News

Madera Tribune’s False Claims of County Fee Increase Impact Worry General Public

MADERA – The Internet went wild this last weekend when the Madera Tribune falsely published an editorial comment about a public hearing at an upcoming Madera County Board of Supervisors meeting regarding a fee increase in the Assessors Office.

The post appeared on the newspaper’s Instagram page inviting the general public to comment on the fee increase with the hashtag #NoMore. It caused several homeowners to believe that either their property taxes were increasing or fee increases would affect their properties in the county. In reality, the assessor’s fees that will be discussed at the July 11^th meeting have nothing to do with property taxes and will not cost the county property owners one dime.

Deputy Shoots Suspect who Hid Hands, Charged Him

SQUAW VALLEY - Saturday afternoon, dispatchers with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a property owner on Mistletoe Lane, near Ennis Road in Squaw Valley. The caller said a man was trespassing, acting strange, and refusing to leave. The suspect attempted to contact two other property owners who saw his behavior as erratic, making them feel as though he presented a danger to them and possibly himself.

A deputy arrived on the scene and saw the suspect speaking to a woman holding a shovel in case she needed to defend herself. As the deputy tried to contact the suspect, he kept his hands inside his sweatshirt pockets. The deputy gave him commands to show his hands, but he would not. Instead, he charged the deputy, running straight toward him. The deputy fired multiple shots at the suspect, striking him. The deputy then approached to detain and provide medical aid to the suspect. At this time, the suspect told him he had a gun.

Owner of Bakersfield Desert Star Motel Sentenced to 4 Years for Participation in Sex Trafficking

FRESNO - Jatinbhai Naresh Bhakta, 31, of Bakersfield, was sentenced today to 4 years in prison and ordered to pay a forfeiture money judgment of over $1 million for using a facility of interstate commerce in aid of a racketeering enterprise, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents in 2015, Bhakta purchased and began operating the Desert Star Motel at 516 South Union Avenue in Bakersfield. Bhakta lived in a unit at the motel. Co‑defendant Roy Gene Drees, 45, also lived at the motel and was employed as a handyman and general manager. During Bhakta’s ownership from at least 2018 to 2020, the Desert Star primarily catered to prostitutes and their actual and potential clients.

Atwater PD serves a Search Warrant for Fentanyl

ATWATER - Late Tuesday morning, Atwater Police Department officers served a narcotic trafficking search warrant in the 2800 block of Piro Ave in the City of Atwater. During the search, officers seized approximately 100 pills suspected to be the deadly drug Fentanyl, approx. Twenty-four grams of an unfinished substance suspected to be Fentanyl and seven pills believed to be Xanax.

Officers took Seth Ingalsbe, a white male adult, age 25, resident of Atwater into custody without incident. The suspect was booked into the Merced County Jail on two charges: possessing a controlled substance for sale and committing a criminal offense while out of custody on bail.

Madera County Sheriff Announces San Joaquin River Opening

MADERA COUNTY - Madera County Sheriff Tyson Pogue to lift the closure of the San Joaquin River from Millerton Lake/Friant Dam south along the River to the Merced County Line. Friant Dam has lowered releases below 7,000 Cubic Feet Per Second (CFS) and will be reduced to 4,000 CFS. According to forecasts from the Department of Water Resources (DWR), Friant Dam will likely stay below this number until the end of summer.

Sheriff Pogue and Sheriff Zanoni are lifting the closure with this reduction. This doesn’t mean the river is free from all hazards, nor does it relieve the public of taking responsibility for their own safety while enjoying the recreational activity along the river. Sheriff Pogue cautions, “The river has changed from last year. Sand has been moved, river banks have eroded, and logs and debris are in different locations. These pose potential hazards to the public and our Sheriff’s Deputies, Firefighters, and EMS Providers who would be responsible for any rescue.”

Madera SO Detectives Investigate Father/Son Double Homicides

MADERA COUNTY - Early Sunday morning, the Madera County Sheriff’s Communications Center received a call reporting an adult male had been shot at a residence in the 23000 block of Avenue 9 in Madera. Around the same time, MCSO received another call reporting a shooting victim at a residence in the 23000 block of Las Palmas in Madera.

Deputies responded to both locations and discovered multiple victims suffering from gunshot wounds. Two victims, later determined to be father and son, were declared deceased at the scene. A 15-year-old victim was transported to a regional medical facility for treatment. Their status is unknown at this time.

Sentences Announced in Operation Red Reaper that Targeting Nuestra Familia Prison Gang in Kings and Tulare Counties

FRESNO - U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced the sentencings today in cases brought in 2019 following Operation Red Reaper, a multi-agency investigation into the Nuestra Familia prison gang and the Norteño street gang in Kings County. The last defendant in case number 1:19-cr-143, Angel Montes, 27, of Visalia, was sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison for facilitating the distribution of the gang’s drugs and the collection of the gang’s proceeds. Also today, Eric Mercado, a defendant in a related case (1:19-cr-248) was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for illegally possessing a machine gun.

The investigation uncovered that the Nuestra Familia was responsible for large-scale trafficking of methamphetamine and other controlled substances, as well as various firearms offenses and other violent crimes. According to court documents, high-ranking Nuestra Familia members Salvador Castro Jr. and Raymond Lopez used contraband cellphones from inside Fresno County’s Pleasant Valley State Prison to arrange the transport of illicit narcotics from drug sources in California and Mexico to a stash house in Kings County. From that stash house, gang members outside of the prison coordinated the preparation and delivery of the drugs to distributors throughout the Kings and Tulare Counties.