News

FRESNO  -   Rocky Cottrell, 37, a former resident of Clovis, was sentenced on Dec. 6 by U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd to 20 years in prison, to be followed by 15 years of supervised release, for production of child pornography, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

According to court documents, between Jan. 2016 and Aug. 2016, Cottrell persuaded two minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct and produced visual depictions of that conduct. In addition, Cottrell transmitted some of the images via the internet.

FRESNO - Homicide detectives with the Fresno County have booked 20-year-old Joseph Ornelas of Sanger into the Fresno County Jail. He faces one charge of murder and two charges of attempted murder. A Fresno County Sheriff’s deputy, working as part of the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force, found and arrested Ornelas on Monday afternoon.

Around 2:00 am on Sunday, officers with the Fowler Police Department and deputies with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of shots fired at a home on the 200 block of E. Adams Ave. in Fowler. Three young men, in their late teens to early 20s, were found suffering from gunshot wounds. All were transported to the hospital.

VISALIA  –  Daniel S. Griswold has been chosen as the City of Visalia’s new Fire Chief. In a new and very successful approach to recruitment, the City of Visalia partnered with the Western Fire Chiefs Association to conduct a nationwide recruitment for Visalia’s next Fire Chief. Highly qualified candidates from the Central Valley and as far away as Florida, Maryland, and Wyoming competed to serve in this respected and sought-after role. 

“I am extremely pleased with the results of this recruitment”, noted City Manager Randy Groom. “From among several top candidates, we found Dan to be not only a highly experienced candidate but an excellent fit for the department, the City organization, and the community. His leadership, experience, character, and competence quickly took him to the front of the pack, and he made a lasting, favorable impression on everyone during the process.”

OAKHURST  -  On December 14, 2019, around 6:00 pm, Madera County Sheriff’s Deputy Charlie Robertson responded to a call for service to a business in the 40000 block of Highway 49 for a reported theft of merchandise. Surveillance video from the store showed an unidentified female adult leave the store with a large amount of clothing and flee the scene in a white sedan driven by an unidentified male subject.

During a patrol of the Chukchansi Casino parking garage around 2:00 am, Deputy Robertson observed a white sedan matching the description of the suspect vehicle from the surveillance video. He noted several items of clothing in plain view inside the vehicle that matched the description of the items taken from the store, as well as a purse that the female was seen carrying.

SAN FRANCISCO  -  United States Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) today endorsed John Dennis for Congress against Nancy Pelosi in California's 12th Congressional District. He urged San Franciscans to vote for Dennis, and for Americans around the country to support

Senator Paul said, "Speaker Pelosi's sham impeachment of President Trump, destructive policies and disastrous partisanship do not deserve reelection. San Franciscans could not have a better representative in Congress than my friend John Dennis. 

SACRAMENTO  -  On Thursday, Dec. 12, a federal jury returned indictments against six defendants who made false claims for benefits in connection with the 2018 Camp Fire and received funds from FEMA to compensate for their losses, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

U.S. Attorney Scott stated: “In 2018, in the aftermath of the Carr Fire and Camp Fire, and we encouraged the public to report any suspected fraudulent activity and promised to aggressively pursue and prosecute fraud and abuse. Today we are announcing federal charges against individuals who abused the goodwill of the taxpayers and claimed losses that they had not incurred. These investigations are ongoing, and we are not done holding people accountable for fraudulent claims.”