They Showed, Placed, Rescued & Recovered in Record Time MADERA COUNTY – K9s of all kinds, showed their skills during Madera County’s annual K9 training day held in Eastern Madera County over the weekend. Participating in the training were 22 Madera County SAR Volunteers along with 42 Search & Rescue dog teams from as far south as San Diego and ...

NORTH FORK – Three passengers in a vehicle headed into North Fork escaped injury this afternoon when the car in which they were riding smacked into a tree. Just before 3 p.m. on Friday, Trini Taylor, 31, was driving a Chevy Impala north on Road 200 when she apparently hydroplaned on the wet road and lost control.

OAKHURST – Cutter James Randrup, 26, of Coarsegold was taken into custody after deputies caught him with a stack of phony Green Dot MoneyPak cards at a motel in Oakhurst. Green Dot MoneyPak cards are reloadable debit cards, available everywhere, and are generally used by people who don’t have, or want, a bank account.

MADERA COUNTY – Sheriff John Anderson is issuing a stranger danger alert to Madera County citizens after an unidentified man was able to gain entry into a home located in the Wildwood Mobile Home Park on Highway 41 and steal the couple’s prescription medications. On Wednesday evening, Feb. 26, an elderly couple unwittingly invited a young man into their home ...

MADERA COUNTY – Raymond Mendoza Chavez, 54, and his wife Gloria Chavez, also 54, sit behind bars facing a multitude of felony charges including 59 counts of counterfeiting, and possession of narcotics. Late Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 26, Sergeant Mark Stritzel and Deputy Luis Padgett were conducting a probation search at the couple’s home located on Avenue 16 south of Chapin ...

NORTH FORK – A single vehicle accident on the rain-soaked roads sent a young North Fork woman to the hospital this evening. At 8:44 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 25, Amanda Webb, 22, was eastbound on Road 223 near Northridge Road when, for unknown reasons, her Honda Accord crossed over the westbound lane, left the roadway and smashed into a tree.

MADERA COUNTY – A 41-year-old Michigan man is behind bars, accused of trying to smuggle marijuana into Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF) in Chowchilla. Sheriff’s deputies were called to CCWF Sunday afternoon, Feb. 23, where William “Bill” Leroy Waltz of Burlington, MI, was being detained after corrections guards caught him with the contraband, says the Sheriff’s Office.

MADERA COUNTY – Sheriff John Anderson is warning residents about a cold caller phoning citizens, and claiming to be their grandson. The most recent scam occurred Friday, when an 82-year-old Coarsegold woman received a call from 559-640-7072. The person on the other end told her he had been in an accident and needed her to wire him $1,000.

MADERA COUNTY – Sheriff John Anderson is crediting a tip phoned in to Crime Stoppers as leading to the arrest of a Madera man, accused of smashing the front windows of Madera County’s Courthouse in early hours of Feb. 7. Early Friday morning, Feb. 21, Madera County Detective Adam McEwen arrested 29-year-old Andrew Biscay at the suspect’s home on O ...

MADERA COUNTY – A vehicle fire on Highway 41 just north of the 22-Mile House caused some traffic back-up on Wednesday, Feb. 19. Just before 10 a.m., reports began to come in of a white Caravan on fire along the roadway, though the location was reported by one motorist as Yosemite Springs Parkway, by another as near the Highway 145 ...