You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from KFI AM six forty.
Now, as we continue to make sure that you have the most important information available for you as you try to maneuver and navigate a tragedy possibly in your life. If you're one of the people who might have lost your home, or maybe you've been evacuated and you're not sure about the status of your home, you don't know what to do next, where to go next, Well, let me tell you about someone who might be able to
help you. My next guest is Attorney Latissia Johnson, and she's a managing partner of the Southeastern Regional offices of Singleton Schreiber, which is the nation's preeminent wildfire litigation firm, having represented over twenty six thousand victims of wildfires and recovered over two point five billion dollars in settlements and verdicts for their clients. They have an upcoming zoom tomorrow at six pm Pacific and you can register at Singletonshreiber dot com.
We'll make sure or that you have this information.
We'll have plenty of time, but you can register at Singletonstreyber dot com and they'll be discussing community updates and available resources, and answer your questions about the Eton and hearstfires and have your concerns addressed by experience attorneys. So welcoming to the show right now, Attorney Latsia Johnson.
Attorney Johnson, how are you this evening?
I'm wonderful. How are you?
I'm doing well all things considered, and I appreciate your expertise on this night. Now, for someone who doesn't understand the enormity of what may be confronting them after they're losing their homes in a tragedy like this, what's for you the first step that these homeowners should take.
That's a very good question. So first and foremost, everyone needs to ensure their safety right. Make sure you're safe and follow all of the emergence the guidelines, respect the curfews, and heed all of the evacuation orders. So we want to keep people as ape as possible. Once you're safe, then it's time to start documenting everything. Take photos of the damage, you know, go through all those picks on your phone, Start making list of all the items that
have been lost. Gave all of your receipts from fire related expenses, keep records of all of your communications with your insurance company, and most importantly, understand your rights before making, you know, any major decisions about your claims. You know, this is why we hold those town halls to help people understand all of their options.
Would you say pictures of your home?
I would interpret that to mean if you do have any pictures of your home before the tragedy, wouldn't that also help?
Oh?
Yes, that's exactly what I mean. You know, sometimes we think we remember all the things that we own. Going through those pictures will help your dog, your memory of all the little things, right, And you want to claim everything because we want you to, you know, receive the benefit of all the things that you own. You know, that's probably your wealth.
You say, the first thing at the top of the list should be obviously making sure that you're safe, that you're observing the curfew and the laws regarding that. But at the same time, I'm quite sure people were thinking, like, well, should I reach out to FEMA first? Should I reach out to my insurance provider first? I mean, what is the level of what's the priority order?
So it really depends on your situation. And so you know, if you call us and talk to us so we can better advise. I would just sort of hate to give sort of generic answer because there's so many diverse situations out there.
Now, let's talk about hypothetical.
There are thousands of people in the Eton Canyon area Altadena who've lost their homes. Let's talk from a standpoint of someone who's completely lost their home and they can't even at this moment get back up to where their home was because they have not been allowed to return. What could they be doing possibly during this time other than getting their documents together.
Well, you know, they have to secure living arrangements, reaching out to their insurance company. It would also be important to start to get to understand their benefits, start talking to various attorneys to see so that you can make an informed decision. It's time to gather all the information you possibly can about your claims, potential claims, and your injuries and your rights.
I know someone is listening right now who does not have their home unfortunately, And I know someone who's listening right now who lost their home and may not have had the opportunity or even the forethought of or forethought of mind to gather documents such as like a deed or any type of information about the sale of the house or the condition of the house, and they may be limited as far as the number of pictures they have. In other words, it's a dire situation all the way
around for someone like that. And I know someone in that same situation will be on that zoom tomorrow.
What would you tell him or her? In a general sense, So.
For instance, if you don't know who your home insurance is with, you can always call your mortgage company if it's s road, or you can call your insurance agent.
When you are getting I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to step on you. What you're saying when you are handling these different cases like this, What are some of the questions that you find yourself fielding when you're doing a virtual town hall like this. I'm quite sure you've heard every question under the sun, but what are some of the more frequent questions that you receive?
So you know, the impact of this devastation of this fire has been devastating, you know, with fourteen thousand acres burned, over seven thousand building damage and destroyed, and of course the loss of life. What we're hearing from families who've lost everything. You know, in this in particular situation, homes passed down through generations. We're you know, we are hearing them really worry about being able to rebuild and being displaced.
As far as.
The time period, because I know when you're in a desperate situation, you are by definition desperate. Everything is taking too long and you don't have enough time, and you don't want to wait months or years. But be honest with me, be honest with everyone listening right now, how long is this process usually best circumstances as far as being displaced, losing your home and being made whole, if at all possible.
Unfortunately, it is not a short term process. On the better side, we're looking at eighteen months on probably more of an average between eighteen months and twenty four months before lawsuit settlements, insurance places. It may come in quicker than that. Of course KMA beta fits might be quicker event, but before it all closes out, we're looking at, you know, a minimum of two years, and then of course families have to be a movie built. So this is this isn't a short term process.
If you're tuning in right now, my guest is attorney Letisia Johnson, who is the managing partner of Singleton Schreiber, the nation's pre eminent wildfire litigation firm, having represented over twenty six thousand victims of wildfires. They're having a very important and obviously free virtual town hall tomorrow. You can register. It's at six pm LA time. Register at Singleton Shreiber dot com. That's s I N G L E T O N S C h R E I B e R dot com.
We'll have more with Letisia Johnson in just a moment.
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from kf I A M six forty.
I'm speaking with Attorney Latissia Johnson, who is the manage partner of Singleton Schreiber for the Southeastern region and Singleton Shreiber's the nation's preeminent wildfire litigation firm, having represented over twenty six thousand victims of wildfires and recovered over two point five billion in settlements and verdicts for their clients.
They're offering an exclusive opportunity to ask key questions about the Eton and hearstfires and have your questions, excuse me concerns addressed by experienced attorneys and they will also be offering community updates and available resources Tomorrow at six pm. You can register for the virtual town hall at Singletonshreiber dot com. Of course we'll have that information at KFIAM six forty dot com and Attorney Johnson let me come
back to you and bring you into the conversation. You and in your firm, they take fire litigation cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning you don't get paid unless their clients get paid. I know there is a question about what money do people have to offer up Explain that for people who may not understand what contingency basis is.
So essentially it means there is no requirement to pay anything upfront, that we don't get paid until our clients get paid.
What are some of the first steps that you as legal representation will be taken on behalf of I'm quite sure some people who will be at that virtual town hall tomorrow.
So the first thing that we want to do is sort of explain what the firm offers and take questions and try to ease concerns, and then you know, of course, then give people the option if they want to sign up with us, they will have that option as well.
You're also available to assist with FEMA applications. And if you could just break down what you are offering to do as far as helping people become whole with insurance and how that's different from how you will assist with FEMA.
Sure, so we have our clients will have access to an insurance expert free of charge, who will consult with them in terms of the offers that are made by their insurance companies. Our team also is available to assist individuals with SEMA applications and appeals at no cost. We also have an on social worker and our clients have unlimited access to this social worker who is available to assist with finding housing, applying for financial aid, and locating mental health resources.
Okay, let me just stay right there, since we are talking about FEMA and that's separate and distinct from the insurance process. What you said could take upwards of, you know, two years, and people who are without a place to stay, they may have temporary housing, but as far as permanent housing.
They do not have that.
If it's two years for the insurance, what are we talking about as far as schedule for FEMA, as far as what FEMA can do and will do.
So you know, that's sort of a slipperly slope and I really can't say for sure because it's again it's one of those things that's on an individual basis and depends on the circumstance. So what I can say is that we can help you through that process, whatever that process looks like.
Tomorrow you have your virtual town hall meeting. You can register at Singleton Schreiber dot com. That's s I N G L E t O N S C h R E I B E R dot com. Will have that information on our website at KF I A M six forty dot com. And in that you'll have a number of a ternoorneys who will be on that call that virtual town hall. Tell me about some of the expertise which is going to be offered from yourself and other attorneys.
So you know, you've said it several times. You know, we leave the Nation and Fire litigation, and so we have a managing partner of the entire firm, Jerald Smilton. He will be on the call and he will answer questions and explain the processes. We have represented so many victims of fire and there's so many fires across the nation that we have represented victims with and he'll talk to about his experience, and I think that's really where you get the expertise. It's I mean, it's to be seen.
You've seen it.
I know that this is one of those difficult times in some of your clients' lives where where they may be full of emotion, they may be uncertain about what the future is going to bring and they have no idea where to turn, and you have a good idea of what they need to do, but at the same time,
you can't get emotionally attached to the clients. What I would ask you before I let you go, is how do you go about providing some level of assurance that this is a process which can be managed, even though it may take some time, even though it may take a lot of work, but this is a process, when done correctly, can really be beneficial for people who are going through it right about now.
Well, I think it is because I feel like it's a huge opportunity. You know, I remember all the devastation that happened during Katrina, and then all of the devastation
that happened after Katrina. I think with our firm being involved in this process at such an early state, we can help protect the community from those that from scavengers, and we can help people make the best decisions for themselves to make sure they maintain and so make sure that it gets a justice that they deserve and the resources that they need to rebuild.
She is Attorney Latsia Johnson, managing partner of Singleton Schreiber for their Southeastern region, the nation's preeminent wildfire litigation firm, having represented over twenty six thousand victims of wildfires. They're having an exclusive virtual town hall meeting tomorrow where you have the opportunity to ask key questions about the Eton and hearstfires and have your concerns addressed by their experience attorneys.
You can register right now. It's tomorrow at six pm, but you can register right now at Singleton Shreiber dot com. Attorney Johnson, thank you so much for coming on tonight and thank you for sharing your expertise.
Thank you so much for having me.
You're listening to later with Moe Kelly on demand from KFI AM six forty.
And over the course of day, you might have seen a couple of press conferences.
Want to get into them both right now.
I want to take to my time and slow down so we can listen to some really good information which was passed along by not only our civic leaders but also our elected leaders. First I want to get into
and I'm doing this in reverse chronological order. There was a press conference by our new La County DA Nathan Hoffman about two o'clock today where he's from where I'm sitting, delivering on a promise to be tougher on crime, making sure that criminals are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the laws, something that we were not getting under George Gascone, and also serving notice to any would be criminals that, as they say, the proverbial news share is in town.
And this is Nathan Hockman earlier today talking about those who've been arrested for looting an arson.
There have been certain people that we have given a warning to because we anticipated that this was going to happen.
And these are the criminals.
These are the people who are seeking to exploit this tragedy for their own benefit. These are people who have engaged in looting arson. We've also investigated price gouging, will be investigating internet scams.
And the like.
Today, we're here to announce that the promise that we made when we started this that these criminals would be arrested, they would be prosecuted, and they will be maximally punished, is a promise we are keeping. As we announced today, the charges being filed on ten different individuals, nine of them for looting in both the Palisades and the Eden fires, and one for arson and arson, by the way, not connected with the origination of the major fires, but an
arson that occurred in Azusa. These felony charges are the result of a multi agency collaboration. There's been nothing short of incredibly impressive to be able to bring these charges
this quickly. This collaboration includes the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles County Fire Arson Unit, the US Attorney's Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the ATF, the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office, and all our related cities that you'll hear about that have done incredible work under enormously stressful times in order to bring these culprits
to justice. I'll go through the various charges that have been filed to date. The first set of charges are against two individuals. They should be three individuals, Martrell Peoples,
Damari Bell, and Travin Coleman. What two of these individuals did is on the night of both January eighth and the early morning hours of January ninth, they went ahead and committed residential first degree residential burglary and looting during an emergency and evacuation situation in a house in Mandeville Canyon. They've been charged with first degree residential burglary. They've been
charged with looting. They've been charged with grand theft. They stole over two hundred thousand dollars has been alleged by the charging documents. And by the way, with respect to the charges I'm going to announce, please know this, the charges themselves are not evidence. Everyone that I'm going to to describe today is presumed guilty until and orless they are proven guilt. Their guilt is proven by the government beyond a reasonable doubt.
Sure presumed insign excuse me.
Presumed innocent, Thank you for they change presumed innocent until and aless their guilt is proven beyond a reasonable doubt, so back with mister Peoples and mister Bell. They went ahead and committed these crimes. And when they committed these crimes, as you're going to see on this TV screen right here to my left, it was caught on a ring camera if you can play that as we're speaking, and
the lapd through again. Such impressive investigation worked with various leads and tracked mister Peoples and mister Bell to an apartment in Koreatown. Surveillance was then conducted. When they attempted to leave, they were then apprehended and items of a number of these stolen items from that residence was found with mister Peoples and mister Bell.
Mister Peoples is a.
Second is committed to prior violent or serious felonies. This is his third as a three strike. As a potential three strike person, he is looking at life life in prison and mister Bell, as a second strike individual, will be looking at twenty two years and eight months in
prison if convicted. Mister Coleman accompanied mister Bell and mister Peoples out of that apartment building in Koreatown, went into a second car, and when mister Peoples and mister Bell were stopped that second car driven by mister Coleman kept going, it went through a light a crash into another vehicle. That innocent person in the other vehicle suffered a concussion. So mister Coleman has been charged with one count felony hit and run causing great bodily injury as also a
potential third strike case. He is looking at a maximum sentence of life in prison. The second case that we'll talk about involves Rudy Salazar and Lucia Hilara Perez.
They have been charged with.
Two counts of each of first degree residential burglary in connection with an Altadena looting incident. On the night of again January eighth, they went ahead and entered two different houses in the Altadena area, stealing property in each of the houses, and they were apprehended by the police. And they are looking at six years maximum on each one of the residential burglary counts. The third set of charges is against Roy Simms, Ryan Simms, Nikwan Dewey Reddicks, and
Pieri Obannon. They are each charged with one count of first degree residential burglary in connection with their crimes where they went into a house in Altadena in the early morning hours and stole a number of a variety of different personal property from the owners of that house. If we can show some of that property and the resident and the burglary tools that were seized, we do not
have that. Among the property that you'll see that was stolen in that particular incident was actually the Emmy award of the resident who lived there was the police worked incredibly quickly in that situation, stopped these individuals and were able to apprehend them and recover most of the stolen property.
The fourth incident.
Is an arson incident in which Jose Harado Escobar has been charged.
We have that ready.
This is an incident that occurred in Azusa where mister Escobar has been charged with three different arson charges. He is looking at nine years in state prison. This is arson that occurred at Pioneer Park in the city of Azusa. It was investigated by the Azuza Police Department, who acted very effectively and very efficiently in apprehending mister Escobar.
Mister Escobar as well has been.
Now he's been charged, but he has set for arraiment today. So again with respect to all these charges, as I said before, these charges are not evidence and they are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. But this shows the effectiveness of law enforcement. So when I said, and I have been saying over the that past couple days, the question is not if, but when you will be
caught if you engage in these crimes. The ten charges or ten different individuals that have been charged today are evidence of that fact, and the warning shot remains. Do not go ahead and engage in looting, engage in internet scams, engage in price gouging, do not violate evacuation orders, and do not commit any of these crimes in which people are trying to profit from the tragedy of the people who have suffered from these various fires.
You're listening too later with Moe Kelly on Demand from KFI AM six forty.
Something that Da Hawkman said at the end.
I don't know if you caught it, when he was talking about do not engage in price gouging, and that would be interesting to see how they monitor it. How what's the threshold for charging someone as being criminally.
Liable for price gouging?
Because you see it all the time, and you especially see it during disaster situations where businesses or services will try to gouge the public, and you never hear about any type of consequences for that. So I'm interested to see whether that will hold true to form and whether Da Hakman will actually lean into anyone or any business
engaging in price gouging. Also from the law enforcement side, earlier today, I want to say it's about maybe nine this morning, you had LA Sheriff Robert Luna weigh in on some of the issues and some of his demands as far as what he expects of people respecting the curfew and what we need to do to remain safe.
Regarding our deployment, we still have well over one thousand of our Los Angeles County deputies out there working on twelve hour shifts. We have one hundred and seventy two California Highway Patrol officers. I'd like to thank the Commissioner who was with me yesterday, Chandie, for all of his assistants.
I also want to thank Major General Beavers.
I was with him as well, and he has fortunately been able to increase the amount of National Guard assistance that he is giving us up to six hundred and he told me yesterday if we need more, we can ask for more and we are strategically looking at that, analyzing it and we'll ask as needed.
Evacuations.
We have approximately and this is some good news because it's dropped. We have over ninety two thousand people who are under evacuation orders and approximately eighty nine thousand people who are under evacuation warnings. I want our community to know this, and Chief Maroney did talk about this for a second. In every conversation we're having about evacuations warnings, whether they're.
Going to implement them or or take them.
Away, the conversation about repopulation is on all of our minds.
I know that we are.
Attending staffs, attending community meetings, whether they be out in the Palisades fire area in Malibu for us at Alli County Sheriffs in the Altadena area. We are hearing our community loud and clear, and we want to get you in there as soon as possible. But I want to reiterate what is holding us up. This is very important. We are still for the Altadena area. We are in the third day of grid searching. It is a very grim task and we unfortunately every day we're doing this,
we're running across the remains of individual community members. That is not easy work, very sad to report, and I believe that work is not only going to continue, but I believe will continue to find remains.
So please be patient with us.
People are saying, I just want to go look at my house and I want to see what's left. We know that, but we have people literally looking for the remains of your neighbors. Please be patient with us. There's a lot of hazards in the area still, the area has not been rendered safe. Please be patient with us. And then we have the potential of crime scenes. And I'm not saying that's what it is. I'm just saying we have to think ahead because we can't go back
from that, So please be patient with us. The curfew is still in effect six pm to six am for specifically the mandatory evacuation areas in both the Palisides impacted area and the Eton Fire impacted areas. Those are subject to change depending on need one way or another. We understand again that people want to go back, but it is dangerous to do so and we will not put anybody's safety at risk. I want to talk about arrest for the Ali County Sheriff's area. Overnight, we had several
other arrests. It brings it up to a total of thirty four in our geographic area. We have thirty in the Eton Fire area, and we have four in the Palisades area. Last night, specifically, again for La County Sheriff's jurisdiction, we arrested four. Two were for curfew violations, two were arrested for one drone incident. To my knowledge, we have now had two specific drone incidents that have resulted in
three arrests. So, as I talk to our community again, if you do not have business in the in the evacuation areas, do not go there.
Please.
You're infringing upon the work that our first responders need to attend to. And I do want to say when I talk about these arrests, I want to clarify not all of them are for burglary or looting or for curfew violations, but it is very important when I say stay out. We are arresting people who are not supposed to be there, who do not live there, who are in possession of narcotics. We've arrested several with guns, and yeah,
I'm going to tell you something. If we're if our deputies being very proactive in these areas, stopping people in a constantitutional manner as always making sure that they're supposed to be there, and you have narcotics on you and you have a gun on you and police work, we call that a clue something's wrong there. So that's why we're arresting people. Our search and rescue missions up to through the two days, we have searched one eight and
seventy four properties. In regards to deaths, and again I want to clarify this is for the Los Angeles County area of responsibility. We have confirmed twenty one deaths, sixteen in the Eton Fire area and five in the Palisades area, and sadly, yes, unfortunately I anticipate the number to go up.
Missing persons.
We are actively have twenty three active missing persons reported, seventeen in the Eton Fire area, six in the Malibu area. All of them are adults. God there's no juveniles. But if you believe you have somebody who's missing, make sure you report that to us as soon as possible. For any updated information that anybody may have. Questions, very important questions regarding evacuation orders or warnings or any road closures, please go to Ali County dot gov slash emergency for assistance.
The American Red Cross is doing an amazing job. Please contact Please contact them. And again for some of the negative things I talk about, there are some amazing stories of community members coming forward to donate items. It's very inspiring for donations go to Emergency Network Los Angeles.
And also we heard from other members of our law enforcement community. Because there are two sides to the disaster. There are the victims of the disaster itself and they're the victims who continue to be victimized by other people in the community of the same disaster. And here is now LAPD assisted Chief Dominic Choi.
I want to start by just assuring everybody that our primary focus still remains the safety and well being of our residents. These fires have caused significant disruptions, but we are working tirelessly with our partners to protect lives, property, and secure critical infrastructure. So as of this morning, LAPD has in the city two hundred and sixty six officers
deployed to the Palisades fire. We also have support from our National Guard partners who have deployed two hundred soldiers assigned to the incident.
We're very grateful for their support.
We also have dedicated resource investigating our missing persons reported so at this time, as of this morning six am, we have a total of twenty six people reported missing in the city of Los Angeles. Seventeen of those individuals have been located safely. Nine of the nine remaining, two most likely were found in the fires, deceased, but they haven't been positively identified by a corner's office yet, so
those are still waiting to be identified. One individual we believe it is located safely in a shelter, but that person we're waiting for confirmation on that. There are six that remain unaccounted for, and we're diligently trying to identify and locate these people. So in total, in the city of Los Angeles since Tuesday, when these fires occurred.
We have three fatalities.
Again, two are found in the fires, and one was a burn victim that was transported earlier this week to a hospital.
That person later passed away.
If you want to make a missing person's report, you can do so either in person or over the phone. You can call any one of our twenty one geographic stations and make that report, or you can call our Missing Person's Investigation Unit directly.
I'm going to give you the number.
It's two one, three, nine, nine six, eighteen hundred and select option three. That telephone is man twenty four hours a day. Currently, as of this morning, the City of Los Angeles related to the fires has a total of fourteen arrests, three for curfew, one for impersonating a firefighter, one for possession of burglary tools, four for burglary, one for DUI, one for feony vandalism, and three for shoplifting.
As is Sheriff just mentioned, it's not just.
For looting or burglary that you're going to jail or curfew. If you're in the area.
You don't belong in the area.
You will be stopped and questioned, and whatever crime you're is being committed, you will be.
Held accountable for that.
So please stay away from these evacuation areas. Regarding escorts, we talked about this a little bit yesterday, but we tried to be compassionate put together a team to escort residents to their homes to either retrieve small pets or their medication. But that line became exceedingly large and it was causing war problems and solutions. We have halted this escort service for the safety.
Of everyone involved.
Currently, we don't have any timeline of when we're going to open up that service, if at all, so please be patient with us.
We know you're waiting.
If you are still waiting at any of these checkpoints to be left to be let in or escorted, please do not wait there.
You will not be let in or allowed to have an escort at this time.
Also, another important reason for stopping these escorts is because we have search operations beginning.
Over the next forty eight hours.
We'll be working alongside LAFD Search and Rescue, our ATF partners, as well as the LA County Corner's Office throughout the burn areas, giving priority to those people that are reported missing in these burn areas. From there, grid search will take place that could result in crime.
Scene preservation and then recovery remains.
We hope that the high volume of resources dedicated this to this effort expedite the process. And as many of you know, the dry conditions and winds increasing, it's possible that evacuation orders may increase. I know overnight we saw some of the evacuation orders turn into warnings, but we can absolutely see some of these order areas increase to mandatory evacuations again, so I urge you, we urge you, please heed these orders.
It can save your life.
And as we also previously mentioned, identifying the cause of
these fires it's critically important to all of us. In conjunction with our partners and led by ATF, we have created other Los Angeles Regional Wildlife Investigative Task Force, and while their work is still in the early stages, we're committed to identifying the cause and origin of these fires, and we're also committed to holding anyone who's responsible for these fires accountable and to further protect the residents of Los Angeles in the city, our curfew is also still
in effect from six pm to six am in Shore.
If you don't belong there, don't be there.
In closing, I want to reiterate that our department and all of us standing here this morning are with you. I want to express my deepest gratitude to the firefighters, our fellow law enforcement partners and volunteers who are putting themselves in harm's way to protect our communities and help people recover. Their bravery and dedication are truly inspirational. We are also grateful for the patience and cooperation of our residents during this difficult time. We know this is not easy.
Thank you and be safe.
KF I am six forty. I'm O Kelly. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio.
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