District Attorney Tim Ward has announced the filing of criminal charges against Noah Serrate, 19, for an attack on a student at Monache High School in Porterville. It is alleged that during the morning of May 19, 2025, Serrate entered a second-floor classroom armed with a knife and attacked a student before fleeing. Contrary to…
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Yesterday in Fresno County, former Visalia resident Nickey Duane Stane, age 58, pleaded guilty to the 1996 murder of Fresno State student Debbie Dorian and the sexual assaults of multiple women in Visalia from 1999 to 2002. In 2009, with the assistance of the Visalia Police Department, TCDA prosecutors filed a “John Doe” complaint against…
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A Tulare County jury has found Erika Sandoval, age 38, guilty of the February 2015 first-degree shooting death of her ex-husband, former Exeter police officer Daniel Green in his Goshen home. Sandoval was found guilty of first-degree murder with the special allegations that she personally and intentionally discharged a firearm causing great bodily injury. The…
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Today in Department 22 of the Tulare County Superior Court, South County Justice Center, the court sentenced Alicia Espinoza, age 27, to life in prison for murder. In the afternoon of November 1, 2020, Tulare Police Department Officers responded to the report of a deceased male at his residence. The victim, who was in a…
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On April 29, 2025, in Department 10 of the Tulare County Superior Court, Visalia Division, TCDA prosecutors secured a conviction against Justin Mills, age 36, for child molestation. Mills was found guilty on 6 felony counts of lewd act upon a child under the age of 14. The jury also found true that some of…
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The Tulare County District Attorney’s Office will be holding a public meeting on May 22, 2025, to discuss the AB 481 Annual Military Equipment Report and its funding, acquisition, and/or use of military equipment as defined by the bill. The meeting will be held from 9 am to 10 am. Location: Tulare County District Attorney’s…
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District Attorney Tim Ward has announced criminal charges against Visalia Police Department Captain Luma Fahoum, age 51, for financial crimes pertaining to funds utilized for the VPD Police Explorers Post. The charges were filed on April 25, 2025. Fahoum is charged with felony grand theft by embezzlement, four felony counts of grand theft, and one…
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Today in Department 10 of the Tulare County Superior Court, the court sentenced Isaiah Elias Garcia, age 25, to life in prison for the stabbing death of a man in 2019. During a party on February 23, 2019, at which Garcia and the victim attended in Visalia, a fight broke out among two groups of…
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On April 23, 2025, in Tulare County Superior Court, the court sentenced Maxwell Barrios, age 28, of Tulare, to 4 years and 4 months in state prison for a 2023 DUI crash that caused serious injuries to two female victims. Around 2:20 am on April 2, 2023, California Highway Patrol officers were called to a…
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On April 18, 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom accepted a plea for clemency and commuted the sentence of Richard Miguel Garcia, age 39, who participated in the killing of an 18-year-old male in 2009. On the evening of August 28, 2009, Garcia and three other gang members went hunting for rival gang members by arming themselves…
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On April 18, 2025, in Tulare County Superior Court, the court sentenced Elijah Silva, age 24, of Visalia, to the maximum aggravated term of 16 years in prison for the 2020 sexual assault of an unconscious female victim. While on patrol just after midnight on December 24, 2020, Visalia California Highway Patrol officers saw a…
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Today in Tulare County Superior Court, the court sentenced Antonio Mendoza Chavez, Jr., age 37, to life in prison for the August 2020 murder of a man in Dinuba. In early August 2020, Chavez broke up with his girlfriend and forcibly removed her from his trailer. Having no money, food, or shelter, she went to…
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The public is invited to observe National Crime Victims’ Rights Week 2025 at the District Attorney’s annual memorial quilt unveiling at 6 pm on Thursday, April 24 at the Visalia Convention Center Charter Oak Ballroom. Since 1981, National Crime Victims’ Rights Week has brought attention to the millions of Americans impacted by crime and the…
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On March 28, 2025, in Department 10 of the Tulare County Superior Court, TCDA prosecutors secured a guilty verdict against Isaiah Elias Garcia, age 25, for the stabbing death of a man in 2019. During a party on February 23, 2019, at which Garcia and the victim attended in Visalia, a fight broke out among…
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On March 20, 2025, in Department 6 of the Tulare County Superior Court, TCDA prosecutors secured a guilty verdict against Visalia man Elijah Silva, age 24, for the 2020 rape of an unconscious female. While on patrol just after midnight on December 24, 2020, Visalia California Highway Patrol officers saw a vehicle approaching at a…
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Today in Department 6 of the Tulare County Superior Court, the court sentenced Orosi man Raul Alberto Vasquez, age 21, to 59 years-to-life in prison for a series of shootings in the Cutler Orosi area during the summer of 2023. TCDA prosecutors secured the conviction in February. Around 10 pm on June 27, 2023, a…
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Today in Department 17 of the Tulare County Superior Court, South County Justice Center, the court sentenced James Van Norton, age 46, to 13 years, 8 months in prison for child molestation. “I am certain that the public views this sentence as wildly inadequate based on the defendant’s actions and position of trust. As a…
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District Attorney Tim Ward is pleased to introduce Tor, TCDA’s first electronic detection K9. Tor was welcomed at today’s Board of Supervisors meeting in Visalia. Tor, a two-year-old black labrador retriever, is an inaugural graduate of the United States Secret Service (USSS) National Computer Forensic Institute (NCFI) program for electronic detection K9’s. The TCDA Bureau…
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On Friday, February 7, 2025, in Department 6 of the Tulare County Superior Court, TCDA prosecutors secured a guilty verdict against Orosi man Raul Alberto Vasquez, age 20, for a series of shootings in the Cutler Orosi area in the summer of 2023. Around 10 pm on June 27, 2023, a group of neighbors and…
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Today in Department 22 of the Tulare County Superior Court, South County Justice Center, the court sentenced Lacey Gonzalez, age 38, of Visalia, to 5 years in prison for a 2022 high-speed chase in Tulare that injured a police officer. On March 5, 2022, Tulare Police Department officers observed a stolen Ford Flex vehicle being…
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Today in Department 10 of the Tulare County Superior Court, Visalia Division, the court sentenced Joshua Hernandez, age 35, to 145 years-to-life in prison for child molestation. At the conclusion of the multi-day trial on October 22, 2024, a jury found Hernandez guilty of one count of sodomy with a child ten years of age…
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On Tuesday, January 21, 2025, in Department 10 of the Tulare County Superior Court, Visalia Division, the court sentenced Frederick Guerrero, age 79, to 26 years in state prison. Guerrero pleaded no contest on December 30, 2024, to ten counts of lewd act upon a child under the age of fourteen. Guerrero also admitted the…
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On January 16, 2025, in Department 6 of the Tulare County Superior Court, Visalia Division, TCDA prosecutors secured a guilty verdict against James Edward Jackson, age 70, for unleashing pepper spray on employees and customers at a Visalia Starbucks. Around 11 am on July 12, 2024, an agitated Jackson entered a Starbucks store on Mooney…
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On January 16, 2025, in Department 6 of the Tulare County Superior Court, the court sentenced Sean Michael Pelton, age 53, of Sacramento, to 15 years in custody and restitution for a series of high-volume thefts of catalytic converters in Visalia. Pelton was convicted of the thefts in November 2024. “Let this sentence serve as…
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Tulare County prosecutors have filed the first felony cases related to Proposition 36, a 2024 ballot measure resoundingly passed by California voters to address theft and drug crimes. “The message is clear: Californians demand accountability for repeat offenders. The crimes addressed by Proposition 36 greatly affect the quality of life for those who live and…
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