Crime

A 41-year-old felon was legally sane when he killed his father’s girlfriend in Thermal, jurors decided today. Raul Alcantar Sanchez Jr. was convicted last week of murder for killing 34-year-old Carolina Vargas in November 2012, and the trial immediately moved into the sanity phase at the Larson Justice Center in Indio. Jurors reached their conclusion

A dog was killed after attacking a police officer during an arrest at a home in Beaumont Tuesday night. The incident started at approximately 7:01 p.m. on Sundance Drive. According to the Beaumont Police Department, officers were called to the area to respond to a male with a knife. Once officers arrived at the scene

A 41-year-old convicted felon knew what he was doing when he killed a woman in Thermal, a prosecutor argued today, but his attorney asserted he was mentally infirm and urged an Indio jury to find him insane at the time of the crime.     Raul Alcantar Sanchez Jr. was convicted last week of murder for

The Board of Supervisors today authorized Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin to accept a $430,000 state grant aimed at strengthening the DA’s anti-drugged driving program. In a 5-0 vote without comment, the board cleared Hestrin to add the California Office of Traffic Safety grant to his existing fiscal year budget, specifically for the “Drug-Impaired

A 39-year-old drunken driver who fatally struck a California Highway Patrol officer writing a ticket on the shoulder of Interstate 15 in Lake Elsinore was sentenced today to 15 years to life in state prison. Michael Joseph Callahan of Winchester was convicted in August of second-degree murder and a sentence-enhancing great bodily injury allegation for

31-year-old Luis Flores Cantor appeared briefly in court on Thursday morning. He was set to be arraigned again at the Larson Justice Center in Indio after being charged in the murders of two Palm Springs residents. The arraignment was delayed once again due to the high “volume of discovery” in the case, per a public

Jury deliberations began today in the trial of a man accused of stabbing his father’s girlfriend more than 100 times, with a prosecutor contending the killing was a son’s act of hatred toward the woman, while a defense attorney said the defendant had a history of mental illness and shouldn’t be convicted of murder. Raul

A United States citizen was arrested over the weekend after a Border Patrol K9 helped agents find more than $600,000 worth of cocaine that was hidden in an SUV at the Highway 86 checkpoint. The incident happened Saturday morning. According to Border Patrol, at approximately 10:36 a.m., a white 2011 Chevrolet Traverse driven by a

A Desert Hot Springs man was sentenced today to 32 years to life in prison for shooting his ex-girlfriend through a window of her Palm Springs apartment while she slept. Sergio Juan Marques, 41, was convicted June 24 of one count each of attempted murder, spousal abuse, shooting at a dwelling, and assault on a

A prostitution sting in La Quinta nabbed 13 men, authorities announced today. On Wednesday, members of the La Quinta Special Enforcement Team and Riverside County Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force placed decoy advertisements on several popular classified advertisement websites often used for the solicitation of online prostitution, said Sgt. George Acevedo of the Riverside County Sheriffs

A convict serving a life sentence for the murder of a Cathedral City man was re-captured after he attempted to escape from a hospital in San Diego. Gabriel Gaytan Cardenas, 36, attempted to escape from Alvarado Hospital Medical Center in San Diego Tuesday night, authorities told CBS 8. There was no word as to what

A Yucca Valley man who triggered a collision in Palm Springs while high on drugs was convicted of the murder of one of his passengers today. The Indio jury also convicted Robert Garcia Jr., 55, of DUI causing injury and sentence-enhancing allegations of causing bodily injury to multiple victims in connection with the crash near