Simi Would No Longer Be Naked City Under New Law

In response to nearly two dozen complaints about a local man who walks around his neighborhood nude, Simi Valley police recently asked the City Council to pass a law banning public nudity.

“Cities get people that for whatever reason want to walk around without their clothes on,” said Sgt. Bob Gardner. “It really creates a disturbance in the community.”

Simi Valley, like several cities in the Southland, has resorted to creating a local ordinance because state law says nudity isn’t illegal unless a person is doing it for sexual gratification.

“A number of cities have had to do this to close the gap,” said City Atty. David Hirsch, who added that Burbank, Redondo Beach and Newport Beach have dealt with similar problems.

The City Council plans to vote on the ban at its Dec. 4 meeting. If it passes, as is expected, the measure would take effect Jan. 1, Hirsch said.

Until then, there’s not much police can do to stop people from going nude. But after Jan. 1, those being in the buff in public could be charged with a misdemeanor, punishable by six months in jail, a $1,000 fine or both.

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In a case a Ventura County judge described as “unspeakably evil,” jury selection is scheduled to start today for a man accused of helping kidnap, torture and kill a man more than four years ago.

Matthew Ormsby has been charged in the slaying of 29-year-old Anthony Guest, whose remains were found beneath a juniper bush Sept. 13, 1996, in the Hungry Valley Recreation Area in northern Ventura County.

Authorities say Guest was kidnapped as a favor to a woman who briefly dated the Redondo Beach man and wanted him hurt as a result of their breakup.

Guest was tied to a makeshift electric chair, burned, had wood stapled to his ear and broken glass placed in his mouth and glued shut. He was doused with gasoline and burned alive.

Billy Lyn Davis, 23, and Spencer Rawlin Brasure, 30, both of the Los Angeles area, were convicted separately in 1998 and 1999. Davis was given life in prison, and Brasure was sentenced to death.

Prosecutors declined to comment on the case, citing pretrial publicity. Jail records indicate Ormsby has been in custody for more than a year on charges of murder, kidnapping and torture.

According to witness testimony before a Ventura County Grand Jury, Ormsby allegedly helped place Guest into a plastic bag and stuff him into a trash can before he was taken to the recreation area and killed.

Ormsby, whose age and former city of residence were not released, remained jailed in lieu of $500,000 bail.

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A Ventura man was arrested last week for allegedly stealing a taxi from outside a local bar and driving drunk for several blocks before parking and passing out.

Ventura police said a driver for the Super Cab Co. had parked outside Lowell’s Town & Country Bar on Main Street to wait for a fare.

After the cabby got out of the idling taxi to stretch his legs, Jay Hagerman, 41, allegedly jumped into the vehicle and fled.

Ten minutes later, Hagerman was found in the parked cab, slumped behind the wheel with the keys in his pocket, police said.

Hagerman was booked on suspicion of auto theft and driving under the influence. He remained jailed Sunday night in lieu of $20,000 bond.

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Holly J. Wolcott can be reached at 653-7581 or at holly.wolcott@latimes.com.