Crime

A preliminary hearing for five young men accused of killing Sobrato High School freshman Tara Romero, 14, in a Nov. 4, 2011 drive-by shooting was continued to a later date Monday, authorities said. 

Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith won a sixth consecutive term in office after defeating challenger John Hirokawa in the Nov. 6 election. With 100 percent of the votes counted, Smith obtained 147,319 ballots, compared to 113,655 votes for Hirokawa, according to the Santa Clara...

This week, Gilroy police responded to thefts, burglaries, weapons violations and drug-related crimes. Here's a few incidents:

A man who was prohibited from having firearms was arrested Friday after deputies seized three assault-style rifles, a semi-automatic handgun and 1,500 rounds of ammunition at his home, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office said. Russell Larson Charling, 41, of San Martin, previously had firearms...

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 21-year-old man was formally charged with murder in the Christmas Day killing of a woman who had a restraining order against him - marking the Garlic Capital's third murder this year, according to the Gilroy Police Department.

Authorities are looking for a suspect who led police on a high-speed chase that ended in Morgan Hill, following an armed robbery in Sunnyvale Monday night, police said. About 10:20 p.m. Monday, a Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety officer tried to stop a suspicious vehicle in the area of Arques and America avenues, according to a press release from Sunnyvale DPS. The driver of the vehicle failed to yield to the officer’s red lights and began to evade the officer. About 10:24 p.m., Sunnyvale Dispatch received a report of an armed robbery, police said. A clerk at a convenience store at 395 N. Fair Oaks Ave. reported he was robbed at gunpoint and the suspects fled in an unidentified make of vehicle. The description of the vehicle and the close proximity of the robbery matched the vehicle that failed to yield to the traffic stop, police said. The male driver, with a male occupant in the vehicle, continued to flee, and officers pursued him south on U.S. 101, the press release said. Officers from the California Highway Patrol, Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office and San Jose Police joined the pursuit as it continued on the freeway at high rates of speed. Police pursued the vehicle to the area of the U.S. 101 and Tennant Avenue interchange, where the vehicle lost control and crashed into a chain link fence, the press release said. Both suspects exited the vehicle and continued to flee from officers on foot into a nearby field, police said. Officers, joined by Morgan Hill police, set a perimeter around the field. One suspect, a Mountain View man whose name has not been released, was taken into custody. A search of the area for the second suspect was conducted, but police were unable to locate him, police said. Anyone with information about this incident can contact Sunnyvale DPS at (408) 730-7110.

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors will consider a resolution declaring no confidence in County Sheriff Laurie Smith at its next meeting Tuesday. San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo called for Smith's resignation Aug. 16 over allegations of poor jail management, lack of transparency and...

The FBI arrested Aaron Carlon, 42 of Gilroy, at his workplace Monday morning, on a warrant for two felony counts of child pornography.