A local man facing arson charges alleging he lit fire to a pickup truck has a court hearing set for 9 a.m. Thursday.
Police in December arrested Eugene Frankovic, 33 at the time, after connecting him to two vehicle fires. Firefighters responded to the 600 block of A Street for a report of two vehicles on fire and put them out before the blazes spread to the nearby home.
The fire marshal determined the fires originated in the back of a pickup truck and spread to another vehicle parked behind it. Hollister police developed leads and linked the suspected arson to the home’s previous resident, Frankovic.
He was booked at the San Benito County Jail with a recommended arson charge with bail set at $100,000, according to police.
Frankovic’s next hearing for the arson charge is the preliminary setting Thursday in room 101 of the San Benito County Courthouse. Judge Steven Sanders could schedule a preliminary hearing, where he would then decide if there is enough evidence for a trial.
In other court matters:
• A Hollister man suspected of fleeing from police twice in 2012 – along with drug possession charges – faces a sentence hearing Thursday.
On October 1, Hollister police arrested Michael Smith, 38, on the 500 block of Tres Pinos Road after they allege he ran from a traffic stop. He was arrested on recommended charges alleging possession of methamphetamine, resisting arrest and a parole violation.
His sentence hearing is set for 9 a.m. Thursday before Sanders in room 101 at the courthouse.
At about 10 p.m. Oct. 1, according to a statement from police, Officer Bo Leland attempted to stop a vehicle in the 1700 block of Airline Highway for a traffic violation. The driver of the vehicle, later identified as Smith, was accused of driving into the parking lot of Burger King and into the drive-through exit before he abandoned the car and fled on foot.
The chase led the two to the area of the Neighborhood Pizza lot, where Leland arrested Smith. A search of Smith revealed he was in possession of methamphetamine, according to police. Smith was booked at the San Benito County Jail while suspected of possessing methamphetamine, resisting arrest and a parole violation.
Police alleged it was not the first time Smith tried running from authorities this year. On January 1 in the early morning hours, Smith fled from county deputies and Hollister police after a deputy attempted to stop him for a vehicle code violation, police alleged. That high-speed pursuit ended at the intersection of Line and Seventh streets when Smith rode his motorcycle into a curb and was ejected.
• A San Jose man accused of drug charges after a routine traffic stop has a hearing this week before a scheduled jury trial in March.
Antonio S. Lujan, 26, faces a pre-trial conference at 1:30 p.m. Friday and a trial confirmation Feb. 28 before a March 11 jury trial, according to records.
A routine traffic stop in mid-December and a subsequent search of the man’s San Jose home resulted in seizure of cocaine and other drugs with a potential street value nearing $90,000.
A sheriff’s deputy at about 10:15 p.m. Dec. 15 conducted a traffic stop in the 200 block of San Felipe Road near downtown Hollister. The deputy’s German shepherd K-9 sniffed the car’s exterior, followed by the interior, and indicated possible presence of drugs.
Deputies recovered more than a half-pound of uncut cocaine – or 296 grams – with a possible wholesale price of $9,000 and a street value of $88,000, according to the sheriff’s office. They arrested the suspect and booked him into the San Benito County Jail with recommended charges of cocaine possession and transport of narcotics.
Then at about 7:30 a.m. Dec. 31, deputies and members of the United Narcotics Enforcement Team served a search warrant at his residence in San Jose and seized 1.5 ounces of cocaine, two loaded pistols and one shotgun, along with hallucinogenic mushrooms and 10 tabs of ecstasy – with a possible street value totaling $1,450, police alleged.
