Arnold Bauer, a 93-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor and possible elder abuse victim, remains in the Veterans Affairs hospital in La Jolla, receiving care for several serious medical issues.

Bauer was taken to the hospital on Tuesday after authorities found him disoriented and living in filth in his home outside El Cajon. His caretaker was arrested on charges of elder abuse, theft, forgery and false imprisonment and remains in jail on $1-million bail.

Federal privacy laws prohibit VA officials from discussing the details of a patient's condition.

However, an official said that in cases of aging, vulnerable veterans, a social worker is assigned to work with the family to find a suitable living arrangement for the veteran, either at home with an attendant or in a nursing home. All veterans are eligible for 30 days of care under such conditions while officials determine long-term eligibility.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Danielle Hickman, of the DA's elder abuse unit, said Bauer's family has been contacted. The family apparently was unaware of his living conditions or his alleged maltreatment by caretaker Malagros Angeles.

Bauer, a career enlisted sailor, served on the repair ship Vestal when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. The Vestal was moored next to the Arizona on Battleship Row.

When sheriff's deputies went to his home, they found Bauer sitting in a chair clutching a picture of the Vestal. He suffers from dementia and prostate cancer.

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-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: Arnold Bauer in 2008. Credit: Parks Stephenson

A 93-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor was found dirty, disoriented and living in filth at his home outside El Cajon, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.

The man's caretaker, Milagros Angeles, 63, was arrested on suspicion of elder abuse. Sheriff's deputies also discovered that thousands of dollars had been taken from the veteran, the Sheriff's Department said Wednesday.

When deputies went to the tiny home on Euclid Avenue on Tuesday, they found the resident clutching what apparently was his prized possession: a picture of the ship, the Vestal, that he was serving on the day of the Japanese attack.

A Hemet man who tricked a woman into returning to her native Philippines by pretending to be a U.S. marshal serving a deportation order was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison.

His wife, who aided in the ruse, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Larry Burns to five years probation and mental health counseling.

The pair had pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court to impersonating federal officers.

Gregory Raymond Denny Jr., 38, and his wife, Karen Denny, 52, showed up at the victim's home in Hemet in January of last year. With Gregory Denny pretending to be a marshal, the couple put handcuffs on Cherriebelle Magada Gabalonos Hibbard, 28, who is married to Denny's cousin.

Still pretending to be a U.S. marshal, Denny tried to persuade Border Patrol agents to take Hibbard, an illegal immigrant, into custody. After they refused, Denny and his wife drove her to Los Angeles International Airport and escorted her onto a flight to Manila.

Once Denny is released from prison, he is barred from being employed in any law enforcement or security jobs, according to the terms of his probation. Denny had worked as a bail agent.

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-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: Raymond Denny Jr. Credit: Hemet Police Department

Following several recent high-profile cases of animal abuse, the San Diego County Department of Animal Services will begin providing rewards of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest in felony animal cruelty cases, officials announced Wednesday.

The department is working with the San Diego County Crime Stoppers program, which has paid out more than $500,000 over the last 25 years in cases of violence against people and destruction of  property. The new program expands the reward program to cases of animal cruelty.

Tips can be made anonymously to (888) 580-8477 or www.sdcrimestoppers.com.

"We encourage everyone in our community to be our eyes and ears in the fight against animal cruelty," said Lt. Daniel DeSousa of the Department of Animal Services.

Recent abuse cases include a dog found stabbed to death and two puppies found with their ears cut off. Also, a man in Ramona pleaded guilty to owning and training dogs for fighting, and another admitted slamming a cat against a wall.

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-- Tony Perry in San Diego

The parents of a San Diego college student who was fatally stabbed in 2008 have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against his four assailants, including the son of former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez.

The lawsuit, on behalf of Fred and Kathy Santos of Concord, was filed in San Diego County Superior Court by the firm Estey Bomberger, which specializes in wrongful death cases. The suit seeks unspecified damages from Esteban Nuñez, Ryan Jett, Rafael Garcia and Leshanor Thomas, all of whom pleaded guilty in the case.

The suit is separate from that filed by the Santos family against former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who reduced Esteban Nuñez's sentence from 16 years to 7 years. That lawsuit asserts that the governor violated the state's Victims Bill of Rights by not notifying the Santos family of his pending decision and allowing them to argue against it.

Luis Santos, 22, was stabbed to death when Nuñez and his three friends started a street brawl out of anger at being blocked from attending a fraternity party adjacent to San Diego State University.

Nuñez and Jett pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon; Thomas and Garcia pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Nuñez and Jett were both sentenced to 16 years.

Schwarzenegger based his decision to reduce Nuñez's sentence on evidence that it was Jett who plunged the knife into Luis Santos' heart, not Nuñez. He reasoned that it was unfair that Nuñez received the same sentence at Jett.

"A civil jury will ultimately find out the true facts about Mr. Nuñez's involvement and will render a verdict accordingly," said attorney Stephen Estey. "There is nothing the governor will be able to do to disturb or overturn the verdict."

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-- Tony Perry in San Diego

U.S. border authorities have arrested a controversial Muslim cleric who was deported from Canada to Tunisia three years ago and was caught earlier this month trying to sneak into California inside the trunk of a BMW, according to court documents.

Said Jaziri, the former Imam of a Muslim congregation in Montreal, was hidden inside a car driven by a San Diego-area man who was pulled over by U.S. Border Patrol agents near an Indian casino east of San Diego. Jaziri allegedly paid a Tijuana-based smuggling group $5,000 to get him across the border near Tecate, saying he wanted to be taken to a “safe place anywhere in the U.S.”

The arrest marks the unexpected resurfacing of the 43-year-old cleric, whose protracted legal battle to avoid deportation drew headlines in Canada. A Tunisian immigrant, Jaziri was deported for failing to disclose a criminal conviction in France while applying for refugee status in the mid-1990s.

But Jaziri’s supporters said he was targeted for his fundamentalist views: Jaziri backed Sharia law for Canadian Muslims and led protests over the publication of the prophet Muhammad cartoons in a Danish newspaper in 2006.

A San Diego police sergeant Wednesday morning shot a 22-year-old burglary suspect after the suspect attempted to run away and then turned and pointed what proved to be a plastic gun at the sergeant,  police said.

The incident occured about 12:30 a.m. outside the CVS pharmacy in the Mira Mesa neighborhood. The sergeant, patrolling in the shopping center parking lot, saw two young men outside the pharmacy, police said.

One of the two entered the pharmacy. The sergeant attempted to question the second, suspecting that he and his partner might be casing vehicles in preparation for a burglary.

Instead of complying with a request for identification, the second suspect ran about 175 yards, then turned and charged the sergeant, brandishing an apparent weapon, police said. The sergeant fired one shot.

The suspect, identified as Robert McBride Jr., was taken to a trauma center with non-life-threatening wounds. He will be booked into county jail on charges of exhibiting an imitation firearm in a threatening manner and probation violation, according to Lt. Kevin Rooney. The other suspect's whereabouts are unknown but he is being sought, police said. 

The sergeant is a 21-year veteran of the San Diego Police Dept.

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--Tony Perry in San Diego

A 45-year-old San Diego woman Tuesday was sentenced to two years in prison after admitting that she scratched eight babies ranging in age from 3 months to 19 months.

Lisa Hench, a former real estate agent, pleaded guilty in San Diego County Superior Court to eight misdemeanor counts of inflicting corporal punishment on children in 2009. Her attorney told Judge Michael Smyth that Hench, a mother of three, was suffering from psychological problems and is receiving therapy and taking medication.

Smyth agreed to seal Hench's psychiatric records. Several of the victims were children of Hench's neighbors, others were children encountered at Chuck E. Cheese, the YMCA and other places, records indicate. In some cases, the scratches drew blood and the babies screamed in pain.

Smyth called Hench's actions "predatory."  Along with two years in prison, Hench was also sentenced to four years' probation.

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--Tony Perry in San Diego

Los Angeles’ T-shirt-and-shorts weather is expected to continue through the weekend, the National Weather Service says.

But forecasters warned beachgoers about the potential Tuesday for “very strong currents and dangerous swimming conditions” along the Orange and San Diego county coasts. Dangerous rip-current conditions have persisted since Saturday along parts of the Pacific Coast.

Highs in the L.A. area will continue peaking in the 70s for the rest of the week, with a chance of temperatures hitting the low 80s on Thursday, forecasters said. Skies are expected to remain clear.

Daytime temperatures will remain mostly above normal, the weather service said.

Temperatures Monday were pleasant across the region, with Long Beach and Laguna Beach topping out at 69; Redondo Beach, 72; Burbank and Santa Monica, 74; downtown L.A. and Pasadena, 75; San Gabriel, 76; UCLA and Woodland Hills, 77; Northridge, 78; and Chatsworth, 80. Riverside and Fillmore recorded the highest temperatures in the nation, with the mercury hitting 82. The lowest temperature Monday was in Saranac Lake, N.Y., in the Adriondack Mountain range, with 36 degrees below zero.

The pleasant weather in Southern California is being caused by strong high pressure in the Great Basin in the Nevada area, which is pushing air into Southern California and bringing with it clear skies and warmer temperatures. Santa Ana winds are forecast to pick up beginning Wednesday night and into Thursday.

The weather is less pleasant in the Central Valley. Thick, dense fog, with visibility less than 500 feet, was expected to persist until 1 p.m. Tuesday. Known as tule fog, the pea-soup conditions are common in the Central Valley in winter months and hazardous for motorists.

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-- Rong-Gong Lin II

The National Weather Service has issued a high-wind warning for portions of Southern California on Sunday, saying gusts up to 65 mph could uproot trees and make travel difficult for high-profile vehicles through some passes.

The warning is in effect through 3 p.m., with warm Santa Anas hitting the region's mountains, inland valley and canyon areas hardest.

[Updated at 10:13 a.m.: Gusty winds have already been recorded Sunday morning throughout L.A. County, with the Chilao campground in the San Gabriel Mountains seeing a gust of 66 mph. Malibu Hills recorded a gust of 52 mph; Leo Carrillo State Beach in Malibu, 40 mph; Newhall Pass, 38 mph; and Van Nuys, 35 mph.]

The NWS also warned of potentially dangerous rip current conditions along the Orange and San Diego county coasts. [Updated at 10:13 a.m.: Dangerous conditions are also expected along the coasts of L.A., Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.]

Said Jamie Meier, meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Oxnard: "We'll probably see some downed trees."

"Luckily, we still have pretty, green hillsides, so we're not as concerned about the fire danger. But it's still something people need to be aware of," Meier said.

The arrival of the Santa Anas will coincide with warmer-than-average temperatures across the Southland. Highs are expected to climb into the 70s in the L.A. region for the next five days and could creep into the 80s by Wednesday and Thursday, Meier said.

The Santa Ana winds are forming because of strong high pressure that is sinking to the surface in the Great Basin in the Nevada area. That high pressure will cause air to funnel toward Southern California. As the winds blow through the canyons ringing Los Angeles, they gain speed and temperatures rise as the air is compressed.

Meanwhile, much of the Northeast and Midwest are trapped in sub-freezing temperatures as frigid air from Canada sweeps down south. The lowest U.S. temperature recorded Saturday morning was 35 degrees below zero in Waskish, Minn., near the Canadian border.

[Updated at 10:13 a.m.: The highest national temperature on Saturday was in Palm Springs and Yuma, Ariz., which hit 78 degrees. The lowest temperature on Sunday morning was in International Falls, Minn., a town on the Canadian border that refers to itself as the "icebox of the nation." The low there was 37 degrees below zero.] 

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-- Rong-Gong Lin II