News

Teamsters Ratify Contract at Nutrablend: Workers Unanimously Support First Agreement at Madera Facility

MADERA - Members of Teamsters Local 517 at Nutrablend – the feed division of Land O'Lakes – have voted unanimously to ratify their first collective bargaining agreement with their employer. The workers are responsible for producing animal feed.

"The first collective bargaining agreement is usually the hardest, but that didn't stop this incredible group of people," said Greg Landers, Local 517 Secretary-Treasurer. "Their patience, unity, and tenacity at the negotiating table paid off, and now they have a fantastic contract to show for it."

Madera Man Sentenced to over 11 Years in Prison for Drug Lab in Madera

FRESNO - Jose Monge-Ponce, 33, of Mexico, was sentenced today to 11 years and four months in prison for conspiring to manufacture, to distribute, and to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, in January 2019, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at an unoccupied residence in Madera. They found Ponce and his co-defendants, Oscar Rene Marrot-Garcia, 30, of Chowchilla, and Francisco Alcantar-Miranda, 34, of Mexico.

Ceres Man Pleads Guilty to Cyberstalking Two Victims

FRESNO - Kevin James Strutz, 51, of Ceres, pleaded guilty today to two counts of cyberstalking, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. According to court documents, Strutz secretly made a video recording of an adult female who stayed, as an Airbnb tenant, at the residence where Strutz was living in Ceres in February 2020.

The victim ended her stay at the residence when she discovered a cell phone message that Strutz had left in a shared bathroom. Over the next several months, Strutz continued to contact the victim through multiple Facebook accounts. The messages became increasingly aggressive, including an image of the victim exiting a shower at the Airbnb residence that had been taken without her knowledge or consent. Strutz sent the image to her, demanding that she send him a sexually explicit video or he would send the photo to her friends and family.

Two Methamphetamine Labs Dismantled; Nearly 1,000 Pounds Seized in Tulare and Kings County

FRESNO - Armando Rosales Gonzalez, 35, of Tulare; Rogelio Ceniceros Flores, 37, of Jalisco, Mexico; and Carlos Bobadilla, 39, of Tulare, were arrested on May 17, 2023, during a coordinated law enforcement operation and were charged in a criminal complaint with possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, the arrests were made as part of an investigation of a drug trafficking organization in California’s Central Valley. On May 17, 2023, law enforcement searched five properties in Tulare, Earlimart and Corcoran, resulting in the seizure of nearly 1,000 pounds of crystal methamphetamine and 14 firearms. Law enforcement also discovered and dismantled two active methamphetamine conversion laboratories with numerous 55-gallon drums filled with liquid methamphetamine in various stages of conversion to crystal methamphetamine.

Former State Correctional Officer Jailed for Sexual Assault

CHOWCHILLA - A former correctional officer has been arrested for sexually assaulting 13 inmates at CDCR's Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. Gregory Rodriguez, age 54, is in the Madera County Jail pending 7.8 million dollars bail following his arrest by CDCR’s Office of Internal Affairs.

Rodriguez, who worked at the Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF) in Chowchilla, faces a total of 96 criminal charges, including 39 individual sexual assaults, some charged in more than one way. If convicted, he could face over 300 years - in prison.

Fentanyl Traffickers Plead Guilty to Charges Arising from the 2022 “Operation Killer High” Investigation in Fresno

FRESNO - Henry Cox, 23, and Abel Lozano, 29, both of Sanger, pleaded guilty today to trafficking over 500 grams of fentanyl. Lozano also pleaded guilty to trafficking over 500 grams of methamphetamine and over 100 grams of a fentanyl analogue, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, the investigation, dubbed “Operation Killer High,” began after several victims overdosed on counterfeit oxycodone M30 pills laced with fentanyl in the Fresno area. The investigation aimed to search for the drug dealers believed to have supplied the toxic pills that caused the spike in fentanyl-related overdoses. The operation uncovered a large drug-trafficking ring led by co-defendant Horacio Torrecillas Urias Jr., 22, of Fresno, the self-proclaimed “M30 king of Fresno.”

Felony Carjacking in Riverstone Community

MADERA COUNTY -On May 9, 2023, shortly before 1 pm, Madera County Sheriff’s Deputies were dispatched to the Riverstone business complex in Madera for a reported armed robbery. Multiple Deputies responded to the scene and located the victim in the complex's parking lot. The victim, a Clovis resident, reported he was sprayed with pepper spray and robbed at gunpoint by an unknown assailant, who then stole his work vehicle. He displayed visible signs of being sprayed with pepper spray.

Witness statements indicate the victim was inside his work van when the suspect approached from the rear. The victim observed the suspect, exited the vehicle to confront him, and was able to pull the gun out of his grasp. After disarming the suspect, the victim was sprayed with pepper spray. The suspect got into the victim’s van and fled the scene. The victim ran from the scene towards nearby businesses and discovered the gun he wrestled away was an airsoft pistol.