Over 100 dogs that were rescued from a hoarder in Riverside will now be placed for adoption. On Thursday, officials responded to a fire that ignited in a two-bedroom townhome. Inside the home, 113 small dogs that were being hoarded were discovered by Riverside Animal Shelter Rescue Department workers. All dogs were removed from the home and impounded at an animal shelter. Riverside shelter workers contacted Mission Viejo Animal Services Center for help and seven dogs were transferred to the center's “A Mission for Home” program. The dogs will soon be available for adoption after they are bathe ..read more

A mother and cancer patient is left devastated after her Mission Viejo restaurant was destroyed in a massive fire. “I don't think there's anything salvageable in there,” said Angelina Esqueda, owner of Green Chile Cantina. “It’s so inundated with smoke. Everything is black — all of the booths, the tables, the floors.” On Sunday, Jan. 21, just before 7 a.m., firefighters responded to a massive fire engulfing the restaurant on the 23600 block of Via Linda. The blaze left behind a trail of destruction including burned-out interiors, a collapsed ceiling, major water damage and more. The total dama ..read more

A Romanian man arrested last week for stealing EBT card information was convicted Tuesday, the United States Department of Justice said. Mission Viejo resident Florin Duduianu, 39, was convicted on two counts of aggravated identity theft after a two-day bench trial, the DOJ said in a news release. Duduianu, described by authorities as one of the most wanted men in Romania, was part of a group of 48 people arrested for allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from state public assistance programs. Prosecutors allege that in August 2023, they installed skimming devices on ATMs, gas pu ..read more

Authorities are searching for a suspect after a woman was assaulted on a Mission Viejo hiking trail on Friday night. The female victim was walking her dog near the Norman P. Murray Center around 9:40 p.m. when a man suddenly approached her from behind, said the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. The suspect grabbed the woman around her waist and dragged her for about two feet, deputies said. As the victim was screaming, she was able to push the suspect away and escape to her vehicle. She quickly drove away from the scene before contacting authorities. The victim said the suspect never said a ..read more

A community is rallying around an Orange County couple as they both battle cancer while raising three young daughters. Zak Salazar discovered he had a brain tumor while his wife Cori Salazar was being treated for thyroid cancer.  Cori had just returned back to work after months away as she was receiving treatment for thyroid cancer. Just as the family was focused on Cori, suddenly, Zak received the shocking news that a malignant tumor was found on his brain. In April, Cori was diagnosed with a fast-growing papillary thyroid carcinoma. Following recovery from a June 6 surgery, just three w ..read more

An Irvine woman who works as a dermatologist has been indicted after she allegedly poisoned her husband over several weeks with liquid drain cleaner last year, officials announced Wednesday. Yue “Emily” Yu, 45, is accused of pouring the liquid into her husband’s tea, which caused him to have stomach ulcers, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. Yu was arrested last summer after her husband began noticing a strange taste in his tea. The taste continued and he decided to install cameras in the family’s kitchen to see if he could capture any evidence of why his tea tasted str ..read more

A San Bernardino County man has been convicted of multiple rape and molestation attacks involving underage victims. Kevin Michael Konther, 57, of Highland, faces up to 140 years to life in prison when he is sentenced on March 21, said the Orange County District Attorney's Office. Both Konther and his twin brother were arrested in January 2019 after a genetic investigation connected the siblings to DNA from the 1995 rape of a 9-year-old girl in Lake Forest and the 1998 rape of a 32-year-old female jogger in Mission Viejo. Authorities say Konther initially accused his twin brother of the crimes ..read more

A wild and dangerous scene was captured on video in Orange County Thursday afternoon when a driver smashed into parked cars and tried to run over a man before leading authorities on a brief chase. Video shows the female driver of a Nissan Rogue crash into several vehicles in a business parking lot in the 24000 block of Chrisanta Drive. Simon Wong was recording video from an upstairs window as the driver crashed into his SUV. He ran downstairs with his cell phone camera still recording, only to have the woman try to run him over ..read more

Firefighters were called to a Mission Viejo home after flames engulfed a garage and several vehicles early Friday morning. Neighbors reported the fire and pounded on the door of the home around 1:15 a.m. to alert the sleeping residents, the Orange County Fire Authority posted on Instagram. Arriving firefighters found flames burning through a garage and igniting at least two vehicles that could be seen parked in the driveway. All of the residents and their dog managed to escape the home safely, the OCFA stated. Crews were able to douse the fire in about 15 minutes, managing to contain the damag ..read more

School administration officials are investigating allegations of racist taunting during a football game over the weekend, according to the Orange County Register. The incident occurred during a game between San Clemente and Mission Viejo high schools in San Clemente on Friday, according to the newspaper. Mission Viejo football players were allegedly subjected to racist comments during the game, though the details of the comments are unknown. The Capistrano and Saddleback Valley unified school districts both told the newspaper that officials are investigating the matter ..read more