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Santa Cruz police auditor report zeroes in on use of force, Tasers

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:59:58 GMT

SANTA CRUZ — The Santa Cruz Police Department has made numerous updates to its Taser stun gun, supervisory review and communication policies after the latest review by a city-hired independent auditor.The March 2023 report by OIR Group’s Michael Gennaco and Samara Marion, released last week, delves into nearly three dozen complaints arising from citizen and internal complaints filed between 2019 and 2022. Several of the 33 complaints — the investigations for which did not conclude until 2022 — resulted in internal mandates for discipline ranging from counseling and training to debriefing and complete exoneration. In summaries provided in the report, appearing before the Santa Cruz City Council on Tuesday afternoon, the subjects of two complaints were described as no longer working for the department, though the context made it unclear if the status change was related to the complaint.The independent auditor’s report recommends that the police department make 21 policy updates — of w...

California woman gets 40 years in prison for sexually abusing young children, filming the crimes

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:59:58 GMT

A Yucaipa woman was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison on Monday, May 8, for child sexual abuse crimes that include obtaining custody of a 5-month-old infant so she could produce sexually explicit videos. Two children were victimized, the U.S. Department of Justice said.Stefani Kasey Marie Stevens, 31, was sentenced in Los Angeles by U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips.Stevens will be placed on permanent supervised release if she is released from prison.In November, at the conclusion of a four-day trial, Phillips found Stevens guilty of one count of obtaining custody of a minor with intent to produce child pornography, six counts of production of child pornography, one count of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.Stevens did not have legal custody of the children but was watching them for their parents.In 2019, law enforcement received information that two Kik online messaging app accounts associated with Stevens uploaded chil...

Single family residence sells in Pleasanton for $3.2 million

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:59:58 GMT

4121 Grant Court – Google Street ViewThe spacious property located in the 4100 block of Grant Court in Pleasanton was sold on March 27, 2023. The $3,200,000 purchase price works out to $953 per square foot. The house, built in 1992, has an interior space of 3,357 square feet. The property features four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a garage, and three parking spaces. The unit sits on a 0.4-acre lot.Additional houses have recently been sold nearby:On Grant Court, Pleasanton, in July 2022, a 3,396-square-foot home was sold for $3,500,000, a price per square foot of $1,031. The home has 4 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms.In August 2022, a 3,328-square-foot home on Locke Court in Pleasanton sold for $2,660,000, a price per square foot of $799. The home has 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.A 1,666-square-foot home on the 4200 block of Garibaldi Place in Pleasanton sold in February 2023, for $1,172,500, a price per square foot of $704. The home has 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. 

Party shooting in Southern California leaves 2 dead, 5 more hurt

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:59:58 GMT

Two people were killed and five others were injured in a shooting at a house party in Adelanto on Sunday, May 7, and authorities were continuing to search for possible suspects.Just before 1 a.m., multiple gunshots were fired at the home in 10900 block of Bartlett Avenue where around 100 people had gathered for the party, according to Mara Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. One man was pronounced dead and another was taken to a hospital by one of the partygoers, where he later died from his injuries.The victims were identified as 20-year-old Maqwan Allen, a resident of Rancho Cucamonga, and Derrick Irutingabo, 20, a resident of Marana, Arizona.Five other victims were taken to a hospital for gunshot wounds, though updates on their conditions were not available on Monday, May 8.No arrests had been announced on Monday and a description of the suspected shooter was not available.Anyone with information about the shooting should contact Detectiv...

California rescuers save horse wedged upside-down in narrow gully

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:59:58 GMT

A beautiful horse named Poncho is safe today thanks to city firefighters and animal services experts who calmed the terrified horse and dug it out of a narrow gully in Sylmar near Olive View-UCLA Medical Center at 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 7.Experts from the Los Angeles Animal Services’ Specialized Mobile Animal Rescue Team (SMART) joined the L.A. Fire Department’s (LAFD) Urban Search and Rescue team to save Poncho. Poncho’s rider was uninjured. Brian Humphrey, LAFD spokesman, said on Monday that the city’s animal services experts “brought great knowledge to calm the horse.”Thanks to them, the firefighters managed to get a rope around the horse’s neck and dug the soil around him to carefully to get Poncho onto his side. “We were honored to work alongside the city’s Animal Services Department,” Humphrey said, as the two teams worked quickly to get Poncho out.LAFD firefighters working together with a horse rescue specialist from LA Animal Services SMART, were able to dig out and get the ...

Former California Homeland Security special agent gets life in prison for sexually assaulting 2 women

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:59:58 GMT

RIVERSIDE  — A former U.S. Homeland Security special agent was sentenced to life in federal prison Monday for sexually assaulting two women he silenced by telling them he was “above the law.”John Jacob Olivas, 48, of Riverside was sentenced by a judge who said he had engaged in “systematic torture of women” and his victims would “live with this trauma for the rest of their lives,” the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement.Last December, Olivas was found guilty of three counts of deprivation of rights under color of law.Olivas began his career with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2007 and resigned in 2015 after working for more than six years as a Homeland Security special agent.Olivas attacked both women in 2012, prosecutors said.One victim testified that Olivas tried to rape her “after making it clear to her that the police would not be responsive to any report she would make about Olivas because he was ‘above a cop,’ and ‘untouchable’ and ‘invisible’ to police” because...

Man pleads guilty to wire fraud in $3.5 million California timeshare-exit scam

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:59:58 GMT

A 42-year-old man who controlled several telemarketing companies in Orange and Los Angeles counties and used them to scam dozens of timeshare owners, including elderly victims, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on Monday, officials said.Former Long Beach resident Michael McDonagh and four co-conspirators fraudulently obtained over $3.5 million from victims through a telemarketing scheme that used misleading and high-pressure sales tactics to promise financial relief to timeshare owners, according to the U.S. Justice Department and court records.From 2015 to May 2019, McDonagh, who founded or controlled telemarketing companies based in Irvine, Costa Mesa, Santa Ana and Signal Hill, used “openers” to contact timeshare owners and offer a fixed fee to terminate their timeshare interests. Court records state McDonagh instructed company employees to “take no prisoners” and have “no remorse when interacting with victims.”He also told workers to “take every penny” they could from vi...

How the Murder of a CIA Officer Was Used to Silence the Agency’s Greatest Critic

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:59:58 GMT

On the night of December 23, 1975, Ron Estes, the CIA’s deputy station chief in Athens, was lounging on the couch in his girlfriend’s apartment when the man who worked as a driver for his boss, Richard Welch, burst through the front door.“A shooting, and Mr. Welch is down,” the driver yelled.Estes grabbed his coat and ran outside, ignoring his girlfriend’s pleas to stay.At Welch’s house in the Greek capital, Estes saw the station chief lying on his back on the sidewalk, his wife, Kika, kneeling beside him. Blood covered Welch’s face, and Estes could see immediately that he was dead. “I didn’t need to feel for a pulse,” he said in an interview. A police car arrived, and Estes asked the officer to call an ambulance. When no ambulance arrived, they hauled the body into Welch’s car and Estes and Welch’s driver followed the police officer, siren blaring and lights flashing, through the streets of Athens to the nearest hospital. A medical team was waiting; they quickly placed Welch on a g...

Independent Contract Drilling: Q1 Earnings Snapshot

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:59:58 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — HOUSTON (AP) — Independent Contract Drilling Inc. (ICD) on Tuesday reported net income of $12,000 in its first quarter.On a per-share basis, the Houston-based company said it had net income of less than 1 cent. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to 14 cents per share.The provider of drilling services for oil and natural gas producers posted revenue of $63.8 million in the period._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on ICD at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ICDSource

Target Hospitality: Q1 Earnings Snapshot

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:59:58 GMT

THE WOODLANDS, Texas (AP) — THE WOODLANDS, Texas (AP) — Target Hospitality Corp. (TH) on Tuesday reported first-quarter profit of $43.8 million.The The Woodlands, Texas-based company said it had profit of 38 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted to extinguish debt, were 40 cents per share.The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 39 cents per share.The company posted revenue of $147.8 million in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $137.6 million._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on TH at https://www.zacks.com/ap/THSource