Crime

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a stack of bills Aug. 16 aimed at curtailing organized retail, property and auto theft in California. Newsom appeared at a Home Depot in San Jose with state, business and law enforcement officials, signing 10 bills that he said go “to...

The death of a woman last week at a Gilroy home is being investigated as suspicious, police said Aug. 15. The investigation began after the woman was found dead the evening of Aug. 6 at a home in the 7600 block of Rea Street, according...

Former UFC fighter Cain Velasquez pleaded guilty Aug. 16 to multiple felony charges related to a 2022 vigilante high-speed chase and shooting spree through Morgan Hill that wounded an unintended target and endangered a nearby elementary school, according to the Santa Clara County District...

The California State Assembly Select Committee on Fentanyl, Opioid Addiction and Overdose Prevention on Aug. 12 during an informational hearing discussed the urgency of combating the rise in overdose deaths among youth in recent years primarily due to ingesting fentanyl.  Between 2019 and 2021, drug...

Three former Santa Clara County correctional deputies pleaded guilty Aug. 13 to reduced charges in the 2015 beating death of Michael Tyree, a mentally ill jail inmate.All three defendants – Matthew Farris, 36, Jereh Lubrin, 37 and Rafael Rodriguez, 40 – admitted to voluntary...

A San Jose Police officer has been charged with shooting his police weapon inside his Morgan Hill home, false imprisonment and a series of assaults on his now-pregnant girlfriend. Police reported that during a series of violent incidents that began more than a year ago,...

A traffic stop on Highway 152 by the California Highway Patrol in Santa Clara County led to the seizure of 70 pounds of crystal methamphetamine and the arrest of a Los Banos man. CHP officer Israel Murillo said an officer, aided by a K-9, found...

The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office launched a public data dashboard last week to support what they said will promote “transparency, accountability, and community engagement” within the criminal justice system.    The DA’s office intends to update data regularly on victim and defendant race and...

A Superior Court jury on July 17 found former Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Capt. James Jensen guilty of felony bribery and conspiracy charges in connection with a gun permit bribery scandal. The same jury acquitted co-defendant Harpaul Nahal, a Santa Clara attorney, of both charges...

In two separate Santa Clara County workers’ compensation insurance fraud cases, a child therapist and San Jose father and son business owners will face serious sentences for committing felony fraud, according to authorities.  Mark Anthony Ramos, 50, of Escondido, owner of Stars Bay Area Therapy...