Category: kesq-local-news

Jesus Reyes

MECCA, Calif. (KESQ) – A suspect was arrested in connection with a stabbing that left a person in critical condition after being stabbed Thursday night in Mecca.

The stabbing was reported just before 7:00 p.m. on the 91000 block of 2nd Street, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office confirmed.

“… deputies located a subject with injuries consistent with a stab wound. The subject was transported to a local hospital in critical condition,” Lieutenant Deirdre Vickers, RSO spokesperson, told News Channel 3.

Additional details on the stabbing were not available.

RSO confirmed a suspect was taken into custody on Friday, just before 10:30 a.m. in the 91000 block of 3rd Street.

As of Friday, authorities said the victim was in stable condition.

The investigation remains ongoing. Stay with News Channel 3 for continuing updates.

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City News Service

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KESQ) – A former solar power developer sued by Riverside County and other jurisdictions over deficient business practices settled the legal action in a pretrial agreement requiring the remnants of the enterprise to pay $4.3 million in restitution and penalties, it was announced today.

Vivint Solar Inc., previously headquartered in Lehi, Utah, reached the settlement with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office as part of a stipulated judgment formally entered at the Riverside Historic Courthouse Wednesday.

Along with Riverside County, prosecuting agencies in Alameda, Fresno, San Diego and San Francisco were also plaintiffs in the civil action and will receive portions of the payout. The case originated in Riverside County, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Vivint Solar was absorbed by Sunrun Solar, which existed prior to the lawsuit and was not in any way involved in Vivint Solar’s disputes, according to prosecutors. A Utah company now bearing the Vivint brand specializes in home security. Its representatives emphasized in an email to City News Service that it is a “different company” and requested that there not be “and misidentification” so as to implicate it in the civil suit.   

Attorneys for the defunct Vivint Solar Inc. were not listed in the Riverside County Superior Court register.

According to the District Attorney’s Office, Vivint Solar repeatedly misrepresented its terms of sale of residential photovoltaic systems to customers between August 2016 and October 2020.

Prosecutors further alleged that disclosures which should have been made to buyers were not, including projected savings from “Solar Power Purchase Agreements.” The civil complaint also alleged that consumers’ ability to cancel solar PPAs were not adequately addressed prior to sales.

The settlement calls for $1.3 million in civil penalties, and that $3 million be set aside in a “restitution fund” that consumers who were allegedly harmed by agreements covering the period in question may qualify to access.

Riverside County will receive $510,000 from the penalty distribution, according to the DA’s office.

The agency said directions on how parties may apply for disbursals from the restitution fund will eventually be posted on the Sunrun web portal, www.sunrun.com.

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City News Service

INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – A jury was seated today for the trial of a man accused of providing a deadly dose of fentanyl to a 22-year-old Rancho Mirage resident on New Year’s Day 2022.

Riley Jacob Hagar, 28, of Cathedral City is charged with second-degree murder for the death of Travis O’Brien.   

After more than a week of jury selection, a panel was seated on Thursday at the Larson Justice Center in Indio. Riverside County Superior Court Judge Kristi Hester scheduled opening statements for Monday morning.   

Hagar is being held without bail at the Benoit Detention Center.  

The defendant was arrested in August 2022, following a months-long investigation by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department’s Overdose Death Investigations Unit.

Sgt. Ryan Marcuse said that on the afternoon of Jan. 1, 2022, deputies were called to a property in the 69000 block of Highway 111, where the young man was discovered unconscious and presumed dead. Paramedics arrived a short time later and confirmed he’d died at the scene.

Based on undisclosed evidence amassed over the ensuing months, Hagar was identified as the supplier who allegedly sold the fentanyl that precipitated O’Brien’s death, according to Marcuse.  

No other details were disclosed.   

The defendant has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.

Since February 2021, prosecutors have charged around three dozen people in connection with fentanyl poisonings. Two prosecutions have resulted in murder convictions.

Public health statistics indicated there were 328 known fentanyl-related fatalities countywide in 2024, compared to 571 in 2023, a 42% decline. Numbers for 2025 haven’t been finalized.

Fentanyl is manufactured in overseas labs, principally in China, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which says the opioid is smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border by cartels.

It’s 80-100 times more potent than morphine and can be mixed into any number of street narcotics and prescription drugs, without a recipient knowing what he or she is consuming. Ingestion of only two milligrams can be fatal.

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María García

COACHELLA VALLEY, Calif. (KESQ) – City leaders are citing safety concerns after several small fires broke out over the past week at homeless encampments.

News Channel 3 is getting answers on what’s being done to make sure those experiencing homelessness know resources are available. News Channel 3’s Maria Garcia spoke with the county and one advocate who says more must be done. They added that the safest option is connecting with valley resources.

But it also raises another question – if resources are available, why aren’t more people experiencing homelessness using them?

Firefighters removed several encampments set up in tamarisk trees along the railroad tracks and Interstate 10 on Wednesday. They were called back to the same area early this morning, where it appears a fire in those same trees rekindled overnight.

Greg Rodriguez, director of Riverside County’s Housing and Workforce Solutions, says helping people in these encampments isn’t simple — and often takes dozens of repeated attempts.

“On average in Riverside County, it takes about 57 attempts to get somebody into services. Many of them have serious mental health issues, or substance use or a combination of both,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez says a recent street medicine program has helped combat the epidemic with more of a healthcare approach.

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Blake Arthur

COACHELLA VALLEY, Calif. (KESQ) — Nearby Cal Baptist University has decided to cut the men’s wrestling program at the conclusion of this season.

“We have closely monitored the shifting landscape of intercollegiate athletics that has affected institutions across the nation,” said Micah Parker, Ph.D., vice president for Athletics.

“While we had hoped to continue offering our full slate of athletic programs in this new environment, it has become clear that changes are required to realize the university’s goal of achieving greater competitive excellence that the new Division I era demands.”

The full release regarding cancellation of the men’s wrestling program can be found HERE.

This decision has the CBU wrestling program shocked and devastated, but motivated to fight to save it.

KESQ News Channel 3 spoke with CBU wrestling alum Nolan Kistler, advocating for change in the hopes of keeping the program.

“I was shocked,” said Kistler.

“I actually received a DM from my friend on Instagram, and I thought it was a joke. I didn’t think it was real. They’re [the student-athletes] devastated. A lot of them don’t have other options. I mean this decision was made mid-season. I think a lot of people don’t know that CBU is the only Division 1 wrestling program in Southern California,” said Kistler.

CBU men’s wrestling has created a website as part of their efforts to save their program. You can find that HERE.

Stay with KESQ News Channel 3 for the latest developments on this story.

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Peter Daut

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) – From Palm Springs to Indio, a growing number of Coachella Valley residents say aircraft noise is disrupting their daily lives.

The complaints follow a change by the FAA to the flight approach path into Palm Springs International Airport, and now, the airport is trying to do something about it.

News Channel 3’s Peter Daut spoke in-depth with Kevin J. Corcoran, the chair of the airport commission.

“We’ve heard a lot from folks in Indian Wells, from Cathedral City and others, who all of a sudden for the first time are hearing planes and complaining about noise that they’ve never experienced before,” Corcoran said.

Watch the full interview starting at 4:00 p.m. on News Channel 3 and CBS Local 2.

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Shay Lawson

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (KESQ)  – Olive Crest Desert Communities, a local non-profit dedicated to preventing child abuse, is hosting its annual “Power of One” fundraising dinner on Thursday.

Organizers said this year’s event will “feature an elegant dinner to celebrate and honor the extraordinary Olive Crest Champions of Hope, those individuals, as well as, companies who have been dedicated to protecting and serving children and families in crisis.”

Alia Azariah will be the featured Keynote Speaker. She is a survivor and a nationally recognized expert on human trafficking, sex trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of children.

News Channel 3’s Karen Devine is hosting the event.

You can donate to Olive Crest Desert Communities at this link.

Stay with News Channel 3 for continuing live coverage.

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City News Service

BANNING, Calif. (KESQ) – A former Coachella Valley girls soccer coach who molested and propositioned multiple students was sentenced today to 61 years, four months in state prison.

A Banning jury in October convicted 30-year-old Juan Manuel Pantoja Troncoso of Salton City of three counts each of forcible lewd acts on a child and contacting a minor for the purpose of perpetrating a sexual offense, four counts of annoying a child and one count of battery, with sentence-enhancing allegations of targeting multiple victims.   

During a hearing at the Banning Justice Center Thursday, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Mark Singerton denied a defense motion for new trial and proceeded with imposing the sentence required under state law on Troncoso, 30, who had no prior felony convictions.

Deputy District Attorney Thomas Farnell rendered a detailed account of the five victims’ recollections of what occurred during their interactions with the defendant, when he was one of the lead athletics coaches in the After-School Education & Safety Program at Toro Canyon Middle School in Thermal in 2019.   

The campus’ principal soccer coach, Javier Perez, said some of the girls refused to take to the field unless he was present, fearing Troncoso’s behavior. Middle school teacher Maria Sylva testified the defendant liked “12 to 14-year-old girls. That’s his type.”

Defense attorney Melanie Roe countered that most of the witnesses were negatively influenced by Sylva, who bore unexplained animosity toward Troncoso and had spoken with the girls before they went to authorities.   

“Sylva contaminated the memories of these girls,” Roe told jurors. “She had a mean-spirited intent.”  

She said the victims, now in their late teens, had ideas planted by Sylva, including the use of words such as “uncomfortable” and “inappropriate,” which students in their early teens wouldn’t normally convey unless an adult, in this case an educator, had steered them toward such terms.  

As to whether her client had made casual observations or offered supportive hugs to the youths, Roe questioned where the line was drawn between criminal offense and friendly chat.  

She praised Troncoso’s character, pointing out he was holding down three jobs to support his family at the time of his arrest in 2020.   

The defendant was dismissed by the Coachella Valley Unified School District in the winter of 2020.

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Jesus Reyes

MECCA, Calif. (KESQ) – A hiker was rescued after suffering a medical emergency on Ladder Canyon Trail, east of Mecca Thursday afternoon.

The incident was first reported at around 12:50 p.m.

“Due to difficult access, CHP helicopter H60 was utilized to locate and retrieve the patient. The patient was delivered to a waiting ground ambulance and transported to an area hospital,” reads a post by CAL FIRE.

There was no word on the current condition of the hiker. Stay with News Channel 3 for any new developments.

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Jesus Reyes

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KESQ) – The Riverside County Department of Animal Services has partnered with Ironwood State Prison to bring people and animals together to help save and change lives through a novel foster program.

31 RivCo dogs started the foster program with incarcerated men at the state prison located in Blythe, where the dogs can socialize, exercise and learn new manners outside of the stressful shelter environment.

As one of the largest sheltering systems in the country taking in over 35,000 animals in 2024, RCDAS continues to operate in critically overcrowded shelters for dogs, and this new program is a unique opportunity to help both people and pets.

The human foster participants were screened and selected by prison staff and share daily caretaking responsibilities for the dogs.

“This program is all about community and learning new ways people and pets can support each other,” said Jaclyn Schart, RCDAS Deputy Director of Programs and Operations. “These dogs get to play, socialize and build connection with their caretakers who are also teaching them new skills, so when it’s time for adoption the dogs are better prepared to transition into their new environment.”

The dogs’ health is monitored by an RCDAS veterinary team, and prison officials oversee the daily schedules for the dogs and their caretakers. Throughout the program, the dogs practice or learn new skills like walking on leash and sleeping in a crate, but most importantly, they get to experience focused attention and care from their foster guardians.

Correctional Officer Randy Gregory first spearheaded a similar program at the Ironwood facility with a local rescue, but after hearing that shelters were struggling with overcrowding, he reached out to RCDAS.

“This program helps the inmates tremendously because they’re able to focus their energy, attention and time into helping dogs who might need extra support or just need help coming out of their shells,” said Gregory. “I know firsthand the kind of transformations that can happen when we invest in emotional healing, and if the dogs can help the inmates and vice versa then it’s a win all around. We’re excited to work together to get some dogs adopted and change the perception that people have towards shelter dogs.”

T. Jones is a foster guardian who has helped three dogs prepare for their forever homes while incarcerated at Ironwood. He credits fostering dogs with helping him find purpose and hopes the partnership with RCDAS can continue to grow.

“It’s empowering that people trust us with these dogs,” said Jones. “It’s helping the dog, but it’s helping us at the same time with a new responsibility. It’s teaching us patience, kindness and being in touch with our feelings.”

The RivCo dogs at Ironwood become available for adoption after 14 days in the program, if they are not first adopted by Ironwood staff or families of the foster guardians. Since starting the foster program in December, eight RivCo dogs have been adopted without having to return to a shelter.

“We’re grateful that Officer Randy from Ironwood State Prison brought this idea forward. We’re in the business of saying yes, especially when it comes to programs that create second chances,” said Fourth District Supervisor V. Manuel Perez. “Initiatives like this not only help dogs become more adoptable, but they also support rehabilitation by building responsibility, compassion, and purpose. It’s a powerful example of what can happen when institutions come together to serve both people and animals.”

According to Ironwood State Prison Warden, Chris Pierce, the program has been a great morale booster for the employees and incarcerated people. The goal is to expand the foster program capability to 80 dogs with 200 incarcerated handlers in the future. ISP is also planning to grow its support for RCDAS by providing 100 temporary kennels for emergency response situations.

“We are looking forward to growing our partnership with Riverside County and providing them with, what I believe to be, the best dog program in the state,” said Pierce. “We are here to help the dogs, and it’s amazing to see the dogs creating a positive impact at Ironwood in such a short amount of time.”

For more information on the Ironwood Dog Foster Program and how to adopt a dog in the program, visit www.rcdas.org/Ironwood.

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