Big Valley News
Central Valley's Independent News Source
FRESNO. — Andrew Nathan Hernandez, 20, of Bakersfield, was sentenced today to four months in prison for knowingly aiming the laser pointer beam at a Kern County Sheriff’s helicopter, Air One, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
According to court documents, on Dec. 26, 2020, Hernandez struck the beam of a green laser at the Sheriff’s helicopter multiple times. Hernandez attended a street race in Hughes and White Lane in Bakersfield then.
SACRAMENTO - Andrew Jace Larrabure-Tuma, 20, of Sacramento, was sentenced today to three years and four months in prison for unlawful dealing and manufacturing firearms, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
According to court documents, Tuma used Snapchat to advertise narcotics and guns for sale. Law enforcement used undercover officers and a confidential informant to buy guns from Tuma. Tuma was 19 and could not legally purchase a gun in the state of California. Instead, Tuma ordered kits from the internet, including from a company called Polymer 80, a licensed firearms manufacturer in Nevada, and manufactured his own firearms and then sold the guns.
FRESNO - Former Navy couple, Marquis Hooper, 32, and Natasha Chalk, 39, of Selma, pleaded guilty today to a conspiracy where they hacked a database that contained personally identifiable information (PII) and sold it on the dark web for $160,000 in digital currency, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. Hooper also pleaded guilty to underlying wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges.
According to court records, when Hooper was a chief petty officer and Chalk was a reservist in the Navy, Hooper opened an account with a private company that maintains a database containing PII for millions of people. The company restricts access to the database to businesses and government agencies that have a demonstrated, lawful need for the PII. Beginning in August 2018, Hooper opened an online account with the company by falsely representing that the Navy needed him to perform background checks on sailors. After Hooper opened his account, he added Chalk. The couple used Hooper’s access to the company’s database to obtain the PII of over 9,000 people. They then sold the PII on the dark web for $160,000.
FRESNO - Homicide Detectives with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office have arrested 43-year-old Gilbert Luis Diosdado of Clovis. He has been booked into the Fresno County Jail on one charge of murder. His bail is set at $1 million. Shortly before 4:30 pm on Saturday, January 14th, deputies responded to a report of an assault with a deadly weapon.
The location was a home on the 2700 block of N. Rolinda Ave. in Fresno. Deputies and firefighters with Cal Fire arrived and found a 30-year-old man named William Ronald Reynolds, who was suffering from life-threatening wounds to his head and neck. First responders began treating Reynolds. He was then transported to Community Regional Medical Center and taken into surgery. On Sunday, he died as a result of his injuries.
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.
