News

Prison Officials Investigating the Death of an Incarcerated Merced Murderer as a Homicide

SAN DIEGO - The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is investigating the Feb. 3, 2024, death of an incarcerated Merced man at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility (RJD) as a homicide. At approximately 2:20 p.m., officers responded to an altercation between incarcerated persons Michael Mendoza and Maurice Vasquez against incarcerated person Guy Perez.

Responding staff arrived and observed Mendoza and Vasquez striking Perez in the upper torso with inmate-manufactured weapons. Staff orders to stop were ignored. Chemical agents were then used to quell the attack.

Prison Officials Investigating the Death of Prisoner as a Homicide

COALINGA – California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) officials are investigating the Jan. 24, 2024, death of an incarcerated person at Pleasant Valley State Prison (PVSP) as a homicide. At approximately 10:15 p.m., officers were conducting security rounds and approached a cell occupied by Jaime Ambriz and Roberto Briseno.

The officer observed Ambriz unresponsive in the cell and immediately summoned for medical response. Responding staff initiated lifesaving measures, summoned an ambulance, and transported Ambriz to the prison’s triage and treatment area. He was pronounced deceased at 10:48 p.m. by Coalinga Fire Paramedics.

Fresno Code Enforcement and State Raid Exclusive Golf Club Discovering Elaborate Illegal Marijuana Operation

FRESNO – On Thursday morning, the City Attorney’s Office Code Enforcement Division, California Department of Tax and Fee, and State of California Department of Cannabis Control jointly served a search warrant at AOA Private Golf Club.

The business is an upscale private golf club near the Fresno Yosemite International Airport. During the search, thousands of dollars worth of illegal cannabis, cannabis products, and paraphernalia were discovered. The illegal operation appears to have been ongoing for a significant time.

Madera Man Sentenced to 30 Years for Conspiring to Distribute Methamphetamine

SACRAMENTO - Elias Hernandez-Valencia, 48, a Mexican national residing in Madera, was sentenced Monday, Jan. 22, 2024, to 30 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, between May 22, 2018, and August 8, 2018, Hernandez-Valencia and others were part of a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. As part of this conspiracy, Hernandez-Valencia directed deliveries of methamphetamine to others within the drug trafficking organization (DTO) and remitted the proceeds from the drug sales to the head of the DTO, a person known as “Tio” (or “Uncle”).

U.S. Attorney’s Office Reports Over $169 Million in Civil and Criminal Collections in Fiscal Year 2023

SACRAMENTO - U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced today that criminal and civil matters handled by the Eastern District of California in Fiscal Year 2023 resulted in collections totaling $169,209,799.

Of this amount, the Eastern District of California directly collected $52,209,799. This included more than $11.6 million in criminal actions and more than $40.5 million in civil actions. Additionally, the Eastern District of California worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $2,181,933 in cases pursued jointly by these offices. More than $32,000 was collected in criminal actions, and more than $2.1 million was collected in civil actions.

Mother and Daughter Team Plead Guilty in COVID-19 Related Jailhouse Unemployment Insurance Fraud

FRESNO - Makiah Miles, 30, of Compton, and Apryl Weston, 51, of Santa Maria, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to commit mail fraud for submitting fraudulent unemployment insurance claims to the California Employment Development Department (EDD) in the names of inmates, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, Miles was an inmate at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, and Weston is her mother. From June through December 2020, Miles obtained other inmates’ names, dates of birth, and social security numbers and sent that information to Weston to submit claims in those inmates’ identities, as well as Miles’ own identity. The underlying applications misrepresented that Miles and the other inmates worked as childcare providers, cosmetologists, hairdressers, and other occupations, that they last worked within the prior few months and recently became unemployed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that they were currently available to work. The fraudulent claims were worth nearly $250,000.

Fresno Man Pleads Guilty to Passport Fraud by Assuming the Identity of a Deceased Child

FRESNO - Kenneth Laitman, aka John Rodman, 79, of Fresno, pleaded guilty today to passport fraud, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, in 1984, Laitman left his job as a stockbroker in New York and moved to California, where he assumed the identity of John Rodman and worked at an endoscopy practice. The actual John Rodman died in 1950 at the age of four.