Free Republic

Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine M. Pacioni announced Friday that a man was sentenced to 15 years in prison after he allegedly attacked a prostitute with a machete back in April 2023. Felipe Saavedra, 38, of Salinas, was found guilty of one count of forcible rape and one count of assault with a deadly weapon with an enhancement for causing great bodily injury. The now-convicted rapist will have to also register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, said Pacioni. Salinas Police told KSBW at the time of the initial arrest that the victim and her attacker...

Salinas police have made an arrest in a 10-year-old murder case. In 2013, 18-year-old Miguel Chavez-Zavala was shot and killed on the bleachers at the baseball field in Closter Park. On Wednesday, police arrested Pedro Bernal. During the initial investigation, witnesses reported seeing several people running from the area, but police said they didn't have enough information to make an arrest. Police did not release information on what new evidence led them to reopen the case.

SALINAS, Calif. — The defense in the Gustavo Morales murder trial started presenting their case Monday morning, and defense attorney Michael Belter wasted no time in putting the accused killer on the witness stand as his first witness. Morales is charged with the shooting death of Salinas Officer Jorge ‘JD’ Alvarado during a traffic stop in early 2022.

A web-like substance was seen falling from the skies across the Central Coast Wednesday morning. The sticky and fluffy substance has been seen falling in Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties. It is reminiscent of spider silk, but that has not been confirmed to be the source. Wednesday's winds were coming from the east across the mountains. So far, the substance was reported in Hollister, Santa Cruz, Salinas and Monterey. If you have seen the substance falling, you can send photos and videos to KSBW by uploading them here: ksbw.com/upload.

An Amtrak train carrying 190 passengers derailed Wednesday after striking a truck on tracks in Southern California, and only minor injuries were reported, authorities said. Three of the train’s seven cars went off the tracks following the collision in Moorpark, said Ventura County Fire Department Captain Brian McGrath. Advertisement The number of people hurt wasn’t immediately known, but all the injuries were characterized as minor, McGrath said. Parts of the demolished truck were still on the tracks, while other sections lay near the derailed train cars. The truck’s driver had only minor injuries and it appears he got out before...

RUSH: Have you seen this? El Chapo, the Sinaloa cartel chieftain… El Chapo paid a $100 million bribe (the latest news story here) to an ex-Mexican president while he was president, and everybody’s acting like, “Oh, my God! Oh, my!” (Snort!) It happens every day. The Clintons do this kind of stuff every day. It’s called lobbying. What’s the difference? So El Chapo, who has an interest in illegal drugs, gives a Mexican president $100 million bribe. The Democrats go to Puerto Rico to get their bribes with their lobbyists and with their donors, and they did it in the...

Every autumn the male tarantula wanders in search of a female to mate with which is why you're more likely to see the usually docile creature out and about, even here on the Central Coast. Tarantulas are generally shy creatures and will retreat to their burrow if disturbed, said Garland Ranch Regional Park, but they don't recommend that you handle them. "Handled, they may bite with their fangs or rub the hairs of their abdomen with their back legs, creating a cloud of stinging hairs that settle in the skin," the park wrote on Facebook.

A massive fire at the Taylor Farms Processing Facility in Salinas that began late Wednesday night and prompted evacuations continued to smolder into Thursday afternoon. The Salinas Fire Department says that 85 to 90 percent of the 225,000 square foot building is a total loss. Taylor Farms is a major agriculture company that brings many of the salad kits seen in grocery stores and is a major employer. Most of the surrounding area is made up of other businesses, which were evacuated. Residential areas downwind of the fire were told to shelter in place and schools canceled classes because of...

SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV)-- Salinas Police said a case of 'mistaken identity' led to the tragic killing of a young couple in early February. Police said Jesus Arias Villa, 22, and his girlfriend, Karina Chavez Vargas, 23, were shot and killed while sitting in their car across from Closter Park on Feb. 5.

A Stanford professor explains the importance of why “Murder at Full Moon” should be on bookshelves.Long before he became one of America's most-well known novelists, Monterey County icon John Steinbeck wrote three books that were never published. Two of them he destroyed, but the other has remained in the archives, relatively unknown, until recently. The unpublished novel is titled Murder at Full Moon. It’s a murder mystery involving werewolves. “I was really surprised to discover that it wasn't some unfinished draft or some sort of just just wacky experiment. It was a complete novel,” said Stanford profession Gavin Jones....

He's been around long enough to serve in World War II and in Korea, and on Sunday this local Marine celebrated his 100th birthday. It was a surprise birthday celebration for U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Robert Boeddiker. He was joined by family and friends as well as the color guard from the Naval Postgraduate School and the Defensive Language Institute. "I'm feeling really good. Right now, I'm honored. I feel good," said Robert. Robert turned 100 years old on March 28, with a military record going back almost as far. He first joined the Marines when he was 20 years...

Portland Oregon politicians decided to drastically cut the budget for the police department at the end of last year, hoping to make their city streets safer — at least for Antifa and Black Lives Matter. For the rest of the citizens? Not so much. Shootings have skyrocketed — nearly 2 1/2 times higher than the year before. Authorities blame the pandemic. And unemployment. And “systemic racism.” And everything but the 7 percent reduction in the police budget. The cuts with the biggest impact on gun violence included the disbanding of the highly effective Gun Violence Reduction Team. The unit was...

The California Rodeo Salinas has been postponed until September 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The rodeo posted the update on Thursday saying that their executive board voted unanimously to postpone the 11th rodeo. The event, which was originally scheduled for July 15-18, will be held Sept. 23-26. “The current COVID-19 situation in Monterey County and the Central Coast and new guidance from state and local governments have led us to believe that postponing our Rodeo is the right thing to do at this time,” said Rodeo president Dave Pedrazzi. Ongoing updates can also be found at www.CARODEO.com or by...

Orozco was arrested last week for “DUI-drugs and driving the wrong way on the road,” according to a post on the Salinas Police Department’s Facebook page. But amid the coronavirus pandemic, California has effectively guaranteed the freedom of most who commit a misdemeanor and lower-level felonies, setting cash bail at $0 in order to keep the number of people behind bars low to stop the spread of the virus. . . . “Not more than 10 minutes later Orozco forced a female out of her car in the parking lot of Natividad Medical Center. The female refused to give up...

The California Rodeo Salinas has been delayed until early October. This year marks the 110th California Rodeo, but due to coronavirus it will be delayed until October 8-11 instead of its normal mid-July date. The Professional Bull Riding will take place Wednesday, October 7. The California Rodeo Salinas is one of the top 10 rodeos in the U.S. for professional rodeo contestants. The rodeo said that this was decided because the county's shelter-in-place order would likely be extended, citing Monterey County Public Health Officer Dr. Edward Moreno. The California Rodeo Salinas creates an estimated $11 million in economic impact for...

In a letter to Salinas' Mayor Joe Gunter and the Salinas City Council, Salinas League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) described a video from council member Tony Villegas as "disturbing and racist". LULAC, which is the largest and oldest Hispanic Organization in the country, described an incident that took place Friday on Facebook in the letter. "Mr. Villegas was videotaped demeaning a group of Latino Salinas residents wherein he made racially charged remarks on Facebook Live: 'I guess it’s taco time,'" said the letter. LULAC asked for the mayor and the city to formally discipline Villegas with a public...

A man convicted of driving around Southern California with bombs he “designed and built to kill” in his car was sentenced on Monday to 19 years in state prison, prosecutors said. “There is no doubt that he had the intent by his possession of these weapons to commit as much mass destruction as he could,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said at a news conference, describing 48-year-old Saleh Ali of Salinas as a “wannabe terrorist.” Before hearing his sentence, Ali insulted the judge and made an anti-Semitic remark about the prosecutor, NBC Los Angeles reports. “You’re a cockroach,” Ali...

The Salinas Police Department has identified the individual as 33-year-old Roberto Daniel Arroyo. The Dungan family said they were not home at the time, but their children were inside the house sleeping, according to Salinas television station KION. A surveillance system tipped of the residents and helped police investigate the case. The cameras also caught Arroyo moving an extension cord to the front yard and relieving himself. He may have also gone to a neighbor's home, too, according to the station.

Keith Raniere, pedophile, sex cult leader, brander and blackmailer of women, and perpetrator of 1,001 financial crimes, with 100 co-conspirators, [with nothing in his name to tie him by documents to any crime] and swindler of students, a rapist, statutory and otherwise, and smuggler of money from Mexico to the USA, and likely offshore, is a man of influence in Mexico and Latin America. The children and siblings of some of the most important men of Mexico follow Keith Raniere and are high ranking members of his cult, called NXIVM or, alternatively, Executive Success Programs, or for short, ESP.

...secretive group in upstate New York...videotaped ceremonies where they were branded in their pelvic area with a symbol featuring Raniere’s initials. “During the branding ceremonies, slaves were required to be fully naked, and the master would order one slave to film while the other held down the slave being branded,” the complaint says...“slaves” had to stick to very low-calorie diets...“forced to wear fake cow udders over their breasts while people called them derogatory names,” or threatened with being put in cages,...Raniere has been bankrolled by Clare Bronfman, an heiress to the Seagram’s liquor fortune. Bronfman gave millions of dollars covering...