reporting live from torrance, abc 7 news. >> robert, thank you very much. and moving on, investigators have moved down on people accused of stealing tax refunds. >> there is a local connection and i've learned search warrants served on four locations here. and so i don't have additional information. however, i did get the consumer, i should say, criminal complaint filed against three people arrested in sacramento. those three are accused of stealing $728,000 in cash refunds. and prosecutors say they filed refunds using turbo tax. refunds obtained by way of debit cards. and a fourth person was arrested in roseville. 58 were arrested nationwide. and the irs is installing new save guards on its computer systems to prevent fraud. that is good news, bad is that it will mean a one-week delay in getting tax refunds for anyone who filed really early. >> and new rules designed to uncover hidden fees we pay on our 401(k) plans will be unveiled. most people don't even know it but they're paying fees, pardon me, because of current rules, these fees are nearly impossibl

. >>> december 1985, torrance, california, christmas coming, but not for archie mcfarland, whose earthlyns were now a crime scene in the pre-dawn dark of his own driveway. and even before police arrived to begin their search for the usual clues, in fact, even as gary mcfarland cradled his father's lifeless body in his arms as his mother, mary ann, rushed to his side, they knew, both of them, without a shadow of a doubt who did it. >> she immediately started saying "oh, my god, i'm sorry. i can't believe he did it. i'm so sorry. i'm so sorry." >> mary ann met with the cops and told them. >> "janos did it." >> janos? who was janos? detectives pressed mary ann for more. >> she told us that her boyfriend was responsible for this. >> that's right, boyfriend. she'd been having an affair with him. >> yes, off and on. >> his full name was janos kulscar, originally from hungary. once police got the gist of mary ann's tearful confession -- >> she had a picture of him, said "here's his address." >> reporter: they high-tailed it to his apartment at long beach, where they found his car, just about an

i spent 21 years in the city of torrance in southern california before coming up here, a city of to under 50,000, about 350 personnel. -- 250,000, about 350 personnel. much smaller organization. completely different type of agency. but one of the things we found was to my career and particularly at the beginning, there was really no classis% -- classes pe se, and we started a course on how to be a successful chief. a very strong component of that was an ethics, and what is the chief's responsibility within their department relating to at the experience included in that, it had to do with the abuse of power and misconduct. i was -- i guess you could say "a whistle-blower." i put together a case in which three officers i have worked with had been nearly to deaf a game and what they were off duty. -- nearly two -- to death a gain man -- a gay man when they were off duty. i dealt with the consequences for many years. it was very lonely in that position. very lonely getting death threats. very lonely worrying more about the people behind you than the crooks in front of you. not a nice situatio

i spent 21 years in the city of torrance in southern california before coming up here, a city of to under 50,000, about 350 personnel. -- 250,000, about 350 personnel. personnel. -- 250,000, about 350 personnel.

padilla of hammond died friday in the car as passenger driven by 17 year-old son behind 630 last night torrance avenue. car pushed off of the road into two trees husband and three sons were injured out of the hospital tonight the that hit a second car before taking off. >> person has no regard in my opinion for human life high school and middle school one elementary school. boys need a lot of mothering and familoy y >> anybody with information please call. cold case fatal hit-and-run surprise turn confession not to police but at the doorstep of a family. >> david mccarthy has a history to convictions one of reckless driving the other domestic battery at one point court records show authorities ordered counseling for substance abuse and mental health issues took place after incident david mccarthy never revealed until yesterday he was the one driving a 21 year-old melissa lech killed in joliet four years ago out of the blue rang her family's doorbell to tell them his version of what happened that night. >> had so many plants wanting to be a lawyer talking about her sister melissa lech thousand e

. >> of torrance a pathologist who conducted yeardley love's autopsy testified and described his findingst showed interest to the neck. this is key evidence and was displayed on before the jury to see. seven men and seven women on the jury sat in silence as their account is of a frightening letter george huguely wrote to yeardley love. the letter and an e-mail where he allegedly said why should killed you were presented. the judge said because of the courtroom designed with the jury seated beneath the judge's bench, the witnesses had their back to the spectators so no one else in the courtroom to exceed the content, not even the families. the medical examiner also showed the jury autopsy photographs of many of the bruises on the body and diagrams will pwhere bloodstains were found. signs of smothering according to the medical examiner, buhe said that the two or physical but that george huguely did not strangle her. it will be interesting to see if the judge makes all information available to the media. >> police released video evidence in the lululemon murder. the video shows detectives i

. >> reporter: this unassuming apartment in torrance suddenly was surrounded by l.a.to arrest this man, 61-year-old mark berndt. >> just pretty weird having someone like that living right next to you. >> reporter: berndt was arrested monday and charged with 23 counts of lewd acts with a child. the crimes are all alleged to have occurred at miramonte elementary school in south l.a., where berndt had taught third grade for more than three decades. berndt is accused of blindfolding and gagging almost two dozen students, then snapping hundreds of photographs. >> not all the children were his actual students in his classroom, but they were students at the school. >> i'm angry. i'm disgusted. i'm sad. >> reporter: some photos show students with cockroaches on their faces. in some cases berndt posed with the children. in other instances he fed the young girls a white liquid. investigators later determined it was his semen. >> these are scars that can live on throughout one's life. so it's important not only to get therapy but to get therapy from a person who's knowledgeable

. >> reporter: the 61-year-old berndt was arrested monday at his home in torrance.took photos of his students where they were blindfolded and gagged. in some cases he allegedly held spoons of semen to their mouths. and it is all alleged to have occurred in his classroom during regular school hours. robert holguin, abc news. >> so what kind of investigation do you need? the little girl goes to her mother. the mother goes to investigators. the investigators say let's pursue this. and then prosecution says no, we don't have enough evidence. >> i mean, you have to have -- >> insufficient evidence. what kind of evidence do you need? >> in our legal system it's not necessarily what really happened or what you know. it's about what you can prove. and if they couldn't prove it, that's kind of where things end. it's sad, and obviously it could have stopped this whole tragedy from happening. but that's -- that's the law. that's the way it works. >> that's really messed up. >> it's sad. >>> well, we reported yesterday about an earlier withdrawal of u.s. troops from afghanistan

sam torrance server packs of answer that with almost half that amount. ron paul has kicked in another window in dollars, and i think in the last couple of days barack obama campaign has spent a quarter million in michigan attacking romney. so would someone like to sort of sketch out what the next four or five months are going in terms of how much money, looking at ken, might be spent? just take as through, say, august. >> the austin powers movie where he goes back in time, if you don't get me $10,000 i will blow up the world. i sort of feel like that's what the conversation we're having is now. we are going to see two-and-a-half billion dollars, conservatively, could be as high as $3 billion spent on spots, local television. [inaudible] >> no, that's sort of dogcatch dogcatcher. >> we will hold you to this, but hazard a guess at how much will it be positive and how much would be negative, given current trends? >> i think that's interesting. i think the obama campaign, people have written about this, we very much like 2004 bush campaign. i think the obama