Crime, Fire & Courts

Watsonville Police on Tuesday arrested a registered sex offender after he allegedly followed and inappropriately touched a 17-year-old girl. Kenneth Wilder, 31, has been charged with assault with intent to commit rape, stalking, annoying or molesting a minor and sexual battery.  As a registered sex offender,...

Watsonville Police Chief Jorge Zamora (left) is recognized by detective Colin Travers Friday during a farewell lunch at the Watsonville Police Department. Following 33 years of service with WPD, Zamora worked his way through a list of ranks and titles, including Chief for the...

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office has identified the body found on Its Beach May 9, just off the shoulder of Lighthouse Point on the west side of Santa Cruz, as Noah Lee Kim, 21, of Los Angeles. Kim and another man, both reported to...

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a body that was found along the Pajaro River levee west of the Main Street Bridge that connects the community of Pajaro to Watsonville. On Monday the Sheriff's Office identified the man as 36-year-old Jesus Alfonso Duarte Figueroa...

A 19-year-old Watsonville man has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping and sexually assaulting an underage girl.  Christopher Medina Amezquita was arrested in Capitola with help from Capitola Police, the Santa Cruz County Anti-Crime Team and the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office. He was booked into Santa Cruz...

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...

Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies are investigating after a body was found floating in the Pajaro River Sunday just beyond the levee, shown here behind a farm on the 100 block of Riverside Road near Blackburn Street.  Sgt. Zach West of the Santa Cruz County...

Watsonville Police have identified the suspect who was arrested Oct. 3 after he holed up inside a vacant home on Clifford Avenue.  Javier Diaz Baruc, 30, was charged with burglary, resisting arrest, and possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia, along with multiple outstanding warrants for...

A Hollister man was arrested Aug. 19 after months of investigation into a series of violent incidents earlier this year. Enrique Fuentes, 37, was charged with shooting into an occupied residence and gang enhancements. He was booked into Santa Cruz County Jail without bail, jail...