CALIFORNIA

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020::LATIMES.COM/CALIFORNIA

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School districts across
Southern California are
sending out message blasts
to parents, urging calm and
good hygiene practices.
Many schools are bulk-or-
dering hand sanitizers,
deep-cleaning classrooms
and scrubbing “high-touch”
areas such as drinking foun-
tains and bathroom sinks.
Several are considering us-
ing online lessons to keep
students learning in the
event of closures.
As the number of co-
ronavirus cases reported in
California has increased,
school officials are racing to
educate students and fam-
ilies about the epidemic and
slow the spread of germs
among so many children,
while also preparing contin-
gency plans if they are forced
to shut their doors — as sev-
eral schools have already
done in Washington, Oregon
and Northern California.
There have been nearly
50 coronavirus cases re-
ported in the state, most of
which involve people who
contracted the virus abroad
and were then repatriated to
the U.S. and quarantined on
military bases. In at least
five cases, people contracted
the virus in their communi-

TRACY WESTFIELD cleans a door handle at L.A.’s John Burroughs Middle School as a precaution against
the coronavirus. California school officials are ordering hand sanitizers while designing contingency plans.

Photographs byFrancine OrrLos Angeles Times

Amid virus, schools plan

for last resort — closures

Districts are calming

nerves, scrubbing

classes and bracing

for difficult scenarios.

By Paloma Esquivel,
Howard Blume
and Nina Agrawal

BLESS PATAWARAN, left, and Cody Holmes, both 13, record a safety video on

hand-washing. Schools may use online lessons if they are forced to shut down.

[SeeSchools,B4]

A judge on Tuesday or-

dered USC to turn over sen-

sitive internal documents to

Robert Zangrillo, a Miami

investor charged with secur-

ing his daughter’s admission

to the school through fraud

and bribery.

The ruling by U.S. Magis-

trate Judge Page Kelley was

a victory for Zangrillo,

whose defense hinges on the

theory that USC routinely

shunts the children of

donors and prospective

donors into a VIP pool of ap-

plicants, who are more likely

to be admitted than stu-

dents who apply through the

standard process.

Kelley’s order offered a

glimpse of a legal duel that

has played out largely in se-

cret, litigated in sealed court

papers and at closed-door

hearings. At issue, according

to the judge’s 19-page order,

are spreadsheets that

tracked VIP applicants and

20 emails between university

officials discussing admis-

sions decisions and the lob-

bying that went into them by

donors, trustees and other

influential figures within the

USC community.

For Zangrillo and other

parents charged with de-

frauding USC, the contested

documents could play a cen-

tral role in a defense their at-

torneys have already begun

floating: that USC could not

have been swindled by par-

ents who routed money to

university coffers and, in ex-

change, expected their chil-

dren would be admitted, if

this was precisely the prac-

tice endorsed by the school’s

administration.

Kelley ordered USC to

turn over the spreadsheets

and emails, without redac-

tions, to Zangrillo’s legal

team.

USC said in a statement

it is “reviewing the decision

in detail and deciding next

steps, including whether to

appeal.”

The university has co-

operated with prosecutors

and the courts, a spokes-

woman said, and made “ev-

ery effort to provide infor-

mation, including to the de-

fendants.” The documents

were redacted to protect pri-

vacy, “not to withhold any

pertinent information,” she

said.

Zangrillo’s daughter,

Amber, was endorsed as a

VIP by Donna Heinel, a for-

mer administrator in USC’s

athletics department, de-

Admissions

records must

be released

Judge orders USC to

turn over unredacted

documents to a parent

accused in scandal.

By Matthew Ormseth

ROBERT ZANGRILLO

is accused of securing his

daughter’s USC admis-

sion by fraud and bribery.

Craig F. WalkerBoston Globe

[SeeUSC,B2]

On a brisk Sunday eve-
ning, four men shared food
and drinks before stumbling
the next morning into a
humble little cemetery dot-
ted with leafless trees.
They came to pay their
respects to an old friend,
Uver Hernandez Castañeda.
Only one of the men

would walk out of Perris Val-

ley Cemetery.

Near the grave of Her-

nandez Castañeda lay the

bodies of three of the men.

The fourth became the sub-

ject of a manhunt.

On Thursday, 10 days af-

ter the slayings, law enforce-

ment in Cheyenne, Wyo., ar-

rested Jose Luis Torres Gar-

cia after a traffic stop of a

2007 silver GMC. Riverside

County sheriff ’s officials

said 15 pounds of marijuana

was recovered from the sus-

pect’s vehicle.

Detectives say Torres

Garcia, 33, killed Jaime Co-

Triple slaying at

cemetery strikes

fear into town

THE GRAVEof Uver Hernandez Castañeda — the scene of a triple homicide in

February. Hernandez Castañeda himself was killed in Mexico in December.

Irfan KhanLos Angeles Times

Mysterious act of

violence leaves Perris

awash in rumors.

By Alejandra
Reyes-Velarde

[SeeCemetery,B2]

By early evening, the

lobby of a swanky downtown

hotel was awash in porn

stars. Men in shiny suits and

open-collared shirts, women

in stilettos and see-through

dresses, and even a couple

connected by a dog collar

were pouring into the Xbiz

Awards, a sort of adult film

industry Golden Globes

with categories such as

“Taboo-Themed Release of

the Year” and “Best Sex

Scene — Virtual Reality.”

The red carpet that Janu-

ary night was a testament to

the event’s popularity, with

dozens of photographers

and hundreds of would-be

subjects. It wasn’t long be-

fore a line formed.

One of those waiting was

Amie Harwick, a West Holly-

wood therapist who had re-

ceived a free ticket for chari-

ty work she did for adult per-

formers. A onetime model,

the 38-year-old had told

friends she was excited to

have her picture taken, and

had put on bright-red lip-

stick and a knee-length

black dress that recalled a

leading lady in a 1940s film

noir.

The line moved in fits and

starts and then stopped al-

together as the event’s host,

adult star Stormy Daniels,

passed by in a glamorous up-

do and silvery beaded gown.

Harwick was still waiting to

put a toe on the red carpet

when a familiar pair of hazel

eyes in the crowd met hers.

That moment outside a

ballroom at the JW Marriott

hotel was the beginning of

the end of Harwick’s life, ac-

A sex therapist’s

fateful encounter

Ex-boyfriend stands

accused of killing

Amie Harwick after

red carpet meeting.

By Harriet Ryan

[SeeHarwick,B6]

Officers won’t

face charges in

fatal shooting

South Pasadena cops

reasonably believed a

former “ER” actress

was a threat,

prosecutors say. B

Riverbed fire

driven by winds

The blaze burns 175

acres in Norco and

forces many to flee. B

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contaminated finger and

slip into the body through a

nostril or a wet part of the

face.

Then the virus can latch

on, finding a human cell in

the throat, nose or sinuses to

hijack and destroy it, flood-

ing the body with even more

copies of itself. In critical ill-

nesses, that one careless

touch from an unwashed fin-

ger can begin a process of de-

stroying lungs and kidneys

We all touch our face.

With this new coronavirus

outbreak, how do we stop?

Touching our faces is a

real health risk. So in this

new world, not only is nose

picking thought to be gross,

but so is nose scratching,

mouth touching and eye

rubbing. All it takes is just

one virus to hitch a ride on a

and, in a worst-case scenar-

io, trigger septic shock, mul-

tiple organ failure and make

it impossible to breathe on

your own.

And yet. It’s still so, so

hard to stop touching our

faces. Much of the time it’s

spontaneous, and we aren’t

even aware of it. One study

caught medical students in

class touching their faces 23

times per hour on average.

Face a dangerous habit

By Rong-Gong Lin II

[SeeFace,B4]