CanyonCountry_032225

The Hart District’s Second Annual Variety Showcase

Acast of more than 20 performers took the Saugus High School stage on a Friday evening for the second annual Hart District’s Got Talent Variety Showcase presented by the WiSH Education Foundation. Below are some of the Canyon Country participants.

Clockwise from upper left: Canyon High School student Alfredo Reveles; Golden Valley High School student and rapper Saga Supreme Wilson; and Mason Gargoles of La Mesa Junior High School. PHOTOS BY KATHERINE QUEZADA / THE SIGNAL

In Triple OT Madrigal Gives Canyon Boys Their First CIF Title

By Tyler Wainfeld Signal Staff Writer

Canyon High School senior Noah Madrigal said it felt like a never-ending game.

And that’s what it looked like — but Madrigal had other plans to cap off his Friday night.

After 43 minutes and with it looking like a fourth overtime was inevitable, Madrigal hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer off the backboard to lift the Canyon Cowboys boys’ basketball team to its first-ever CIF Southern Section title.

“A lot of emotions were going through my mind, but mostly, excitement, just seeing my team coming up and just celebrating with us,” Madrigal said. “And, yeah, it was a really great feeling.”

Canyon edged the St. Bonaventure Seraphs, 89-86, for the Division 2A

title at Azusa Pacific University, the third straight season that the Seraphs have lost in the section final.

Most of the Cowboys have been playing together since fifth grade, Madrigal said, making this championship that much sweeter.

“We’ve just built that chemistry over time,” Madrigal said. “And we knew we were gonna be good, like, ever since our freshman year, because we’ve known each other for so long, and we just built that chemistry. And I think it’s really special, our group.”

The winning basket gave Madrigal 10 points and the Cowboys their fifth player in double figures on the night.

The game was nearly finished in regulation when Canyon senior Eric Kubel, the owner of a number of clutch shots this season and throughout his team’s playoff run, hit a three

The Canyon boys’ basketball team after winning the CIF Southern Section Division 2A title on Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, at Azusa Pacific University. PHOTO BY TYLER WAINFELD/THE SIGNAL. of his own with 1.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Southern Section staff had actually started to bring out the plaque and medals – but the referees put time back on the clock, and Seraphs freshman phenom Charlie Adams, the SerSee CIF, page 10

DISCOUNT Expires June 30, 2025

*See disclaimer on the checkout page of our website at bennetthoney.com.

Henry Mayo Hospital on the Cutting Edge

By Michael Picarella Signal Staff Writer

If you’re having a heart attack, you can’t be too picky about where to go to get care. Due to the urgency of such a matter, you must go to the nearest hospital.

According to James Lee, the medical director of the cardiology program and cardiac cath lab at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, a good cardiology program at a community hospital is something residents should demand.

“If your closest hospital isn’t good, your chances of surviving aren’t good,” he said during a recent telephone interview. “You’d literally not want to live in that community. Why would you want to raise your kids in an area where you might lower the chances of surviving something as scary as a heart attack or a stroke?”

Lee said that Santa Clarita Valley residents can rest assured. They don’t have to go over the hill for medical attention should they find themselves in an emergency like a heart attack. Henry Mayo in Valencia has been offering state-of-the-art care since 2012 when it added the Roberta G. Veloz Cardiovascular Center.

According to the city’s website, Santa Clarita, with 218,103 residents as of the count in 2019, is the third largest city in Los Angeles County behind the cities of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The growing population made it necessary for Henry Mayo to offer more services, particularly a cardiology program.

“You have one hospital for this entire expanding population,” Lee said. “When it comes to cardiac medical problems, timeliness of treatment is critical, especially with conditions like a heart attack or strokes. Many people in the community were aware of that need, and it took someone in the community to help donate and fund that program to really push the hospital to take on that project.”

The late Roberta Veloz stepped up. According to her son, Peter Veloz, she gave $3 million in December 2005 for such a program.

Peter Veloz, who’s also a member of the Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital board of directors, said his mom’s donation for a cath lab was something she was personally passionate about.

“My mom had a dear friend whose son-in-law had

The Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital cardiac lab team has been offering high-quality health care since the opening of the Roberta G. Veloz Cardiovascular Center in 2012. PHOTO BY

KATHERINE QUEZADA / THE SIGNAL

to be rushed to a hospital in the San Fernando Valley for cardiac cath services, and he suffered a heart attack in transit,” Veloz said during a recent telephone interview. “Fortunately, he survived. But when my mom got the call about this from her friend, she decided that day that she was going to take a substantial portion of the proceeds from the selling of her company (Aquafine Corp.), which was happening at the same time, and donate it to Henry Mayo with the condition that it be used to open a cardiac cath lab in the Santa Clarita Valley, because previously we didn’t have one.”

Veloz said that, in December 2005, his mom walked into the office of former Henry Mayo CEO Roger Seaver and gave him a check right then and there for $3 million.

He added that his mom continued to give monies to what, in June 2012, became the Roberta G. Veloz Cardiovascular Center over the years to make sure it could continue to offer important cardiac services and the most modern technology in the SCV.

“My mom passed in August of 2020,” Veloz said, “so, she got to see the cath lab open. She got to attend the opening. She got to then hear all the subsequent stories of success, the number of people who received these services — those who were having a heart attack in our valley and surviving, who didn’t have to be transported. She was able to get updates on all of this from the hospital. It was really satisfying for her to hear the results and see the results.”

Veloz added that there was a bit of a joke about

how, over the seven years of construction, his mom never let off the pressure of wanting the center to be opened as soon as possible. Veloz said she made it her mission to see it completed.

According to Lee, Roberta Veloz’s generosity and passion for a cardiovascular center at Henry Mayo was a big deal, made even more vital with the growing SCV population.

“If you think about what her donation did,” Lee said, “it’s not just helping develop that for the hospital, but it’s really saving lives within the community.”

The need is so clear, he added, that Henry Mayo is currently expanding the center to include an additional cath lab.

According to Patrick Moody, Henry Mayo’s director of marketing and public relations, the hospital expects to start construction this year on that project.

Dale Donohoe, chair of the Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital board of directors, said he’s happy to see how far the cardiovascular center at Henry Mayo has come, and to see it continue to grow. As chief executive officer of Intertex general contractors, he recalled when Intertex built the Roberta G. Veloz Cardiovascular Center. But that wasn’t the first time they’d worked with Roberta Veloz.

“Our first job in 1985 was for Roberta,” Donohoe said. “It’s funny how things come around. We built something for them — for Roberta and her husband, Tom, for Aquafine. Then she donates a large amount of money to the hospital to build it (the cardiovascular center), and then some years later, one of our

CC Couple Accused Of Committing ID Theft, Fraud

By Perry Smith Signal Senior Staff Writer

The L.A. County District Attorney’s Office filed multiple charges against a Canyon Country couple alleging a series of fraud and forgeries after a monthslong investigation by Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station officials.

Alexa Blue Davenport, 30, and Iris Gonzalez, 31, were charged with identity theft and possessing fraudulent documents, and Gonzalez additionally was accused of a half-dozen accusations that she committed her crimes while on bail for other alleged crimes.

On Feb. 6, deputies arrested Davenport at the million-dollar home she was staying in with Gonzalez, who already was in custody for an unrelated charge. Court records in the case indicate Gonzalez has a lengthy criminal record of identity theft and similar charges.

Detectives found “miscellaneous fraud items” linked to more than a dozen potential victims during their search, according to courthouse records.

Check Fraud Allegation

The extensive investigation began four months prior, when a landlord reported the last five rent checks for the Olympic Crest Drive home where Davenport and Gonzalez were staying had come back as invalid, either due to stopped payment, fictitious information or a closed account, according to the detective’s affidavit.

In November, patrol deputies visited the home to talk to the residents listed on the lease — “Maria Bernal” and Alexa Davenport — in response to

the landlord’s report of the fraudulent checks.

Detectives reported that Davenport answered the door, gave the deputies a fake name, and then lied and said her significant other, Gonzalez, owned the home, per an affidavit.

She gave a different version of the rental situation to deputies who came back in January, according to officials.

Eventually, the landlord took the couple to court over the unpaid rent in civil proceedings.

Davenport presented two of the allegedly fraudulent checks to a judge at an eviction hearing, which detectives shared with the DA’s office.

By their January court date, Iris Gonzalez was in custody on suspicion of a child-endangerment charge, and detectives conducted an interview with her in the courthouse jail.

She told detectives she was on the lease under the name of Maria Bernal, but that she paid the rent via Zelle and said she didn’t know anything about the checks they mentioned.

Search Warrant

The landlord, who had also been gathering evidence and sharing it with detectives, gave them a January rent check that detectives connected to a report of two business checks reported stolen back in October.

Those stolen checks, which had been altered, amounted to about $27,000 in losses to two local businesses, according to a witness statement in the original crime report.

In reviewing financial records, detectives were able to trace multiple transactions through Chase bank, but they reported to the judge that the bank refused to cooperate with the investigation or provide access to

the employee who processed the stolen-check transactions.

However, at this point, detectives reported to a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge that they believed there was enough evidence to justify a search warrant of the home just north of Todd Longshore Park.

In their search warrant application, detectives said they had reasonable cause to believe a search would help them find evidence of “mail theft, burglary tools, identity theft and personal identity information not lawfully in their possession at the residence.”

On Feb. 5, an L.A. County Superior Court judge agreed.

Charges

A 17-page report detailing the search warrant lists checks, credit cards, gift cards, cracked phones and documents for alleged forgery as all part of the evidence deputies collected at the home. The items were found throughout the house, including the kitchen and pantry closet, according to court records.

Davenport, who doesn’t have a previous criminal record, was charged with two counts related to identity theft, possession of counterfeit items

and check fraud.

Gonzalez, who does have a previous record, is now facing those charges as well as six alleged violations of bail, which could carry an enhancement of two years per violation, if Gonzalez is convicted as charged. Gonzalez also has three previous convictions on her record for identity-theft related crimes.

The DA’s office declined to comment on either case.

Davenport pleaded not guilty Feb. 10 to the four charges. Davenport’s case is now scheduled for a pre-plea report due Tuesday, ahead of a March 13 hearing set for the case.

Also on Feb. 10, a judge issued a bench warrant hearing for Gonzalez on the new charges. Gonzalez was already in custody, but the new counts added $300,000 to her bail amount.

On Feb. 18, Gonzalez filed a motion challenging the presiding judicial officer in her case, Judge David Walgren, claiming he has a prejudice against her. That resulted in the case being transferred to Judge Hilleri Merritt for a March 13 hearing, which also is expected to discuss a pre-plea report for Gonzalez. 

DEAN BUYS HOUSES

ALL CASH • No Equity Required Any Condition Any Location

FOOD DRIVE

Continued from page 7

one who orders the groceries, the amount of goods the church receives from the food bank is based on the number of people the drive attracts from week to week. The church keeps a log of the families that come by for groceries.

“Because of how we’ve demonstrated how many people we can give it to,” Nelson said, “we’ve been given more.”

Other community members donate food as well. On Saturday, the church received bread from Panera Bread in Valencia.

Those helping serve the public during the drive included a mixture of church members and people from the community. They all seemed very busy sorting the goods and distributing them.

The line of families who had come for food had wrapped around the building and went all the way to the back. The adjacent parking lot was opened for those coming for food to park — the little lot that serves the church, the pizzeria and the other few businesses there was certainly not enough.

Alma Nelson, Barry Nelson’s wife and the coordinator of the food drive, said she feels fortunate to be serving others, particularly at a time when

FIRE

Continued from page 6

updated them,” said Maria Grycan, community liaison for the L.A. County Fire Department, referring to the maps that indicate which fire jurisdictions are covered by CalFire and the U.S. Forest Service as the primary respond -

TOP: Canned items were available for people to take home during the Venice Pizzeria and God’s Glorious Praise Ministries food drive on Saturday, March 1, 2025. RIGHT: Volunteer Madona Ekladous hands out items during the Venice Pizzeria and God’s Glorious Praise Ministries food drive. PHOTOS BY HABEBA MOSTAFA/ THE SIGNAL

groceries are so expensive. She shared a particular story she experienced about three months ago, when a woman who happened to be driving by stopped at the food drive and became so grateful when she found zucchini there.

ers. “And now they are updating the LRA, which is the local responsibility area.”

Grycan said the agency sees them when CalFire releases them publicly and not before, because that’s the start of the 120-day comment period.

She said once the maps are re -

“The lady,” Nelson’s wife said, “went to Vallarta, and she told me she couldn’t afford to buy zucchini. She didn’t buy it. Then she was driving by here, saw what we were doing, she comes in, and she says, ‘Oh my God, you guys have zucchini here. Do you

leased, they’ll be pretty much the final version, as the Fire Marshal’s Office is unlikely to make additional revisions.

“Ultimately, what I think is going to happen with the maps is if you remember there were very, very just little pockets within Castaic that had no designation as to a fire zone,

know that I had to forego the zucchini at the store? But God provided it here.’” Ethakpemhi said the food drive typically goes from 10 a.m. to 2 or 3 p.m. He expected it to be busy the whole time. 

that was not designated in any fire zone,” Grycan said, “and I think that when we see these new maps, what (L.A. County Fire) Chief (Pat) Sprengel and I are anticipating is that that lack of fire zone is going to disappear and that every little bit of Castaic will be in the fire zone.”  

CALENDAR

Every Wednesday, Year-round

4 p.m. – 8 p.m.

S.C.O.R.E.

Scholarship Program

For youth who do not have the financial means to participate in fee-based recreational programs and activities.

Call (661) 250-3700

Canyon Country Community Center

Open Gym Schedule

Open gym activities are available to people of all skill levels.

Gym Fees

Day Use

Juniors (12-17) Free

Adult $3 | Senior $2

15 Visit Pass

Adult $34 | Senior $12

Basketball

Tuesday/Thursday, 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Bring your own ball or check one out with a student I.D./Government issued I.D.

Pickleball

Friday, 9:45 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Bring your own paddles

Table Tennis

Monday and Wednesday, 9:45 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Bring your own paddles

CANYON COUNTRY LIBRARY PROGRAMS

March 24

1 p.m. Little Explorers

March 25

3:30 p.m. LEGO® Block Party

March 26

9:30 a.m. Cuenta Cuentos

3:30 p.m. My Gym

6 p.m. One Story One City: Trinket Dish Craft

March 27

9:30 a.m. Storytime

4 p.m. Read to a Dog

4 p.m. Teen Library Eats: Marshmallow Treats

March 31

1 p.m. Little Explorers

April 1

9:30 a.m. Storytime

3:30 p.m. Science Explorers

April 2

9:30 a.m. Cuenta Cuentos

6 p.m. Thrilled to Read Book Club

April 3

9:30 a.m. Storytime

noon Homeschool Resource Support Room

6 p.m. Teen Crafts & Stuff: DIY Squish Toys

6:30 p.m. Club de Mujeres Latinas en Literatura

April 4

10:15 a.m. Yoga Together

April 5

1 p.m. Book vs. Movie

April 7

1 p.m. Little Explorers

April 8

9:30 a.m. Storytime

11 a.m. Spring Sensory Room for those with disabilities and their caregivers.

April 9

9:30 a.m. Cuenta Cuentos

1 p.m. Home at the Library

5:30 p.m. Spring Candle Making

April 10

9:30 p.m. Storytime

4 p.m. Teen Library Eats: Mango Lassi

April 11

10 a.m. Family Jam

April 12

10 a.m. Sit and Stitch

April 14

1 p.m. Little Explorers

4 p.m. Teen Game Day: Switch Games