 p.m.
Acting on a lead, police got a warrant and searched the home of a middle-aged man who later told them he was unemployed. But once inside, police found a firearm with identification and serial numbers that had been altered: a felony. Police also found large quantities of cocaine, and what they believe were the materials necessary to distribute the drug—leading them to believe the man may have had a job after all. The man was arrested and booked on four felony charges including possessing cocaine for sale, having an illegally altered firearm—and having large quantities of drugs and an illegally altered firearm together, which could bring even more jail time if the man is convicted.

300 block of Elm Avenue
Thurs., March 22, 7:20 p.m.
As the sun set on downtown, police saw a man biking through the still-hazy darkness with no lights on either the bike or himself—and you have to have a light if you ride at night. It’s the law. Police stopped the man to inform him of this safety violation, and after a conversation, they ran his information through the computer—only to find he had an outstanding warrant on charges of forgery. They also discovered he was a convicted sex offender, and when they braced him with the news, the man admitted he had just moved, and had failed to register with the local authorities. At that point police arrested the man and booked him on the prior forgery charge, plus an additional felony charge of being a convicted sex offender who’d failed to register his whereabouts.