San Bernardino County Sheriff S Department

A Rialto man facing judgment on multiple counts of child molestation escaped from a San Bernardino County courthouse Tuesday, armed himself and apparently committed suicide after leading sheriff's deputies on a brief chase in Fontana, authorities said. The 46-year-old man bolted from the courtroom as jurors were entering to announce their verdict, according to San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Robin Haynal.

A man pleaded not guilty Monday to murder charges in the killing of a SWAT officer during a narcotics raid last week. The defendant, Kris Antonio Wiggins, 32, could face life in prison if convicted of the charge. Authorities said Wiggins shot and killed Sergio Carrera, 29, as the officer served a search warrant during Thursday's raid. Carrera had been with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department four years.

A shooting on the San Bernardino Freeway near Fontana early Monday morning left two Rialto men hospitalized and led to the closure of all westbound lanes for several hours during the morning rush hour, authorities said. A black Ford Taurus approached the victims' car on Interstate 10 near Sierra Avenue about 2:40 a.m., and shots were fired, hitting the driver in the jaw and the passenger in the buttocks, said San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Jodi Miller.

Jose Luis Valdes' camcorder is usually stashed in a bedroom closet next to his suitcases, gathering dust. But Sunday night, when a speeding Corvette crashed into a neighbor's fence, Valdes and his seldom-used Sony were thrust into the national spotlight. Valdes, who sells used cars in El Monte, ran outside and flicked on the record button just in time to capture a San Bernardino County Sheriff's deputy opening fire.

A federal court jury in Los Angeles awarded nearly $1 million in damages Wednesday to three Mexican nationals who claimed they were illegally beaten by San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies during an altercation in Victorville that was videotaped by a next-door neighbor. The case became a cause celebre in the desert community of Victorville, where Latino activists claimed police brutality.

San Bernardino County sheriff's investigators Tuesday questioned a Chino man who may have loaned his van to murder suspect Warren James Bland on the day 14-year-old Wendy Rachelle Osborn of Placentia disappeared on her way to school. After several hours of questioning, the investigators declined to say what information Joel David Chandler gave them and cautioned that he is not a suspect and has not been charged with any offense.

A former San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy was arraigned Wednesday on charges he solicited sexual favors from four women he detained while on duty. Matthew Linderman, 30, who was recently assigned to a Victorville mall, was charged with sexual battery on a woman who was "unlawfully restrained"; two counts of soliciting lewd conduct in a public place; soliciting oral copulation from a woman he threatened to arrest; and four counts of soliciting bribes, according to court documents.

Police said Sunday that a 22-year-old El Toro Marine apparently shot his estranged wife and then drove off a 400-foot cliff on Ortega Highway as part of a murder-suicide plan. The bodies of Cpl. Richard Brian Junck, who lived at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, and his wife, Heidi Sue Junck, 21, of Barstow, were found in the car Saturday night at the bottom of a steep ravine about 15 miles east of Interstate 5.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department has scaled back its search for a missing pilot, but volunteers continue to look for the Piper Archer II that was last seen on radar 17 miles east of Brackett Airport more than three weeks ago. Daniel Katz, 24, was last seen June 3 when he took off from Perris Valley Airport. He was training at a flight school at Brackett Airport in La Verne and was to return the rented plane to the airport.

A discarded candy wrapper, tiny shoeprints on a dirt trail and a hiker's claim that she heard a child's faint cries were just a few clues that filled searchers with hope Wednesday but failed to lead them to a 9-year-old boy who disappeared in the San Bernardino Mountains last week.