A salinas boxing coach pleaded no contest thursday to sexual abuse.   59-year-old Daniel lujan was convicted of abusing an underage girl (who trained with him) over a 2-year-period.  Lujan faces up to 16 years in prison, he is scheduled to be sentenced October 25^th.

A monterey county jury has begun deliberations in a sexual abuse case against a former salinas police officer.  Jesus manuel sanchez is accused of 2-counts of sexual battery, for allegedly abusing a woman for several years.  he was arrested for the crimes in 2009, and left the salinas police department in 2010.     sanchez was also the coach of the alisal high school boys varsity soccer team.

A fire at a soquel church is believed to have been set intentionally.  Fire investigators traced the start of the fire to a t-shirt or rag that someone had lit on fire and tossed onto the church’s roof.  Nobody was injured in the blaze, which caused minimal damage to the roof.  Church leaders have indicated that they do not want to pursue an arson investigation.

An open house event was held at the rountree detention center (outside of watsonville) this week.   The event was designed to showcase the community restoration project, (a program undertaken by the non-profit community action board.)   the program aims to connect current and former inmates at santa cruz county jail with prospective employers.  The program is set to expand next month, with the hope of assisting over 1-hundred men and women over the next year.