L.A. district attorney’s office still mum on Grossman case




 

The wheels of justice turn slowly. This feature keeps our readers informed of criminal cases we’re tracking out of Thousand Oaks.

In limbo

The Acorn has been calling the Los Angeles district attorney’s office and Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station for weeks seeking an update on the status of the Rebecca Grossman investigation, but to no avail.

Grossman, 57, was arrested Sept. 29 on suspicion of felony DUI, gross vehicular manslaughter and fleeing the scene of an accident. Law enforcement says she stuck and killed two brothers—Mark and Jacob Iskander, 11 and 9—in a Westlake Village crosswalk.

Free on $2-million bail, Grossman has yet to be arraigned on any charges. She was scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 21 but that appearance was moved to an as-yet unannounced future date.

The former magazine publisher and Grossman Burn Foundation chair was under the influence of alcohol and racing with another driver at the time of the crash, police said.

The D.A.’s office has said it is delaying bringing Grossman to court so the sheriff’s department has more time to gather evidence against her.

New counsel

Michael Seidman, former Westlake High School and UCLA football star, has retained new counsel as he contends with charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated stemming from an Oct. 16 crash in Thousand Oaks that killed an 88-year-old man.

Seidman is due in court Jan. 19, according to court records. On Nov. 10, he retained the services of William Haney and Brian Weilbacher, two Ventura County-based litigators. Haney recently represented celebrity Heather Locklear over accusations that she struck an EMT and a sheriff’s deputy during a 2018 arrest at her North Ranch home.

Seidman, 39, is accused of killing Westlake Village resident Fred Rosenberg, who was a senior adjunct faculty member at Cal Lutheran University.

Authorities say Seidman, who is free on $250,000 bail and has yet to enter a plea, was drunk when he veered his pickup truck into the path of Rosenberg’s sedan around 9:35 p.m. Oct. 16.

Seidman was driving on a suspended license and already facing charges of DUI stemming from an Aug. 4, 2019, incident in which police allege that he crashed a car near Avenida de Los Arboles and Westlake Boulevard then left the area, according to court records.

Memorial Day homicide

Another pretrial hearing date has been set for a woman accused of stabbing to death her short-term romantic interest in May 2018.

Bryn Spejcher, 29, is scheduled to appear in court Dec. 18.

Prosecutors say Spejcher, then an audiologist for UCLA Health, killed Chad O’Melia, 26, on Memorial Day 2018 in the Thousand Oaks condominium he rented with two roommates.

Police said Spejcher told them that a bad reaction to smoking marijuana caused her to fear for her life and to lash out with a steak knife at O’Melia, whom she’d met a few weeks earlier at a local dog park. During a preliminary hearing, a Ventura County sheriff’s deputy testified that Spejcher stabbed O’Melia over 100 times before turning the knife on herself and her service dog.

Charged with first-degree murder, Spejcher is free on $510,000 bail.

Reptile wrangler

The case of a Thousand Oaks exotic-animal owner facing a host of animal cruelty charges after his home was raided in July 2017 is slithering its way toward a possible trial.

Todd Kates, 59, was in court last week for an early disposition conference. The matter was continued to Jan. 25.

He’s facing 40 separate counts.

Among the animals recovered from Kates’ Rancho Lane home: eight American alligators and 80 venomous snake. A longtime animal trainer, Kates held a permit to keep exotic and dangerous animals, but it did not allow him to have them at his home.

He’s free on $20,000 bail.

Lewd and lascivious acts

Amalia Marie Utz of Oak Park is due in Ventura County court Jan. 12 for a preliminary exam in relation to charges of committing lewd or lascivious acts with a minor and having oral sex with a minor under the age of 16.

The now 48-year-old single mom is suspected of having sexual relations with two of her son’s friends, both 14, as well as plying them with drugs and alcohol.

She was arrested after authorities received a tip from Oak Park High School.

Utz was last in court Nov. 20. She’s free on $20,000 bail.

Matricide

Christopher Schneider, 32, will appear in court Jan. 6 for an early disposition hearing regarding claims by the prosecution that he killed his mother.

He’s being charged with first-degree murder.

Authorities say 66-year-old Nancy Standish-Schneider was stabbed to death by her son in their Woodlawn Drive home in T.O. after a verbal dispute on Feb. 4.

Schneider ’s attorneys in bail-related arguments filed with the court said the incident was preceded by years of abuse perpetrated by Standish-Schneider.

Schneider remains in custody in lieu of $2-million bail.