By Tasha Matthews 

Photo courtesy of WhiteHouse.gov

January 5, 2016 (Washington D.C.) --President Barack Obama has taken executive action to tighten gun control, revealing some restrictions and heightened enforcement of firearms sales on Tuesday.  This is in response to the recent array of violent shootings taking place in the United States and Congress failing to pass any legislation to stem gun violence.

By Miriam Raftery

January 4, 2016 (El Cajon) - A Go Fund Me site has been established to help the children of Mary Newbold Fa’anunu, a 34-year-old mother of six who was killed by a gunshot wound to her head on New Year’s Day at the family’s home in the unincorporated area of El Cajon.

East County News Service

January 1, 2015 (Jacumba Hot Springs)--The hearing date for the proposed placement of Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) Ural Davis will be held on January 22, 2016 at 9:00 a.m. in San Diego Superior Court,Dept. 28 (220 West Broadway).  

The Department of State Hospitals (DSH) has proposed placement of Davis at 45612 Old Highway 80, Jacumba Hot Springs.  Testimony from the public will be accepted at the hearing. In 1993, Davis was sentenced to serve 27 years in prison for sexually assaulting women in three separate cases between 1984 and 1992.

Suspect Ira Stringer, courtesy of ECM news partner 10 News

Slideshow image credit: courtesy of ECM news partner 10 News

Victims fought back, escaped kidnapper

By Miriam Raftery

December 30, 2015 (Ramona) -- A man who kidnapped a baseball coach and teen player, then later carjacked a second vehicle with a Ramona grandmother inside has been arrested.  Ira Stringer was taken into custody in Riverside on Sunday after a 45-mile police chase and a two-hour SWAT stand-off, the Ramona Sentinel reports.

East County News Service

December 24, 2015 (El Cajon) -- The El Cajon Police Department Traffic Unit will be conducting a DUI/Drivers License Checkpoint on December 28th in the 300 block of W. Chase between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m. 

East County News Service

December 23, 2015 (Ramona) –Authorities are searching for a man in a silver Mercury SUV who reportedly kidnapped two men, crashed the car, and then carjacked an elderly woman, heading south on Highway 67.  He is driving a silver Mercury SUV with California license plate 6KLF075. 

The SUV has a sunroof, roof rack and Kansas Jayhawks license plate. The suspect is desecribed as a white man, 50-60 years old, , 5'8" to 5'9" tall,  unshaven, with a thin build.  He was last seen wearing black sunglasses, a zippered hoody, faded blue jeans and light colored shoes. He might have been injured in the crash.

Deputies from the Ramona Sheriff's Substation responded to a report of a car crash on San Vicente and Wildcat Canyon Roads just after 10:00 a.m. today. Upon arrival, two men inside the car told deputies they had been kidnapped from a sports complex in the Kearny Mesa area of San Diego. After the crash, the alleged suspect carjacked an elderly woman in the SUV now sought.

By Liz Alper

December 10, 2015 (El Cajon) - On Tuesday, a parole violator led a Sheriff's deputy on a wild chase through unincorporated El Cajon in a stolen vehicle.

By Miriam Raftery

December 3, 2015 (Ramona) – Three  people were arrested following a raid this morning at a home in the 2300 block of Ramona Road. Sheriff’s detectives and  Ramona Crime Suppression Team served a warrant and seized narcotics and numerous items related to sale of methamphetamine. 

In addition, detectives seized 17 firearms, 1,000 rounds of ammunition, 36 grams of methamphetamine,  LSD, narcotic paraphernalia and other illegal items.

San Diego social services centers closed through Friday as precaution after attacks

By Miriam Raftery

Updated December 3, 2015 with additional information on the shooters.

December 2, 2015 (San Bernadino) – Suspects armed with assault weapons, wearing body armor and masks opened fire inside the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, a a government facility that provides services to the developmentally disabled.

At least 14 people are dead and 17 more are wounded, National Public Radio reports. Some of the victims were attending a holiday party in the building. The suspects also planted three bombs strung together that a robot was deployed to destroy. 

Suspects fled the scene in a black SUV.  Later a police pursuit ended in a firefight and the fatal shooting of two suspects outside a residence in Redlands. One was a man identified as Sayed Rizwan Farook, 28, a U.S. citizen born in Chicago.  The other was his wife,Tashfeen Malik, 27, who was born in Pakistan and recently lived in Saudi Arabia.  A third individual attempted to flee and has been detained.

East County News Service

December 1, 2015 (Alpine) -- San Diego County Crime Stoppers and investigators from the Alpine Sheriff's Station are asking for assistance from the public to help identify and locate a man wanted for annoying a child.  Authorities have released a sketch of the suspect.

On November 4 and November 18, 2015, a 16 year-old girl was reportedly followed by a black man driving an older model tan Toyota Camry or similar vehicle while walking near Alpine Boulevard and West Victoria Drive in Alpine.  On November 4th, the suspect drove up to the girl and asked if she needed a ride to her car. When she ran away, the suspect circled the block several times to try and find her. On November 18th, the girl told deputies she saw the man again as she was walking to school and he followed her to the bus stop.

East County News Service

November 29, 2015 (San Diego)--Synthetic marijuana known as spice is being blamed for making a dozen people fall ill downtown near Petco Park over the weekend, according to San Diego Police, including two who were hospitalized. Symptoms ranged from vomiting to falling unconscious.

November 24, 2015 (Ramona) -- San Diego Sheriff's Deputies assigned to the Ramona station working with FBI agents have made an arrest as a result of the investigation into the November 19^th robbery of the Bank of America branch located at 1407 Main Street, Ramona. Timothy Grahman, 64, was arrested Friday on Hanson Lane in Ramona and has been booked into San Diego Central Jail.

November 21, 2015 (Ramona) – The Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.)  and the Sheriff’s Department seeks public help to locate an elderly white man, age 60 to 80, who robbed  the Bank of America at 1407 Main St. in Ramona Thursday morning.  He gave the teller a note demanding cash around 11:17 a.m. and brandished what was believed to be a handgun.

East County News Service

November 21, 2015 (San Diego)—San Diego State University police are seeking a man who reportedly pushed a woman and pulled her scarf, making racist and menacing statements.

By Miriam Raftery

November 13, 2015 (San Diego)--On Tuesday, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy and California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones announced grand jury indictments of medical providers and their associates for accepting bribes and kickbacks for referring and/or treating injured workers in California's workers compensation system.

Detectives from the California Department of Insurance along with agents from the FBI investigated and then arrested the eight individual defendants, who along with six corporate defendants, are charged with criminal violations in the indictments.