Emma G. Gallegos

The owner of O My Yogurt in Alhambra has been accused of knocking out his employee, removing her clothes, binding her with tape and stuffing her in a soundproof box in a storage room, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. The victim was able to escape from her bondage and call the police on her boss and alleged attacker Robert Yachen Lee, 37, of Walnut.

Jeffrey Stenroos, the LAUSD police officer charged with faking his own shooting, created the elaborate hoax to look like a hero, prosecutors said in their opening statement yesterday. On the opening day of the non-jury trial against Stenroos, prosecutors painted the former school cop as a serial liar, who was hoping to make a buck by staging the hoax.

Two skydivers from the British Army were critically injured after colliding in the skies over Lake Elsinore last night. One of the skydivers suffered cardiac arrest and required CPR, as he was rushed to the hospital. The other skydiver also had serious injuries, according to the Associated Press.

There comes a time when every tourist — bandit or not — needs to pack up his tacky souvenir sweatshirts for good. The authorities finally caught up with our own tourist bandit, also known as Rex Lutton, 54, who was suspected of robbing banks in Venice and West Hollywood. Those sweatshirts and the kinda touristy locations of his crimes earned him the moniker.

Woe unto those who bought their tickets to the Sunset Junction Festival ahead of time. It looks like they might have trouble getting refunds from the organizers of the canceled event directly, according to the letters that are being sent out to irate ticketholders through the ticketing agency Flavorus.com.

Get out so you can square dance, check out a book from your favorite eastside library on the westside or just gaze at some stars.

If you ever have to save someone from a rip current, expert lifeguards say you should pretty much just do exactly what a 13-year-old boy in San Clemente did when he heard his friend's distressed cries yesterday. The boy sprung into action and went paddling after his friend. He offered his own bodyboard and began pushing back to shore. A lifeguard met the boys halfway.

When Tom Gregg went surfing off the coast of France in 2009, he wiped out. But the real bummer was that the fin on his Channel Islands surf board cut a deep gash on his right leg, severing his muscles and causing him permanent damage. Now Gregg is doing something unusual in the world of surfing: he's suing the board manufacturer.

A man in El Monte has filed a suit against the city's police department, claiming that an officer who went to arrest him beat him until he was nearly blind. Cornelio Chavez, 35, suffered the beating in June while officers were arresting him on an outstanding warrant, The Pasadena Star-News reports.

In tonight's Extra, Extra, a parolee gets loaded and steals a boat, Rodney G. King Jr. could be facing jail time, Canadian librarians are loaning out "living books" and downtown residents try to figure out where to park. Plus: Keep up with us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter: @LAist @LAistFood @LAistSports.

This Sunday will be the last service at Crescent Heights United Methodist Church in West Hollywood before the congregation is dissolved. The official line from the local Methodist district is that the congregation was too small to sustain, but its pastor believes it's because his church is too gay and too liberal.

Four women pleaded guilty in court yesterday to jumping Banning's 2005 "Peach Queen" and slashing her face with box cutters. After the attack in 2008, the beauty queen Shanice Wilson was left with permanent scars that required plastic surgery, The Riverside Press-Enterprise said.