News

FRESNO -  Darrell Leon Jennings, 51, of Bakersfield, was sentenced today to five years in prison for conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin and cocaine, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced. His sentence follows his guilty plea on November 7, 2018.According to court documents, Jennings, a trucker doing business in Moreno Valley as Jennings Transportation, assisted Mario Alvarez-Muniz, 50, of Taft, in transporting 6 kilograms of heroin and 11 kilograms of cocaine destined for Chicago.

After Alvarez-Muniz arranged for the shipment of the drugs from Mexico to Mira Loma, Jennings picked up the drugs and drove back to Bakersfield where he was stopped by agents. A police dog located the drugs in a customized hidden compartment in Jennings’ truck.

MADERA – Tuesday evening the Madera Unified School District will finally swear in a newly elected trustee for Area 5 which has been empty since July of last year. Friday afternoon in a press release issued by the Madera County Elections Department, Madera County Registrar Rebecca Martinez has certified the November 6^th election between Lucy Salazar and Steve Duncan that has been held up for nearly three months over “tainted” ballots.

As reported on Big Valley News in November, just prior to Election Day Madera County discovered that a mistake was made by the county’s contracted ballot printer (ProVote Solutions of Porterville), which resulted in just over 400 voters in the Madera area receiving a vote-by-mail ballot that included an additional local contest for which they were not entitled to vote. 

FRESNO - Tuesday evening officers from the Fresno Police Departments Southwest Division were dispatched to 404 W Franklin in regards to a disturbance with subjects in an RV who were refusing to leave. Upon arrival, Officers noticed that the RV had registration that expired in 2003. Roberto Silguero (37) was contacted in the RV.

A search for weapons and contraband was conducted with consent and Officers located several new and used syringes on his person and a plastic container containing hashish. An inventory search of the RV revealed a magazine loaded with six .380 rounds of ammunition, a bag containing eighteen 12 gauge shotgun rounds, a 12 gauge bolt action shot gun with a wooden pistol grip and one 12 gauge shotgun round in the chamber.

OAKHURST - The Madera County Sheriff’s Office is seeking the public’s help in gathering information related to a string of commercial burglaries that occurred in Eastern Madera County in the late evening hours of January 20, and the early morning of January 21. On 1/20, shortly after 11:00pm, Madera County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to Grocery Outlet in Oakhurst for an alarm call.

Upon arrival at the scene, they found evidence of a break-in. While on scene, an alarm call was received from Napa Auto Parts in Coarsegold, followed by a call from Meadowridge Chevron, and shortly thereafter, Skywalk in Rolling Hills/Business 41 area. Each business showed obvious signs of a break-in, and reported missing items, primarily cash.

COALINGA - California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials and the Coalinga Police Department are looking for a minimum-security inmate who walked away from the minimum-support facility at Pleasant Valley State Prison.

Inmate Hector Fernandez was discovered missing at 12 a.m. after an inmate count was conducted. On-duty staff immediately began searching the surrounding areas. Notification was made to local law enforcement agencies and CDCR’s Office of Correctional Safety.