BANNING, Calif. (KESQ) – A 37-year-old transient accused of holding up two businesses in Banning using a fake gun was charged today with second-degree robbery and other offenses. Codi Jay Shelton was arrested earlier this week following a Banning Police Department investigation. Along with robbery, Shelton is charged with sentence-enhancing allegations of using a weapon
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INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – An ex-cop accused of roughing up two boys while arresting them after they fled an alleged burglary at Desert Hot Springs High School pleaded not guilty today to felony charges. Johnny Acosta, 30, was arrested last month following a year-long Riverside County Force Investigations Detail Task Force probe into the allegedacts
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RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (KESQ) – Two people were arrested on suspicion of lewd and lascivious acts in public following a public safety enforcement operation at Rancho Mirage Community Park, authorities announced today.  The suspects, a 45-year-old from Thousand Palms and a 62-year-old from Rancho Mirage, were booked at Benoit Detention Center in Indio, according to
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LOS ANGELES (KESQ) – A customs broker who siphoned more than $5 million from businesses that ship goods into the U.S. and who dodged paying at least $1 million in taxes was sentenced today to four years and three months in federal prison. Frank Noah, 64, of Corona, was sentenced Thursday in downtown Los Angeles
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RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KESQ) – Yet another delay in the case against former Queer Works CEO Jacob Rostovsky, who is facing 53 felony counts stemming from an investigation into a Palm Springs universal basic income program. Prosecutors accuse Rostovsky of stealing and misappropriating taxpayer funds meant for low-income residents. Check out: Palm Springs City Council addresses
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JOSHUA TREE, Calif. (KESQ) – An Oceanside man was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting three minors while in Joshua Tree, authorities said. Ryan Granger, 43, was arrested on Wednesday in Oceanside. According to court records, he was charged with three counts of adult giving a controlled substance/narcotic to a minor, two counts of lewd
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YUCCA VALLEY, Calif. (KESQ) – The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department released video and photos of a vehicle wanted in connection with a deadly hit-and-run crash last month in Yucca Valley. Detectives are looking for a beige, tan, or gold-colored Toyota Corolla that was seen leaving the scene of the crash, which was reported on
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INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – A convicted felon who shot a Riverside County sheriff’s deputy when the lawman attempted to arrest him at the end of a pursuit in Coachella was convicted today of firearm assault on a peace officer and other charges, though jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the most serious
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INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – Several people, including a 15-year-old boy, were arrested after search warrants related to a shooting and robbery last month in Indio. The search warrants were related to a shooting and robbery on Nov. 24 near the area of Avenue 44 and King Street. The shooting left an 18-year-old man hospitalized with
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INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – A 38-year-old man accused of siphoning almost $100,000 from the bank accounts of a Palm Desert senior was charged today with grand theft and financial elder abuse.  Miguel Angel Gonzalez of Coachella was arrested Monday following a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation that began in August.   Gonzalez, who is being
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INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – One person was killed in a shooting in an Indio neighborhood on Tuesday afternoon. The violence was reported at around 1:10 p.m. on the 47000 block of Dove Street, near Calhoun and Quail Street. Sgt. Abe Plata of the Indio Police Department told News Channel 3 that officers responded to the
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MURRIETA, Calif. (KESQ) – A man accused of ambushing and killing a 30-year-old Riverside County sheriff’s deputy responding to a domestic violence call is pretending to be mentally incapacitated for his own benefit, a prosecutor said today, while the man’s attorney suggested he’s been damaged by bullet fragments still in his head. “The defendant is
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YUCCA VALLEY, Calif. (KESQ) – A 65-year-old Yucca Valley man was arrested after allegedly sexually assaulting a man and a teenager. Mark L. Wilkes was arrested on Wednesday at his home. He was charged Monday with sexual battery and arranging a meeting with minor for purpose of exposing genitals, according to court records. He is
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RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KESQ) – A former behavioral therapist who sexually assaulted a young girl with physical and psychological disabilities was sentenced today to 17 years in state prison. Mitchell Akira Takata, 23, of Los Altos, pleaded guilty in October to attempted sexual assault of a minor under 10 years old and lewd acts on a
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TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. (KESQ) – Three teenagers were arrested after allegedly attacking a man with an intellectual disability and attempting to start a fire at his home in Twentynine Palms earlier this week. The incident was first reported Wednesday at around 9 p.m. According to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, deputies were called to
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RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KESQ) – A death sentence was handed down today for a Banning gang member involved in five killings — sometimes just for sport — over multiple years. During a hearing at the Riverside Hall of Justice Friday, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Matthew Perantoni affirmed the jury’s recommendation, imposing the death sentence on
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MURRIETA, Calif. (KESQ) – A jury was seated today for the mental competency trial of a man accused of ambushing and killing a 30-year-old Riverside County sheriff’s deputy responding to a domestic violence call. Â Â Jesse Ceazar Navarro of Lake Elsinore is charged with murder of a peace officer, attempted murder of a peace officer,
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INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – Three young men accused of opening fire on a crowded Thermal home, firing numerous rounds in a drive-by attack that continued even after sheriff’s deputies arrived to investigate, were charged today with multiple counts of attempted murder and other offenses. Eric Orozco Diaz, Guillermo Alexander Martinez and Gustavo Isbojet Barrera Pena,
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IDYLLWILD, Calif. (KESQ) – A 43-year-old man from San Mateo was officially charged Wednesday in the killing of an 18-year-old man whose body was found near a hiking trail in Idyllwild over 21 years ago, authorities said. James Landi was charged with first-degree murder. He appears in court on Wednesday afternoon at the Southwest Justice
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RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KESQ) – A man accused of sexually assaulting and pimping out a Temecula Valley girl for sexual services in Los Angeles County was charged today with human trafficking of a minor and other offenses. Â Â Nestor Alexis Aguirre Chavez, 20, of Wilmington was arrested last week following an investigation by the Riverside County
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