Crime, Fire & Courts

The discovery of a man's body along Pajaro River levee Thursday has prompted an investigation by the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies were dispatched for a report of a body at 5am. A forensic examination on Friday determined the person was a male, but officials did...

HIT & RUN Emergency workers deal with a three-vehicle crash early Monday on Riverside Drive in Watsonville. Initial reports revealed that a driver of a light-colored Toyota sedan barreled into the intersection of Riverside Drive at Marchant Street just before 5am. The Toyota slammed...

Watsonville Police rounded up nearly 1,000 pounds of illegal fireworks after they uncovered a group of people—including a teenager—suspected of selling dangerous fireworks in Watsonville and across Santa Cruz, San Benito, and Monterey counties.  Watsonville Police spokeswoman Michelle Pulido said an investigation led them to...

A Castroville man is facing kidnapping charges after he allegedly grabbed a 10-year-old girl who was walking home Friday. Salvador Hernandez-Saldivar, 61, was charged with kidnapping, assault with intent to commit a felony, child endangerment and annoying or molesting a minor under 18, Monterey County...

A San Jose man died in a two-vehicle crash on Highway 17 early Sunday morning. The California Highway Patrol said an unknown person was driving a gray 2012 Nissan 370Z at an undetermined speed northbound on Hwy. 17, north of Santa’s Village Road at 5:20am.  For...

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...

Monterey County Sheriff’s deputies on Friday arrested a Pajaro man for the murder of Watsonville resident Jesús Alfonso Duarte Figueroa, whose body was found buried along the Pajaro River levee in April. Bernardino Rickie Sanchez, 61, was booked into Monterey County Jail in lieu of...

CLOSE CALL Firefighters douse hot spots in a brush fire that erupted on the 300 block of Amesti Road Friday. An official from CalFire said the 3:20pm brush fire climbed to two acres before firefighters from Pajaro Valley Fire District, Watsonville and Central Fire...

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,...

Monterey County Sheriff’s deputies on Sunday arrested a Pacific Grove man with a WWII-era machine gun described as a “weapon of mass destruction.” Brian Richard Knabb, 42, also had a loaded .45 caliber pistol and a loaded 1911 A-1 pistol, sheriff’s deputies said. In addition, he...