Nakie Nunley, 48, of Fairfield, has been given six years in federal prison after being convicted of four counts of sexual abuse of a ward, five counts of abusive sexual contact and one count of making false statements in connection to an investigation into wide-spread sexual abuse that occurred at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin.
Nunley, who pleaded guilty, abused five women when he was assigned to supervise prisoners who worked for UNICOR, a trade name for federal prison industries, prosecutors said. He admitted that between March 2020 and November 2021, he engaged in sex acts with two prisoners, including having oral and vaginal sex with one victim and digitally penetrating another victim on multiple occaisions. He also had sexual contact with three other prisoners.
In addition to taking advantage of prisoners under his watch, he retaliated against any that complained about his conduct, prosecutors said. One victim approached Nunley about his conduct with another prisoner, and he threatened to have her transferred to another facility, where she would lose her job. Nunley also lied to federal investigators about his crimes.
The sex abuse scandal has unleashed indictments, convictions, plea agreements and sentences involving employees at the low-security prison, which one federal judge called a "cesspool."
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The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office has arrested two people suspected of trying to swipe limited edition beverage tumblers from a Starbucks in January, the department said Wednesday.
On Jan. 3, customers lined up early at the Target in Cupertino-- which has a Starbucks inside-- to get their hands on one. But two people in line didn't want to wait, according to the Sheriff's Office. At about 7:15 a.m., deputies responded to a report of a tussle and theft of a tumbler.
According to witnesses, a man and a woman in their twenties entered the Target and cut the line of customers waiting to buy a tumbler. After Target staff were made aware of the situation, they declined to sell the pair one. At that, the male suspect jumped over the Starbucks counter, knocked the barista out of the way, and grabbed a box containing a Stanley tumbler, then attempted to leave the store.
A customer blocked the exit to prevent the man from leaving, according to witnesses. The man then tried to run past him, but was tackled to the ground. The woman with the suspect, his girlfriend, punched the customer, allowing time for her boyfriend to get back up. She then grabbed a Starbucks bag with a tumbler inside from another customer. The pair then fled the store.
After an extensive follow-up investigation, the Sheriff's Office identified Kevin Torres-Cruz, 26, and Hazel Dominguez-Vera, 24, as the suspects in this case. Both were arrested on Tuesday and booked into jail on suspicion of robbery.
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A man was was assaulted in Vallejo earlier this month has succumbed to his injuries and died, police said Wednesday, marking the city's fourth homicide of the year.
On March 15, officers responded to an assault with a deadly weapon call in the area of Lemon and Derr streets.
The male victim had life-threatening injuries and was taken to the hospital, where he died on Tuesday, according to police.
The Vallejo Police Department has not released the victim's name, nor the manner of his assault.
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The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors failed to advance final design plans for two segments of a regional bicycle trail at its regular meeting Tuesday, jeopardizing a $67.6 million state grant for the decade-old project.
The board split 2-2 in its vote on segments 10 and 11 of the rail trail, which together run from 17th Avenue to State Park Drive. Supervisor Zach Friend recused himself because of a conflict of interest -- he lives within 500 feet of the train tracks along which the trail will be built, he said. Supervisors Bruce McPherson and Manu Koenig voted no.
Board members then approved the environmental impact report for the segments as a standalone measure, with the hopes that the pared-down vote would be enough to satisfy the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission, or SCCRTC, which is managing the project, and Caltrans, which is providing funding based on progressing the project and proving local funding.
A plan to develop a 32-mile bike path and rail line from north Santa Cruz County to Monterey County was approved by voters in 2014. It is funded in part by Measure D, a half-cent sales tax approved by voters in 2016. Final design decisions will be made by the SCCRTC, but the Board of Supervisors must approve several aspects of the proposed projects, like environmental reviews and negotiating rights-of-way, before the commission can consider them.
A grant from Caltrans is dependent on moving the project forward by 2026, and requests for the funding must be made by this summer showing the plan is progressing. But disputes over the path's design remained unresolved after a presentation Tuesday by Rob Tidmore, a project manager with the county's Department of Public Works.
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Police in Redwood City arrested a man on suspicion of trafficking a woman at a hotel, the department said Wednesday.
Detectives conducted a long-term investigation into reports of human trafficking in Redwood City, police said.
Last December, officers came in contact with a victim of trafficking at a hotel in town. Marques Coleman, 33, was identified as a suspect in the case and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
On Wednesday, Alameda County probation officers took him into custody and searched his residence. Police seized evidence allegedly related to human trafficking.
Coleman was booked into Santa Rita jail on suspicion of felony pimping and pandering.
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After pulling invasive weeds with some Girl Scouts from the trail banks on the Bair Island marsh in Redwood City on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced the area would be receiving $2 million from President Joe Biden's Investing in America Agenda.
The funds will go to ensure trails there will be restored and protected from rising sea levels.
The Bair Island marsh is part of the larger 30,000-acre Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
The secretary gave her statements surrounded by open wetland, under a row of towering transmission lines, while small aircraft cued above for landing at San Francisco International Airport.
The refuge is home to over 280 species of birds and millions of waterfowl, who pause to refuel there during seasonal migrations.
Haaland stopped to thank the two Girl Scouts who came out Wednesday.
"They really showed me what I was supposed to do today," she said. "Without their help, I might have picked the wrong weeds."
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A Castroville man was recently sentenced to five years in state prison for selling a teen family member for $12,000, Monterey County, prosecutors said.
Obdulio Aparicio, 38, was convicted of one count of human trafficking of a minor for commercial sex purposes, a felony offense, one count of child abuse, and one count of misdemeanor domestic violence, the Monterey County District Attorney's Office said in a statement Tuesday.
The Monterey County Sheriff's Office learned in April 2023 that Aparicio sold a 14-year-old family member to Javier Saavedra. Investigators said Aparicio had negotiated the sale of the female victim for $12,000. At the time of the report, she was living with Saavedra.
Investigation also revealed that Aparicio had battered his wife by pushing her down, which caused a bruise and laceration to her elbow, prosecutors said.
Besides his prison sentence, Aparicio will have to register as a sexual offender for the rest of his life, the District Attorney's office said.
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The death of a man found earlier this month in Vallejo has been ruled the city's fifth homicide of the year, police said Wednesday.
On March 16, officers were called to the 2000 block of Garnet Circle at about 12:21 p.m., where they discovered a deceased man. Though the investigation was originally being carried out by the Solano County Major Crimes Task Force, Vallejo detectives took over the case.
The man's identity is being withheld pending notification of his next of kin, police said.
Anyone who may have information helpful to this case is encouraged to contact Detective Jordan Patzer at (707) 648-4278 or at Jordon.Patzer@cityofvallejo.net.
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Cupertino is scrambling to fix what city officials are calling an "accounting error" after discovering more than $100,000 in affordable housing dollars went to pay off fees from a housing lawsuit, drawing backlash from residents in a time of fiscal uncertainty.
The city used money from its below-market-rate housing fund to pay for a lawsuit filed last year by housing advocates Yes in My Backyard Law (YIMBY Law) and California Housing Defense Fund against the city's noncompliant state-mandated housing plan, according to city documents and publicly available legal invoices acquired by a resident's public records request. The fund, which has roughly $5.2 million and is funded by developer impact fees, is supposed to be used for affordable housing development.
Instead, the city used approximately $165,475 from the fund for lawsuit-related expenses, a San Jose Spotlight review found. City officials claim the misused funds sit at a little more than $100,000, but have not provided a specific amount.
Between 2023 and this year, the city used $150,475 to pay Oakland-based law firm Goldfarb & Lipman LLP, which the city contracted to fight the lawsuit. Officials used another $15,000 to cover housing advocates' legal fees after Cupertino lost the judgment in January.
Deputy City Manager Tina Kapoor said the city plans to replenish the account, likely through the general fund, in addition to training employees on the fund's uses and implementing an additional approval requirement before money is taken out. The city is also examining the past five years of money withdrawn from the fund to catch any other "accounting errors."
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The National Weather Service forecast for the greater San Francisco Bay Area for Thursday calls for partly sunny and mostly cloudy skies, with patchy fog and a slight chance of rain in some areas.
Daytime highs are expected to be mostly in the upper 50s to lower 60s. Overnight lows will be mostly in the upper 40s.
Forecasters say it will be a breezy and cool Thursday, besides some isolated showers. Southerly winds are expected to increase Friday morning ahead of the next storm that will bring rain and scattered thunderstorms to the region Friday into Saturday.
According to the NWS, a drying trend will start Sunday through the middle of next week with a return to dry and seasonably mild weather.
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