Crime

A Hollister man who is charged with 28 felony sexual assault counts involving a child victim could soon find out if his case will go to trial, according to court records. Gilbert Lee Cortez, 74, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on May 16 at...

David Anthony Pequeno was convicted of setting fires that destroyed or damaged multiple downtown Hollister businesses in November 2020, but was declared not guilty by reason of insanity, according to authorities. Following a hearing last week, Pequeno was ordered to spend up to the...

Fernando Buenrostro Estrada, 37, of Hollister, was sentenced to 16 months in prison after he pleaded no contest to felony driving under the influence, according to Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine M. Pacioni.  Estrada also admitted that his blood alcohol content at the time of...

After nearly 30 years, detectives from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office have identified a woman whose body was left on the side of a road in unincorporated Gilroy, according to authorities. Oregon resident Patricia “Patsy” Skiple, who was about age 45 at the time...

Police arrested a 19-year-old woman after she drunkenly crashed into numerous gravestones and burial sites at a Hollister cemetery, authorities said. About 6:47pm April 13, someone called Hollister Police to report there had been a vehicle collision at Calvary Cemetery, 1100 Hillcrest Road, Hollister Police...

A Hollister man who killed local teen Ariana Zendejas in 2014 and then fled to Mexico was sentenced to prison in a San Benito County courtroom this week.  Judge Gilbert T. Brown on April 11 sentenced Jose Antonio Barajas, 27, to a combined prison term...

Police arrested four people—including a juvenile with a handgun—on suspicion of participating in a criminal street gang during a traffic stop this week, according to authorities. About 3pm April 6, a San Benito County Sheriff’s deputy assigned to gang suppression saw a vehicle commit two...

Alfredo Zendejas, who is accused of killing two Hollister residents and injuring three others in a drive-by shooting, has been charged in court with numerous felonies in relation to the March 26 violence, according to authorities. At an April 4 arraignment hearing at the San...

A single gunman acted on a case of “mistaken identity” when he shot and killed Jaime Jesus Gomez and Daniel Eli Gonzalez and injured three other people at a home on the edge of the city’s downtown March 26, according to police. Hollister Police Chief...

Two people died and three others were sent to the hospital with injuries as a result of a shooting that was possibly gang-related March 26 in Hollister, according to authorities. Hollister Police identified the deceased victims as Jaime Jesus Gomez, 23, and Daniel Eli Gonzalez,...