The Orange County Sheriff's Department is looking for a man who allegedly exposed himself to hikers in Rancho Santa Margarita on Tuesday. The suspect is accused of "expos[ing] his private parts" to two women on the Live Oak Canyon Trail at about 7:30 p.m., the Sheriff's Department said in a release. "Deputies responded and searched the area, but did not locate the suspect," the release added. The suspect is a man in his 20s who is believed to be skinny and of average height with dark, medium-length curly hair. Anyone with information is asked to call 949-770-6011, or they can contact Crime Sto ..read more

The Orange County Sheriff's Department is looking for a man who is believed to have sexually assaulted a girl in Rancho Santa Margarita Friday evening. This sketch of a sexual assault suspect was released by the Orange County Sheriff's Department on Feb. 26, 2022. The attack took place at about 6:30 p.m. on a public roadway near Antonio and Santa Margarita parkways, according to Sgt. Ryan Anderson of the OCSD. The man, who is believed to be between 30 and 35 years old, followed the girl on foot, assaulted her and fled southbound on Antonio Parkway when she called 911, Anderson said. The girl w ..read more

A mountain lion who spent four months in rehabilitation was released back into the wild Monday in Rancho Santa Margarita. The 6-month-old cub and her sister arrived at the San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center after their mother was hit by a car, leaving them orphaned near the Tijeras Creek Golf Course in Orange County, the Humane Society said in a news release Wednesday. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife determined that the cubs could not fend for themselves in Rancho Santa Margarita, which is what prompted them to request assistance. The first cub arrived at the Ramo ..read more

Authorities are seeking the public's help to identify two men accused of following a 15-year-old girl in Rancho Santa Margarita, officials announced Wednesday. Just before 4 p.m. Tuesday, two men were reported to be driving in the bicycle lane on northbound Antonio Parkway, between Tijeras Creek and Via Entrada, according to an Orange County Sheriff's Department new release. The men were "closely following" a 15-year-old girl as she was running on the sidewalk, the department said. The two then get out of the vehicle in close proximity to her. The girl ran from the men, and the pair then got b ..read more

A musician who worked for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange has been arrested on suspicion of lewd acts with a girl under the age of 14, officials said Friday. Michael Medeiros is seen in a booking photo released by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department on March 13, 2020. Michael Medeiros, 34, of Lake Forest, was fired in February after the church was notified about the allegations with the underage girl which date back to 2018, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release. Medeiros is suspected of two counts of felony child molestation.  The victim was a girl he knew ..read more

An Orange County sheriff’s deputy is facing felony charges for allegedly attacking his girlfriend after a birthday party in January, prosecutors said Thursday. Kyle Edward Pickard, 28, of Rancho Santa Margarita, is charged with domestic battery, making criminal threats and false imprisonment by violence or menace, the O.C. District Attorney’s Office said in a news release. Pickard pleaded not guilty Thursday. If convicted as charged, he could face up to three years in state prison, the DA’s office said. Thursday’s announcement was the first time the allegations were made public. But the Sherif ..read more

A suspect in a Dana Point bank robbery who was found dead in a vehicle at the end of a SWAT standoff after leading deputies on a pursuit to Rancho Santa Margarita may be the “Leatherface Bandit” serial robber, linked to three prior heists in Orange County, officials said. The standoff was reported shortly before 5 p.m. at Avenida De Las Banderas and Avenida Empresa, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. A SWAT team responded to the scene and tried to communicate with the suspect, police said via social media. Authorities announced the suspect was found dead inside a vehicle abou ..read more

Nearly a decade after two employees were killed in an explosion at an Orange County factory, the plastics manufacturing company where they worked has agreed to a $1.6-million settlement to put an end to a long-running civil lawsuit, the district attorney’s office announced Thursday. The owners of Solus Industrial Innovations will pay $1.5 million in penalties and $100,000 in restitution to the families of the men who were killed when a water heater exploded at the plant in Rancho Santa Margarita in March 2009. The late-night blast caused the water heater to shoot through the roof of the facili ..read more

A man who admitted to stalking a woman and setting six fires in Mission Viejo has been sentenced to prison, authorities announced Thursday. Orange County prosecutors said Jack Frye, a former Mission Viejo High School student, stalked his victim in March 2018. Frye slashed her car tires on March 14, and four days later, he tried to enter her home in Rancho Santa Margarita, the District Attorney’s Office said. He ignited multiple fires at Mission Viejo High School and one fire at the Kaleidoscope Courtyards shopping center in Mission Viejo between March 28 and April 4, according to OCDA. Frye un ..read more

Prosecutors filed charges against a man accused of taking tens of thousands of dollars over several years from a Little League in Rancho Santa Margarita, officials announced Friday. Joshua Paul Nowack, a 43-year-old Trabuco Canyon resident, faced 18 felony counts of embezzlement by fiduciary of trust, with sentencing enhancement for property damage over $65,000, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. As treasurer of the Tijeras Little League, he allegedly embezzled more than $87,500 by diverting funds from the league to personal bank accounts between January 2014 and Septem ..read more