District Attorney Tim Ward has announced murder charges against Blake Benham, age 43, of Dinuba, in a December 3, 2023, DUI collision that took the lives of two adults and injured others. The incident occurred at Road 56 and Avenue 430, just south of Reedley. Benham is charged with two counts of murder, two counts…
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At a virtual hearing on July 30, 2024, over the objection of TCDA prosecutors, California parole board commissioners found Darrin Little, age 60, suitable for parole after serving 38 years of a life sentence for murder and sexual assault. Little is currently incarcerated at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla. The following contains graphic information. On…
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TCDA prosecutors have secured a guilty verdict against Marvin Joseph Chang, age 36, for numerous felony crimes including attempted murder of a police officer for a 2021 incident that started in Three Rivers and ended in an orange grove. On February 19, 2021, while at a Three Rivers gas station, Chang knocked on the window…
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Criminal investigators and prosecutors from the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office have announced more victims have come forward in the sexual assault case against Tomas Jimenez, age 60. Originally charged on June 25, 2024, for the alleged sexual assaults of four women, Jimenez is now charged with the assaults of 21 people in a 48-count…
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District Attorney Tim Ward has announced the filing of criminal charges against Visalia man Donald Franklin, age 37, for residential burglary. It is alleged that on July 6 and July 8, 2024, Franklin burglarized a Visalia home on two separate occasions. Franklin is charged with two felony counts of residential burglary along with numerous special…
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District Attorney Tim Ward has announced the filing of criminal charges against Tomas Jimenez, age 60, for sex crimes against four female victims. Jimenez is charged with six felony counts and three misdemeanor counts related to sexual assault and battery. It is alleged that the crimes were committed in his Dinuba home starting in 2021…
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At a virtual hearing on July 3, 2024, over the objection of prosecutors, California parole commissioners found June Gravlee, age 70, suitable parole after serving over three decades in prison for the 1987 murder of her husband. Gravlee is currently incarcerated at the California Institution for Women in Corona. In 1990, Gravlee was convicted of…
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Today in Department 6 of the Tulare County Superior Court, the court sentenced Visalia man David Edma, age 30, to life in prison for DUI murder. On June 15, 2018, around 9:30 pm, California Highway Patrol officers were dispatched to a collision on SR 63 south of Ave 392 near Cutler. When they arrived, they…
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Today in Department 6 of the Tulare County Superior Court, the court sentenced Curtis Williams, age 31, to life in prison for the 2020 shooting death of a man at a Visalia apartment complex. On November 28, 2020, the victim, age 33, and Williams were engaged in an argument in the victim’s apartment. Surveillance video…
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On June 27, 2024, via a virtual hearing, TCDA prosecutors successfully argued against parole suitability for Annette Batten, age 61, after reoffending as a parolee. Batten is currently incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. In 2017, over the objection of TCDA prosecutors, Batten was paroled after serving two decades in prison for…
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Yesterday at a virtual hearing, California parole commissioners found Henry Borbon, age 87, suitable for parole over the objection of prosecutors. Borbon has served over 45 years of a life sentence for murder and is currently incarcerated at the California Substance Abuse Facility in Corcoran. In the afternoon of February 28, 1975, Borbon and co-defendant…
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At a virtual hearing on June 12, 2024, TCDA prosecutors secured a 5-year denial of parole for Eddie Brown, age 62, in the 2001 murder of a Visalia woman. Brown is currently serving his life sentence at California State Prison, Corcoran. Brown and the victim, 33-year-old Bridget Colmore, had been in a relationship for two…
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Yesterday in Department 6 of the Tulare County Superior Court, Visalia Division, the court sentenced Lorenzo Pineda, age 28, to a total of 86 years-to-life in prison for attempted murder. On August 2, 2017, around 6 pm, the victim was eating dinner with his parents at a restaurant inside the Circle 7 gas station in…
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In Department 6 of the Tulare County Superior Court, TCDA prosecutors secured convictions against Marco Gutierrez, age 34, in two separate criminal cases involving firearms. Around midday on October 27, 2023, near Visalia, Gutierrez burst inside his neighbor’s apartment armed with a rifle. Gutierrez pointed the rifle at the two female occupants and demanded to…
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Yesterday afternoon in Department 11 of the Tulare County Superior Court, Visalia Division, Bruce Greene, age 72, was arraigned on multiple felonies determined by a Tulare County criminal grand jury. The jury handed down its indictment on April 30, 2024. Greene, who appeared via Zoom, pleaded not guilty. In the now unsealed criminal indictment, Greene…
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Today in Department 6 of the Tulare County Superior Court, the court sentenced Andrew Hernandez, age 29, to life in prison for the 2020 shooting death of a man at a Visalia apartment complex. On November 28, 2020, the victim, age 33, and co-defendant Curtis Williams, age 31, were engaged in an argument in the…
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Today in Department 10 of the Tulare County Superior Court, the court sentenced Francisco Rodriguez, age 27, to life in prison for murder On August 7, 2022, at about 1:30 am, Rodriguez and others got into a confrontation with another group inside of a gas station on Lovers Lane in Visalia. A fight ensued, which…
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On May 8, 2024, in Department 6 of the Tulare County Superior Court, Visalia Division, the court sentenced Tony Debem, age 30, to life in prison for child molestation. Debem was convicted of two felony counts of sexual intercourse or sodomy of a child aged 10 or under and two felony counts of lewd act…
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On May 7, 2024, in Department 4 of the Tulare County Superior Court, Visalia Division, the court sentenced Elijah Harris, age 28, to life in prison for child molestation. Harris pleaded no contest to one count of oral copulation of a child ten years of age or younger, and one count of sexual penetration with…
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Yesterday in Department 6 of the Tulare County Superior Court, Visalia Division, TCDA prosecutors secured a guilty verdict against Lorenzo Pineda, age 28, for attempted murder. On August 2, 2017, around 6 pm, the victim was eating dinner with his parents at a restaurant inside the Circle 7 gas station in Visalia. As the group…
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On May 3, 2024, in Department 10 of the Tulare County Superior Court, the court sentenced Jermon Jackson, age 26, to life in prison without the possibility of parole for violent crimes spanning from 2017 and 2019, including murder. On April 19, 2017, Jackson and other gang members conducted a drive-by shooting of rival gang…
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On May 1, 2024, in Department 3 of the Tulare County Superior Court, Visalia Division, the court sentenced Rosario Valenzuela, age 62, to life in state prison for child molestation. On March 13, 2024, Valenzuela pleaded no contest to two counts of lewd act upon a child under the age of fourteen. Valenzuela admitted the…
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Today in Department 17 of the Tulare County Superior Court, South County Justice Center, the court sentenced Elizabeth Nungaray, age 47, to life in prison for the DUI deaths of two people and significant injuries to multiple others. At approximately 3:20 in the afternoon on June 19, 2021, Porterville Police Department officers responded to Main…
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On Wednesday, April 24, 2024, after thorough investigation, criminal investigators from the Tulare County District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigations arrested a male juvenile, age 16, for the November 2023 murder of Dinuba man Sergio Martin. The juvenile defendant is charged with murder and the special allegations of burglary, personal and intentional discharge of a firearm,…
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Today in Department 6 of the Tulare County Superior Court, TCDA prosecutors secured a murder conviction against Andrew Hernandez, age 29, and Curtis Williams, age 31, for the 2020 shooting death of a man at a Visalia apartment complex. On November 28, 2020, the victim, age 33, and Williams were engaged in an argument in…
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