Crime

A San Benito County Sheriff’s Office deputy crashed a patrol car and was accused of driving under the influence earlier this month in Newark, according to authorities and sources familiar with the arrest.

A judge Thursday ruled the man accused in the 2007 killing of a 20-year-old Hollister woman is mentally competent to stand trial, set to start Monday morning.

Retired Hollister police Sgt. Ray Wood, who ran for San Benito County sheriff in 2010, has accepted a plea deal on a grand theft charge for embezzling tens of thousands of dollars from the city officers’ union and could spend six months in jail, according to court records.

Police Chief Jeff Miller had more than a hand in the November arrest that led to Kevin Dunn's 120-day jail sentence, handed down last week for abandoning his young son to flee from police and run on rooftops while pursued. Miller put his entire body into the arrest.

Gavilan College trustee and Morgan Hill resident Mike Davenport, 46, remains in the hospital after he fell off the roof of his RV yesterday.

The California Highway Patrol is wrapping up its investigation into the fatal Nov. 6 car accident that killed 19-year-old Gavilan College basketball player Andrel Gaines. And once complete, the case will be in hands of the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office, which will decide whether to file charges against the two drivers who were involved in the horriffic wreck, CHP Officer Tony Tam told the Dispatch.

Authorities with the sheriff’s office and United Narcotics Enforcement Team served a search warrant at a San Juan Bautista home Saturday morning and recovered an indoor marijuana grow operation.

A judge Friday sentenced Jose A. Covian, the Hollister man accused in the 2007 stabbing murder of Alejandro Hurtado, to a prison term of 25 years to life.