MAN FREED ON BOND BUT MUST WRITE BOOK REPORTS: RICHMOND (AP) — A man charged in an undercover sting operation in Northern California that ended in gunfire has been ordered released on bond on the condition that he read and write book reports.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers allowed 23-year-old Otis Mobley to be freed Monday, although she delayed an order to allow prosecutors to appeal her decision.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that under the bond order, Mobley would be required to spend an hour reading and a half hour writing each day as he awaits trial on robbery and assault charges.
Mobley and two others are accused of arranging to sell a grenade launcher for $1,000 to an undercover federal agent in Richmond, Calif. Hutcherson was shot and wounded by agents during the alleged meeting.
KAYAKER SAYS HE SURVIVED GREAT WHITE SHARK ATTACK: CAMBRIA (AP) — A kayaker says he was attacked by a 14-foot-long great white shark as he and his friends fished off the coast of Central California and that he escaped any injuries.
Joey Nocchi believes a shark took a giant bite — about 22 inches wide — of his kayak on Saturday afternoon, off the coast of Cambria.
Nocchi says the shark slammed into him from under and that his friends watched as it launched him "out of the water 4 to 5 feet." His friends told him the shark's jaws were open.
The 30-year-old says he got back on his leaking kayak and quickly paddled to shore with them.
He says he will probably stay out of the ocean for a while.
PAROLEE CONVICTED IN MYSPACE SEX ASSAULT CASE: SANTA ANA . (AP) — A parolee from Orange County has been convicted of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl he met on MySpace.
Prosecutors say Matthew Castaneda was found guilty Monday of two felony counts. Jurors were unable to reach a verdict on two additional felony counts. He was on parole for a 2007 prior conviction and violating a restraining order a
t the time of the crime.
Prosecutors say Castaneda met the girl on MySpace in November 2009 and began communicating with her online. In February, prosecutors say Castaneda met the girl near South Coast Plaza and took her to his motel room in Anaheim where he sexually assaulted her, then fled the scene.
He was arrested two days later.
Castaneda faces a maximum sentence of 24 years to life in prison.
MAGNITUDE-4.0 QUAKE IN OCEAN OFF NORTHERN CALIF.: PETROLIA (AP) — An offshore earthquake has been reported along California's north coast.
A U.S. Geological Survey computer-generated report says the magnitude-4.0 quake struck at 3:19 a.m. Tuesday and was centered 54 miles west of Petrolia, which is about 260 miles north of San Francisco.
A Humboldt County sheriff's dispatcher says there have been no calls about damage or injury.
DEL MONTE CLOSING KINGSBURG PEACH PROCESSING PLANT: KINGSBURG (AP) — Del Monte Foods is closing one of its peach processing plant in California's San Joaquin Valley, resulting in the loss of 70 full-time and 1,100 season jobs.
The closing of the Kingsburg plant in Fresno County will take place over the next year.
San Francisco-based Del Monte says it is consolidating its peach processing operations into one plant in Modesto.
The Kingsburg plant has processed cling peaches to be packed into metal cans for 90 years.
Del Monte will continue to buy peaches from Kingsburg-area growers, who supply about 25 percent of its peaches.
