News

FRESNO - A Madera County woman was sentenced today to 16 years and 8 months in prison, followed by 15 years of supervised release, for aiding and abetting the production of child pornography, announced Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott.

Ashley Maddox, 32, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd, after pleading guilty on May 24 to one count of aiding and abetting the production of child pornography. Maddox came to the attention of law enforcement during an investigation of an offender in Fort Pierce, Florida.

MADERA  - Bill Coate of The Madera Tribune has been chosen as one of 25 recipients of the Golden Quill Award, presented in recognition of fair, insightful and accurate reporting on public school news by print, broadcast, and online news media representatives.

Other area winners of the Golden Quill Award are news anchor Juanita Stevenson of Fresno-based KSEE 24 – NBC and news photographer Alex Ruiz of Fresno-based KFSN 30 – ABC.

FRESNO COUNTY - The suspect shot and killed by a California Highway Patrol officer has been identified as a 24-year-old Clovis man named Billy Kongphouthakhoun (Kong-Putah-Coon). An autopsy has been performed and toxicology tests are pending.

Shortly before midnight on Wednesday, California Highway Patrol officers responded to a report of a vehicle collision. The driver of a Toyota Tundra pickup, Billy Kongphouthakhoun, crashed into the back of a Chevy Tahoe occupied by a man and woman, both in their 30s. This occurred on southbound Highway 41, just south of Manning Avenue. When officers arrived, they found the Tahoe upside down and Kongphouthakhoun to still be inside his pickup truck, which was right-side up.

MADERA - Madera Police Officers arrested Monique Munoz and Fernando Aguirre following a short pursuit and crash at the Freeway 99 Central Madera exit at North  I Street on Monday.
 
Police initially chased a car occupied by the two who were suspects in a carjacking in Gilroy. The chase ended when the suspects’ car crashed into a freeway exit guardrail. They subsequently fled on foot near Saint Joachim’s Catholic School.

SACRAMENTO  -   A federal grand jury returned a 27-count superseding indictment last Thursday against two brothers and five others, adding charges, including firearms and money laundering to an indictment first filed in May that charged them with a conspiracy to manufacture counterfeit pills containing fentanyl and other controlled substances, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

The superseding indictment charges Jamaine Barnes, 37, of Stockton, with engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise from at least Sept. 27, 2015 through May 16, 2019. Jamaine Barnes and his brother Jamar Barnes, 37; Kavieo Wiley, 23; Vincent Patterson, 26, Kadrena Watts, 39; and Chevele Richardson, 33, all of Stockton, are charged with conspiracy to manufacture, distribute, and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, and U-47700 (a synthetic opioid).

SACRAMENTO  -  Two defendants pleaded guilty today to their participation in a massive fraud scheme involving a solar energy company in Benicia, that defrauded investors of approximately $1 billion, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced. Those losses resulted from investment transactions in solar energy hardware valued at approximately $2.5 billion.

According to court documents, between 2011 and 2018, the solar energy company manufactured mobile solar generator units (MSG), solar generators that were mounted on trailers. The company touted the versatility and environmental sustainability of the MSGs and claimed that they were used by cellphone companies to provide emergency power to cell towers in the case of a power failure. They were also claimed to be used to power lights at sporting and other events.