LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif.—“Look at those braces. Alex was the light of my life,” Amy Neville said while looking at an image of her son, Alexander. “The last time I saw him alive was about 9 p.m. in the evening. He was gone the following morning,” she said. In June 2020, 14-year-old Alexander was found by…

Deaths in the homeless population have sky-rockered over the last decade in Orange County, California, primarily due to drug-related overdoses from fentanyl, according to a Feb. 27 report from county law enforcement. In light of increasing homeless deaths in the region, Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes last year created the county’s first committee to analyze…

The Orange County Board of Supervisors Jan. 24 unanimously approved writing a letter of support for a state bill that, if passed, would allow prosecutors to charge fentanyl dealers with murder if someone dies as a result of them ingesting a drug they sold. Senate Bill 44, introduced last month by Sen. Tom Umberg (D-Santa…

SANTA ANA, Calif.—A former Orange County Sheriff’s Department deputy has pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 120 days in jail for stealing the credit cards of dead victims he came across while on the job, according to court records obtained Thursday. Steve Hortz, 43, of San Dimas, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to single felony counts…

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department awarded 54 brave individuals, mostly comprised of deputies, for going above and beyond the call of duty in the year 2020 during their 33rd annual Medal of Valor event on Sept. 30. The event featured deputies recalling individual and group accounts during a pre-recorded presentation in front of the live…

When Gail Smith lost her son to a drug overdose in 2016, she joined an Orange County club of which nobody wants to be a member. “My son Kenny died of an accidental overdose of heroin mixed with fentanyl,” Smith told The Epoch Times. “We were told that there was enough fentanyl to kill 10…

The fate of about 1,800 Orange County inmates remains unclear as legal proceedings continue into whether the prisoners should be released amidst an ongoing pandemic. During a Jan. 8 court hearing, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) answered questions regarding its plans to reduce a CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus outbreak among its prison populations….

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department will present its plan to mitigate a COVID-19 jail surge to an appeals judge Jan. 8 as it continues its fight to keep more than 1,000 inmates behind bars. “The sheriff believes that his plan is what is best for the Orange County community,” department spokesman Sgt. Dennis Breckner told The Epoch…

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department will present its plan to mitigate a COVID-19 jail surge to an appeals judge Jan. 8 as it continues its fight to keep more than 1,000 inmates behind bars. “The sheriff believes that his plan is what is best for the Orange County community,” department spokesman Sgt. Dennis Breckner told The Epoch…

More than one-third of Orange County’s jail population was COVID-19 positive Dec. 30, but Sheriff Don Barnes said he’ll fight the latest orders to release 1,800 inmates. Barnes was initially ordered Dec. 11 by an Orange County Supreme Court Judge to reduce the jail population by 50 percent. The sheriff responded to the order by…