INDIO (CNS) – Jurors continued deliberating today in the trial of a former Los Angeles police officer suspected of fatally shooting a developmentally disabled man and critically wounding the victim’s parents in the Corona Costco. Salvador Alejandro Sanchez, 33, of Corona, is charged with voluntary manslaughter and two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm.
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A suspected shoplifter crashed into an Indio police E-Bike while trying to flee a shopping center parking lot Wednesday afternoon. The incident happened at around 1:00 p.m. at the Five Below in the area of Avenue 42nd and Jackson Street. According to acting Lt. Lisa Courtney of the Indio Police Dept., an officer on an
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On January 1, a New California law protecting Black youth will go into effect. The law creates an emergency alert system, similar to a Silver Alert or an Amber Alert, that aims to help find missing Black youth between the ages of 12 and 25. According to the bill’s text, the Ebony Alert is “designed
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A 32-year-old man suspected of torturing and killing his 6-month-old son in Indio must stand trial for murder, a judge ruled today. Jawhon Sherod Burts was also charged with one felony count each of assault on a child under 8 with great bodily injury resulting in death and torture, according to court records. He also
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A 36-year-old man suspected of driving under the influence and causing a fatal crash pleaded not guilty today to felony charges. Alexander Frank Ortega was charged with one felony count each of murder, driving under the influence of alcohol causing bodily injury and driving under the influence of alcohol .08% or more causing bodily
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A 38-year-old man suspected of driving through a red light in Desert Hot Springs and causing a collision that led to another man’s death was charged today with murder. Tyson Michael Rodriguez, 38, of Arcata is set to be arraigned on the charge Tuesday afternoon at the Larson Justice Center in Indio. Officers responded
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A 27-year-old man suspected of sexually assaulting a woman in Rancho Mirage pleaded not guilty today to felony charges and authorities sought the public’s help regarding other possible victims of the defendant. Reginald Demond Macon Jr. of Indio was charged with one felony count each of rape by force or fear, oral copulation by use
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A 36-year-old man suspected of driving under the influence and causing a fatal crash was charged today with felony charges including murder. Alexander Frank Ortega was also charged with one felony count each of driving under the influence of alcohol causing bodily injury and driving under the influence of alcohol .08% or more causing bodily
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A 39-year-old man who broke into his neighbor’s home in Palm Desert was sentenced today to two years of formal probation. Stephen Eric Cunningham of Palm Desert was convicted Nov. 8 of one felony count each of possession of an assault weapon, possession of a firearm, and vandalism, according to court records. He was
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A 26-year-old Joshua Tree man was arrested and charged with murder in connection with the fentanyl overdose of a 33-year-old last year. The investigation dates back to Nov. 2, 2022, when deputies responded to the death of Steven Lockhart of Yucca Valley. The death was determined to be an overdose, prompting the San Bernardino County
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A two-month investigation into drug smuggling throughout the Riverside County correctional system netted nine arrests, with the majority of the suspects in custody today. According to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, the probe was initiated in October to ferret out sources of the fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine being funneled into the county’s five jails. Sgt.
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A 59-year-old man was killed in a two-vehicle collision in Desert Hot Springs, and the man who allegedly drove through a red light and crashed into the victim was arrested, police said today. The suspect, a 38-year-old man from Arcata, was arrested on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter, according to the Desert Hot Springs Police
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A 34-year-old man suspected of stabbing three of his family members, one fatally, following a dispute in Indio, must stand trial on murder, a judge ruled today. In addition to the murder charge, Anthony William Piña-German of Indio is charged with two felony counts of attempted murder, according to court records. He also faces sentence-enhancing
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A 27-year-old woman who hit a DUI signboard at a checkpoint in Palm Springs while driving under the influence pleaded guilty today to misdemeanor charges and was immediately sentenced to three years probation. Clarissa Hernandez of Texas was arrested shortly after midnight on Aug. 11 at the intersection of East Tahquitz Canyon Way and North
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A driver was killed Tuesday night and another driver was arrested in Indio following a traffic collision police said was possibly alcohol or drug-related. First responders responded to Indio Springs Parkway at 9:45 p.m. just east of Golf Center Parkway and near the Fantasy Springs Resort and Casino. That’s where police said two vehicles, a white GMC pick-up
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A U.S. citizen was arrested after border patrol agents found $370,000 worth of cocaine in a vehicle at the Highway 86 checkpoint. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the arrest happened on Dec. 9. A black sedan approached the primary inspection area of the checkpoint. “Agents’ suspicions were raised during the inspection and the
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A Riverside County man who engaged in a years-long scheme to defraud the U.S. Veterans Administration, stealing over $100 million by falsifying records to make it appear veterans were attending educational programs that they weren’t, was sentenced today to a year in federal prison. Philip Abod, 57, of Calimesa was sentenced during a hearing at
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Authorities today identified two suspects who were arrested in connection with an alleged road-rage shooting in Lancaster that left a 4-year-old boy dead. The shooting occurred at about 7:30 p.m. Friday in the area of Sierra Highway and East Avenue J, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. On Monday, the sheriff’s department identified
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Felony charges were filed today against two women and a man suspected of being involved in retail thefts in Riverside County, including a recent one at a La Quinta business, from which $2300 of merchandise was stolen. Khamyra Smith, 19, of Moreno Valley and 18-year-olds Derrick Yanders of Fontana and Chynae Welch of Eastvale were
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A La Quinta man was convicted today of attacking several people with rocks, including two sheriff’s deputies, one of whom shot him. Christopher Curci, 28, was found guilty of two felony counts each of assault with a deadly weapon to cause great bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon on an officer, and burglary,
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