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BRIEFLY IN PUBLIC SAFETY

Girl, boyfriend plead not guilty to slaying

Rachael Scarlett Mullenix and Ian Allen pleaded not guilty to charges of killing Mullenix’s mother, whose body was found floating in Newport Harbor on Sept. 13.

Rachael Mullenix, 17, and Allen, 21, both of Huntington Beach, were arraigned Friday at the West Justice Center in Westminster. Rachael Mullenix has been charged as an adult.

The body of Barbara Anne Mullenix of Huntington Beach was discovered wrapped in a blanket with several stab wounds, authorities said.

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A pretrial hearing has been set for Dec. 15 for Mullenix, although a date has not been specified for Allen, Orange County prosecutors said.

More victims in Ralphs thefts

The number of victims claiming they were ripped off after using debit cards to pay for their groceries at Ralphs in Huntington Beach has grown to about 60, authorities said.

About $91,000 was stolen from customers who paid for their purchases using check-stand card readers at the Ralphs at of Goldenwest Street and Garfield Avenue. One victim suffered a loss of more than $2,500 from one account, although on average most have reported losses between $300 to $700, police said.

Nearly three weeks since the first report of the unauthorized withdrawals, calls continue to come in, police said.

As far as police can tell, the thefts are isolated to the one store, although this type of theft is rampant in the city right now and could happen at any number of places, Det. Mark Garcia said.

Shoppers should not be nervous about of continuing to shop purchases at Ralphs, but they should refrain from paying with cards that require entering a personal identification number, Garcia said.

Ralphs executives fully cooperated has shown full cooperation in the investigation, police said.

It’s not known if Ralphs will reimburse the victims. However, they did not say whether or not the company would reimburse victims.

All the machines were replaced more than a week ago, and a number of the old terminals were sent to police for investigation.

“We did a physical comparison to similar machines that weren’t involved in that store,” Det. David McCain said.

There were no signs of altered wiring or hidden cameras, so the card machines were sent to the manufacturer “to make sure no one messed with the applications,” McCain said.

K9 officer involved in traffic accident

A Huntington Beach officer and her canine partner were injured in a traffic collision Monday near the intersection of Brookhurst Street and Garfield Avenue, police said.

At 1:25 a.m. Officer Carol Ortiz was en route to another traffic accident with a car fire, when her cruiser and another car collided, knocking Ortiz’s vehicle into a pole, police said.

She was transported to UCI Medical Center in Orange and released the next day, Lt. Craig Junginger said. She has not returned to duty.

The dog inside the vehicle was also injured and receiving needed a few stitches near the face, police said.

An investigation is underway by the Highway Patrol, which is common practice in Huntington Beach after accidents involving officers and causing injuring, Junginger said.

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