Crime, Fire & Courts

A Watsonville man was sentenced to 25 years and 8 months in state prison for human trafficking, sexual assault and drug crimes, Santa Cruz County District Attorney, Jeffrey Rosell announced Monday. Luis Alberto Salas pleaded no contest on Aug. 29 to multiple counts of human...

The City of Watsonville on Thursday announced that Police Chief Jorge Zamora is retiring, with his last day set for Aug. 30. The retirement will end a law enforcement career of more than three decades. Zamora began as a police cadet when he was 15, and...

Watsonville Police Chief David Rodriguez on Nov. 25 arrested an armed Watsonville gang member carrying a backpack with drugs and ammunition after a brief chase. Issac Sigala, 18, is facing several felony charges including illegally possessing a firearm, participation in a criminal street gang and...

Local law agencies found a large stash of illegal firearms ammunition following a routine car stop. According to the California Highway Patrol, officers in April stopped a vehicle for a traffic violation in Santa Cruz County. The officers learned that the driver had a suspended...

An 86-year-old Fresno man was convicted on Aug. 26 for a double-murder committed more than three decades ago in Prunedale. According  to Monterey County Sheriff spokesman Andres Rosas, Ira Ulyesses Bastian murdered George Smith, 67, and Eva Thompson, 79 in a Prunedale restaurant on Nov....

A suspicious bag left leaning against a California Highway Patrol vehicle in Prunedale Monday—which prompted a response from the Monterey County Sheriff’s Bomb Squad and the brief detainment of the man who left it—turned out to be nothing more than a lost computer bag. According...

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...

A Watsonville man was shot during an altercation late Sunday night near 7th and Hyde streets in Watsonville. Watsonville Police spokeswoman Michelle Pulido said a dispute between two men quickly escalated into a shooting, and then led to the suspect’s arrest in less than 24...

The public is invited to National Night Out, a series of gatherings held in communities throughout Santa Cruz County on Aug. 5 from 3-7pm. National Night Out Against Crime is a chance for people to meet the police officers, firefighters and first-responders who help them...

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...