News

Probation Search in Atwater Leads to an Arrest and a Recovered Firearm

ATWATER - On Thursday Night and Friday, February 28 and March 1, 2019, officers from the Atwater Police Department, Merced County Sheriff’s STAR team, State Parole and Merced County Probation Department conducted a series of probation and parole compliance checks in various locations in the Atwater/Winton Area.

During the operation, Atwater Police and the Merced County Sheriff STAR team executed a search warrant in an apartment complex in the 2800 block of Nashua St. in the City of Atwater. During the search officers discovered that one of the occupants of the apartment, Gerardo Torres, 20 years old, an Atwater resident, was in possession of a firearm and ammunition. Officers learned that Torres was a convicted felon and prohibited from possessing a firearm.

DUI Saturation Patrols Out Tonight for Mardi Gras

FRESNO - Officers from the Fresno Police Department will be out Tuesday, March 5, 2019 during the Mardi Gras celebrations looking for drivers suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.

DUI saturation patrols will take place in areas with high frequencies of DUI collisions and/or arrests. In 2017, 1,120 people were killed in alcohol-involved crashes on California roads. In 2017, the Fresno Police Department investigated 360 DUI collisions which have claimed 15 lives and resulted in another 121 injuries.

California Serial Killer Juan Corona Dies of Natural Causes

CORCORAN – California State Prison-Corcoran inmate Juan Vallejo Corona, 85, died of natural causes at 8:15 a.m. on Monday, March 4 at an outside hospital. Corona was serving 25 concurrent life sentences for 25 counts of first-degree murder. His victims were all farm workers.

In 1971, 25 bodies buried in orchards along the Feather River in Sutter County were found. All the victims were men who had been seen with Corona or had been hired through Corona’s Sutter County labor contracting business. The number of murders set a record in the United States at the time.

South Lake Tahoe Man Sentenced to Prison for Destruction of Archaeological Sites

SACRAMENTO - Timothy Brian Harrison, 50, of South Lake Tahoe, was sentenced today by United States District Judge John A. Mendez to one year and one day in prison and ordered to pay $113,000 in restitution for two counts of excavation and removal of archaeological resources from public lands and one misdemeanor count of unlawful possession of methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

According to court documents, Harrison conducted illegal digging at prehistoric Native American archaeological sites on federal lands in Alpine and El Dorado Counties, near Lake Tahoe. He collected tens of thousands of ancient artifacts from multiple archaeological sites, and virtually destroyed two very significant archaeological sites.

Prison Visitor Convicted of Involuntary Manslaughter

SACRAMENTO — A visitor who supplied a fatal amount of methamphetamine to an inmate has been sentenced to two years of incarceration, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) investigators said today. Johna Martinez-Meth, 46, of Clearlake pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in Solano County Superior Court and then was sentenced Feb. 21 by Solano County Superior Court Judge Robert Fracchia.

“CDCR is committed to stopping the flow of drugs into our prisons,” said Bryan Shill, deputy chief of CDCR’s Office of Correctional Safety. “Our investigators will diligently pursue those who smuggle narcotics into any state correctional facility, and we will seek justice through aggressive prosecution of violators.”

Los Angeles Man Found Guilty on All Counts in Nationwide Credit Card Fraud Scheme with Links to Sacramento and Moscow

SACRAMENTO - After a four-day trial, a jury found Ruslan Kirilyuk, 41, of Beverly Hills, guilty on Tuesday of 24 counts of wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud, and one count each of aggravated identity theft and failure to appear, all arising out of his involvement in a nationwide credit card fraud scheme, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

According to evidence presented at trial, between approximately October 5, 2011, and March 5, 2014, Kirilyuk conspired with Mihran Melkonyan, 38, of Sacramento; Rouslan Akhmerov, 42, of Studio City; Alexandr Maslov, 38, of Sacramento, and others in a credit card billing scheme that involved creating approximately 71 fraudulent online companies established with the sole purpose of fraudulently charging approximately 119,000 stolen credit card numbers. In total, the members of the scheme billed the stolen credit card numbers for over $3.4 million in unauthorized charges.

Two Tulare County Men Sentenced for Series of Armed Robberies in Tulare and Kern Counties

FRESNO - Today, U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill sentenced Javier Beltran, 25, of Strathmore, to 23 years in prison for his conviction for two counts of use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, and he sentenced Ulises Medina, 25, of Earlimart, to 15 years in prison for his conviction for conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott and Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward announced.

U.S. Attorney Scott said, “Today’s sentences are the result of our commitment to work with our federal, state and local partners to identify and prosecute cases that will help to reduce violent crime in our communities. We are confident that these efforts will continue to reduce crime, save lives, and restore safety to our communities.”