BRIEFLY SUSPECTS JAILED IN HOME HEISTS.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - A man and a woman were arrested Wednesday in connection with a series of schemes in which they posed as utility workers, then ransacked homes of elderly victims as the residents were distracted, police said.

Police arrested Mike Peterson and Rachel Mitchell, both 27, at their apartment in the 1900 block of Vanowen Street. They are believed to be responsible for six distraction thefts.

Two children at the apartment, ages 14 and 16, who have never been enrolled in school, were placed in foster homes. They were described as distant cousins of the suspects, and may have been used to distract their victims.

``One girl acknowledges that she's illiterate,'' said Detective Gilbert Escontrias, with the Commercial Crimes Division.

Police recovered $1,500 in cash, up to 50 pieces of jewelry and a safe with the door pried off.

Mitchell was being held at the 77th Division Jail in lieu of $1 million bail. Peterson was being held at the Parker Center Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.

- Daily News

Burbank murder suspect returned

BURBANK - A Burbank man suspected of killing his wife and arrested in Nevada has been returned to the Southland, where he was being held Wednesday in lieu of $1 million bail, authorities said.

Joong Myung Kim, 53, was arrested July 23 after crashing his car on Interstate 15 near the border town of Primm, Nev., and had been held in the Clark County Jail since then, according to Burbank police.

Kim was being held at Men's Central Jail in Los Angeles, said Burbank police Sgt. William Berry. Kim's wife, 45-year-old Young Sun Cho, was found dead the morning of July 23.

- City News Service

Child hurt in crash flown to hospital

A 6-year-old girl was airlifted to a local hospital Wednesday after being injured in a three-vehicle crash on the northbound Golden State Freeway near Griffith Park, according to the California High Patrol.

The child, whose name was not released, suffered injuries to the head and legs when the Isuzu Trooper in which she was riding was hit by a truck. The Trooper spun out of control, overturned, then was rear-ended by a pick-up truck about 2:20 p.m., said CHP Officer Vince Ramirez.

A total of five people were injured in the collision, Ramirez said.

Investigators were trying to determine the cause of the crash.

Two right lanes along the Golden State Freeway at Zoo Drive were shut down. Traffic backed up toward Downtown Los Angeles for about two hours, Ramirez said.

- Daily News

Man who hit flight attendant gets jail

A man who struck a flight attendant and opened a jetliner door while still on the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport was sentenced Wednesday to six months in jail.

David Murdoch Boone, 37, pleaded guilty earlier this year to a misdemeanor assault charge for causing the January 2002 ruckus aboard a Southwest Airlines flight about to depart for Las Vegas. His plea agreement specified that U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson should give him a maximum sentence of six months.

Boone also was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.

Boone admitted that he walked to the rear of the plane and ignored a flight attendant who told him to sit down. He headed toward an emergency exit door and pushed it open about 12 inches, forcing the plane's cabin to lose pressure, the plea agreement said.

- Associated Press

Foreign reporters give to schools

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association awarded a record $601,500 Wednesday to film schools and film-related charities.

The money was handed out during a Beverly Hills Hotel luncheon attended by Jeff Bridges, Tom Cruise, Jamie Lee Curtis, Zooey Deschanel, Brendan Fraser, Ed Harris, Edward James Olmos, George Takei and Jennifer Tilly, according to the HFPA.

- City News Service