A 38-year-old man has been convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison for robbing six banks in Ceres and Turlock over a 16-month period.

UPDATE: Modesto police identified the toddler who died from injuries Tuesday while under the care of a baby sitter who has since been arrested on suspicion of murder. Alexandra Medina-Cisneros was identified as the victim. Police now say the toddler was 18 months old, amending their initial report that had her listed as 2 years old.

A pregnant teenager suffered nine days of being beaten, choked and threatened by a boyfriend jealous over finding a message from another man on her cell phone, police said.

A Stanislaus County sheriff's detective on Wednesday testified in court that a grudge and a fight in an unincorporated neighborhood between Ceres and Modesto escalated to gunfire that killed an innocent bystander — a 16-year-old boy with Down syndrome.

Veteran prosecutor Michael Knowles was appointed Tuesday to serve as district attorney for Tuolumne County for the next three years.

Two suspects who were minors when they were arrested on suspicion of murder last year are now adults and are incarcerated in the Stanislaus County Jail.

The Modesto Police Department traffic unit will conduct a driving-under-the-influence and driver’s license checkpoint Friday. The checkpoint will be within the city limit between 9:30 p.m. and 3:30 a.m., according to Sgt. Brian Findlen. He said checkpoints are in areas that present the greatest opportunity for deterring drunk and drugged driving while providing the greatest safety for officers and the public. Officers will contact drivers passing through the checkpoint and look for signs of alcohol and drug impairment. Officers also will check to ensure that drivers are properly licensed. DUI checkpoints, along with regularly scheduled high-visibility DUI enforcement, serve as a proven deterrent with the goal of removing impaired drivers, Findlen said. Officers also will be deployed on roving DUI saturation patrols Friday and Saturday from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m.

A man who led law officers on a high-speed chase from Modesto through Salida and rural western Stanislaus County ended up in a hospital, awaiting booking on several felony charges.

A pregnant teenager suffered nine days of being beaten, choked and threatened by a boyfriend jealous over finding a message from another man on her cell phone, Ceres police said Wednesday. The victim, 18, is out of the hospital and recuperating. Her baby is said to be OK.

A man who led law officers on a high-speed chase from Modesto through Salida and rural western Stanislaus County ended up in a hospital, awaiting booking on several felony charges.

A 38-year-old man has been convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison for robbing six banks in Ceres and Turlock over a 16-month period.

The Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department is investigating the theft of two horses from a home northeast of Modesto. The horses were taken late Sunday or early Monday from a home at Claribel and Langworth roads.

A Stanislaus County criminal grand jury has indicted three teenagers accused of murder in the shooting deaths of a Modesto couple and their adult daughter during an apparent robbery at their family's market last year.

Although the number of homicides increased, Modesto saw a general drop in crime in 2011, according to statistics released Monday. Though Modesto had 14 homicides last year, an increase from the 10 criminal homicides in 2010, incidents such as car theft, burglaries and robberies declined.

A former Oakdale resident suspected of making death threats against Mayor Pat Paul has pleaded no contest to a felony count of threatening an elected official.