Local News

Bakersfield Resident Sentenced to over 3 Years in Prison for Transporting over 100 Pounds of Methamphetamine

FRESNO - Randal Jason Newell, 42, of Bakersfield, was sentenced today to three years and three months in prison for possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. According to court documents, on Dec. 5, 2020, Newell drove from Bakersfield to Mexico to obtain and smuggle narcotics from Mexico to Bakersfield, which he agreed to do for $7,000. On Dec. 7, 2020, Newell drove to the San Ysidro port of entry crossing from Mexico into the United States.

Law enforcement officers inspected Newell’s vehicle at the border crossing and discovered approximately 98 packages containing approximately 111 pounds of methamphetamine concealed in the vehicle’s gas tank, the rear compartment wall, the driver- and passenger-side exterior frame pillars, and underneath the floor.

Modesto Man Pleads Guilty to Burglarizing Post Office in Calaveras County

FRESNO - Thomas Patrick Day, 41, of Modesto, pleaded guilty today to burglarizing a post office, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, on the night of July 2, 2020, Day broke into the post office at 8271 Camanche Parkway South in Wallace, a town in Calaveras County. He used a glass breaker tool to shatter the glass on the door to the lobby area of the post office and then stole packages and keys to post office boxes belonging to other people and businesses.

Former Chowchilla Mayor and Madera County Supervisor Passes: Vern Moss (82)

CHOWCHILLA – Former Chowchilla Mayor and Madera County Supervisor Vernon Donald Moss (82) passed away Friday morning. Moss, a longtime resident of the City of Chowchilla, was active in many community service organizations and events.

Moss was born on September 2, 1939. He was the first child of hard-working parents who would set an example Vern would follow his entire life. He grew up on his uncle’s dairy farm in Madera and picked cotton and cut grapes in the fields of Madera County. He attended Pershing Elementary School and was a member of the first graduating class of Thomas Jefferson Junior High School. At age 17, he moved to San Jose to live with family and graduated from San Jose High School in 1958. After graduation, he moved to Visalia, where he briefly attended College of the Sequoias and worked for the Visalia Times-Delta.

Siskiyou Man Convicted of Bribery of a Public Official, Conspiracy to Commit Bribery, and Manufacturing More than 100 Marijuana Plants

SACRAMENTO - On March 18, 2022, a federal jury convicted Chi Meng Yang, 36, of Montague, of bribery of a public official, conspiracy to commit bribery, and manufacturing more than 100 marijuana plants, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. According to evidence presented at trial, the charges arose from a four-month effort by Yang and Gaosheng Laitinen, Yang’s sister and co-defendant, to bribe Sheriff Jon Lopey, the elected sheriff of Siskiyou County, not to enforce a county ordinance banning outdoor marijuana grows.

On May 17, 2017, Yang met with Sheriff Lopey and offered a million-dollar donation to the charity of the sheriff’s choice in exchange for the sheriff’s “friendship” and help with a lobbying effort to legalize medical marijuana in Missouri. Yang, a Siskiyou County resident, also purported to represent a group of local cannabis farmers. Yang’s exact intentions were unclear, but Sheriff Lopey suspected that the mention of “friendship” implied some kind of improper law enforcement assistance. Sheriff Lopey called the FBI.

Nevada Woman Pleads Guilty to Hiring Hitman on Dark Web to Kill Ex-Husband

SACRAMENTO - Kristy Lynn Felkins, 37, of Fallon, Nevada, pleaded guilty today to the use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. According to court documents, Felkins admitted that she sent 12 bitcoin (valued at approximately $5,000 at the time) to a dark web hitman website, known as Besa Mafia, to have her ex-husband murdered.

From February to May 2016, Felkins regularly communicated with the administrator of the site to pay and arrange for the murder of her ex-husband. Felkins gave the administrator the specific location of her husband in an attempt to have him murdered.