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,…
Read more
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…
Read more
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…
Read more
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…
Read more
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…
Read more
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 –…
Read more
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…
Read more
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…
Read more
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…
Read more
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…
Read more
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…
Read more
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…
Read more
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…
Read more
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,…
Read more
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…
Read more
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…
Read more
Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), in light of ongoing precautions surrounding the COVID19 pandemic and California’s historical shift toward prioritizing convicted criminals over their victims, have begun the process of releasing thousands of inmates, many with violent records, back into California communities. Only limited criteria exist for prosecutors…
Read more
Yesterday a California Parole Board recommended convicted murderer Jerry McKiearnan, 72, who dismembered his roommate, be placed in an undetermined skilled nursing facility most likely in Tulare County. Prosecutors argued against the move during a video conference with Board members due to COVID-19 precautions. McKiearnan is currently serving a life sentence at the California Health…
Read more
Today former Tulare County Sheriff’s Office sergeant Richard Ramirez, 46, was arraigned on an indictment by a Tulare County Grand Jury on charges of rape, domestic violence, and other crimes. The eleven-count indictment includes felony forcible rape, spousal rape, three counts of dissuading a witness, two counts of injuring a spouse, stalking, misdemeanor battery, annoying…
Read more
Today in Department 4 of the Tulare County Superior Court, Visalia Division, Tulare man Marquel Licon, 21, was sentenced to 30 years in state prison for a series of armed robberies and battery on a jail deputy while in custody. Over the course of two weeks beginning on November 15, 2018, Licon robbed seven stores…
Read more
The Office of the Tulare County District Attorney received reports from the Visalia Police Department for filing considerations regarding an incident that occurred on May 30, 2020, near the intersection of Mooney Blvd. and Caldwell Ave. in Visalia. The reports listed the driver of the vehicle as Suspect #1 / Victim #2 and one adult…
Read more
District Attorney Tim Ward has announced criminal charges against Visalia man Bryan Buhl, age 42, for a vehicle crash on July 2, 2020, that took the life of a motorcyclist. Buhl is charged with second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence causing injury, driving under the influence over .08% BAC causing…
Read more
SACRAMENTO, CA – Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., 74, pleaded guilty today to 13 felony counts of first-degree murder and 13 felony counts of kidnapping to commit robbery during a 13-year multicounty crime spree that terrorized much of California during the 1970s and 1980s. DeAngelo was identified through Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) in 2018, more than…
Read more
Today in Department 20 of the Tulare County Superior Court, South County Justice Center, Reedley man Hernan Rodriguez, 29, was sentenced to death for the 2015 murders of two men in a Dinuba orchard. In the early morning darkness of May 20, 2015, in a plum orchard off Avenue 400 and Road 74 in Dinuba,…
Read more
District Attorney Tim Ward is pleased to announce the promotion of Criminal Investigator Beatriz Nicholson to supervisor. Nicholson is a 2002 graduate of the Tulare Kings Police Academy. She began her law enforcement career as a reserve officer with the Exeter Police Department. In 2005, Nicholson started her career with the TCDA Bureau of Investigations…
Read more
