The DA task force had been focusing on disarming people ordered by the court to not have guns, but this was the first seizure of a weapons arsenal.

A former Palo Alto police officer pleaded guilty this week for assaulting a man he was arresting in 2018. Wayne Benitez, 66, who was a sergeant at the time and has since retired, slammed the face of a handcuffed arrestee against the windshield of the arrestee’s car, according to court documents. The officer also admitted to filing a false police report.

New analysis of DNA from the crime scene identified Sam Silva of Colorado as the man who fatally stabbed Elena ‘Estella’ Mena during a rape attempt at her place of work in Sunnyvale in 1979. Silva died in 2008 in a Colorado prison.

Two Vietnamese-American women face felony charges for illegally importing langsat, a tropical fruit, some of which was badly infested with fruit fly larvae, which pose dangers for California crops.

In 1994, a 21-year-old manager of the President Tuxedo store in the Westfield Oakridge Mall was attacked by a man when she opened for business. She
was forced her into the storage room at knifepoint, tied to a pipe and sexually assaulted by the thief, who took money from the cash register and fled on foot. The case lay dormant until last December.

In a two-month spree, the suspect targeted at least 14 South Asian women, tore off necklaces and sped away in a getaway car.

Prosecutors say an 18-year-old woman was walking by herself on Castro Street when a woman jumped off her bicycle and began screaming at her, calling her a "terrorist," then grabbed and pulled at the teen's headscarf.

In less than a month, the suspects held up at least seven San Jose small businesses – mostly smoke shops – stealing cash, cell phones and cigars, at gunpoint, according to prosecutors.

The two suspects in custody were charged with the additional kidnapping counts at a May 12 bail hearing.

A fatal drug overdose, drug use by an officer, DUI while off-duty and indecent exposure at a crime scene prompted promises of tough new oversight and training at the San Jose Police Department.

Prosecutors said the April 9 fire that destroyed $14 million worth of merchandise in a Home Depot store on Blossom Hill Road was deliberately set by a man stealing power tools who is now in custody facing arson and theft charges.

William Gerry, 47, who worked in code enforcement for San Jose from 2007 to 2019, was accused of demanding money to grant permits or ignore code violations, and coerced some people to perform sex acts.

The suspects have been charged for more than 70 cases that occurred between October 2020 and this September, and hate crime enhancements have been added because the men allegedly frequently targeted Asian females who ended up injured in robberies

The complaint against Synchrony Bank alleged that its agents made “an excessive and unreasonable” amount of calls to debtors and, in some cases, continued to call people even after confirming that they called the incorrect number. 

The Santa Clara District Attorney's Office filed charges against Jennifer Colvin, the former human resources director for Rangoon Ruby and Burma Ruby in Palo Alto.

The supervisors’ action came one day after San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo called on Smith to resign immediately in the face of recent scandals and lawsuits.