Malibu Ferrari Crash Driver Is Settling Up and Being Prepped for Deportation

NEXT CHAPTER—Bo Stefan Eriksson’s four-year American interlude may be drawing to a close. Having served state prison time and pending upcoming restitution proceedings, he will be readied for deportation to his native Sweden, where government spokespersons say he will be able to resume a “normal life,” or as normal a life as possible if the media ever tires of the scintillating saga of the “Ferrari Swede.”
IGNOMINIOUS END—The remains of the Enzo Ferrari, one of only 400 built, that crashed on Pacific Coast Highway on Feb. 21, 2006, sits on a flat bed waiting to be towed. Swedish national Bo Stefan Eriksson, now acknowledged as the driver when the vehicle careened out of control at speeds of over 162 mph, walked away unscathed, as did his passenger Trevor Karney of Ireland who fled the country only to be apprehended months later. The accident fostered a media frenzy and was the prelude to extensive legal woes for both men. Eriksson, paroled from the state prison system on Dec. 13 and now in the custody of the U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, is completing restitution proceedings for embezzlement. He is slated for deportation to Sweden, but may opt to go to Germany, where his wife and daughter now live.

• Swedish Government to Grant New Passport to Bo Stefan Eriksson; Expects His Arrival ‘in the Near Future’ •

BY ANNE SOBLE

A Swedish electronic gaming device entrepreneur and ex-felon who crashed a rare $1.5-plus million Enzo Ferrari two years ago that set off an international media frenzy is completing the last stages of restitution proceedings for fraud in Los Angeles and being readied for deportation to Sweden, according to the latest word from a spokesperson for the Swedish government.
Bo Stefan Eriksson crashed the bright red Enzo, one of 400 built, on Pacific Coast Highway on Feb. 21, 2006, while driving under the influence at over 162 mph, according to a lengthy Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigation. Eriksson, in highly unusual circumstances, was not detained at the scene of the 6 a.m. accident, which remains shrouded in mystery.
Sofia Karlberg, a press officer for the Foreign Ministry Office of the Swedish Regeringskanleit in Stockholm, told the Malibu Surfside News this week that Eriksson is slated to be deported to Sweden “in the near future.” She said the government “does not provide more specific information than that on matters like this.”
Karlberg said Eriksson will be issued a new Swedish passport and allowed to resume a life without constraints if he chooses to remain in Sweden. She said, “In Sweden, if you have been punished for what you have done, you are a free person.”
Following a trial with a changing cast of attorneys, Eriksson was sentenced in November 2006 to three years in state prison after pleading no contest to multiple counts of embezzlement related to the Enzo and two other high-end performance cars, as well as the charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
He had already received a concurrent six-month jail term after pleading no contest in October 2006 to a misdemeanor charge of drunken driving. Eriksson spent most of his time at the California Mens Colony in San Luis Obispo, which in the past has been described as a country club prison.
According to Lt. Mike Siebert at CMC, Eriksson was technically paroled on Dec. 13, the day before his forty-sixth birthday, and remanded to federal custody to complete pending restitution proceedings in Los Angeles, in addition to being prepared for deportation.
Among the bases for deportation are charges of improper entry into the United States in 2004 because Eriksson did not disclose the prior felony conviction and prison time in Sweden on an array of racketeering charges. Similar entry violations relate to importation of sports cars he brought into the country in 2005.
The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement—ICE is the investigative branch of the revamped Department of Homeland Security—could opt to include hefty financial penalties with these charges.
Eriksson still has unfinished business with the British creditors who own the stable of mega-cars that Eriksson co-opted. The English bank holding the title to the demolished Enzo, whose battered image was relayed around the world, has more than $1.3 million in civil judgments against him. The owners of other cars—another Enzo, a Rolls Royce Phantom and a Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR, involve similar amounts.
Eriksson is being held in a detention center outside Los Angeles, while awaiting a Superior Court hearing in mid-February to address the last restitution proceedings related to the embezzlement convictions.
Eriksson’s wife, Nicole Eriksson, occasionally referred to as Nicole Persson, 35, was widely quoted in European and Swedish-American media last week as looking forward to the end of what she has described as a difficult ordeal, during which all of the couple’s extensive assets were frozen and confiscated.
While here, the family reportedly led a lavish lifestyle in a gated Bel Air estate. Cars, the club circuit, travel, designer clothing and conspicuous jewelry were visible hallmarks, but Eriksson’s wife has been quoted in the Swedish press as saying that came to an end and the couple now “has nothing left financially.” She and the couple’s daughter moved to Germany to reside with her parents when Eriksson began his formal sentence.
Los Angeles attorney Tracy Green, a member of Eriksson’s legal team, has described Nicole Eriksson as supportive and participating in raising funds for her husband’s escalating legal costs.
Adding to the final bills at this juncture is the possible toll that ICE may try to extract from the financially-strapped Eriksson. This could be the most important detail in the deportation process. There may be no shortage of ill will as it was ICE that kept Eriksson from being able to post bond during the months of pre-trial incarceration because he was seen as a high flight risk. That Eriksson alleged ties to the Department of Homeland Security at the Ferrari crash scene may be compounding any agency eagerness to press maximum charges.
Whatever the specifics, Eriksson’s grandiose four-year American adventure—or at least this phase of it—is drawing to a close. Most agree that it was no saga of “innocents abroad.”
The public may even learn one day why Eriksson, accompanied by a gun-toting Irishman, was driving drunk on Pacific Coast Highway in western Malibu after dawn one February morning when he gunned one of cardom’s most beautiful machines, crashed it and found himself in a media spotlight that made him an iconoclastic icon and put him back in prison garb.

MALIBU WIND ALERT

Santa Ana Winds Starting Wednesday May Surpass Those at End of Last Year

By Anne Soble

The National Weather Service, AccuWeather and other weather monitoring services are all forecasting a bout of Santa Ana winds that could exceed 80 mph in the passes and canyons of Southern California.
The winds expected to hit hardest on Wednesday and Thursday are said to be bolstered by a building high pressure centered over the Four Corners region.
Malibu coastal and canyon areas are among those parts of northern Los Angeles and Ventura counties that could be most affected.
On Christmas Day, 2007, winds at Malibu’s western flank were clocked at over 76 mph and wreaked havoc. If similar winds occur this week, residents are urged to be on alert for damage and safety hazards, and immediately report downed power lines or other dangerous conditions for emergency response.

Malibu Mother Seeks Information about Missing Son

• Man Who Grew Up in Malibu Was Last Seen in Hawaii •

BY BILL KOENEKER

A Malibu mother, whose son went missing in Hawaii, is leaving this week for the islands in search of his whereabouts two months after she last spoke to him.
Willie Dennis Eriksson, 42, who was living on the Big Island, was reported missing to authorities and was last seen during the evening hours of Nov.7 at a location in the Mountain View area, according to authorities.
“He is still missing,” said Chris Loos, the public information officer for the Hawaii Police Department. “We are working with the family on the mainland. He is registered in the national data base for missing persons.”
Anna-Greta Eriksson said her son, who has lived on and off the islands for years, moved about a year ago to the Hilo area of the Big Island where he had a caretaking position waiting for him.
“It was a 21-acre property above Hilo. He fixed up the house. It was seven miles up Kaiwiki Road,” added Eriksson, who said her son was always in contact with her, but she suddenly stopped hearing from him on Nov. 7.
“I could always call and talk to Willie. He would always text message his friends in Malibu. He had a phone bill that had 70 calls on it. He was always in touch with me and his friends,” said Eriksson, who recalled no one else has had further contact with her son since then.
Eriksson, who said she was badly shaken up by her son’s disappearance, had friends make the missing person report and later she talked to detectives assigned to the case. Now she wants to go to the Big Island herself to see if the mystery can be unraveled.
“I asked one of his friends if he had any enemies,” said Eriksson, who noted her son loved to surf and fish and recently started a wood exporting business venture with partners. “He laughed saying Willie was accepted by everyone including the native Hawaiians. He had aloha spirit. He always had a smile on his face. He is a compassionate person.”
Eriksson went on about her son. “Willie was saving for a truck. He did not have a car on the island. He was waiting for more money to buy it. He was supposed to come to the mainland on Nov. 3. I asked him about coming home. He said he did not have the money,” she added.
Eriksson was visiting friends in Kona on the other side of the island shortly before his disappearance. He had been staying for about two weeks. He had taken a bus to Kona and was looking for a ride home. “I got a text message saying he had arrived home saying ‘call me anytime’. The last time I talked to him was when he was still visiting in Kona,” she said. No one seems to know what happened since his return.
Eriksson said she regrets the missing person report was not made sooner. A bulletin was released and the newspapers printed stories about the missing man She said when she talked to a detective she was told they went to her son’s place of residence and found that everything looked orderly.
“I wanted to go over to the island right away. I did not have the money,” she said. “I shared my story with Martin Sheen, and he asked me why I wasn’t over there right now. Willie, who went to Malibu Junior High and Santa Monica High School, went to school with Charlie [Sheen],” said the Malibu mother, who said Sheen offered to help.
Eriksson said she is anxious to talk to authorities again when she gets to Hawaii and plans to visit the property where her son was living. “I want to get in touch with the Coast Guard and go around the island. I am going to put up flyers. His friends will help me,” added Eriksson, who said recently one of the neighbors mentioned foul play, but did not elaborate nor has she been able to contact the neighbor again. “I just don’t know what that means. What does he know? What is he talking about? Wouldn’t the police have said something if there was foul play?” added Eriksson, who said she wants to grill authorities once she is there.
The missing man is described as 5 foot 9, 165 pounds with blue eyes, short gray or partially gray hair and a goatee. Police in Hawaii ask anyone with information on his whereabouts to call the department’s non-emergency number 808-935-3311.


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DECKER CANYON ROAD CLOSURE BETWEEN
PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY AND ENCINAL CANYON ROAD

The California Department of Transportation announces the closure of Decker Canyon Road (SR-23) between Pacific Coast Highway and Encinal Canyon Road on Monday, Jan. 14, between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. for filming activity. Access will be maintained for local residents with identification. Through traffic will be detoured onto Encinal Canyon Road to and from PCH. Caltrans has issued an encroachment permit for this closure.

LVMWD Rate Adjustments for Malibu Fire Victims

At its Jan. 8 meeting, the Board of Las Virgenes Municipal Water District approved rate adjustments for victims of the recent Malibu fires. The action authorizes full forgiveness of charges for the billing period during which a home was destroyed and partial credits will be allowed for customers in the fire-impacted area who used an extraordinary amount of water during the billing period, under the assumption that above-average water use occurred in an effort to protect life and property. Customers seeking fire-related rate adjustments should contact the district at 818-251-2200 on or before Feb. 29.

Scientists Monitor Malibu as Three Storms Head Its Way

DANGER ZONE­—Areas threatened by mud and ash flows in the Canyon Fire burn area between Malibu Canyon Road on the left and Las Flores Canyon on the east are mapped. The orange area—Sweetwater Canyon and Palm Canyon above Serra Estates—is the most threatened in this projection.

DATA—Jeffrey Agajanian, a USGS mudflow expert, examines the new automated stream-flow gauge just installed near the Malibu Creek bridge in Serra Estates. The solar-powered device will feed water-depth and mud percentage data to a satellite, which will relay it to National Weather Service computers and forecasters.

• Experts Warn that Dangers of Flooding Should Not Be Minimized •

By Hans Laetz

The U.S. Geological Survey rushed to activate the new remote flood and mudflow-sensing equipment it set up in three Malibu canyons this week in advance of the trio of big storms that threaten local flooding.
Scientists told reporters Thursday that torrential rains possible through Saturday could deposit enough material from Winter, Sweetwater and Carbon canyons alone to cover a football field with 40 inches of debris.
Add in the massive burned area in Corral, Escondido and Latigo canyons, and Malibu may see enough mud, ash and boulders to close Pacific Coast Highway in several locations, bury houses and claim lives, said USGS Southern California Multi-Hazards Coordinator Lucile Jones.
“We could have boulders the size of minivans, and minivans the size of boulders, down there,” Jones said at a Thursday afternoon news conference held under dark skies at Malibu Bluffs Park.
Debris flow from the Canyon and Corral fire zones is of such concern to the National Weather Service and USGS that the agencies have set up remote monitoring equipment in several locations, including one in a narrow canyon north of the Pepperdine University tower.
Automated equipment, including a web camera that should begin operations next week, will measure ash and water flows in Winter Canyon, uphill from two schools, a small sewage plant and other key facilities on Civic Center Way.
Mudflows down Winter Canyon could cause major backup above a flood culvert below PCH, spilling out onto the beach just west of Malibu Colony.
Another new USGS installation is a solar-power stream flow measurement system at the Cross Creek bridge in Serra Estates. It will give emergency workers a real-time sense for how much water, and how much ash-laden sediment, is flowing out of the Santa Monica Mountains.
“Using rainfall thresholds from our rain gauge networks, we are able to monitor and keep track over the various burn areas that prompt the National Weather Service to issue a flash flood warning,” said Jayme Laber, an NWS hydrologist.
USGS and Weather Service scientists are using Malibu and other recent Southern California burn areas as a laboratory to research precise behavior by rainfall on freshly burned mountains. Some burned areas in Malibu have been laced with soil moisture probes, stream flow measuring devices and sediment flow gauges. Highly detailed topographical surveys have been undertaken as well.
Scientists at the news conference unveiled a map that predicts in great detail, which parts of burned-over Malibu are at risk for mudflows.
Susan Cannon, a USGS landslide expert, said Malibu provides a particular challenge because geology and rainfall totals can vary widely among the more than 25 different canyons and creeks that drain from the Santa Monica Mountains into the Pacific Ocean.
Cannon said scientists were hoping to avoid broad-brush predictions, and determine how differing terrains shed water and debris in intensive rainfalls such as are expected this week.
A mobile Doppler radar truck, usually posted in the Midwest to chase tornados, is parked at Los Angeles Airport, waiting for the storms to move in. “Our Smart-R truck gives us a gap-filling radar that can see the lower levels of clouds,” Laber said.
“It can see right down to the ridge tops, and information from the Smart-R truck is fed in real time to the Oxnard Weather Office for forecasters to analyze.”
Laber said the total amount of rainfall is not as import as the intensity of the downpour. A cloudburst of two-tenths of an inch in 15 minutes, or a half-inch in one hour, will be enough to trigger ash flows in burn areas.
Jones, who has seen more than her share of catastrophes running the ISGS earthquake lab in Pasadena, said Malibu residents need to be aware that the debris flow threat is much greater than just mud flowing into a house.
“People get killed by these,” Cannon said. “The Christmas Day 2003 flood in San Bernardino moved four-foot boulders 20 feet per second.”
Jones said the installation of special monitoring equipment in the hills above Malibu, and in the Santa Ana Mountains near Irvine, is not designed specifically to trigger an improved warning system for those areas.
“We’ll not be issuing special warnings for Malibu, but we’ll be using Malibu as a guinea pig to improve future warnings,” Jones said.

STORM WATCH—January 3, 2K8

Malibuites in at-risk areas should take every precaution to prepare for the impending weather, review their emergency plans, continuously monitor the latest weather reports and listen for any warnings or special instructions from public safety personnel.

GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS

• Prepare or update family emergency plans and make sure all parties know the plan.
• Identify a meeting place outside the immediate area.
• Make sure family members know where to go to re-unite if they are separated.
• Make arrangements for all pets and livestock before the watch or warning.
• Listen to available media for the latest weather information and instructions.
• Update emergency supply kits by including: Drinking water; food; medicines; battery-operated flashlights and radios; first-aid kit and book; warm clothing; animal supplies (leads, carriers, etc.)
• Learn the difference between flash flood watches and flash flood warnings.
• Teach children to avoid creeks, canyons, drainage control channels and washes at all times.
• Drive only when necessary.
• Meet with neighbors to discuss and coordinate possible assistance.
• Contact county flood control personnel and other experts to learn what actions, including sandbagging, can protect property from small mudflows.

BURN AND FLOOD AREA CONCERNS

• If officials have determined that a home or business is in an area at risk to flash floods and debris flows and a warning is issued, be prepared for evacuation should that prove necessary.
• If located in a canyon, burn area or other location subject to flooding, mudflows and debris flow, stay alert and monitor the weather, particularly at night.
• Listen for crackling trees, boulders knocking together and other sounds that indicate that debris or mudflow is occurring.
• Watch for other signs of large mud and debris flows, including small mud and debris flows, sudden increases and decreases in water flow and changes in the clarity of the water in the stream or channel.
• Evacuate immediately, preferably to higher ground, if you hear these sounds or see these signs.
• Alert authorities to dangerous conditions.