Crime

The City of Gilroy issued a fraud alert to water customers who deposited their payment checks in a utility bill dropbox outside City Hall before someone broke into it this week. The city’s utility bill dropbox, located between the parking lots in front of Gilroy...

A fire broke out Sunday afternoon in the 700 block of Seely

Overnight firefighters made significant progress on the Ballybunion fire and now have reported that it is 35 percent contained. Overnight as the wind slackened and the humidity rose, there was no significant growth of the fire. The fire is expected to be contained by Friday.

Nearly two years and more than 15 court appearances since his arrest, murder suspect Antolin Garcia Torres pleaded not guilty Thursday to all charges issued this week by a criminal grand jury, and waived his right to a speedy trial. Garcia Torres, 22 of Morgan Hill, is accused of kidnapping and killing Sierra LaMar who was 15 when she disappeared from her mother’s north Morgan Hill home in March 2012. He appeared Thursday for an arraignment at the Hall of Justice in San Jose - his first court appearance since the Santa Clara County Criminal Grand Jury indicted him with charges related to Sierra’s disappearance and murder. He was also indicted this week on charges that he attempted to assault three women in unrelated incidents in Morgan Hill in 2009. If convicted, Garcia Torres faces life in prison or the death penalty. The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has not decided if it will seek the death penalty for Garcia Torres, Deputy DA David Boyd said in court Thursday. Garcia Torres’ attorney, Al Lopez of the County’s Alternate Defender’s Office, said Garcia Torres pleads not guilty to all of the charges, and “all enhancements and special allegations are denied.” Lopez then notified Garcia Torres that he has a right to a speedy trial and asked him if he wanted to waive that right - to which Garcia Torres replied he did. The hearing took place in Judge Thang Nguyen Barrett’s courtroom, which was packed with friends and family of Sierra’s, and volunteers who continue to search weekly for her remains or any sign of her whereabouts. Previous hearings have taken place in Judge Sharon Chatman’s courtroom. Thursday’s proceeding was the first hearing in the case since the Criminal Grand Jury indicted him. DA Jeff Rosen decided to take the case to the 19-member body instead of waiting for a public preliminary hearing to determine if Garcia Torres would stand trial for the crimes he is accused of. Rosen’s decision to do that followed more than 15 hearings in which Garcia Torres declined to enter a plea. Rosen added that staff from his office had been presenting their case to the grand jury, behind closed doors, for a few weeks before the indictment was announced. Rosen said earlier this week that he hopes the criminal grand jury’s action will speed up the justice process for Sierra and her family. Garcia Torres has been in custody at the County Jail since his arrest in May 2012. At Thursday’s hearing, Barrett ordered him to remain in custody with no bail. Also at Thursday’s hearing, Garcia Torres filed a motion to seal the transcripts from the grand jury proceedings that led to his indictment. Judge Barrett decided to keep the transcripts sealed at least until a hearing on the matter is held. That hearing is set for April 16 at the Hall of Justice in San Jose. Sierra disappeared while walking to her school bus stop near the intersection of Palm and Dougherty avenues - in north Morgan Hill - the morning of March 16, 2012, according to police. She was a sophomore at Sobrato High School at the time. Her remains have not been found, but investigators think she is dead based on her lack of contact with anyone since that morning nearly two years ago. A core group of volunteers still meet every Saturday to conduct searches of the area, looking for any sign of Sierra’s whereabouts. More than 20 of those volunteers attended Thursday’s hearing, where they recognized the grand jury indictment and Garcia Torres’ long-awaited plea as a sign that justice can finally proceed. “There was a sigh of relief from all the searchers when the indictment came in” earlier this week, said volunteer Renee Figueira outside the courthouse Thursday. “We are going to continue searching every Saturday until we find her.” For more information on the volunteer search efforts, go to www.findsierralamar.com.

A man committed suicide Monday afternoon on a dirt road near

Two suspects remain at large in connection with a double

Christopher High School Principal John Perales is dispelling rumors of wild animals running through the halls and wanton graffiti as a result of a senior prank gone wrong. He concedes that some vandalism did take place on campus around midnight May 16, but adds that rumors floating around the community have blown the incident way out of proportion.

Law enforcement’s annual end-of-summer DUI crackdown resulted in 309 arrests throughout Santa Clara County, according to authorities.The arrests, all on suspicion of driving under the influence, were reported by sheriff’s office and police departments from Aug. 16 to the end of Labor Day, Sept. 2, according to Sheriff’s Sgt. Kurtis Stenderup. Some agencies had not yet reported their total DUI arrests for the period as of Wednesday morning. In 2012 during the same time period, local law enforcement agencies reported 390 arrests on suspicion of DUI, Stenderup said. The arrests were part of the annual “Avoid the 13” DUI crackdown, in which police place extra officers and resources on the roads during holiday weekends and other expected high-traffic times. The effort includes sobriety checkpoints, saturation patrols and routine patrol by 13 law enforcement agencies throughout the County. Avoid the 13 is funded by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Police are planning more Avoid the 13 anti-DUI efforts during the upcoming Halloween and Thanksgiving holidays, Stenderup said.