This morning in Department 19 of the Tulare County Superior Court, South County Justice Center, the court sentenced Leonardo Nacoa, age 34, to life in prison for shooting his wife to death and child abuse. On November 25, 2019, a jury found Nacoa guilty of second-degree murder with the special allegations of personal use of…
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This morning, the Office of the District Attorney filed two counts of murder with special circumstances of multiple murders and arson related charges against two 13-year-old minors in the Porterville Library fire incident. The minors denied the charges, remain in custody, and will return to juvenile court on March 11, 2020. By law, no further…
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Statement by District Attorney Tim Ward on the arrest of two juveniles in #Porterville fire incident.
Two Visalia gang members have been found guilty of violent crimes in Visalia and Exeter. Around 4 am on February 23, 2017, using masks to conceal their faces, Vincent Lopez-Prado, 22, and Cesar Raya, 20, entered the home of an Exeter couple and stole firearms and ammunition. The homeowners were asleep when the men entered…
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Last week, criminal investigators from the District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigations served 21 felony arrest warrants for suspects wanted for allegedly committing welfare fraud in Tulare County. The following individuals were arrested and either booked into the Tulare County Pre-Trial Facility or cited and released: -Angelica Aceves, 35, of Visalia -Cynthia Hernandez, 22, of…
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For the third straight year as part of National Human Trafficking Awareness Month, the Tulare County Human Trafficking Task Force conducted sting operations and contacts in an effort to identify and rescue victims of human trafficking. The operations were part of a statewide law enforcement human trafficking effort called Operation Reclaim and Rebuild coordinated by…
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On Friday, January 31, 2020, in Department 17 of the Tulare County Superior Court, South County Justice Center, jurors found Eddie Lopez, age 24, guilty of a series of violent crimes against family members. Lopez’s crimes began in Earlimart on November 18, 2018, when he got into an argument with a family member over the…
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Yesterday in Department 10 of the Tulare County Superior Court, Visalia Division, a jury recommended a sentence of death for Hernan Rodriguez, age 29, 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…
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On January 24, 2020, Criminal Investigators from the District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigations Child Abduction Unit recovered a child that was taken by the mother, Samantha Renee Rabago, in violation of a court order. On August 29, 2018, both parents were granted joint legal and physical custody of their son. Rabago later filed for full…
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On January 23, 2020, in Department 5 of the Tulare County Superior Court, Visalia Division, the court sentenced Aristeo Sampablo, age 30, to 1,015 years-to-life in prison after being found guilty of 41 counts of child molestation last summer. On July 11, 2019, Sampablo was convicted of six counts of sexual intercourse with a minor…
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On January 15, 2020, at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, a California parole board issued a 5-year parole denial for William Irvin, age 68, for the 1994 sexual assault of a Visalia woman. Between the hours of 6 am and 7 am on April 5, 1994, after her husband left for work, the victim…
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District Attorney Tim Ward has announced criminal charges against Jose Luis Cortez Caballero, age 58, for child molestation. Caballero is charged with eight total felony counts: seven counts of child molestation against one minor female victim and an additional count of child molestation against another minor female victim. It is alleged that the crimes were…
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