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Prosecutors changed their minds this week and obtained the warrant to arrest Bobian.

A Morgan Hill man arrested last week on suspicion of making explosives in his home has a history of bomb and drug related offenses, according to police reports and news archives.The police reports state that after initially denying that he was making explosives, Dennis Fritsinger later admitted to officers who responded to his home that he intentionally detonated a mixture of chemicals in his backyard.Fritsinger, 63, was arrested by Morgan Hill Police March 13 at his home on the 17700 block of McLaughlin Court, after his neighbors heard a series of explosions outside the residence over the previous days.On March 15, Fritsinger was charged at the South County Courthouse with one count of possession of a destructive device and one count of possession of materials with intent to make a destructive device or explosive, according to Santa Clara County Supervising Deputy District Attorney Vishal Bathija. Fritsinger’s next hearing is scheduled for 1:30pm March 23, when he is expected to enter a plea.Both charges are felonies, and his maximum sentence, if convicted, is four years, eight months in prison, according to Bathija. Fritsinger is being held at Santa Clara County Jail on $200,000 bail.According to sfgate.com, Fritsinger was convicted in 2000 of three counts of bomb possession, two counts of possessing assault rifles, three counts of possessing silencers, one count of manufacturing methamphetamine and possessing chemicals to make meth.Fritsinger was a resident of Cupertino when he was arrested for those crimes, according to sfgate, a website published by the San Francisco Chronicle.Morgan Hill Police reports of the incident, found in the court file, describe a few tense moments as the first responding officers were notified over the radio of Fritsinger’s criminal history just before they noticed test tubes, beakers and other suspicious chemistry-related materials in his garage.Officers initially responded to Fritsinger’s home after neighbors reported two explosions the afternoon and early evening of March 12. Police could not locate the source of the first explosion. But after a neighbor offered more details on the second explosion, about 6pm March 12, police pinpointed Fritsinger’s home as the source, according to the court file.One neighbor told MHPD dispatch over the phone that the 6pm explosion sent clumps of mud and other debris onto the neighbor’s next-door home and over the roof, according to the court file. The neighbor looked over the fence and saw a small crater in Fritsinger’s backyard with smoke coming out of it.Neighbors also phoned police that they had heard smaller explosions from Fritsinger’s property over the previous two weeks, according to the court file.When the first officer approached the home and asked Fritsinger about the previous explosions, he denied that any such explosions had occurred, according to the court file. The first responding officers noticed a workbench in his garage, where a “large white tube approximately eight inches in diameter, capped on both ends” was spinning on an unidentified machine. Officers also saw an “unknown substance” in a large glass beaker.Fritsinger initially told officers that the tube was a “tumbler” for polish, and that the chemicals were for refrigeration materials for his work. The court file lists Fritsinger’s profession as “self-employed.”After Fritsinger gave the officers verbal permission to search his home, police found chemicals on his kitchen island such as thermite and ammonium nitrate, the court file reads. The officers recognized these as potential bomb-making material. They also found a substance labeled “thermite ignition mix,” as well as aluminum powder, wires, electronic boards, metal pipes and a notepad with the names of chemicals listed on it.Fritsinger “then admitted to causing explosions in his backyard with thermite in a container mixed with ammonium nitrate,” according to the MHPD report contained in the court file.MHPD officers then acquired a search warrant and the Santa Clara County Bomb Squad returned to search the property March 13. Some neighboring homes on McLaughlin Court were evacuated on March 12 after the explosions were reported, and during the March 13 search.No injuries were reported due to the explosions outside his home, according to police.Fritsinger’s home is about one block east of Monterey Road just north of downtown. The Morgan Hill Pre-School Academy and Shadow Mountain Baptist School, among other commercial properties, are nearby. Britton Middle School is about two blocks away, on the west side of Monterey Road at West Central Avenue.

The City of Morgan Hill agreed to settle a federal lawsuit for $35,000 with a man who claimed he was the victim of excessive police force during a 2009 arrest, City staff said.

The family of Tara Romero is shocked and dismayed by the April 15 acquittal of Primitivo Hernandez, the 27-year-old Gilroyan who stood trial last month on charges of murder and attempted murder in relation to the 2011 drive-by shooting that took the Morgan Hill teen’s life.The 12-person jury found Hernandez not guilty after deliberating for about five days following attorneys’ closing statements in the month-long trial. He has been in custody since his arrest just a few hours after the Nov. 4, 2011 shooting outside the Village Avante apartment complex at the intersection of Cosmo and Del Monte avenues.“That stabbed us in the heart,” Tara’s father Joe Romero said of the verdict. “I’m really pissed off at the whole system. I’m totally disgusted.”Joe Romero faithfully attended the trial—which also included suspect Fernando Mateo Lopez—throughout the month of March. He was deeply surprised by the verdict of not guilty for Hernandez, as he thought the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s case against both defendants was solid.“We respectfully disagree with the jury’s decision” to acquit Hernandez, said Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Miguel Valdovinos.Hernandez was released from custody April 19, according to the Santa Clara County Department of Corrections website. In an April 19 court hearing, Hernandez pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault in a separate incident that occurred in Santa Clara County Jail in 2013, Valdovinos added. In that incident, Hernandez assaulted Ramon Gutierrez, who is also in custody as a suspect in the 2011 murder of Tara Romero.After pleading no contest to that assault, Hernandez was sentenced to three years probation and received credit for time served in jail, Valdovinos said. Gutierrez suffered minor injuries in the 2013 assault and “didn’t make any helpful statements” against Hernandez. Valdovinos said he did not know why Hernandez assaulted Gutierrez.Second suspect convicted of second degree murderMateo Lopez, 24 of Gilroy, was found guilty by the same jury April 15 of second degree murder in relation to Tara Romero’s death, according to Valdovinos. The jury also found him guilty of five counts of attempted murder and three counts of shooting at an inhabited dwelling, as well as enhancements for carrying out the crime as a member of a criminal street gang. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 20. Each count carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, Valdovinos said.Mateo Lopez was tried in the same courtroom as Hernandez in Santa Clara County Superior Court.Hernandez and Mateo Lopez faced the same list of charges, but only Mateo Lopez now faces imprisonment. The five counts of attempted murder are related to five teen victims who were shot at when a Chrysler drove by them and and one or more occupants opened fire. Three of these victims were hit by the gunfire and survived; they were friends and classmates of Tara Romero’s at Sobrato High School, and they testified in the March trial.A total of five suspects were arrested by Morgan Hill police hours after the shooting, and have been in custody since their arrest. Ricardo Diaz, 23 of Morgan Hill, pleaded guilty to murder and testified against Hernandez and Mateo Lopez in their trial. He agreed to a minimum sentence of 25 years.The trial for suspect Esmeling Bahena, 22 of Morgan Hill, began this week with jury selection, according to Valdovinos. Police reports said the suspects fled to Bahena’s home on Barnell Avenue after the shooting. An MHPD officer followed the Chrysler there from the scene of the shooting after the vehicle ran a stop sign on Wright Avenue.Gutierrez, 21 of Morgan Hill, has been in custody at state mental health facilities since he was declared incompetent to stand trial after a 2012 preliminary hearing on the Tara Romero murder.Bahena and Gutierrez are charged with murder and attempted murder, according to authorities.While authorities said the suspects planned and carried out the drive-by shooting to settle an ongoing feud with rival Norteno gang members, the victims were not involved in gang activity.The prosecutor and investigators who testified during the trial for Hernandez and Mateo Lopez presented mounds of evidence that connected Mateo Lopez to the shooting, including his thumbprint on the ammunition magazine of an SKS rifle identified as the murder weapon, and text messages between him and other suspects arranging the Friday evening attack—which was planned to be directed at rival gang members.The state had less evidence connecting Hernandez to the shooting even though he was caught hiding in Bahena’s apartment building after police called out the other suspects and attempted to clear the residence the night of the shooting. His attorney Nicole Lambros argued to the jury that while Hernandez might have been affiliated with the same Sureno street gang as the other suspects in the past, and he was in the car with them during the 2011 shooting, he did not know the others were planning a drive-by shooting that night.“When you try cases in front of a jury, anything is possible,” Valdovinos said. “The whole issue was whether or not (Hernandez) was an aider or abettor.”Tara Romero was a 14-year-old freshman at Sobrato when she was gunned down. She and her friends had been out celebrating a birthday at Community Park earlier that evening. They were waiting for a ride home when the shooting happened, according to testimony.

A south Morgan Hill family remains at odds with local police and neighbors over the presence of military trucks, vintage cars and other prohibited vehicles parked at their residence.While police have decided to respond by investigating all complaints of municipal code violations at the Katz family’s home on Fleet Count Court, residents Gary Katz and his son Jesse maintain that the city’s policies are unfair, arbitrary and vague.“I have instructed the officers to respond based on complaints, and if they’re in violation to issue a citation if that’s appropriate,” said MHPD Capt. Shane Palsgrove.Even as MHPD Chief David Swing determined there was no “public nuisance” at the Katz home four months after officers cited them for parking three “abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or inoperative vehicles” in their driveway, an officer responded to the home June 21 to issue parking citations for two different vehicles parked on an “unimproved surface” on the property.The family owns a collection of antique, historic and military vehicles, which they restore as a hobby. According to the city’s municipal code and enforcement officers, these allegedly unregistered, abandoned, oversized or inoperable vehicles that cannot be parked anywhere in Morgan Hill, even on private property, unless they are obstructed by a fence, garage or similar structure.Dating back to May 2014, police and city staff have visited the Katz property or contacted them at least a dozen times to notify them of the violations and advise them to comply with the municipal code.“We have tried to work with (the Katz family) in the spirit of the law to find solutions, to be met with resistance to the point where the only thing left to do now is enforce the law and issue (them) a citation when we receive complaints,” Palsgrove added.MHPD Sgt. Mario Ramirez sent an email to patrol officers June 5 advising them to always respond to complaints with more than one officer due to the Katz’ “anti-police” stance, although no violence or threat of violence has been cited.Palsgrove said there are multiple reasons for Ramirez’ directive: The Katz family believes the police department is violating their constitutional rights, police have no right to be on their property and don’t have the right to enforce the municipal code. Furthermore, Palsgrove noted that Jesse Katz was once arrested in Barstow for obstructing or delaying an officer.But the Barstow Police Department’s case, which started with Jesse and his brother Rob Katz’ arrest last year, did not result in a conviction and the charge was dropped November 2014. The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, which fought the charges on behalf of the brothers, reached a settlement with the city of Barstow a few months after the Katz’ were arrested for refusing to identify themselves. The Katz’ were awarded $30,000 in damages, and Barstow agreed to update its training policies to inform police that detained subjects are not required to show identification.Jesse Katz said the fact that MHPD mentioned his “wrongful” arrest in Barstow as a reason to take extra caution shows how “vindictive and malicious” police can be. And it demonstrates a pattern of harassment by police—including Santa Clara County deputies—toward the family.“They are our enemies,” Jesse said. “They don’t come to do me any favors, or serve me in any way but to limit the freedoms I have. I am absolutely respectful of any type of law enforcement officer I encounter, and I comply with any kind of lawful request that’s made of me. But beyond that, I want to keep my interaction with them to a minimum.”Palsgrove denied any police harassment, and noted that officers have tried for months to amicably convince the Katz’ to comply with the city ordinance without issuing citations.“We have not one time responded proactively or without a complaint to issue a citation,” Palsgrove said. Hearing process unfair?On Feb. 26, following numerous these complaints from neighbors, the city cited Katz for parking three inoperable vehicles in their driveway: a Sunbeam Tiger, Chevrolet pickup and “military style semi truck.”The city’s code allows the alleged offender to request a review hearing—which is like an appeal—with the chief of police. The Katz family requested such a hearing, which occurred April 15. A petition signed by 11 residents from 10 addresses on Fleet Count Court was presented against the Katz’ at that hearing.The city code—section 18.48.095—says the city may seize cited vehicles if the owner doesn’t remove them within 10 days. The Katz had been previously notified they were in violation of other code sections prohibiting oversized vehicles on visible private property, as well as on city streets.One of these ordinances even restricts vehicles such as RVs and boats, which Jesse Katz and police have said is a common violation throughout Morgan Hill, even if not all offenders get citations.The Katz family reluctantly removed the cited vehicles before the April 15 hearing. They also think it’s unconstitutional for the police chief to be the “judge and jury” over the code his department is tasked with enforcing, property owner Gary Katz said.“This is not justice. Where’s the impartiality here?” Katz said.Swing said it’s not up to the police department to determine those broader issues.“The purpose of the hearing wasn’t to speak to any constitutionality of our ordinances,” Swing told the Times shortly after the hearing. “We believe our ordinances are lawful.”The chief’s written judgment was delivered to the Katz home June 22. Swing determined there was no longer a violation of the February citations, and no further enforcement action was necessary.“We’re not here to tweak the police department’s nose, and taunt them in any way,” Gary Katz said. “We’re just trying to live our life here, and we’ve got some neighbors that say, ‘I don’t like what you’ve got on your property.’ They want to control everything we do.”City Attorney Renee Gurza said citizens do have the ability to appeal a municipal code violation outside the city’s authority, but it takes a few steps. If the Katz’ had disagreed with Swing’s ruling, they could have appealed to the city council, and from there they could have appealed to Santa Clara County Superior Court.“Internal administrative hearings are not unusual” among cities, Gurza said. “It allows a city to have an internal review of a situation, rather than having people go straight to court,” where monetary costs and inconvenience for both the defendant and the city can grow.

A Morgan Hill couple died in a May 24 single-engine plane crash in a remote area of southern Utah, according to authorities.

Uvas Canyon County Park has reopened after heavy rains last winter forced its closure for more than a year, and reservations for parking are now required on weekends and holidays, according to authorities.

Hundreds of students were promoted to high school. Below is a

A 34-year-old Morgan Hill man died due to injuries he suffered in a vehicle collision in southwest Morgan Hill last week.