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District Attorney Unveils 2020 Victims Memorial Quilt

Each year in April as part of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, our office joins with community families at a solemn ceremony to celebrate the lives of loved ones taken by crime. We honor these lives with a memorial quilt. In a year like no other, we waited patiently for the right time to join…
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Healthcare Conglomerate CEO Taken Into Custody

Yesterday evening the Tulare County District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigation took Healthcare Conglomerate Associates (HCCA) CEO Dr. Yorai “Benny” Benzeevi into custody at Los Angeles International Airport. The Office of the District Attorney coordinated with Benzeevi’s local counsel and federal officials at the American Embassy in Manila, Philippines, for his self-deportation and return to the…
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Fifty Percent of Tulare Court COVID Releases Re-Offend

Half of the inmates released from custody earlier this year have re-offended according to research conducted by staff of the Office of the District Attorney. In April and July of this year, TCDA prosecutors opposed hundreds of motions requesting inmates housed in Tulare County jail facilities be released due to possible COVID dangers. As a…
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Porterville Gang Member Sentenced to Life in Prison for Operation Red Sol Conspiracy

On November 4, 2020, the Tulare County Superior Court sentenced Robert Duran, age 39, to 56 years-to-life in prison for conspiracy to commit murder. On December 18, 2018, a jury convicted Duran of conspiracy to commit murder with the special allegation that the crime was for the benefit of a criminal street gang and that…
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District Attorney Awarded Office of Traffic Safety DUI Prosecution Grant

For the fourth straight year, District Attorney Tim Ward is pleased to announce the award of a California Office of Traffic Safety Grant to help prosecute cases of driving under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. The $168,800 grant will continue to fund a Vertical Prosecution team through September 2021, primarily for felony DUI with…
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State Prison Sentence Handed Down in Domestic Violence Standoff

On November 5, 2020, the Tulare County Superior Court sentenced Fresno man Jonathan Soto, age 34, to 23 years, 4 months in prison for a 2019 standoff with police in which he threatened to kill his girlfriend. Around 5 pm on April 8, 2019, Visalia Police Department officers responded to a residence on E. Hillcrest…
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Jury Votes for Death Sentence in Vicious 2009 Porterville Murder

Yesterday a Tulare County jury voted for a death sentence for Porterville man Adrian Ortiz, age 31, in the 2009 murder of a 23-year-old father and husband in his own home. Around 10:30 pm on April 21, 2009, in the city of Porterville, Ortiz and his girlfriend were arguing while driving in a car. Enraged,…
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Tulare Man Charged for Sex Offenses with Minor

District Attorney Tim Ward has announced criminal charges have been filed against Alec Denney, age 25, for sex offenses against a minor. Denney is charged with three counts of oral copulation of a person under 16, three counts of oral copulation of a person under 18, two counts of sexual penetration by a foreign object…
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Tulare Man Convicted of Making Criminal Threats, Violating Domestic Violence Restraining Order

On Friday, October 23, 2020, in Department 14 of the Tulare County Superior Court, a jury convicted Larry Robinson, age 53, of three felony counts of making criminal threats, two misdemeanor counts of violating a domestic violence restraining order, delaying a police officer’s lawful investigation, and possessing drug paraphernalia. On the night of May 8,…
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Man Charged in Destruction of Campaign Signs

District Attorney Tim Ward has announced the filing of criminal charges against Adan Aguilar, 43, for the October 10, 2020, arson of political campaign signs attached to hay bales located on private property near Dinuba. Aguilar is charged with arson during a state of emergency, arson of property, vandalism causing more than $400 of damage,…
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Parole Board Recommends Release of County Man Convicted of Torturing and Murdering Teen

On October 6, 2020, a California parole board recommended the release of convicted murderer Gerardo Zavala, 48, over the strident objection of prosecutors. Parole was first recommended for Zavala 2017, but was overturned by former Governor Jerry Brown in 2018 after prosecutors appealed the decision. On January 24, 2001, Zavala and two others lured 17-year-old…
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Dinuba Man Found Guilty of 19 Counts of Child Molestation

Late yesterday afternoon in Department 5 of the Tulare County Superior Court, Visalia Division, a jury found Victor Hugo Becerra, age 37, guilty of three counts of oral copulation with a minor under the age of ten, one count of digital penetration of a minor under the age of ten, fifteen counts of lewd act…
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Pixley Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for 2017 DUI Murder

Late Friday afternoon on October 2, 2020, in Tulare County Superior Court, Visalia Division, Jesus Suazo, age 28, was sentenced to 19 years-to-life in prison for murder. On October 25, 2019, a jury convicted Suazo of second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, DUI causing injury, fleeing the scene of an accident, and misdemeanor driving…
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Tulare Man Convicted of 17 Counts of Child Molestation

In a court trial yesterday in Department 6 of the Tulare County Superior Court, Visalia Division, Judge Melinda Reed found Enrique Cisneros Martinez, age 42, guilty of 17 counts of lewd act upon a child under the age of fourteen and one count of contacting a minor for a sexual offense. At the conclusion of…
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Sex Offender Convicted of Child Molestation, Rape

Today in Department 5 of the Tulare County Superior Court in Visalia, a jury convicted Tyrone Williams, age 46, a transient in the Visalia area, of rape and child molestation against three separate female victims, two of which were under the age of 14. Williams was convicted of the following charges: Minor Victim #1 –…
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New Diversion Legislation Threatens Public Safety, Victims’ Rights

Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward is urging residents to contact Governor Gavin Newsom asking him not to sign AB 3234, a bill that would allow for diversion programs in most misdemeanor prosecutions, even for serious misdemeanors like DUI, child abuse, and hate crimes. It would also allow a judge to offer diversion, thus no…
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Porterville Man Convicted of 7th DUI

Late Friday afternoon in Department 6 of the Tulare County Superior Court in Visalia, a jury convicted Ramiro Lemus Tapia, 48, of one felony count of driving under the influence of alcohol and driving while having a .08% or higher BAC. Prior to trial, Tapia pleaded no contest to misdemeanor driving while privilege suspended and…
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Prosecutors Secure Parole Denial for Convicted Murderer Granted Clemency By Governor

Late yesterday afternoon via video conference, TCDA prosecutors secured a 3-year parole denial for Richard Flowers, age 64. In 1994, Flowers stabbed, strangled, and robbed 78-year-old woman Mary Eloise Garcia in her Tulare home. Flowers used the money and items stolen from his victim to buy cocaine. In 1996, a jury convicted Flowers of first-degree…
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TCDA Bureau of Investigations Recovers Tulare County Child in Oklahoma

On August 31, 2020, criminal investigators from the Tulare County District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigations Child Abduction Unit recovered a fifteen-month-old child who was taken to Stillwater, Oklahoma by her paternal grandmother, Carrie Craiger. Craiger had no legal parental or custodial rights to the child. The child’s mother had previously been granted sole legal and…
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No Indictment Returned by Grand Jury in June 2019 Delano Officer Involved Shooting

On Wednesday, September 2, 2020, a Tulare County Criminal Grand Jury found No True Bill after hearing the evidence in an officer-involved shooting that occurred in Delano on June 14, 2019. On that date, a Delano police officer was involved in a fatal shooting of a suspect who was wanted in connection with a prior…
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Porterville Man Previously Released on $0 Bail Pleads to Domestic Violence, Sentenced to State Prison

On August 27, 2020, at the Porterville South County Justice Center, Paul Bella, 50, was sentenced to four years and eight months in state prison for a series of crimes, including domestic violence. On May 25, 2020, the Porterville Police Department responded to a local pharmacy where they found a victim screaming and crying with…
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Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. Sentenced to 11 Consecutive Life terms without the Possibility of Parole for 13 Murders, and an additional consecutive Life term for 13 Kidnappings

SACRAMENTO, CA – Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., 74, was committed to state prison for the indeterminate term of 11 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for 13 felony counts of first-degree murder consecutive to the indeterminate term of life for kidnapping to commit robbery to run consecutive to the determinate term of eight…
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Parole Denied in Pixley Elder Murders

This morning via remote video, TCDA prosecutors successfully argued against parole for Benigno Sanchez, age 45, for the vicious 1992 murders of an elderly couple in their home and the beating of another elderly man days later. Sanchez stipulated to a 5-year denial. Late at night on Easter Sunday April 19, 1992, Sanchez, then 17-years-old,…
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Healthcare Conglomerate Associates Executives Charged with Financial, Public Integrity Crimes

Criminal charges stemming from a three-year investigation by the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigations have been filed against former Healthcare Conglomerate Associates (HCCA) executives CEO Dr. Yorai “Benny” Benzeevi of Visalia, CFO Alan Germany of Arizona, and Tulare Regional Medical Center and HCCA counsel Bruce Greene of Los Angeles. The criminal complaint…
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Visalia Gang Members Sentenced to Life in Prison for Violent Felonies

Today the court sentenced gang member Cesar Raya, 20, to 88 years-to-life in prison for violent crimes committed in 2017. On July 23, 2020, fellow gang member Vincent Lopez-Prado, 22, was sentenced to 92 years, 4 months-to-life for his role in the crimes. Around 4 am on February 23, 2017, using masks to conceal their…
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