Police received a call about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday about a possible assault with a deadly weapon in the 10000 block of Lev Avenue. When officers responded, they found the man with a shotgun, which he may have used to threaten other people, said LAPD Officer Wendy Reyes.

It is unknown whether the man used his weapon or if there were any victims in the home, Reyes said.

No other information was available.

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DNA key in case against L.A. teacher accused of classroom abuse

-- Dalina Castellanos

Berndt is accused of committing lewd acts on at least 23 children, including blindfolding them and spoon-feeding them a white substance that authorities say was the teacher's semen.

Children told investigators that they were being enlisted in a tasting game, according to a district source who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak. They were supposed to say whether the substance was sweet or salty and whether they liked the taste. The blindfolds were necessary, Berndt allegedly said, "because he was going to put on bright lights to take the pictures and he didn't want to hurt their eyes."

FULL COVERAGE: Mark Berndt

The photos were apparently taken in Berndt's classroom. The teacher frequently kept his door locked, which was against school policy, but not an uncommon practice among teachers who want to limit interruptions.

The alleged victims, photographed one at a time, apparently included his current and former students and possibly some he'd never taught. Berndt allegedly put the substance around the mouth of a child and asked the child to lick it off his or her lips.

"The students shared that they didn't like the taste of it," in the case of the liquid they described as salty, said the district insider.

AUDIO: Listen to principal's message

District officials said they have no record of any child, parent or staff member ever complaining about Berndt or raising a concern.

Los Angeles schools Supt. John Deasy offered a swift condemnation Tuesday of Berndt.

"I find it disgusting, I find it reprehensible," Deasy told The Times. "I hope this man spends the rest of his life in prison."

Deasy said Berndt was removed from the classroom immediately after the district was notified of the allegations and he was fired by the school board at its next meeting.

The cache of 400 photos being reviewed by authorities includes head shots or pictures of smiling children and other more disturbing images of children gagged or blindfolded or both, according to sources who have seen them.

All of the children were fully clothed in the pictures. Some included disturbing images of children with a spoon near their faces; in the spoon was a milky liquid.

Sgt. Dan Scott of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said the photos were perplexing because the children were smiling and appeared not to be in distress. Detectives went to his classroom, where they found a spoon in a trash bin that matched a spoon seen in the images.

They tested a substance on the spoon and found semen containing DNA that matches the teacher's, Scott said.

"We didn't have a felony until the semen was discovered," Scott said.

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-- Howard Blume and Richard Winton

Photo: Mark Berndt  Credit: Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department

DNA evidence collected in the classroom of a teacher accused of gagging and blindfolding children and feeding them semen is considered central in the felony cases against him, a detective said.

Mark Berndt was charged Tuesday with 23 felony counts of lewd acts upon a child. The case began when photos of scenes in the classroom emerged. Berndt, 61, was fired as a teacher in March and was arrested Monday after a yearlong investigation.

Sgt. Dan Scott of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said the photos were perplexing because the children were smiling and appeared not to be in distress. Detectives went to his classroom, where they found a spoon in a trash bin that matched a spoon seen in the images.

FULL COVERAGE: Mark Berndt

They tested a substance on the spoon and found a DNA match with the teacher's semen, Scott said.

"We didn't have a felony until the semen was discovered," said Scott.

The photos showed students bound and blindfolded, some with large Madagascar cockroaches crawling on them, inside the school setting, Scott said. Scott said girls were allegedly photographed with a blue spoon holding a white substance near their mouths. Investigators said they believe that substance was Berndt's semen and that he had the girls consume it.

Investigators said they have recovered more than 400 images, and so far 10 children in those photos have not been identified. More than 80 children and staff Miramonte Elementary have been interviewed. Miramonte Elementary is in the Florence Firestone unincorporated area of Los Angeles County and is within the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Parents whose children attend the school expressed shock and betrayal over the news.

Kimberly Kirklin, 32, has six children, including three daughters who are still students at Miramonte. She said she quizzed each of them immediately after learning of the arrest of Berndt on the early Tuesday morning television news, and felt secure that they had never been subjected to any lewd activity.

DOCUMENT: Felony complaint against Mark Berndt

Kirklin said her daughters refused to go to school Tuesday and that she could not blame them and would not force them to go. She said she would attempt to enroll her children in another school.

One woman's daughter was a student in Berndt's classroom when she was 7, three years ago. The mother said she trusted the teacher so much that she invited him to her daughter's birthday party and recommended that her friend's 14-year-old daughter volunteer in his classroom.

Her story is a common one, according to a district insider familiar with the investigation. Parents had so much trust in Berndt, a fixture at the school, that they invited him to birthday parties and stayed in touch long after their children left his class. He was the sort of teacher who’d be invited to quinceañeras — coming-of-age parties for girls, a tradition in the Latino community.   

"Parents loved him," said the district source who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak. "But the investigators felt the relationship was unnaturally close to the children."

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-- Richard Winton, Rick Rojas, Howard Blume, Scott Gold, Paloma Esquivel and Jeff Gottlieb

Photo: A reporter walks to Mark Berndt's apartment. Credit: Jae C. Hong / Associated Press

Someone has created a fake Twitter account using the name of Los Angeles Councilman Eric Garcetti  -- and is making mischief for the mayoral hopeful in the process.

The satirical Twitter account, which goes under the handle @Eric_Garcetti, has churned out a series of tweets over the last 10 days that lampoon the 40-year-old councilman, portraying him as an urban sophisticate who is bit too concerned with aesthetic and environmental choices.

A few samples of the tweets, each of which pretend to be from Garcetti:

- Jan. 24: I missed the beautiful sunset everyone is talking about. Grr…
- Jan. 24: Making calls from my free range, grass fed, ethanol-powered car
- Jan. 26: Trees need people and people need trees!
- Jan. 28: This morning, I pruned, fertilized and watered my fruit trees. The pomegranates look particularly promising this year.
- Jan. 28: The night gusts like the cool winds of change blowing through our precious City of Angels. Buenos noches, Los Angeles.

The source of the satirical tweets has not surfaced. But Garcetti’s staff contacted some of the account’s followers to let them know that the tweets are not actually being sent by the councilman -– and that they should follow @ericgarcetti if they want the real deal.

“The tweets are harmless,” said Garcetti spokesman Yusef Robb. “But we would hope people follow the authentic Eric Garcetti, so they’re getting accurate and helpful information.”

Meanwhile, the actual Eric Garcetti spent part of Tuesday tweeting about such topics as the arrival of El Salvador’s first lady and the vote to hire a ratepayer advocate at the Department of Water and Power. Probably not as intriguing as pomegranates and grass-fed cars.

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-- David Zahniser and Kate Linthicum at Los Angeles City Hall

Image: Screenshot of @Eric_Garcetti, a satirical Twitter account lampooning L.A. councilman Eric Garcetti, who tweets at @ericgarcetti.

Legislation to award the original Montford Point Marines with a Congressional Gold Medal was signed by President Obama in November. An award ceremony is set for spring.

To be counted among the original Montford Point Marines and receive a replica medal, documentation such as the DD214 or discharge paperwork is required, officials said.

Persons with questions about the process should contact Joe Geeter of the Montford Point Marine Assn. at (610) 495-3619.

More than 20,000 African Americans trained at Camp Montford Point in Jacksonville, N.C. The camp was closed as a training facility when the U.S. military was racially integrated by presidential order.

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-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: Montford Point Marines at a Camp Pendleton ceremony. Credit: Rick Loomis / Los Angeles  Times.

The photos showed his son eating cookies with a white substance on them, the father said the detective told him.  The photos focused on the boy's mouth, he said.

There were only three photos of his son but he was shown many more, most of which were of young girls, the father said. The father's name is not being used to protect his child's identity.

DOCUMENT: Felony complaint against Mark Berndt

The father learned Monday from a sheriff's detective that the white substance was believed to be semen. He said the detective told him that Berndt sold some of the pictures online.

Berndt, 61, was arrested Monday after a yearlong investigation and charged with committing lewd acts on 23 students between the ages of 7 and 10. Authorities said Berndt blindfolded the children, then spoon-fed them a white substance believed to be his semen. He is accused of tying them up and placing giant Madagascar cockroaches on their faces.

It wasn't until the parent contacted the school district that Sandoval came to his home to talk about the investigation, he said.

The parent was not only outraged at what had happened but at the school's reluctance to talk with him and other parents about the investigation.

"At the very least, they should have reached out to ask us for forgiveness," he said. "Or just contacted us to give us information."

The parent said he went to the school in unincorporated South L.A. on Tuesday to ask for counseling for his son, who becomes defensive when asked questions about the photos.

"He would just tell me that he was a good teacher," the parent said. "He didn't see it as anything bad."

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-- Paloma Esquivel at Miramonte Elementary School

Photo: Los Angeles school police patrol outside Miramonte Elementary School in South Los Angeles. Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

The driver was not hurt, but 43,000 pounds of strawberry puree dumped out of the truck on the interchange of I-80 and California 65. One lane had to be closed for part of the morning commute so emergency crews could remove the truck.

The puree was in white plastic containers and remained frozen for most of the morning.

However, as crews arrived to clean up the spill around 8 a.m., the puree had melted and was creating quite a mess, according to Fox 40.

Everything was cleaned up by 10 a.m.

--Sam Cohen, Fox 40 Sacramento

Michael Peck, 24, had the emergency lights on in a gray Nissan Altima in a parking lot in the 2800 block of Bristol Street at 3:07 p.m. Saturday when a woman waved at him asking whether he was going to move his car, Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Phil Myers said Monday.

Peck pulled over to the side, and as the 43-year-old Corona del Mar woman began to pass, Peck allegedly pointed a black handgun at her, police said.

Feeling threatened, the woman called police. As police were at the scene, Peck returned to the area.

A loaded 9-millimeter gun was found in his car and he was arrested after the woman positively identified him, Myers said.

Peck was released from the Costa Mesa Police Department jail on $500 bail Saturday.

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— Lauren Williams, Times Community News

Parents at Miramonte Elementary School in South L.A. said they were stunned by allegations that a longtime teacher was arrested on charges that he abused at least 23 children.

Kimberly Kirklin, 32, has six children, including three daughters who are still students at Miramonte. She said she quizzed each of them immediately after learning of the arrest of former teacher Mark Berndt on the early morning television news Tuesday, and felt secure that they had never been subjected to any lewd activity.

Berndt, 61, was arrested Monday after a yearlong investigation and charged with committing lewd acts on 23 children. Authorities say at least 10 more children seen in photos seized by detectives have not been identified. Berndt is accused of blindfolding the children, tying them up and in some cases placing cockroaches on their faces and spoon-feeding them a white substances believed to be his semen.

AUDIO: Principal's message to parents

Kirklin said her daughters refused to go to school Tuesday -- and she said she could not blame them and would not force them to go. She said she would attempt to enroll her children in another school.

"She refuses to go to school," Kirklin said of one daughter, as she embraced the child on a Florence-Firestone street near the school. "I'm not going to force her."

Kirklin was among those who argued that parents should have been notified earlier; school officials have said they took immediate steps to remove the teacher from the classroom and begin working with both law enforcement investigators and victims' families.

FULL COVERAGE: Mark Berndt

Heidy Morales, who had come to pick up her preschool-age son and also has a daughter in kindergarten at the school, said she hadn't heard anything about the accusations until Tuesday.

"This is my first time hearing of that," she said. "It's scary. I don't know what to say."

DOCUMENT: Felony complaint against Mark Berndt

The school should have told parents about the teacher when they learned about the photos, she said.

"I would have taken my daughter away from this school."

Los Angeles schools Supt. John Deasy said the school district was notified of the allegations on Jan. 7, 2011, and Berndt was removed from the classroom the same day. He was terminated by the district at the next school board  meeting.

Deasy offered a swift condemnation Tuesday of the former teacher, who is in jail on $2.3-million bail and could not be reached for comment.

"I find it disgusting, I find it reprehensible," Deasy said. "I hope this man spends the rest of his life in prison."

It is "despicable," Deasy said, "when you are entrusted with the lives of our youth, and you violate that."

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-- Scott Gold and Paloma Esquivel at Miramonte Elementary School

Photo: Miramonte Elementary School Principal Martin Sandoval speaks to the news media outside his school. Credit: Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press

Manuel Rustin sat in a crowded auditorium at John Muir High School in Pasadena on Tuesday enjoying an assembly he helped organized, thinking that the cameras and education officials were there to honor the students for their achievements. 

After 20 minutes of presenters, including State Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, lauded the students for academic gains followed by a cheerleading performance and an ROTC salute, the real reason for the assembly was revealed.

It was all for Rustin.

Lowell Milken, chairman and co-founder of the Milken Family Foundation, announced that Rustin, a world history and economics teacher, had received the Milken Educator Award -- in which high-performing teachers receive $25,000, no strings attached.

As his name was called, his head dropped between his knees. He was shocked. The students surrounding him jumped to their feet.

Milken said the foundation awards the prize as a way to honor talented teachers, offering them a reward for a job exceedingly well done.

Rustin said the true gift he gets from teaching, though, is seeing how he can shape students and their future. "Being a teacher is one of the most rewarding professions that you can have -- just being able to connect with people every day and trying to motivate people to do their best," he said. "It beats anything."

Students and teachers at the school say he was deserving of the recognition, as he has made a difference on their campus.

"He took a leadership role since the days he stepped foot on the campus," said Roland Bynum, an English teacher.

Dodanim Oliveres, 18, a senior at John Muir said, "Mr. Rustin teaches in a way that most teachers don't.  He talks about his experiences and gets on a personal level."

[For the recored 1:30 p.m. Jan. 31: A previous version of this post said Manuel Rustin was a teacher at Pasadena High School.]

-- Angel Jennings in Pasadena