Photo by Ryan Fleischer

One driver in Milpitas picked the wrong Highway Patrol K9 to drive a little too fast around Thursday night, as the driver was pulled over for speeding, and the dog sniffed out nearly 27 pounds of cocaine in the car.

A Thursday night incident saw a California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer pull over a speeding vehicle on some highway in Milpitas, a routine thing that happens every night. But once that CHP officer’s K9 unit started sniffing around, well, things really went off the rails.  

As KRON4 reports, the officer “observed indicators of criminal activity” inside the vehicle. And then that dog began to investigate, and promptly located 26.5 pounds of cocaine that was hidden within that vehicle.

“The K9 Officer deployed his canine partner ‘Rae’ who alerted to the presence of illegal narcotics,” the CHP’s Coastal Division unit said in a Friday morning Facebook post. “Personnel from the San Jose CHP Area assisted with a subsequent search of the vehicle. During the search, officers located approximately 12 kilograms of cocaine which was packaged for distribution.”

“The cocaine has an estimated street value of approximately $2 million dollars,” the CHP added.

The accused driver is not named in any public reports thus far. But obviously, that driver was arrested for possession of cocaine for sales, and other “​​various criminal charges,” according to the CHP.

Related: Cops Bust Mission District Van Packed With Cocaine, Magic Mushrooms, $600,000 in Cash [SFist]

Image: CHP - Coastal Division via Facebook

• Adam Thomas Cordle, 50, was convicted of indecent exposure Wednesday for an incident in July in which he was caught masturbating in the bushes by a local woman walking alone in SF’s Crocker Amazon Park. [KRON4]
• The Trump administration announced Thursday it’s allowing new oil drilling off the coasts of Florida and Southern California for the first time in decades. [Associated Press]

• Students at Sonoma County’s Windsor Middle School found a loaded gun Friday during a field trip to Foothill Regional Park, which police suspect was hidden during an investigation of a nearby car crash in October. [KRON4]
• As part of a recent $2.5 billion settlement over Amazon’s alleged misleading Prime enrollment process, the company has begun sending out automatic refunds to customers who signed up between June 23, 2019, and June 23, 2025 — and used three or fewer Prime services in any 12-month period, which should hit customers’ PayPal or VenMo accounts by December 24. [CBS News]

Image: Leanne Maxwell/SFist

• The Department of Defense released a memo Friday tightening up media access to the Pentagon, including prohibiting journalists from quoting unnamed military sources. Additionally, all media entering the Pentagon must send their stories covering the US military to officials for approval prior to publishing, including unclassified information. [CBS News]
• Daniel Patrick Rodriguez Jr., 42, who is suspected of fatally stabbing Robert Paul Byrd II, 35, in an SF crosswalk on September 10 while Byrd was walking his child to school, pleaded not guilty to murder and child endangerment charges Friday. A physical fight reportedly broke out between the two when they brushed shoulders in the crosswalk, and bystanders had to pull them apart before Rodriguez broke away and allegedly stabbed Byrd once in the chest. [Chronicle]
• Sacramento police arrested 64-year-old Anibal Hernandez Santana of Sacramento in connection to Friday’s shooting at the ABC10 news station; he was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, shooting into an occupied building, and negligent discharge of a firearm. [KRON4]
• More than 500 cars took part in Saturday’s epic Lowrider Parade in the Mission — San Francisco’s first official lowrider parade. [Bay Area TV]

• The South Bay city of Milpitas is expanding its SMART (Simple, Mobile, Access to Reliable Transit) program, an on-demand rideshare service for transit-dependent residents, by 50% thanks to a $2.77 million grant from the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. [Bay Area News Group]
• Justino Lopez-Perez, 31, of Bay Point, Erickson Melendez, 23, of Concord, and a third unidentified suspect were charged Friday in connection to the shooting of three people in a Concord parking garage Tuesday night. [KTVU]

Image: Leanne Maxwell/SFist

A Milpitas woman has been arrested after police say she fabricated the disappearance of her 9-year-old son, Harshail Kumar, whom she reported missing on July 3. The child was found safe at home the next morning, but the search had already mobilized law enforcement, volunteers, and county resources.

As KRON4 reports, the boy’s mother, 46-year-old Rohnita Prasad, contacted police that Wednesday when Harshail didn’t return home. A large search effort unfolded over the next 24 hours, with assistance from Santa Clara County Search and Rescue and other local agencies. On July 4, Harshail was located “safe and in good health” — and investigators determined he had never truly been missing.

According to police, Prasad had “intentionally concealed” her son from authorities and the public while falsely claiming he was missing, as reported by KTVU. Officers arrested her at the scene on suspicion of filing a false report, child endangerment, and intimidating or dissuading a witness.

“The safety and well-being of our community, especially our children, remains our top priority,” Milpitas Police said in a statement following the arrest, as reported by NBC Bay Area. “We take all reports involving missing children seriously and will continue pursuing the truth with diligence and integrity.”

The case has now been referred to the Santa Clara County Department of Family and Children Services, which will determine a safe placement for Harshail.

Prasad’s motives are still unclear, and police have not released additional details about what led her to stage the child’s disappearance. But officials emphasized that hoaxes like this one can seriously undermine public trust and divert emergency resources away from genuine crises.

Milpitas Police reiterated that all missing-child reports are treated with urgency and seriousness, and urged residents to be truthful when contacting law enforcement.

Image: Ken W/Google Maps

In what appears to be Santa Clara County’s first guilty verdict in a transgender domestic homicide case, a 25-year-old Union City man was convicted of killing then-24-year-old Natalia Smüt Lopez of San Jose.  

The April 2021 stabbing murder of South Bay drag performer Natalia Smüt, who also went by Natalia Smüt Lopez, rocked the San Jose area drag community, and the 24-year-old transgender Afro-Rican performer was quickly honored with a mural to her memory at the Splash Video Dance Bar in San Jose. According to an in memoriam from the Human Rights Campaign, “Natalia was a celebrated drag artist in the San Jose LGBTQ community with local community members describing her as a ‘motivating and creative spirit’ with ‘captivating performances’ and a ‘love for advocacy within the community.’”

And on Wednesday, 25-year-old Elijah Cruz Segura of Union City was found guilty of murdering Smüt, according to KPIX. Smüt and Segura had been dating for months at the time, and the Santa Clara County DA’s office says this is “believed to be the first prosecution of transgender domestic violence homicide in Santa Clara County.”

“Domestic violence of all kinds hides in the shadows of our community,” DA Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “We as a community will shine a light on it, fight against it, and work to help victims find empathy, safety, shelter, and justice.”

As the Bay Area News Group reported at the time, Segura called 911 the morning of April 21 to report that  Smüt had been stabbed at a Hillview Court apartment complex in Milpitas. Police found Smüt severely injured from stabbing wounds, and Segura was covered with blood. Smüt died at the hospital, and police immediately identified this as a suspected domestic violence case.  

Segura is scheduled to be sentenced sometime in January 2025. He faces a sentence of 16 years-to-life in prison.

Related: Queer Nightlife Personality Bubbles Fatally Shot On Tenderloin Street [SFist]

Image: natalia_smut via Instagram

A Milpitas man is now in jail after police say he killed a woman and then buried her in a backyard.

34-year-old Micah James Dovlet was arrested on Wednesday, February 3, but the case stems back to several days before.

On Monday, January 31, the Milpitas Police Department says it received a request to do a welfare check of a 59-year-old woman at her home.

“The reporting party was concerned because she had not heard from the victim for several days,” the Department explained in a news release.

Officers responded to the woman’s house, but did not find her, and did not find anything they considered suspicious. They began a missing persons’ investigation, met with the woman’s family at her house to try to learn more about where she may be, and started searching the area and speaking with neighbors.

That’s when they learned the woman may have already been missing for several days. Neighbors told detectives they’d heard screaming on Saturday, January 28, but had not called the police to report it.

Officers continued searching for the woman and on the morning of February 1, a Tuesday, they found evidence near the missing woman’s house that made them believe she may have been the victim of a violent crime. The Milpitas Police Department has not specified with that evidence was.

As a result of the continued investigation, detectives detained Dovlet, who lives nearby.

Milpitas Police Lieutenant Tyler Jamison tells SFist that Dovlet and the victim did not have a dating relationship, but simply knew each other from the neighborhood. He did not hint further at any motive for a violent crime.

Detectives got a search warrant, went through his house, and found further evidence that led them to believe he may have murdered the woman.

Officers took Dovlet to the Santa Clara County Main Jail, charging him with homicide, then went to his home with a second search warrant. On that trip, they found the victim’s body buried in his backyard. Police did not say how she was killed.

The victim has been identified as Tuyet Anh Phan, as the Mercury News reports, and prosecutors said in a criminal complaint that Phan was "particularly vulnerable" and the manner in which the murder was committed "indicates planning, sophistication or professionalism."

Dovlet was arraigned on Wednesday, February 3, and remains in custody at the Santa Clara County Main Jail facing homicide charges.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim’s family,” said Captain John Torrez with the Milpitas Police Department in a statement.

If you have any information on this case, please call the Milpitas Police Department at (408) 586-2400. Or, if you prefer, you can give an anonymous tip through the Crime Tip Hotline by calling (408) 586-2500 or online at http://www.ci.milpitas.ca.gov/crimetip.  

Photo by Scott Rodgerson on Unsplash

We now know the identity of the victim and the alleged killer in Sunday’s grisly Milpitas high-speed chase, where the victim was an aspiring realtor, and her ex-boyfriend a registered sex offender.

Some key details have come out in the wake of a strange and heartbreaking story of a high-speed car chase in Milpitas Sunday where a man had allegedly stolen his ex-girlfriend's car and led police on a high-speed chase with her body in the backseat. That victim has been identified as 35-year-old Christina Raymond, a Chabot College graduate and realtor. Additional police information shows how close Raymond got from escaping danger that day, and KTVU spoke with Raymond’s grieving boyfriend, who told the station how she’d been stalked and threatened by her previous ex.

That grieving boyfriend is Lennart Persson, seen above with Raymond, who said she had been receiving “very threatening emails” from her ex, 42-year-old Anthony Jon Juco of San Jose. “It was just getting worse and worse the prior month. He just kept saying some really nasty things about when he sees her it’s going to be a problem, ‘I’m going to kill you and your family.'"

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Raymond was apparently driving for DoorDash on Sunday, and Persson says he was on the phone with her when she realized she was being followed by Juco. "She’s like, ‘Oh my God, babe. That’s Anthony,' Persson recalls. He said she was trying to drive to the police station, almost making it, and got as far as a public works parking lot next door. That’s where police noticed Raymond’s Toyota Camry, with Juco driving, which led to a chase that ended with a crash in Fremont, and the discovery of Raymond’s body in the backseat. Police say she was fatally stabbed.

The suspect, Anthony Jon Juco, was apparently a registered sex offender. KTVU adds that “Police also arrested Juco's mother, Simona Atondo, 60, for allegedly helping her son in his escape attempt.”

Persson had been dating Christina Raymond since October, and the two had future plans that are now broken. "We talked about kids. We talked about our goal to buy our own house by 2022 because we both do real estate, save to purchase our first home. We talked about our dreams, our ambitions," Persson told KTVU. He added, "Christina was such a sweet person, she had a heart of gold, and she always thought of other people ahead of herself."

Related: Milpitas Police Drawn Into High-Speed Chase With Man Who Had Ex-Girlfriend’s Dead Body in Car [SFist]

Image: via Facebook

A police pursuit yielded a grisly discovery Sunday afternoon, after a high-speed chase between Milpitas and Fremont ended with a murder victim’s body being found in the back of her own stolen car.

Just after 12:40 p.m. Sunday afternoon, someone in Milpitas called the police requesting a “wellness check” on a resident who complained that her ex-boyfriend was following her in an aggressive manner. That call proved to be the right decision, but came too late. After the third party raised the alarm, Milpitas police visited the woman’s home, where the ex-boyfriend led them on a 14-mile high-speed chase to Fremont. And according to the Chronicle, after the car crashed, police found the woman's dead body inside the car.

Police saw the woman’s car, but she wasn’t driving it. And according to NBC Bay Area, “A witness told police they saw a deceased female inside the vehicle.” The suspect sped away and led police on a chase to Fremont, where he was eventually “involved in a solo vehicle collision” near Warren Avenue. He had “presumed self-inflicted injuries” according to a Milpitas police report. But more urgently, they found the woman in the backseat with injuries “consistent with having been assaulted with a weapon.” She died at the scene.

“The victim and suspect knew each other and had a previous dating relationship,” according to Milpitas police. Neither person’s identity has been revealed, but police say the man was 42 years old and from San Jose, the woman was 35.

“There are no outstanding suspects and there is no continuing threat to community safety at this time,” the Milpitas Police Department added in their statement.

The investigation is ongoing, though, and anyone with relevant information is asked to contact the Milpitas Police Department at 408-586-2400 or the Tip Hotline at 408-586-2500.

Related: Two Highway Patrol Officers Injured in Bay Point When SUV Plows Into Them [SFist]

Image: @MilpitasPD via Twitter

A Milpitas tech businessman and wife stand accused of pimping, pandering, money laundering, and human trafficking following a two-year investigation into their alleged brothel business.

SFist noted the arrests on Thursday of 57-year-old David Davies and 38-year-old Larong Hu, and now the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office has revealed more details in the case against them.

Per KRON4, Davies and Hu are accused of operating at least six brothels based out of apartments in Milpitas and San Jose, and trafficking "dozens" of women from China, South Korea, and Eastern Europe. Along with the arrests on Thursday, authorities say they were able to rescue six women who were currently being pimped by Davies and Hu, but the couple allegedly had "rotated more than 100 sex workers before they were sent to other U.S. cities."

"People do not have the right to treat other people like pack animals," DA Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “This county will spare no effort to track down those who exploit others for profit and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law."

Investigators had apparently been on to the couple's sex-trafficking operation for a year and a half, as KTVU reports, and gathered evidence of its scope. Each apartment brothel, they say, serviced 10 to 15 men per day, all of whom would find the sex workers online and pay using Venmo or Paypal. As part of the bust, search warrants were served in San Jose, Milpitas, and Palo Alto, and sex work "paraphernalia" was found inside the apartments. Also, $2 million in cash was seized.

The women were allegedly sometimes locked in the apartments, and had their passports taken from them. They were also made to pay for their own food and living expenses.

Davies and Hu were taken into custody on the 100 block of Tiger Lily Street in Milpitas, which is the location of the Milpa Village Townhomes.

They were set to be arraigned on Friday and were being held on $350,000 bail.

Anyone who is a victim of human trafficking, or knows someone who is, should call 911 immediately or call the 24-Hour National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888. Callers can also reach the hotline by texting 233733 to initiate online chats. Human trafficking victims, whether U.S. citizens or not, are eligible for services including immigration assistance.

Photo: Getty Images

Northern California's first Legoland Discovery Center opened today in Milpitas, and it comes with its own 4D cinema, hands-on workshops, and a miniaturized diorama of San Francisco and Bay Area landmarks that took 45 builders and 1.5 million bricks to construct.

You can see that "Miniland" version of local sites in the preview video below, but this place is more than just a museum with a lavish Lego retail shop. As Hoodline reports, it's billed as "the ultimate indoor Lego playground," and it encompasses 31,000 square feet at the Great Mall in Milpitas. There are play areas and a Duplo zone for younger kids, a meet-and-greet area with life-size Lego people to take photos with, and multiple things to see and do.

There's even a replica of San Francisco City Hall!

And Apple Park!

There's a racetrack where Lego builders can build vehicles and race against each other, and a continuously changing Build Challenge Circle where parents and kids can join in host-led activities, including Lego building challenges.

Basically, it's every Lego-obsessed kid's dream come true, and even probably a draw for many adults as well. So you can imagine the opening weeks are going to be pretty busy!

A quick search for timed-entry tickets shows that this week and the next several weekends already look sold out, but there are weekday slots available starting on Monday. Find yours here.

Kevin Gitmed, the 35-year-old Gilroy man suspected in the Saturday night homicide of a woman in Milpitas, was found dead Wednesday night after being tracked to a hotel in Merced County.

Milpitas police say they had located Gitmed at the unnamed hotel, somewhere in Merced County, and knocked on the door of his room to demand he come out. As NBC Bay Area reports, after receiving no response, officers busted into the room and found Gitmed dead inside.

Gitmed's death is now being investigated by the Merced County Sheriff's Office.

Milpitas police officers were on the hunt for Gitmed since last weekend, and put out photos of him in the local press on Monday saying he was armed and dangerous. A $20,000 reward was also offered for information leading to Gitmed's arrest.

Gitmed was believed to have been responsible for the death of 40-year-old Causandra Inocencio, who was found suffering from a gunshot wound on October 10 in a room at the Hilton Garden Inn on Ranch Drive in Milpitas. Inocencio was a resident of San Jose, as the Mercury News reports, and she later died in the hospital.

Initial reports on the homicide suggested that Gitmed and Inocencio knew one another, and that this was not a random act.

A Gilroy man who's considered armed and dangerous was on the loose Monday, and authorities believe he was responsible for the shooting death of a woman on Sunday night in Milpitas.

The suspect, as KPIX reports, has been identified as 35-year-old Kevin James Gitmed of Gilroy, and Milpitas police are actively trying to locate him.

The killing happened on the 30 block of Ranch Drive in Milpitas, and was reported at 10:16 p.m. on Sunday.

The victim in the shooting has only been identified as a 40-year-old San Jose resident, and her name has not been made public. She was, reportedly, known to the suspect and this was not a random act.

Gitmed has been described as a white man, 6-feet-one-inch tall, around 250 pounds, with blond hair, brown eyes, and multiple tattoos on his arms, hands, and chest. Images of Gitmed appear below.

Anyone who spots Gitmed is asked to call 911 immediately. Anyone with information about the crime or about Gitmed's whereabouts is asked to call the Milpitas Police Department at (408) 586-2400. You can also submit a tip online via their website.

Update: Gitmed was found dead on October 14 in a hotel room in Merced County after authorities had tracked him there.

If any kind of wildfire arson case is liable to incite rage in any Californian, what about the case of an alleged arson tourist who apparently flew here just to set the state on fire?

A 68-year-old man from Lonejack, Missouri has been charged with 15 counts of arson in connection with wildfires that burned 128 acres near Milpitas last weekend.

The Santa Clara District Attorney filed charges against Freddie Graham, after a witness placed his rental car at the scene of several wildfires that were sparked Friday and Saturday. As KPIX reports, the DA says that Graham flew into San Jose Thursday, from Missouri, set the fires on Friday and Saturday, and planned to fly back home after that.

Authorities arrested Graham trying to return his rental car at Mineta San Jose International Airport after a witnesses reported his license plate in the vicinity of the fires.

Supervising Deputy District Attorney Bud Porter tells the Mercury News, "But for that Good Samaritan coming forward with the license plate, this crime probably would never have been solved."

The fires were set along narrow roads that wind between Ed Levin Park and the Calaveras Reservoir. Prosecutors believe that Graham lit pieces of paper on fire with a lighter and tossed them out of his car window to spark the blazes. Any motive Graham might have remains unknown. While Friday's grass fires were extinguished quickly, the nine fires that were set on Saturday took most of the weekend to contain, and scorched 128 acres.

And this isn't the only fire-related thing Graham is alleged to have been up to in the last year. As local Missouri station KSHB reports, Graham was due in court yesterday back in Lone Jack related to an August 2018 case in which he's alleged to have intentionally set a load of hay on a semi tractor-trailer on fire. He was charged with knowingly burning or exploding by the Lone Jack Police Department, and authorities say Graham told them he was "mad" at the company that owned the semi truck for not hiring him to be a delivery driver last year.

In addition to 13 counts of felony arson in the Milpitas case, Graham has been charged with two additional arson counts alleging an arson committed during a state of emergency. He faces up to 22 years in prison if convicted.