Local News

FRESNO - On Wednesday, October 4, 2017, Detectives from the Career Criminal Auto Theft Team (CCATT) were patrolling the area of Echo and Roosevelt when they noticed a white GMC pickup driving in the area. The GMC was a reported stolen vehicle out of Northeast Fresno. Detectives began to follow.

With the assistance of the Fresno Police Department’s helicopter air crew, detectives continued to follow the stolen GMC to the area of Michigan and Millbrook where the driver was observed to throw what was believe to be a handgun into a nearby canal. Detectives continued to follow the GMC to an apartment complex in the area of Fresno and Clinton where the driver was detained when he attempted to walk away from the vehicle.

SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK - On Thursday, October 5th, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue (SAR) team and California Highway Patrol successfully completed a recovery operation along Highway 180 and the Kings River inside Sequoia National Park. Officers and deputies worked to extract two bodies from inside the wreckage of a car located in the river.

The bodies are presumed to be that of 31 year old Yinan Wang and his 30 year old wife, Jie Song. Both are Chinese Nationals. Wang has recently been living in the San Diego area. Positive identifications of the bodies have not yet been made. Members of the Sheriff’s Crime Scene Unit and Coroner’s Office will make those determinations during the autopsy process.

MADERA - Madera County District Attorney, David A. Linn, announced that he had received correspondence from the California Board of Parole Hearings concerning the non-violent parole review process for Ms. Alice Waterman.  The Board has denied her release.  Waterman was originally convicted of seven counts of Penal Code Section 451(c) Arson, and one count of Conspiracy to Commit Arson; and originally received a total sentence in excess of ten years. 

Although Ms. Waterman is now up for parole under the recently passed Proposition 57 requirements, the Board found that, “She was personally armed with a deadly weapon (Fire).”  The Board further found that Ms. Waterman held the community in terror for a number of weeks and jeopardized the lives of fire personnel and homeowners who repeatedly dealt with the ongoing string of arsons.  Numerous individuals were affected by the inmate’s callous decision to set various fires and wreck havoc on the community.  The Board ultimately determined that Ms. Waterman does pose an unreasonable risk of violence to the community and denied her release.

LAS VEGAS - MGM Resorts International, the global entertainment organization, announced today that it will provide donations through the MGM Resorts Foundation in the amount of $3 million to fund humanitarian assistance to victims of the Las Vegas shooting, along with organizations who provide support to those who are first on the scene to assist in traumatic events.

"There are simply no words to express our grief and outrage over this senseless and horrific attack on our community," said Jim Murren, Chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts.  "Yet in this devastating time, we are inspired. From the heroic stories of victims on the ground who placed the safety of strangers and loved ones before themselves, to the incredible bravery of first responders who rushed in when others were rushing out and who surely lessened the damage, to the knowledge of so many good and incomplete works done by those we lost – we are collectively drawing strength and faith to meet the difficult days ahead. With this donation, we hope to make a difference to those who were harmed and those who are left behind.  We also wish to recognize the awesome contributions of first responders, not just here in Las Vegas but around the United States, who give so completely of themselves when disaster strikes.  On behalf of our Las Vegas community, I wish to say thank you to our global community who remind us from moment to moment that we are not alone."