Crime

Authorities responded to a vehicle collision that ignited some roadside vegetation in northern San Benito County. 

The accident occurred about noon Tuesday between an unknown make and model vehicle and a big-rig truck, near the intersection of Highway 156 and U.S. 101, according to CalFire Battalion Chief Brandon Leitzke. Details on the cause of the accident, extent of injuries, if any, and damage resulting from the accident were not immediately available. 

CalFire sent two fire engines and a bulldozer to help extinguish the fire and clean up the accident, Leitzke said. The California Highway Patrol also responded to the accident. 

More details on this incident will be posted as they are available. 

Authorities have found the missing 14-year-old girl from Hollister in Lodi, but police did not apprehend a man suspected of being with her.

Police are looking for a man they believe is in the company of a 14-year-old missing girl from Hollister.

Former sheriff's deputy Jason T. Lei, accused of embezzling from the deputies union while acting as its treasurer, accepted a plea deal Wednesday that could land him in jail for up to three years and eight months.

Police on Thursday responded to bomb threats made over the phone to a local women's shelter, but found no evidence of an explosive, according to the Hollister Police Department.

As motorists prepare for the final holiday weekend of summer, the California Highway Patrol is joining with law enforcement agencies throughout the country and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in an ongoing nationwide drunk driving crackdown. The two-week-long “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign, which began Aug. 16, coincides with the CHP’s annual Labor Day Maximum Enforcement Period.

Due to a spike in the number of false alarm reports in the city, Hollister's code enforcement division and police department are reminding residents to register their alarms to eliminate false reports.

Authorities did not require former sheriff's deputy Jason T. Lei to stay in the U.S. during his felony embezzlement case – even after he had left the country in 2010 around the time of the investigation, only to return about three years later and face the charges.

The five suspects – including three men from Gilroy – accused of kidnapping a woman last week in the area of Compton, sexually assaulting her and threatening to force her into prostitution were arraigned Wednesday in the Hall of Justice in Riverside, according to a press release from the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.

On Saturday, a group of residents connected to the Hollister Community Watch Facebook page held their first community clean-up event, according to a statement from the Hollister Police Department.