Local News

TULARE COUNTY – Early Monday morning, Tulare County Deputies were called to a home in the 6800 Block of Harvest Road in Goshen for multiple shots fired. The reporting party believed an active shooter was in the area because of the number of shots being heard. Deputies arrived seven minutes later to find a ten-month-old baby and his mother dead in the street and a third gunshot victim dead in the home’s doorway.

Deputies searched the area and found six victims inside and outside the home. One victim was still alive when deputies arrived on the scene and was taken to the hospital after deputies performed CPR on him. Unfortunately, they were all pronounced dead, including the victim transported to the hospital, who died en route.

FRESNO  -  Carson Shane Wilhite, 43, of Ahwahnee, was sentenced today to seven years and six months in prison for conspiring to manufacture, distribute and possess with intent to distribute marijuana and possessing firearms in furtherance of the conspiracy, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. Wilhite was also ordered to pay $46,680 in restitution to the U.S. Forest Service for the damage caused by the cultivation operation.

On Sept. 30, 2022, Wilhite pleaded guilty to the charges. According to court documents, Wilhite was involved in a marijuana cultivation operation on public land in the Sierra National Forest adjacent to his residence and at his residence on private land. During the execution of a federal search warrant in the summer of 2019, law enforcement officers located marijuana growing outside of Wilhite’s bedroom and an indoor cultivation room containing live marijuana plants under the residence below Wilhite’s bedroom.

FRESNO -  Four California agricultural companies and their owner have agreed to settle allegations that they violated the False Claims Act (FCA) and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) by knowingly submitting false information in support of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

The companies, which grow, harvest, process, pack, ship, and sell processed and fresh tomatoes, among other crops, are Mendota Land Co., Sweetwood Farm Co. LLC, Sweetwood Farm Inc., and Seasholtz Co. LLC. The companies and their owner John Seasholtz (collectively, “Seasholtz”) are alleged to have improperly inflated the employee headcount on PPP loan applications by impermissibly including non-employee contract workers who were, in fact, employed by other, unrelated entities.

FRESNO COUNTY - Property crimes detectives with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office have arrested 29-year-old Fernando Gonzalez of Parlier. He has been booked into the Fresno County Jail on nearly 20 felony charges, including multiple counts of robbery and being a felon in possession of a gun and ammunition. His bail is set at $845,000.

Shortly before 10:30 am on January 4th, deputies responded to an armed robbery at the EZ Stop Mini Mart located at 11024 S. Fowler Ave. in Selma. A masked man pointed a handgun at the clerk and took cash from the register. Deputies reviewed surveillance video and saw the suspect leave in a silver Honda Accord. The car’s license plate was legible thanks to a high-quality camera. The deputy provided the car’s license plate number to dispatchers, which was relayed to property crime detectives as they were responding to the store.