Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | www.dailytrojan.com | VOL. 166, NO. 38 | Wednesday March 11, 2009
InDEX
4 · Opinion
5 · Lifestyle
8 · Classifieds
9 ·Crossword
12 · Sports
Above the smog: Melissa
Zonne documents her hike to
the Hollywood sign. PAGE 5
Fore: Women’s golf finished in
fourth place at the UCF Challenge.
PAGE 12
By alexandra tilsley
Daily Trojan
Travion Ford, the suspect in the
September stabbing of USC student Bryan
Frost, pled not guilty to one count of murder
in Los Angeles Superior Court Tuesday and
could be brought to trial as soon as April 29.
Ford also denied special allegations of
personal use of a deadly and dangerous
weapon during his arraignment.
“After the preliminary hearing the case
goes to trial court,” Deputy District Attorney
Kennes Ma said. “This court now has juris -
diction. It’s a brand new process.”
Judge Judith Champagne set the pretri-al
hearing date for April 9. At the hearing,
the defense and prosecution will exchange
information and motions.
Ford has the right to have his case heard
in court within 60 days. Until then, the
defense and the prosecution will continue to
exchange information.
“During that time we will be exchanging
different types of motions and discoveries,”
Ma said.
The defense indicated during the arraign-ment
that it will probably not be ready for
trial within 60 days. Having spoken with the
defense, Ma said he suspects the case could
go to trial in three to four months.
Ma said there is no new evidence, but the
defense still needs time to prepare its case.
He also indicated that the prosecution is
ready to try the case, but said the date of the
trial rests in the court’s hands.
“We don’t have a lot of say right now,” Ma
said. “We’re ready to do this trial today.”
Travion Ford pleads not guilty at arraignment
Ford’s case could be heard within 60
days, but officials say the trial will
probably start in three to four months.
Matteo Marjoram | Daily Trojan
Trial · An artist’s rendering of the courtroom depicts Judge Judith Champagne, defendant Travion Ford and Defense Attorney
Diane Butko at Ford’s arraignment Tuesday. The defense indicated it would probably not be ready for trial within 60 days.
Apartment
owners sued
over bed bugs
The two plaintiffs allege that their apartment
manager did nothing to solve the bug infestation.
By alexandra tilsley
Daily Trojan
When Kim Ludas described the
sound her Toyota 4-Runner was
making — a low rumbling noise
— the repairman nodded, took
out a flashlight and looked under
her car.
Minutes later, his hypothesis
was confirmed: Ludas’ catalytic
converter had been stolen.
Catalytic converter theft has
recently increased in the USC
area, according to a memo from
the Department of Public Safety.
The catalytic converter is part
of a car’s exhaust system that
houses a chemical reaction that
makes car emissions less toxic.
To assist in the chemical reaction,
the catalytic converter is made
with trace amounts of platinum,
palladium and rhodium.
Thieves sell stolen converters
to metal recyclers, who extract
the precious metals.
Toyotas are often targeted in
catalytic converter thefts because
their high clearance from the
ground makes the converter eas-ily
accessible.
According to DPS Detective
Josh Voyda, five catalytic
converter thefts have been re-ported
to DPS recently, all of
which involved Toyotas. Three of
the thefts reported occurred in
Parking Structure B.
Ludas, a sophomore majoring in
business, had parked her Toyota
4-Runner in a lot behind a house
on The Row when her converter
was stolen. Ludas said she knew
something was wrong as soon as
she started the car.
“I went out and turned on the
car and it made this really low
rumbling noise and I freaked out
and turned it off,” Ludas said.
Ludas did not report the theft of
her converter to DPS, but instead
drove to a Midas on Figueroa
Street to have her car repaired.
“I didn’t report it because I
didn’t think anything would come
of it,” Ludas said.
Ludas said the repairman indi -
cated he had fixed a lot of catalyt -
ic converters recently.
Catalytic converter thefts rising near USC
Both LAPD and DPS officials
say USC is a target because of
the parking garages on campus.
By Callie Schweitzer
Daily Trojan
The struggle between USC students and
off-campus housing companies has reached a new
level — a legal one.
Former roommates Janina Freigang and
Katharina Schmidt have filed a lawsuit against Top
City Management Co., which owns City Park apart -
ments on West 30th Street, where they lived from
August 2007 to May 2008 in what they call a bed
bug-infested apartment.
In court documents, the plaintiffs, Schmidt, a
2008 USC alumna and Freigang, a senior majoring
in international relations, allege that the defendant,
Top City Management Co., knowingly leased them
an uninhabitable apartment infested with bed bugs
and roaches.
The former roommates said that when they
moved in on Aug. 24 there was a notice on their
door from a previous pest control visit. They also
found bugs and roaches throughout the apartment
— in the dishwasher and the drawers.
The plaintiffs believe the apartment was already
infested with bed bugs before they moved in. Upon
her arrival, Schmidt said she noticed black spots on
the baseboards of the floor that were later identi -
fied by a pest control worker as bed bug droppings.
Marc Rudy of Veatch Carlson, who represents the
defendants, said his clients took appropriate action
against the infestation.
“Their position is that they did not cause any bed
bug infestation to happen and that when any prob -
lems were brought to their attention, they tried to
take reasonable measures,” he said.
Freigang said she was first bitten by a bed bug on
her second night in the apartment.
According to Freigang, when she went down to
manager Laura Huang’s office to file a maintenance
request, Huang noticed the bites and asked her
about them. Huang suggested Freigang throw out
her mattress.
“I got rid of the mattress, got a new frame, a new
box spring, new sheets, new pillows, everything,
and it just didn’t stop,” Freigang said. “I told her,
‘We need pest control.’”
Huang told Freigang she would call a pest control
company but, Freigang said, it “took forever,” and
| see bugs, page 10 |
| see theft, page 3 |
Catalytic
Converter
Catalytic converters house a chemical reaction within
a car’s exhaust system that makes car emissions less
toxic. Because they are made with trace amounts of
platinum, they are often targeted by thieves.
Leon Russo | Daily Trojan
What are catalytic converters?