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Stories by Eva Knott

San Marcos goat thief blames Elon Musk

The would-be goat thief admitted he was psychotic. But Elon Musk had nothing to do with it.Alexander Belinsky was 36 when he first sneaked into the San Marcos backyard . The woman was home and she …

Jurors affirm riot charges for two defendants in 2021 PB violence

Two men – Jeremy Jonathan White, 41, and Brian Cortez Lightfoot, Jr., 27 – who drove from Los Angeles to attack a pro-Trump rally in Pacific Beach in 2021 were found guilty of felony conspiracy …

Roberto Flores admits trying to kill Oceanside cop, just before third trial

Roberto Ignacio Flores, 32, who was convicted by two different juries of the attempted murder of an Oceanside cop, but had both convictions overturned, made a plea deal in which he admitted the attempted murder …

Antifa asks for names of embedded cops in Pacific Beach violence

San Francisco attorney Curtis Briggs asked for the names of all policemen who were embedded in the Antifa mob during an assault in San Diego on January 9, 2021. The demand was heard Friday, March 1, …

Questions Ashli Babbitt left behind

“It’s never gonna get easier, losing her. It just gets a little different, every day.”— Aaron Babbitt, widower of Ashli BabbittOn January 6 of 2023, Ashli Babbitt’s mother Mickie Witthoeft was arrested in Washington, D.C. for …

January 24, 2024
Del Mar wife living rich sentenced for trying to kill rich husband

Tatyana Natasha Remley, 43, stood before a judge last Thursday, December 28 and admitted that she tried to hire a hitman to kill her husband and that she possessed a concealed, loaded firearm that was …

January 1, 2024
Not long after Todd Gloria removed gang injunctions, San Diego violent crime is up

“It’s time for the city to take a hard look at and update its police practices for modern times,” said Mayor Todd Gloria on April 9, 2021. He declared his intention to make “common sense …

Deathly bike routes: Friars, Nimitz, Pershing

Dangerous bike spotsFriars Road, Nimitz Blvd, University Ave., Pershing Dr., Genesee, Pacific Hwy at Barnett Ave.Safer routes: SD River Trail, West Point Loma, Robinson, GovernorBy Dryw Keltz, Sept. 23, 2015The curvy road from Fallbrook to …

November 11, 2023
Not so innocent off trail in Cuyamaca

Citizen pot bustI thought about the spring day my two hiking buddies and I were off-trail, crashing through dense thickets of tangled brush. It was growing dark, and the three of us had gotten separated. …

October 29, 2023
Pressure to build in mountains near San Marcos

San Marcos in crosshairs of GrowthzillaBack then, the mammoth housing development was called Merriam Mountains. It's now called Newland Sierra, but the opposition's pitchforks are jabbing at the same worries: density, traffic, wildfire evacuations, water, …

October 23, 2023
San Francisco attorneys to San Diego judge: there is no such thing as Antifa

Attorneys from San Francisco argued before a San Diego Superior Court judge lin September that there is no such thing as Antifa and thus the conspiracy to riot charge should be dismissed. Attorneys John Hamasaki and …

October 16, 2023
Man interested in 11-year-old girl at Mance Buchanon Park

Mom Melissa is a curvy woman with long blonde hair. She came into the courtroom with a determined stride and testified at a pre-trial hearing on July 10. Melissa told the judge she has four children, …

August 8, 2023
Oceanside live-in tests boyfriend's patience with her friend's theft of Nissan

Ryan wore a T-shirt and jeans when he testified, he looked as if he might have come straight from his mechanic job to the courthouse on July 5. Ryan said he paid $18,000 when he …

Not quite Goldilocks in Paseo Pacificas condo

Dennis wears his brown hair short and has a light beard that is carefully trimmed. He looks tall and fit and wore a black polo shirt and khaki pants when he testified in court on …

Animal abuse charges dropped against Antifa man using bear mace in Pacific Beach

A Los Angeles man was un-charged for macing a dog and its walker during the Antifa riot in Pacific Beach on January 9, 2021. Prosecutors claim it was Jeremy Jonathan White who described himself as …

Pet pitbull released at Oceanside library by 'animal activist'

Oceanside police responded to a call from the public library at 4:30 pm on Saturday May 13. Patrol officer Ryan Heinze spoke to a tall man named Dominick, “He told me that he had tied …

Bonsall's golf land not so idyllic

Golf Course headed for the rough? Retired Fallbrook elementary school teacher Joan McConnell had just returned on Sunday (January 24) from the site of the former San Luis Rey Downs Golf Club. Two years ago, …

February 20, 2023
Fallbrook Guns burglar nabbed by dog

The owner of the Fallbrook Guns & Ammo store on Main Street in downtown Fallbrook called 911 a little before 9 p.m. on Wednesday, January 18, 2023. He told police that he could see a …

February 6, 2023
Blood all over north San Diego County

A father’s blood in Rancho Santa Fe Kim saw the two men come outside and walk up a pathway to the pergola; it was a high spot on the property where they could sit and …

January 29, 2023
Amazon deliverer drives off with Encinitas golden retriever

Denise Reppenhagen was on a waiting list for a golden retriever puppy in early 2021. She saw ultrasounds of the puppies, and then she saw pics of the newborn puppies, and every two weeks she …

December 27, 2022
Fallbrook – a door into the past

I want the backwards clock to go forward and the forward clock to go backwards Outside the barbershop, the street is usually sunny. Cars stop for the light and move past us, windows down, arms …

December 11, 2022
Ironsmith Coffee owner shot in neck and face

Jmar Teyvan Tarafa, 31, is now held without bail, after he allegedly tried to shoot an Encinitas coffee shop owner point-blank in the face, according to statements by a prosecutor late yesterday, October 17, 2022. …

October 31, 2022
JCPenney, Macy’s, Marshalls, TJ Maxx push back against thieves

After California lawmakers changed the threshold for felony theft to $950, the surge of shoplifters has become notorious. But retailers apparently have organized in Southern California in effort to survive. At a recent court hearing …

Oceanside stabber admits manslaughter

“You are going to get out of prison while you are still a young man,” the judge spoke directly to Carey Reid, who turned 25 this month. Reid made a plea deal, admitting that he …

September 27, 2022
A cop’s eye view of the January 9 encounter with Antifa

On January 2 of 2021, a Patriot March in San Diego was announced on social media, to begin at 2 pm on January 9 at the foot of Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach. The flier …

Antifa defendants expose selves gloating over Reader cover

An Instagram post and a Reader cover photo helped police identify five Antifa activists who allegedly attacked people in Pacific Beach on January 9, 2021, according to redacted transcripts of the May 2022 grand jury …

Wannabe cop pulls over seven North County drivers

A 21-year-old man had his 18-year-old girlfriend in his car when he pretended to be a policeman and pulled over another car last week, according to a San Diego County prosecutor who spoke in court …

Twisted Tea part of grand jury’s conspiracy indictment against Antifa

San Diego’s groundbreaking Antifa criminal conspiracy case was reinforced on May 23 when a grand jury indicted eleven alleged Antifa militants with conspiracy to riot and various assault charges, for the attacks on pedestrians in …

Vista bomb makers caught

“This case started on May 3 when a concerned citizen called in a suspicious device, located in the parking lot of a church that was Vista Christian Fellowship,” prosecutor David Jarman told a judge last …

May 23, 2022
Encinitas and Oceanside break-in man held guilty

Eric Joseph Budd, 35, has a criminal history in San Diego County dating from 2015 when he was 28. Budd has been accused of under the influence, petty theft, shoplifting, reckless driving, public intoxication, resisting …

Young man clad in black beats janitor at Plaza Paseo Real

Multiple calls went out to 911 reporting a man dressed all in black assaulting another man at a Carlsbad shopping mall, a few days before Christmas. Police responded at 10:22 a.m. on Wednesday, December 22. …

February 23, 2022
Car followed from Las Pulgas Rd. had 31,986 bogus oxycodone pills

On Thursday, December 2, Deputy Jeremy Bedingfield and his dog Milo were driving northbound on Interstate 5 near Las Pulgas Road, a Camp Pendleton exit, when Bedingfield noticed a pickup truck a little ahead. The …

February 8, 2022
Series of crimes already by 23 years old

Isaiah Michael Dyer, 23, was sentenced this week to nine years prison. Dyer was first arrested by the San Diego County Sheriff the same year he turned 18, that was on New Year’s Eve in …

January 24, 2022
Varrio San Marcos gang shoots up Oceanside baptism party

A parolee was wearing a GPS ankle monitor when he drove a car full of homies to shoot up a baptism celebration, according to a prosecutor. The shooting four years ago killed one man and …

Did Jennifer Ramos lie in wait for Chad Danielson?

Oceanside police officer Kari Winship was first to arrive, after the 911 call reporting a fight in the front yard of the home on Garfield Street in Oceanside. Witnesses reported seeing an Hispanic male with …

December 24, 2021
Silver Mazda kills four on San Pasqual Road sidewalk

At 6 pm on May 5 of 2020, twenty-eight year old Ashley Rene Williams sent an order, probably while still at work in Poway, to the Shake Specials marijuana dispensary: a half-gram of Gelato, a …

November 17, 2021
Escondido man punches sister, stabs aunt

She started rebuking him in the name of Jesus. She felt like he had a demon in him, and she told cops so, later that same day. “I just felt like calling on the name …

November 15, 2021
Can you find the 11 arrests in Michael Kohl's story?

Michael Kohl was first arrested by Oceanside police in late 1988, when he was 22 years old. He lived on Camp Pendleton at the time, and he told the judge he was unemployed. Because young …

November 8, 2021
Gentle Vista man shoots abusive wife in back of head

Andrew Thomas Smith was born in Canada in 1961. He lived there in Bridgeport, British Columbia his whole life, and raised his family there, until he got a divorce. Then, in 1999, when he was …

September 29, 2021
Four-year sentence for attempted rape of Carlsbad woman

Carlsbad police were contacted early the morning of February 4, 2020, alerted to an attack on a bed-ridden woman in a senior facility. The alleged incident happened at the Elmcroft Senior Living facility at 1088 …

August 30, 2021
Roberto Flores' phone call behind his illegal weapon charge

Roberto made a collect call to his girlfriend Lizzie in Oceanside, from the jail in Vista, on March 27, 2017. The call cost her about twelve dollars, they talked more than 20 minutes. As is …

August 24, 2021
Mom carried him into Escondido's Learning Jungle

The day the baby boy was born in 2016, the hospital made a call to CPS. “They had them involved since the boy was born,” his father Jared testified in court five years later — …

July 28, 2021
Knife drawn after headlock in Valley Center family compound

San Diego County sheriff deputies responded to reports of a fight on the 19300 block of Sierra Verde Road in Valley Center after 4 pm last November 2. Deputies drove up a long driveway to …

Oceanside grandma comes home from San Felipe, gets beat up and tortured

It took about five hours for Cindy and Ray to drive from their hacienda in San Felipe, Mexico, to their home in Oceanside. “The sun was out,” Cindy recalled that spring day in May 2018 …

April 21, 2021
Oceanside drug addict loses third child

In 2010, when Kelsey Shande Carpenter was 20 years old, she was arrested for possession of heroin and burglary. “She has been dealing with drug addiction for over ten years,” a prosecutor said in court …

April 13, 2021
Murder suspects hop fence near Carlsbad lagoon – updated 12-6-21

Ted said, “I got a phone call from my girlfriend.” It was just after 9 on a Monday morning. Ted said he stood up and turned away from his computer and looked out the window. …

March 8, 2021
Mary Ann Humfreville missing from Bahia de los Angeles for two months

A 74-year-old American woman who lived full-time in her home in Bahia de los Angeles in Baja has been missing for two months. Mary Ann Humfreville was discovered missing after she failed to appear at …

February 26, 2021
Conviction of Army & Navy headmaster for child abuse is overturned – updated 12-6-21

A top official at a boys academy in San Diego County had his child abuse conviction overturned, and he was granted a new trial by an appellant court. Jeffery Barton, then 55, was head of …

February 9, 2021
Dad takes girls to Oceanside's Pit Stop Diner, ends up at Tijuana hotel

Martin Ramirez was born on Thanksgiving Day, 1975 in Mexico, which he eventually left for the U.S. He married a sweet woman and in 2004, when he was 28, his wife Rosa gave him a …

Murder charged on Nardo Street in Solana Beach

Jade Sasha Janks, 37, denied murdering her step-father Thomas Merriman, 64, during a brief court appearance yesterday, January 12. Janks was arraigned remotely, by video monitor, on one count of murder in San Diego’s North …

January 13, 2021

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