Crime

The Gilroy woman found guilty of second-degree murder on July 30 for killing her daughter and husband in a drug and alcohol-fueled car crash will be sentenced next month in San Jose.

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. 

HOLLISTER

Tyler Fhurong, of Gilroy, and Darren Chaytor, of Hollister, were killed instantly at 5:20 a.m. on Wednesday in South Sacramento in a car accident on Interstate 5 north of Laguna Boulevard.  The vehicle, a 2007 Isuzu panel truck driven by Chaytor, 31, with Fhurong, 21, in the passenger seat, collided at high speed with the rear end of a semi-truck pulling a trailer that was stopped in traffic by a previous accident that morning northbound on I-5. The driver of the semi-truck, after feeling the impact of the collision, pulled to the shoulder of the highway with the Isuzu still attached. According to the California Highway Patrol, both the driver and passenger were not wearing seatbelts, but due to speed and the location of the Isuzu's cab and the impact with the trailer, it is not likely that either would have survived the accident. Fhurong, a graduate of Christopher High School in 2014, was a former baseball and football player and was an infielder with the Gavilan College baseball team.  Friends of Fhurong took to Twitter and Facebook immediately after hearing the news and expressed their condolences and shared fond memories.  "I can't believe this happened... I don't know why bad things happen to good people, it's unfortunate Rest In Peace," said Alexa Larios on Facebook as she shared memories they shared in high school. "RIP Tyler Fhurong," said Damon Boyle on Facebook. "Taken way too soon. Honored to play ball and have gotten to know you back in high school." "I'll never understand," said @Zachloo1 on Twitter. "Condolences to the Fhurong family and everyone else affected. The epitome of a good guy. RIP Tyler." "RIP Tyler Fhurong," said @Akber408. "Another homie let into heavens gates and into Gods hands. Prayer and Love to his family!!" CHP reports that the vehicle was owned by Nor-Cal Specialties Inc. in San Jose. The company could not be reached to confirm.  

The case of a 24-year-old member of the Canadian Armed Forces

In an effort to keep Sunrise Fire Station open, Councilman Craig

For the past six months, an Ohio-based consulting firm has been studying the way the Gilroy Police Department is organized-from how many patrol units are out canvassing the streets each day to the amount of time officers spend writing reports.

Two cash registers were removed from the ranger station of

A Morgan Hill woman charged with embezzling almost $50,000 from a downtown hair salon will appear for a hearing July 17 at South County Courthouse, according to court documents. Roberta J. Haferbecker, 39, was arrested by Morgan Hill police May 23 outside Cherisse’s Hair Salon, 88 E. Second Street, according to police reports. That was two days after her employer Cherisse White, the owner of the salon, reported suspicious financial activity to police. Haferbecker is charged with felony embezzlement, and faces up to three years in Santa Clara County Jail if convicted, according to South County Supervising Deputy District Attorney Steve Lowney. She appeared for a hearing Friday, June 20 at South County Courthouse, but that proceeding was continued to July 17.Though Haferbecker initially denied any wrongdoing when questioned by police in May, she later confessed that she embezzled the funds partly because she did not like her employer and the theft was a “form of retribution,” according to court files. For the last three years while employed at Cherisse’s Hair Salon, Haferbecker had been changing the business’s daily “closing reports,” according to police. On a normal day, White or Haferbecker were tasked with entering total sales and tips into the software-based closing report. Only White and Haferbecker, who was a manager at the salon at the time of her arrest, had access to the software program. But on most business days over the least three years, Haferbecker manipulated the closing reports by falsely increasing the amount of sales and tips she was due, according to the court files. White told police she discovered the ongoing discrepancies when she saw a paper copy of a closing report sitting on the salon’s counter at the end of business one day in May. She thought it was odd that the report listed a number of checks received, while White did not recall receiving any checks that day. She went back through the books and compared daily sales receipts with the amounts entered on the closing reports and noticed an ongoing difference that benefited only Haferbecker, according to police reports. White also noted that the differences stopped when Haferbecker was away from work on vacation or other extended periods. Over a three-year period, Haferbecker stole a total of $49,612.21 from White’s business in this manner, police said. On May 23, police contacted Haferbecker outside the hair salon, according to court files. She initially denied any wrongdoing and told investigators she didn’t know what they were talking about when they told her about the financial discrepancies at the business. However, later in her police interview, Haferbecker confessed to the theft, according to police reports. She told police she made some unwise personal financial decisions in recent years, and attempted to offset those losses by manipulating her employer’s financial reports. She also told police that she was “very unhappy” at work and felt that White had been taking advantage of her, according to the police report. The ongoing theft was retribution toward White, Haferbecker told police. Haferbecker had worked at the hair salon for about seven years.