Crime

Police Wednesday night continued their hours-long search for a Palm Springs man who they say kidnapped his girlfriend at gunpoint. Manuel Valadez, 33, was still on the run into the night after the alleged kidnapping ended in a crash on Dinah Shore Drive in Palm Desert. Police said Valadez is considered “armed and dangerous.” Manuel

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department has identified a man killed while in-custody at a county prison earlier this month. The department says that Rosendo Echevarria, 29, of Cathedral City, was pronounced dead on Sept. 8 after an attack by other inmates at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning. According to county court records,

Cal Fire investigators have released a photo of a vehicle seen in the area around the same time that the 33,000+ acre Apple Fire first sparked on July 31. Officials said the fire was started by a faulty diesel truck’s exhaust pipe. The fire quickly spread due to dry vegetation and winds, burning 33,424 acres,

An attempted murder charge was filed today against a felon accused of shooting a man inside a Palm Springs casino parking garage last week. As News Channel 3 first reported last week, Jose Arlando Gomez, 28, of Palm Springs was arrested last Tuesday on Nelson Avenue in Coachella in connection with the shooting that occurred

A pivotal court hearing scheduled today for a woman and her boyfriend, who are accused in the death of her 22-year-old developmentally disabled twin brother, was taken off calendar due to “significant developments in the case,” a judge said. Ines Patrisia Mendez, 30, and her boyfriend, Shanen Ryan Riley, 31, were arrested in Aug. 2017

A woman was sentenced today to 15 years to life in state prison for fatally stabbing her 83-year-old husband as he slept at their Rancho Mirage home more than 10 years ago. Riverside County Superior Court Judge Harold Hopp, who handed down the sentence at the Larson Justice Center in Indio, gave Marsha Kay Esswein,

A 21-year-old is in police custody after allegedly stealing a SunBus from a bus stop in Desert Hot Springs, leading police on a pursuit that ended in a crash Friday afternoon. Multiple viewers reported seeing the end of a crash between a SunBus and a fire hydrant on Bob Hope Drive and Varner Road in

The Indio Police Department arrested two suspects wanted in connection with the shooting of a woman last month. Jesse “Trigger” Hernandez, 18, and a juvenile were arrested on Thursday. The two were wanted for their alleged role in a shooting of a bystander who was parked at the K & A Market on Avenue 44

Police have arrested a suspect in a shooting at the Agua Caliente Casino Palm Springs in downtown earlier this week. A spokesperson for the Palm Springs Police Department confirmed the shooting, which happened shortly after 4 a.m. Monday morning. A spokesperson for casino confirmed shooting happened in the parking lot of the casino. Palm Springs

Service was restored shortly before 1:20 p.m. Police and city phone lines are working as normal once again. ====================== According to Palm Springs Police, a power outage is impacting phone lines at the Department and other city buildings in Palm Springs. Emergency 911 lines and non-emergency calls for police and fire service are being handled

A Desert Hot Springs man accused of shooting his ex-girlfriend in the leg as she slept in her Palm Springs apartment must stand trial on attempted murder and other felony charges, a judge ruled today. Sergio Juan Marques, 41, was arrested about 6 1/2 months after the June 8, 2019, shooting at the Palos Verdes

A 44-year-old inmate from the Coachella Valley area was allegedly pummeled to death by his cellmate at a Central California prison, authorities said Friday. Adrian Rodriguez Jr. died Thursday night at Corcoran State Prison after an attack allegedly perpetrated by 29-year-old Daniel Santos, according to the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation. CDCR officials said

A judge today sentenced a Blythe man to 33 years to life in state prison for killing his roommate’s 18-month-old son, saying the defendant has not expressed “any degree of remorse” for his actions. An Indio jury deliberated less than a day in February before finding Jordan Bracamonte, 25, guilty of one count each of

The Banning cemetery shooting is now a triple homicide investigation, police announced. The shooting happened on the evening of August 30 at the Summit Cemetery on 2201 San Gorgonio Avenue. Officers found multiple victims with gunshot wounds at the cemetery. Police have now confirmed that three people were killed in the shooting. The Banning Police

El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents found nearly $16,000 worth of methamphetamine hidden inside two cereal boxes in Calexico early Friday morning. The cereal boxes were found at approximately 2:45 a.m. According to Border Patrol, agents were alerted to a subject who was seen on camera climbing over the Calexico-Mexicali border wall near Second Street

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department announced today the arrests of 16 men and women stemming from a widespread operation geared at combating gang-related crime in the Coachella Valley. Nearly 150 law enforcement officers from several agencies participated in “Operation Urgent Fury” Thursday in the eastern Coachella Valley, led by the Coachella Valley Violent Crime Gang

A felon who fired a handgun inside a Desert Hot Springs home occupied by children, then held law enforcement officers at bay for several hours, was sentenced today to 18 years in state prison. Juan Gonzalez Jr., 48, of Desert Hot Springs pleaded guilty to one count each of assault with a deadly weapon on

A Palm Desert man was in custody Thursday and has been charged with the May 31 firebombing of the East Valley Republican Women Federated (EVRWF) office in La Quinta, according to the Department of Justice. Carlos Espriu, 23, was named in a federal criminal complaint that charged him with attempted arson. Suspect caught on surveillance

A former Coachella Valley school bus driver who inappropriately touched an 11-year-old girl with special needs over the course of several months while on the job was sentenced today to a 12-year probationary term and ordered to complete a sex offender treatment program. Superior Court Judge Bonnie M. Dumanis warned Samuel Raul Ortega that if