Crime, Fire & Courts

Santa Cruz County on Monday named Sandra Mendez as its next chief probation officer, selecting a veteran corrections administrator with more than 20 years of experience in community-based justice programs. Mendez will take over leadership of the county’s Probation Department on Feb. 2, county officials...

A man was arrested Dec. 4 after Monterey County Sheriff's deputies found drugs, cash and a loaded gun in a vehicle. Around 3:15pm, detectives with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the Greenfield Police Department and a K9 officer, served a search warrant...

A Watsonville man has been arrested on suspicion of causing a head-on DUI crash Sunday night near Salinas that left one man dead and five others hurt.  Miguel Soto Garcia, 29, was charged with felony DUI causing bodily injury, driving with a .08 alcohol level...

This story has been corrected from an earlier version. The chase did not go through Pajaro Middle School. A search for a wanted man with multiple outstanding warrants ended with his arrest after a chase that started in Pajaro and made its way into the...

A wanted suspect out of Santa Cruz County has been arrested after Watsonville Police, aided by their Flock camera system, found him driving a stolen car in Watsonville.    Officers on patrol were alerted that a stolen silver Toyota Avalon was in the area of the...

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office has arrested 29-year-old Joshua Timothy Holtzclaw for voluntary manslaughter after the Sheriff’s Dive Team recovered a man’s body in Moss Landing Harbor Wednesday following a fight aboard a boat.  The body was identified as 26-year-old Trenten Paul Black of Aptos,...

A man was arrested Thursday night on the 700 block of Palm Avenue on suspicion of attempted murder. With the help of SWAT officers Watsonville Police tracked down Francisco Aceves, 25, on suspicion of shooting a 42-year-old man at the Sofspra Car Wash on the...

Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies and Pajaro Valley Unified School District officials are investigating after a bag containing a firearm and ammunition was found at Aptos High School. A mask was also found nearby, PVUSD spokesman Alejandro Chavez said in a press release. PVUSD has notified...

A person died late Saturday night after being run over multiple times on Salinas Road near Lewis Road in Pajaro. The California Highway Patrol said that a pedestrian, who has not been named, was struck and killed around 11:37pm. Police radio traffic stated that...

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a body that was found in an agricultural field near Highway 183 and McFadden Road in the unincorporated area of Salinas. At about 10:40am on Feb. 4, a citizen called to report that they had found a body.  Deputies...