NCFC: Ultimate Visitation Denial - Dad Murdered at Visitation Pickup
Bob Hirschfeld, JD - Still standing up to the bastards
RFSUB...@nolawyer.com
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NCFC: DAD MURDERED AT VISITATION PICKUP
>From: "Larry Hellmann" <nc...@primenet.com>
>Secretary, Board Member,
>National Congress for Fathers & Children
>1-800-SEE-DADS
>http://www.ncfc.net/ncfc
NCFC NEWS:
>Here is a tragic story that happened to one of our guys here in Riverside,
>California. Lawrence is beside himself and was unable to perform in court
>yesterday. I have personally been in a state of depressed disbelief. The
>story speaks for itself. Please, say a prayer for us all out here.
>
>Larry Hellmann, NCFC
>
>
>Man shot near child center
>
>By Patricia G. Portillo and Jyoti Nanda
>The Press-Enterprise
>NORCO
>
>
>A man shot Tuesday was likely targeted by his assailant as he sat in his
>car waiting for his son at a day-care center, Riverside County sheriff's
>deputies said.
>
>Sheriff's Lt. Ross Cooper said no children were in the immediate area of
>the shooting, reported at about 2:30 p.m. at the Town Country Day School
at
>3614 Pedley Avenue in Norco. There were no other injuries.
>
>"It wasn't a random event," Cooper said, adding that he did not know what
>led to the shooting. "The victim was targeted by the suspect. The shooting
>could have happened at any location that the victim went to; it just
>happened to be at the preschool."
>
>Witnesses identified the victim as Paul Wong, but sheriff's Sgt. Mark
>Lohman said the victim goes by multiple names.
>
>Lohman said the victim was in critical condition Tuesday night. Cooper
said
>the man suffered at least one gunshot wound to his chest; witnesses said
he
>also appeared to have been struck in the upper arm and upper leg.
>
>The school's director said the man was waiting to pick up his son.
>
>The shooter remained at large Tuesday night.
>
>Investigators recovered a semiautomatic gun in the parking lot of the
>day-care center, Cooper said. He said he could not elaborate on the
>shooting because of the pending investigation.
>
>A Norco man, who said he witnessed the shooting but did not want to be
>identified because he feared for his safety, said the gunman sat in his
>car, parked in a lot next to the school, about 15 minutes before leaving
it
>to approach the victim's car. When he got to the victim's car, he fired
six
>shots from a gun into the driver's side, shattering the window that had
>been rolled up, the witness said.
>
>"After he emptied his gun, he looked back at the vehicle he shot and
walked
>very slowly," the witness said.
>
>The witness said the man then hopped into his car, described as a white,
>four-door vehicle, and drove south on Pedley Avenue to Fifth Street. The
>witness said he got into his own car and tried to follow the man but lost
>him. The witness said the gunman wore a dark-colored baseball cap, blue
>jeans and black gloves.
>Residents who live in the area said they also heard at least six shots.
>"The shots were not erratic," said Dick MacGregor, a former Norco City
>Council member who lives a few houses from the school.
>
>Kelly Fairres was in her house next to the school when she heard the
>gunfire. She ran outside to see what happened. Around the same time, her
>husband came home from work. She told him to go help the victim.
>
>"I saw the guy slouched over in his car," said her husband, James Fairres.
>"I held him and asked him questions to keep him from going into shock
until
>the ambulance came."
>
>Betty Bash, who owns the school, said the children were taking their
>afternoon naps when the shooting occurred. Bash said she rushed outside to
>help the injured man while school employees awoke the children and took
>them to one of the school's playgrounds.
>
>"They took them way back; they didn't hear anything," she said. "They told
>them they were getting a big treat today, by going to the big playground."
>
>The school has 100 students between the ages of 2 and 11, Bash said. She
>said a relative picked up the victim's son after the shooting.
>
>"In 37 years, nothing like this has ever happened," said Bash's son,
Kevin,
>who consoled parents as they arrived. "I hope people don't relate this
>incident to the school."
>
>Betty Bash said the school will open today.
>
>Some parents cried and others ran to the school as they saw yellow tape
>surrounding the scene.
>
>"I wanted to cry when I drove up because that meant a crime scene," said
>Lisa Vallejos of Corona, whose 2-year-old daughter attends the school.
>Vallejos said she knew something was wrong when she saw the police tape.
"I
>thought the worst."
>
>Staff writers Michael McBride and Datwa M. Morales contributed to this
>report.
>
>Published 9/16/1998
>
>Ambushed man points out ex-wife
>
>By Patricia G. Portillo and Jyoti Nanda
>The Press-Enterprise
>NORCO
>
>
>Life was starting to turn around for Paul Wong.
>
>The unemployed Riverside resident had been involved in a bitter three-year
>divorce and custody battle. But he recently received a court order giving
>him more time with his children.
>
>Tuesday, he went to the Town Country Day School in Norco to pick up his
>3-year-old son. That never happened.
>
>Wong, 40, was ambushed as he sat in his car in the parking lot.
>
>His estranged wife, Kristy Ann Lewis, 37, a language, speech and hearing
>specialist at Highland Elementary School in Norco, arrived a few minutes
>after the shooting.
>
>"I asked him who did this to him and he pointed directly to his wife who
>was standing staring at the car," said James Fairres, who tried to help
him
>from going into shock.
>
>Fairres' wife, Kelly, spoke to Lewis after the shooting.
>
>"She (Kristy Lewis) walked up to me after I heard the shots and said
that's
>my ex-husband who got shot," Kelly said. "She told me he deserves this."
>
>School owner Betty Bash said she "was trying to help him (Wong) and
(Lewis)
>was just standing there.
>
>"She was out here at the playground talking to the children and
>everything," Bash said. "She was very calm."
>
>A day after the attack, Kristy Ann Lewis and her mother, Nona Lucille
>Lewis, 68, both of Orange, were arrested and booked in the death of Wong,
>40, Riverside County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Mark Lohman said.
>
>Wong, hit 10 times in the body and a leg, died Wednesday at Riverside
>County Regional Medical Center after Tuesday's attack.
>
>The suspected gunman, Bryan Modglin, 26, of Abilene, Texas, was arrested
>Tuesday night as he arrived in Dallas on a flight from Los Angeles
>International Airport, Lohman said. He was held without bail by Dallas-Ft.
>Worth International Airport police. Modglin is the cousin of Kristy Lewis.
>
>Lohman said investigators were able to track the suspects after the
>shooting. The car was traced to Nona Lewis, who had rented it at Los
>Angeles International Airport, he said. Modglin was listed as a secondary
>driver.
>
>Moments after the shooting, witnesses saw a man put the rental car's
>license plates back on the vehicle a few blocks from the school, Lohman
>said. Witnesses called authorities with the plate numbers.
>
>A Norco man who said he witnessed the shooting but did not want to be
>identified said the gunman sat in his vehicle in a lot next to the school
>about 15 minutes before the attack.
>
>When the gunman got to Wong's car he fired several rounds into the
driver's
>side, the witness said. The gunman then hopped into a white car and drove
>southbound.
>
>Investigators recovered a semiautomatic handgun the killer dropped in the
>parking lot of the day care center. The serial number was ground off,
>Lohman said.
>
>"He probably thought the murder weapon could not be traced," he said.
>
>Modglin, described as missing his right arm, fled the state after
allegedly
>shooting Wong, Lohman said. Investigators will travel to Dallas today to
>question Modglin.
>
>The mother and daughter were held at Robert Presley Detention Center in
>Riverside on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder, Lohman said. Bail
>was $250,000 each.
>
>Arraignment is scheduled today in Riverside Consolidated Court in Corona.
>
>Lohman said investigators don't know what motivated the suspects. He did
>not know whether money was exchanged or other arrangements were made
>because detectives had not yet spoken to Modglin, and that they "did not
>know what motivated the three."
>
>Sue Develin, a longtime friend of Wong, said Wong never felt he was in any
>danger, though he and Lewis were not on speaking terms.
>
>"This all boils down to a custody case," Develin said.
>
>The couple had a 3-year-old boy and 8-year-old girl who are under the care
>of a family friend, Lohman said. The girl was not enrolled in the day care
>center.
>
>Lawrence La Rocca, a Riverside lawyer who represented Wong in the divorce,
>said his client recently obtained visitation rights to see the children on
>Tuesdays. He said the couple filed for divorce in 1992.
>
>"My client didn't want custody, all he wanted was to see his children
>regularly and be able to help them in school," he said. "The mother was
>keeping the children away from him."
>
>La Rocca said the court ordered the couple to go to co-parenting classes
in
>June. He said the psychologist on the case had recommended that Wong spend
>more time with the children. He said Wong was unemployed because of
>respiratory problems.
>
>"My client was getting more time with the children," La Rocca said. "He
>said things were finally starting to turn around for the better."
>
>Bash said Kristy Lewis wanted to be present when Wong picked up their son
>at school. She said Wong usually waited in his car because he did not want
>to wake up the children who were napping.
>Published 9/17/1998
>
>
>Ambush suspect is enrolled at Christian college
>
>By Patricia G. Portillo
>The Press-Enterprise
>RIVERSIDE
>
>
>The man suspected of pulling the trigger in a Norco ambush attack that
>killed a Riverside man this week as he waited to pick up his young son was
>a student enrolled at a Christian college in Abilene, Texas.
>
>Bryan Modglin, 26, of Abilene had signed up for "pretty typical freshman
>courses" at Abilene Christian University, said Wayne Barnard, a dean at
the
>school associated with the Church of Christ.
>
>Thursday, Modglin was in a holding cell at the Dallas-Fort Worth
>International Airport, where he was to be interviewed by Riverside County
>sheriff's investigators. Modglin was arrested late Tuesday by airport
>police when he arrived on a flight from Los Angeles. He was being held on
a
>warrant accusing him of conspiracy and murder in the shooting Tuesday of
>Paul Wong of Riverside.
>
>Wong, who was ambushed as he sat in his car while waiting to pick up his
>3-year-old son, died Wednesday after suffering 10 gunshot wounds in the
>attack.
>
>Two others accused in the crime, Kristy Ann Lewis and her mother, Nona
>Lucille Lewis, both of Orange, remained in the Robert Presley Detention
>Center in Riverside on $500,000 bond each. Their arraignment Thursday on
>charges of conspiracy and murder in Riverside Superior Court was delayed
>until Oct. 2 at the request of their lawyer.
>
>Investigators said the shooting stemmed from a custody dispute between
>Wong, 40, and Kristy Lewis, 37, his estranged wife. They said Kristy Lewis
>had Modglin, her cousin, shoot Wong. Nona Lewis, 68, rented the car
Modglin
>used to drive to the day care center where Wong was shot, investigators
>said. Nona Lewis was listed in rental records as its primary driver,
>Modglin as its secondary driver.
>
>Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Mark Lohman said there was nothing new to report
>Thursday afternoon.
>At the college campus in Abilene, a city of about 110,000 approximately
160
>miles west of Fort Worth, Barnard said not much was known of Modglin. "I
>have yet to meet a student who knew him," he said.
>
>What he did know was that Modglin was originally from Benton, Ark., and
>once served in the U. S. Air Force. Prior to starting the fall semester,
he
>worked the front desk of a hotel in Abilene. A court check in Taylor
>County, where Abilene is located, showed no criminal convictions.
>
>Barnard said he spoke with Modglin's mother and offered his support. "I
>understand their being in shock, trying to make sense of this," he said.
>
>In Riverside, Dean W. Hall, a Brea attorney who represents the Lewises,
>said he sought a delay on entering pleas for the women because he wanted
>more time to prepare.
>
>Authorities say the couple were embroiled in a bitter divorce and child
>custody dispute for their two children, the son and their 8-year-old
>daughter. Court records show the couple filed for divorce in July 1995.
>
>Documents filed in Riverside County Superior Court show repeated court
>hearings related to child visitations. The documents state Kristy Lewis
had
>custody of the children, while Wong was allowed to see the children
>unmonitored and sometimes supervised by a friend or a relative. The couple
>attended parenting classes and counseling.
>
>In a document filed in 1995, Wong claimed his estranged wife prevented him
>from seeing their two children.
>
>Barry Wishart, a Brea attorney who represented Kristy Lewis in the child
>custody case, did not return repeated telephone calls seeking comment.
>
>The Abilene Record-News contributed to this report.
>Published 9/18/1998
>
>
>
>