Crime, Fire & Courts

A Watsonville man was arrested on the night of Feb. 26 after he tried to outrun Watsonville Police during a traffic stop. When WPD made a traffic stop on East Lake Avenue, 31-year-old Jose Alberto Sanchez leapt from the car and fled on foot, WPD...

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...

A man was taken into custody after a shooting Saturday night near Riverside Drive and Marchant Street. Just before 7pm, Watsonville Police responded to reports of shots fired at the heavily traveled intersection. They learned the suspect, 49-year-old Sandro Vega, had been seen outside a...

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office have announced the arrest of a juvenile suspect in the shooting death of 18-year-old Adrian Puga during an illegal street takeover in Prunedale.  Sheriff Tina Nieto made the announcement at a press conference Friday that the arrest was made in...

A Watsonville man is in custody following an intense search by multiple law agencies Monday after reportedly threatening a woman’s life and her baby when he showed up at her Ford Street apartment with an assault rifle at 11am.  Javier Lopez, 31, was booked into...

Four men were arrested during a multi-agency undercover operation targeting individuals allegedly using the internet to seek sexual contact with minors, Monterey County Sheriff’s Commander Andres Rosas said Tuesday. Arrested were Omar Rivera Hernandez, 28, of Gilroy; Luis Cruz Jr., 32, of Marina; Andrew Jesus...

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 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...

An investigation that began with a traffic stop accelerated when investigators found multiple firearms, firearm suppressors, high-capacity magazines, ammunition, firearm manufacturing components and methamphetamine in a Monterey County residence. Richard Orin Johnson was charged with manufacture or possession of an undetectable firearm, assembling a firearm...