Crime

The family of Sierra LaMar increased the reward for information leading to the missing Morgan Hill teen’s safe return home.

The sentencing of Ray Wood, the former Hollister police sergeant and 2010 sheriff candidate convicted of embezzling more than $100,000 from the city officers union, was delayed Friday until June so he has the opportunity to promptly secure and pay back the entire stolen amount.

Sheriff’s detectives Friday morning arrested a convicted sex offender on suspicion of oral copulation and lewd and lascivious acts with a minor in 2009, according to the sheriff’s office.

One of the country’s best-known crime fighters and victims’ advocates hopes to find Sierra LaMar by bringing prolonged national attention to the teen who remains missing after six weeks.

The founder of the new, Hollister-based Humane Society of the Central Coast has been met with some skepticism from local law enforcement officials, who say that while his goal is noble, he must follow proper procedures before the agency becomes an animal rescue resource.

Socorro Del Real teared up Wednesday morning as she stood in Courtroom 1 of the San Benito County Superior Courthouse for her last session of drug court.

The motorcyclist in Sunday’s accident at Fairview and Churchill roads died from his injuries, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The San Benito County Sheriff’s Office has identified the woman killed in an accident Monday afternoon on Highway 156 near Hollister.

Two former leaders of the Mexican American Community Services Agency who allegedly used employees’ retirement savings for school supplies, a salary raise, a YMCA membership, food from local supermarkets, computers, office supplies and other general operating costs turned themselves in last week on charges of felony grand theft.

Retired Hollister police Sgt. Ray Wood, who ran for San Benito County sheriff in 2010, could receive a jail sentence at a hearing Friday.