Big Valley News
Central Valley's Independent News Source
SANTA NELLA – Late last week the Merced County Sheriff Tactical and Reconnaissance (STAR) Team along with Merced Police Department's Disruptive Area Response Team (DART) and Gang Violence Suppression Unit (GSVU) conducted a prostitution/sex trafficking sting operation.
The operation took place at a motel in the Santa Nella area. STAR Team investigators worked with DART members in advance to make arrangements with the suspects through online dating sites and other forums used for the sex trade.
STOCKTON - California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS), California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and San Joaquin County Public Health officials are investigating the presence of Legionnaires’ disease at a state prison in Stockton. A patient from the California Health Care Facility (CHCF) recently passed away at an outside hospital, and post-death analysis confirmed the presence of Legionella in the patient.
Officials immediately initiated systematic testing of all patients at CHCF with radiologically confirmed pneumonia. In addition to the patient who tested positive in the hospital, 16 additional patients were tested. Of those, one patient tested positive and is currently receiving treatment at CHCF; 14 patients tested negative; one case is still pending results. The source of Legionella is still under investigation. In an abundance of caution, CHCF is providing bottled water for drinking and hygienic functions, halting the use of any aerosolizing equipment, shutting down the use of showers in specific areas and providing education to both staff and patients.
FRESNO - Detectives with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Ag Task Force (ATF) have arrested 75 year old Manuel Hernandez of Fresno. He has been booked into the Fresno County Jail for possession of stolen property, as well as outstanding warrants for driving on a suspended license. His bail is set at $11,000.
On March 25th, ATF detectives received a tip through Valley Crime Stoppers stating some recently stolen goats were being kept at a ranch located at 1279 W. North Ave. in Fresno. Detectives arrived at the property and found 18 goats in pens. They identified five of them as belonging to members of the Kingsburg 4-H club, which had a March 11th theft report on file with the Sheriff’s Office.
SACRAMENTO - John Michael “Mike” Herron II, 36, of Stockton, pleaded guilty today to mail fraud and aggravated identify theft in connection with an unemployment benefits fraud and identity theft scheme, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced. According to court documents, from at least December 2014 through January 2018, Herron participated in a scheme to defraud the State of California Employment Development Department (EDD) by filing fraudulent claims for unemployment insurance benefits.
In furtherance of this scheme, Herron and his co-defendant, Robert Maher, formerly of Stockton, created fictitious companies and fictitious employees (by using the real identities of persons with and without their knowledge), and filed claims with EDD, falsely stating that the employees had been laid-off or fired.
SACRAMENTO - Darnell Ray Owens, 32, of Sacramento, was arrested March 22 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, after being charged in Sacramento with mailing threatening communications and a hoax involving biological weapons, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced. According to the criminal complaint, between February 2018 and March 2019, Owens allegedly sent approximately 50 letters and online complaints to law enforcement agencies, individuals and organizations, in which he made threats to kill police officers, other government officials, homosexuals, and “white people.”
He used return addresses of people he knew with the apparent purpose of having others blamed for sending the letters. Owens allegedly mailed no less than two letters containing a white powder, intending that the recipients would believe the powder to be a biological weapon. The majority of the letters were sent via the U.S. Postal Service and were postmarked from Sacramento.
