Local News

Two Madera Students Killed in Saturday Head-On Collision

MADERA – Two people were killed following a head on automobile collision late Saturday afternoon near the Madera Rancho’s on Avenue 12. According to the California Highway Patrol a black Audio traveling eastbound when it drifted into the westbound lane colliding with a Toyota 4-Runner.

The seventeen year old driver of the Audi was pronounced dead at the scene. He has been identified as Troyce Raqueno of Madera. He was a student at Madera High School in the senior class graduating in just three months. An 11 year old passenger of the Toyota also died. The young man was identified as Christian Lopez (11) of Madera. He was also from Madera and a student at Washington Elementary School.

Former Executive Director of Non-profit Sentenced for Embezzling Funds Intended for Domestic Violence Victims

SACRAMENTO - Claudia Humphrey, 62, of American Canyon, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley to six months in prison and ordered to pay $71,423 in restitution for theft of public money and falsifying records in a federal investigation, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced. Judge Nunley ordered Humphrey to self-surrender on May 23 to begin serving her sentence.

According to court documents, Humphrey was the executive director of LIFT3 Support Group Inc., a non-profit organization in Fairfield that offered transitional shelter assistance and other services to victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, and dating violence, primarily serving residents in Solano County. Humphrey, through LIFT3, sought and received federal grants from the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) in 2011 and 2012.

One of California's Last Drive-In Theaters Opens this Weekend in Madera

MADERA – This weekend a blast from the past reopens in Madera for their spring and summer run. Something that only 18 other communities in California can say they have, we have had in Madera since 1948. Of course I am referring to the Madera Drive-In Theater on Lincoln Avenue two blocks off of Cleveland Avenue on Madera’s east-side.

The seventy-one year old theater has been owned since 1972 by the Gran family who also operate Madera’s indoor theater, Movies Madera, on North Gateway Drive. In the early eighties the Gran’s expanded the one screen El Rancho Drive-in, the oldest in the state of California, to the two screen theater it is today. Each screen offering two movies for the price of one.

Bakersfield Woman Sentenced to 7.5 Years in Prison for Possession of Stolen Mail and Possession of Methamphetamine with the Intent to Distribute

FRESNO - Erin Elizabeth Peterson, 41, of Bakersfield, was sentenced Monday to seven and a half years in prison for possession of stolen U.S. mail and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced. Peterson was also ordered to pay $92,908 in restitution. According to court documents, from July to December 2017, Peterson made fraudulent transactions at various retail establishments in Bakersfield using credit and debit cards stolen from the mail.

Peterson was identified from photographs obtained from the stores where the stolen cards were used. On December 28, 2017, a federal search warrant was executed at Peterson’s residence and 428 pieces of stolen mail, 31 stolen credit/debit cards, over a hundred personal and business checks and a counterfeit arrow key used to access U.S. community mailboxes were found. Also located in the residence were approximately 140 grams of methamphetamine, $1,400 in cash, drug packaging material, and a digital scale.

Bakersfield Man Sentenced for Conspiring with Police Officers to Sell Methamphetamine and Marijuana

BAKERSFIELD - Noel Carter, 45, of Bakersfield, was sentenced today for conspiring with Bakersfield police officers Damacio Diaz and Patrick Mara to distribute methamphetamine and marijuana that Diaz and Mara seized in the course of their duties as police officers, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill sentenced Carter to seven and a half years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release. Carter was also ordered to pay $70,513 in restitution to his former employer and to forfeit $286,251 representing proceeds from his drug trafficking activity.