Crime

The FBI launched a domestic terrorism investigation into the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting, officials announced Tuesday. John Bennett, special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Francisco division, told reporters at a Gilroy press conference that the investigation of Santino William Legan’s digital devices uncovered...

Janette Garcia, 25, of the 7200 block of Forest Street, 7:40

The arraignment for a Morgan Hill man charged with sexually assaulting four young children under his care at a YMCA facility on a local elementary school campus was continued at South County Courthouse, according to authorities. Nicolas Lhermine, 21 of Morgan Hill, is now scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 25, according to Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Stuart Scott. The arraignment follows a preliminary hearing on Lhermine’s case in August, in which a Superior Court judge determined prosecutors have enough evidence to put him on a trial before a jury. Lhermine faces a maximum penalty of life in prison on the charges he sexually assaulted the children, the oldest of whom was 7 years old. He is charged with lewd and lascivious acts with a child younger than 12, oral copulation on a child younger than 10, possession of child pornography and production of child pornography. He pleaded not guilty to the charges at a hearing in March.Lhermine is accused of assaulting the children at a daycare center run by the YMCA on the campus of Paradise Valley Elementary School in southwest Morgan Hill, according to authorities. He was arrested by Morgan Hill police July 12, 2013, and authorities think he victimized the children in the preceding weeks. A fifth alleged victim in the wide-ranging case is a 17-year-old girl of whom investigators found nude pictures on Lhermine’s mobile phone, according to police. The girl was not affiliated with the YMCA program, but Lhermine knew her.Police arrested Lhermine after a 6-year-old girl under his care at the YMCA program told her parents and investigators that he forced her to engage in inappropriate contact in the bathroom of the daycare site, authorities said. During the initial investigation, police found the pictures of the 17-year-old girl. During a follow-up investigation that included assistance from YMCA staff who reached out to the parents of all children who had ever been under Lhermine’s care at the YMCA, authorities identified three more alleged female victims - ages 3, 5 and 7 at the time of the incidents, police said.The suspect worked as a child care aide at the YMCA day care facility during the alleged assaults and has held numerous positions—including youth soccer coach—in his four years of employment at the YMCA, according to authorities.

One teacher summed up the debacle of the Mexican American

Police arrested a man they say brandished a large kitchen knife

Bryon Morillo, 47, of San Jose, 5:10 p.m. Monday, at First and

The plea hearing for Antolin Garcia Torres was delayed again Thursday, as lawyers for the state and the murder suspect continue to disagree on whether or not all the evidence collected in the investigation so far has been shared. Garcia Torres, 22 of Morgan Hill, appeared at the Hall of Justice in San Jose Thursday afternoon for the scheduled plea hearing. After discussing the availability of certain evidence files with the prosecuting attorney and Garcia Torres’ counsel from the Santa Clara County Alternate Defenders Office, Superior Court Judge Sharon Chatman urged both sides to communicate clearly and comprehensively regarding the sharing or “discovery” of any outstanding evidence that the defendant has not yet seen. Garcia Torres is accused of kidnapping and killing Sierra LaMar, who disappeared from her mother’s north Morgan Hill home March 16, 2012. Sierra has not been seen since she vanished that morning, and volunteers continue to search for her whereabouts or remains. She was 15 and a sophomore at Sobrato High School at the time of her disappearance.Garcia Torres is charged with murder, with a special circumstance of kidnapping. He was arrested in May 2012 on suspicion of the crime, and he remains in custody at Santa Clara County Jail without bail. He appeared in court Thursday wearing a brown suit similar to clothing he has worn at recent court proceedings. He is also charged with a series of three unrelated attempted carjacking and assaults in 2009, which occurred in the parking lots of two Safeway grocery stores in Morgan Hill.Garcia Torres’ attorney Traci Owens of the ADO said she just received a pile of compact discs Wednesday containing interviews that were conducted in March 2012, after she was told by prosecutors at the last hearing for Garcia Torres, in August, that all remaining evidence would be turned over by the end of that week. Furthermore, Owens said some of the evidence she has received from investigators refers to reports or investigations by personnel from the FBI and even the U.S. Secret Service, but she has not received the material that is referenced. “At the last appearance, (the prosecutor) informed us we would have everything by the end of that week, and that didn’t happen,” Owens said. She added that not knowing exactly what evidence remains unshared makes it difficult for her to request specific files from prosecutors at the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. “We don’t have a single FBI file or Secret Service file. I’m doing my best but we feel handcuffed to the point we are not as effective as we should be,” Owens said. The evidence discovery phase in the murder and kidnapping case has been an ongoing issue for several months, as prosecutors and investigators have been delayed by numerous factors in turning over all the evidence. Deputy D.A. David Boyd said in court Thursday that he thinks his office and investigators have turned over all the evidence they have gathered in the case thus far. But he said he will conduct an “audit” of the evidence he has and what has been shared to make sure everything has been disclosed to the defendant. Boyd added that he doesn’t know about any evidence in the case relating to or produced by the U.S. Secret Service. He acknowledged outside the courtroom after the hearing that the FBI has assisted in the investigation into Sierra’s disappearance, but he did not reveal any details. Evidence shared so far - including digital files - is equivalent to “tens of thousands of pages,” Boyd said. During the hearing, Boyd said he has not received a phone call or e-mail from Garcia Torres’ defense team requesting any additional evidence they think has not been shared. “The vast majority, if not the entirety of discovery has been given to the defense,” Boyd said. He added that even though his office is not required to share all the evidence before a preliminary hearing, he has always intended to do so in this case. Chatman urged the two sides to be detailed in their communications outside court regarding any possible outstanding evidence, and she continued the plea hearing to Nov. 15 at the Hall of Justice.“I know how discovery goes,” Chatman said. Investigators have said they think Sierra disappeared on a Friday morning while walking to her usual school bus stop about a half-mile from her mother’s house, near the intersection of Palm and Dougherty avenues. The only evidence disclosed to the public so far are some of Sierra’s belongings found within a couple miles of her home - namely her cell phone, a purse and some of her clothing. Investigators have also said they found Sierra’s DNA in Garcia Torres Volkswagen Jetta, and his DNA on Sierra’s belongings. Authorities think Sierra is dead based on her lack of communication with anyone since her disappearance. Volunteers, some of whom attended Thursday’s hearing, continue to search for Sierra or her remains every Saturday morning. The searches are based out of the former site of Central High School in Morgan Hill, 17960 Monterey Rd. For more information about the volunteer effort, call (408) 612-6628, or go to www.findsierralamar.com. 

Hollister police early Thursday recovered a vehicle engulfed in flames that belongs to a 25-year-old Hollister woman who was reported missing Wednesday after she failed to pick up her child and others from school.