Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma
Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 40
VISTA (CNS) - A woman who drove under the influence of drugs and killed a man in a head-on Fallbrook car crash was sentenced today to seven years in state prison. Suzanne Faulhaber, 48, of Fallbrook, pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and methamphetamine possession in connection with the Aug. 24, 2020, crash that killed 55-year-old Martin Orozco. According to the California Highway Patrol, the crash happened at around 1:15 p.m. that day, with Faulhaber's Ford Mustang veering into opposing lanes...
FALLBROOK (CNS) - Homicide detectives are investigating the death of an 18-year-old boy in Fallbrook, authorities said Saturday, Oct. 31. Deputies responded to the 440 block of Ammunition Road at about 10:40 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30 to help the North County Fire Department with an injured boy, according to Lt. Chad Boudreau of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. "When deputies arrived, they found Nicolas Ramirez suffering from an unknown traumatic injury,'' Boudreau said....
SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Authorities Tuesday, Sept. 1 publicly identified a man who was shot to death over the weekend in Fallbrook. Deputies responding to reports of gunfire shortly after noon Saturday found Salvador Galvan, 56, mortally wounded in front of a home in the 700 block of Convertible Lane, near East Mission Road, according to San Diego County sheriff's officials. Paramedics pronounced Galvan dead at the scene, Lt. Thomas Seiver said. No suspects have been identified, the lieutenant said....
SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Following about six months without jury trials due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the San Diego Superior Court announced Tuesday, Sept. 1 that it has begun summoning jurors again in anticipation of trials resuming next month. Jury duty summons were mailed out this week calling for prospective panelists to appear at the downtown San Diego courthouse beginning Oct. 9. While one murder trial interrupted by the pandemic was completed while San Diego County courthouses were closed to the general public, a criminal...
FALLBROOK (CNS) - A man was shot in the lower leg near a Fallbrook intersection, and authorities Monday, Aug. 31 were searching for the gunman. The shooting was reported around 5:25 p.m. Sunday near the intersection of East Mission Road and Iowa Street, sheriff's Lt. Arnold Aldana said. The victim, whose age was not immediately available, was taken to Palomar Medical Center for treatment of his injury, which was not believed to be life-threatening, the lieutenant said. Witnesses reported seeing several people fleeing the...
JASON KUROSU City News Service SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Margaret Hunter, who pleaded guilty along with her husband -- former Rep. Duncan Hunter -- to illegally spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds for personal purposes, was sentenced Monday, Aug. 24 to eight months of home confinement, slated to begin immediately, and three years probation. The former congressman's wife, who also acted as his campaign manager during much of the time the pair improperly spent...
RAINBOW (AP) - A U.S. Border Patrol dog sniffed out more than $190,000 worth of methamphetamine concealed in a vehicle, the agency said. An agent patrolling Interstate 15 followed a suspicious vehicle Friday as it exited onto U.S. 395 and parked at a gas station in Rainbow, south of Temecula, the agency said in a statement Monday. The dog alerted to the vehicle as the agent spoke to the driver and a detailed inspection found more than 100 pounds (45.3 kilograms) of meth in 96...
RAINBOW - A suspect was shot during a botched holdup of an illegal dispensary in Rainbow late Tuesday, and deputies were warning local hospitals to be on the lookout for the injured would-be robber. According to San Diego County sheriff's Sgt. Jeff Schmidt, deputies responded at 7:22 p.m. to a reported armed robbery at a Rainbow dispensary. Employees of the illicit facility reported three suspects entered and held them at gunpoint, and a struggle ensued with a security guard, Schmidt said. One of the suspects was shot during...
FALLBROOK - San Diego County Sheriff's Department deputies and investigators are searching for a man who suspected of robbing Chase Bank in Fallbrook on Friday just after 1:30 p.m. According to Lt. Amavisca, a white male between the ages of 55-65, wearing gray slacks and shirt with a black tie with a white, curly wig on his head, walked up to a teller at the bank and presented a demand note. No weapon was used and no estimate about how much money the suspect made away with....
VISTA (CNS) - A 24-year-old Fallbrook resident who attacked an octogenarian and two other men outside a Fallbrook church, punching two of them and stomping the 86-year-old to death, was sentenced today to 20 years to life in state prison. Keith Vasquez pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges of second-degree murder and assault in connection with the Sept. 21, 2016, beating death of Magnus Johnson, as well as the assaults of two other men, ages 62 and 63. The victims told...
VISTA (CNS) - A triathlete and former Marine, who fatally stabbed a plumber-in-training at a construction site in Oceanside because he claimed a secret government agency was controlling him through the use of nanobot technology, was sentenced today to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Mikhail Schmidt, 33, was convicted last month of the March 8, 2017, murder of Jacob Bravo, to which the defendant had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Schmidt's...
SAN BERNARDINO - James McGee, the lead attorney for Charles "Chase" Merritt filed a motion to withdraw as counsel, citing a conflict of interest, for the man convicted of first-degree murder in the killing of all four members of the McStay family of Fallbrook back in 2010. On Friday, Sept. 27, Superior Court Judge Michael A. Smith ruled that Merritt's final sentencing will be delayed until Dec. 13 and that defense attorney Rajan Maline will continue to represent Merritt....
TEMECULA - A 55-year-old man allegedly caught hauling close to 150 pounds of methamphetamine in his pickup truck near Temecula was being held Tuesday, Sept. 10 in lieu of $1 million bail. Robert Park Walker was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents after he was stopped along northbound Interstate 15, leaving San Diego County and just entering Riverside County. According to Agent Theron Francisco, agents spotted Walker's 2007 Ford F-150 on the freeway shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday and signaled the driver to pull over at the...
FALLBROOK - A man was stabbed Saturday, Aug. 31 at the Fallbrook VFW lodge, a sheriff's official said. The stabbing happened at 3:12 p.m. at the building on Old Stage Road north of East Clemmens Lane, Sheriff's Lt. Ted Greenawald said. The victim was taken by ambulance from the North County Fire Protection District to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido, where he was being treated for life-threatening injuries....
SAN DIEGO - A federal judge in San Diego on Tuesday, Aug. 13 pushed back Rep. Duncan Hunter's trial for alleged misuse of $250,000 in campaign funds until early next year. U.S. District Judge Thomas Whelan postponed the trial -- previously slated to begin Sept. 10 -- with Duncan's attorneys seeking to have Whelan's prior ruling against dismissing the case heard by an appeals court. Whelan ruled earlier this summer against Hunter's motions to have a 60-count indictment against...
SAN DIEGO - Authorities warned the public on Thursday, July 25 to beware of counterfeit oxycodone pills linked to four overdose deaths this week in the San Diego area. The blue tablets, known as M-30s, have been involved in fatalities in Lakeside, Poway, Santee, and Valley Center over a 24-hour hour period beginning Wednesday, according to sheriff's officials. The highly dangerous street drug, a common form of counterfeit oxycodone, contains fentanyl, a narcotic so powerful...
PALA (CNS) - A fight between three people at a home on the grounds on the Pala Indian Reservation escalated on Tuesday, July 9 into a shooting that left one man wounded and another in jail, authorities reported. The shooting in the 36000 block of Pala Temecula Road was reported shortly before 12:30 p.m. Medics took the victim, whose identity was not released, to a hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening gunshot wounds to his lower body, according to sheriff's officials. The suspected shooter, 18-year-old Dennis...
On Monday, June 24, a San Bernardino County jury of 12 people recommended a sentence of death for Charles "Chase" Merritt in counts 2, 3 and 4, but life in prison on count 1 exactly two weeks since they found him guilty of murdering the McStay family of Fallbrook in 2010. The jury recommended Merritt be put to death for the murders of Summer McStay and her two young sons, but recommended life in prison for the murder of Joseph McStay. He will be formally sentenced on Sept....
SAN DIEGO - San Diego-area Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter's wife pleaded guilty on Thursday, June 13 to a federal conspiracy charge for using thousands of dollars in campaign funds for personal expenses, but it was unclear if she will testify against her husband, who faces the same charges. Margaret Hunter, 44, is facing up to five years in federal custody and a fine of up to $250,000 when she is sentenced Sept. 16. Her attorney, Thomas McNamara, declined to say if his client plans to testify against her husband. The plea...
After more than six months of testimony and deliberation and more than 9 years since Joseph and Summer McStay and their two young sons disappeared from their Fallbrook home, Charles "Chase" Ray Merritt was found guilty of murdering the family on Monday, June 10 by a jury in San Bernardino. After 22 hours of deliberation following a 22-week trial that began on Jan. 7, the jury of 12 people on Friday, June 7 announced they had reached a verdict in the case, eliminating the...
True crime author JD Crighton couldn't have known how long it would take for the State of California to attempt to prove that Charles "Chase" Merritt is guilty of murdering the McStay family. "When I dedicated myself to this case, I never imagined the trial would take five months!" Crighton said. But it did. In fact, it took six months. At 10 a.m. Monday, June 10, the verdict will be read and the world will know whether or not Merritt is guilty of the horrific crimes....
SAN BERNARDINO - A jury of 12 people has begun deliberations to decide whether the State of California proved its case in the capital murder trial of Charles "Chase" Merritt accused of killing a Fallbrook family of four in February of 2010. Lead defense attorney James McGee gave his closing argument and defense attorney Rajan Maline offered rebuttal arguments on Wednesday, May 29, before the floor was turned over to prosecutor Melissa Rodriguez for rebuttal. Her arguments...
One of these days, a jury of 12 people will begin deciding whether the State of California proved its case in the capital murder trial of Charles "Chase" Merritt accused of killing a Fallbrook family of four in February of 2010. Though many expected closing arguments to conclude on Wednesday, May 29, that did not happen, and arguments will continue on Thursday, May 30. Lead defense attorney James McGee and defense attorney Rajan Maline presented closing arguments on Wednesday...
FALLBROOK - A 27-year-old man was behind bars on Tuesday, May 14 on suspicion of breaking into a Fallbrook and Bonsall home, authorities said. Dispatchers received a call shortly before 5:10 p.m. Monday from a homeowner who reported that he had interrupted a man as he was stealing items from the garage of a Fallbrook home, San Diego County Sheriff's Lt. Ricardo Lopez said. The intruder fled and deputies began to search the area, Lopez said. The suspect, later identified as 27-year-old Isiah Hall, was located walking...
FALLBROOK - The Fallbrook Substation of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department issued a notice on Thursday, March 7 via social media requesting the public's help in locating the whereabouts of Rosie, a French Bulldog, that went missing from a Fallbrook residence on Feb. 22. The dog's owners and the Sheriff's Department suspects the dog may have been stolen, possibly by a Hispanic couple driving a silver sedan that appeared to be attempting to steal the dog a day earlier...
