A judge set bail at $150,000 for a man accused of sexually assaulting a woman and attacking another woman.

Garth Clem, 37, appeared in a Vista courtroom on Monday and pleaded not guilty to multiple charges, including assault with intent to commit rape and sexual battery.

Prosecutors in court outlined the graphic and bizarre allegations against Clem, a North County realtor and former Camp Pendleton Marine.

Clem and his girlfriend went to the Prominence Apartments on Feb. 24 on S. Twin Oaks Valley Road after meeting two women at a nearby restaurant.

Once inside, prosecutors say Clem sexually assaulted one of the women and got into a physical fight with his girlfriend.

Prosecutors said Clem groped one of the women and when she went to the bathroom, he followed her. She asked him to leave and, as prosecutors allege, he put her in a headlock.

She was able to escape. But then, prosecutors said, Clem went after his own girlfriend.

“He took a belt from his pants. He hit her repeatedly,” a deputy district attorney said. “He then ripped off her clothing and punched her repeatedly. She was able to escape from the apartment and yell for help.”

Clem was arrested that night after the two women escaped the apartment and alerted deputies to the ordeal.
 

A San Diego reggae band’s tour bus exploded into flames Monday, leaving the members stranded on the road.

The band Through The Roots was on its way to North Carolina when the green and black bus suddenly caught fire.

Everyone on board was able to escape unharmed, but many possessions -- like laptops, clothes, cellphones, wallet and music equipment – were lost to the flames.

A band member posted video of the fire to Facebook, saying they’re working on a way to continue their tour.

About an hour later, a more hopeful post emerged. “We are a hard working and extremely dedicated group of individuals, we will make this work and we will be back,” the band wrote on its page.

A friend created a GoFundMe page to help Through The Roots recoup some of their losses. The goal is to raise $30,000.

The cause of the fire is not clear.

A semi-truck driving on a Southern Calfornia highway hit a pedestrian head on Monday, dragging the man several feet after the fatal crash, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The truck driver named Vicente said the person darted onto State Route 78 in Vista as he drove near Sycamore Avenue. There was no time to react, he said.

"He was walking in front of me and barely I see him in the night. I feel the impact and I stop right there," Vicente said.

The pedestrian was pronounced dead at the scene, officials say.

One lane of the westbound SR-78 is closed as CHP investigated the crash.

Goldman Sachs’ backing of a Chargers move to the Los Angeles area will go beyond the potential building of a new stadium.

The investment bank will cover the team’s operating losses with in the first few years and renovations to a temporary venue, if needed, team special counsel Mark Fabiani confirmed to NBC 7 Monday.

The Chargers announced a plan last month to build a joint, $1.7 billion stadium with longtime rivals the Raiders in Carson if both teams cannot find stadium solutions within their home markets.

But before a new project can be finished, the Chargers expect to be temporarily homeless, possibly playing in either the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum or the Rose Bowl Stadium for a time, the Sports Business Journal reported. Goldman Sachs would help the team cover any renovations required on those venues.

“With respect to Goldman Sachs, the investment bank has been working with the team for many years,” Fabiani said in an email. “If the team decides ultimately to relocate to Los Angeles, because we cannot find a solution in San Diego, we are confident that Goldman Sachs can successfully put all of the necessary financing in place.”

During the plan’s announcement on Feb. 20, Tim Romer, managing director of Goldman Sachs, said the financing model will follow that of the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara -- also backed by the company. No taxes or city general funds will go toward the project; it will rely solely upon revenue the stadium generates.

“We’re committed to helping to get this done,” Romer said at the time.

The news comes as San Diego’s stadium advisory group heard from avid fans trying to keep the team local. The group held a public forum, where hundreds stepped up to a microphone to say where they’d like to see a new San Diego stadium and how they’d like it funded.

The California Supreme Court ruled Monday that prohibiting sex offenders from living inside 2,000 feet a school infringes on their rights of privacy and liberty.

Registered sex offender Lee Austin fought to remain in his home with his family despite being within that distance of Lakeview Elementary School. The court based its decision on his case and three others in San Diego County.

Since his release last November, Austin has lived with his parents, and his mother told NBC 7 they have not had any difficulties.

"Sex offenders are very misunderstood. You really have to know the cases,” she said.

She did not wish to be identified by name and turned down an interview on camera. Her son was convicted in 2001 of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14.

Beth Marshall, the mother of a fourth grader at Lakeview Elementary School, lobbied hard to get the school to do something about Austin's return home.

“I do know kids who are in his grade that walk right by that house every night,” Marshall said .

Gurney Warnberg has lived three houses down from the sex offender's family for three decades but did not know about a change in the neighborhood.

Still, the Supreme Court's decision to reverse an established state law is unsettling, he said.

“Those folks have problems and they have problems throughout their lives,” Warnberg said.

The court indicated residency restrictions increases the incidents of homelessness and deprives them of access to services available to parolees.

Austin's mother said the law “tries to destroy their lives. It's not good and it's not fair.”

The ruling only applies to San Diego County, but it could have statewide impact. It overturns a 2006 voter-approved ballot measure that required the 2,000-foot distance.

In its opinion, the court said sex offenders could still be forced to live more than 2,000 feet from schools, but the decision would have to be made on a case-by-case basis. The decision still needs review by the Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation.

The possibility of lightning and thunder at San Diego’s beaches on Monday has prompted the National Weather Service to issue a beach hazard statement.

The forecast calls for isolated lightning and thunderstorms to sweep across San Diego County into the evening. The beach hazard statement is in effect until 10 p.m. Monday.

The Doppler RADAR indicates a potential for thunderstorms, NBC 7 meteorologist Jodi Kodesh said, and North County has already had one.

"There is danger for beach goers," Kodesh said. "Cloud-to-water, and cloud-to-ground lightning is possible. Beach goers should head indoors, if a storm cell is approaching, and wait for it to pass."

Lightning at the beaches could result in injury or death to beach goers, the National Weather Service said.

Meteorologists recommend staying away from metal objects and moving indoors until the storm passes.

The rain and blustery conditions are expected to taper off on Tuesday.

The California Supreme Court has ruled that state corrections officials can't prohibit all registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park as required by a 2006 voter-approved ballot measure.

The court said the blanket restriction violates the sex offenders' constitutional rights by limiting their access to housing. They said it also deprives sex offenders of access to services such as psychological counseling that are available to all parolees.

The court restricted its decision to San Diego County, where the case originated. But the ruling has potential statewide impact.

The court did not strike down the law itself, saying sex offenders could still be forced to live more than 2,000 feet from schools. But it said the decision would have to be made on a case-by-case basis.

The Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation is reviewing the decision.

A young female pit bull dog is fighting for her life after she ran across two East County freeways and jumped off a bridge.

The pit bull, nicknamed “Hope” by her caretakers, ran loose across State Route 94 and then Freeway 125 Saturday night. When the dog reached a barrier, she jumped off the edge of the bridge, falling 30 to 40 feet.

The impact of the fall left the dog with broken legs, a possible ruptured bladder and a fractured femur, x-rays from the County of San Diego's Department of Animal Services showed Monday. The dog was taken to a specialist to better take care of her injuries, the DAS said.

The cost of Hope's treatment will be covered by the DAS's donation-driven "Spirit Fund" will cover the cost of the dog's health care, the Department said. Readers wishing to donate to the "Spirit Fund" can find the website by clicking here.

After the dog jumped from the freeway Saturday, people rushed out of their cars to try and help the dog. Those that helped, including one vet technician, were able to stablize the dog and get her care.

On Sunday, East County residents came together in wake of the dog's health issues and started a GoFundMe page to raise money for the pit bull as it fought for its life. However, that page will now be closing and the funds will be forwarded to the Veterinary Specialty Hospital, the DAS said.

In just over 24 hours, the GoFundMe page had reached $1,000 of a $10,000 goal. 

“If you can give, give as much as you can, as little as you can, every little tiny bit helps,” said Selena Gallagoes, a bystander. “And if you can’t, give prayer, prayers work, I mean that fall could've killed a human for her to have gone that distance and made it out as well as she did, she has a reason to be here and I think she deserves that chance to live."

Former State Assemblyman and San Diego mayoral candidate Nathan Fletcher and his wife of more than 10 years are divorcing.

Court papers obtained by NBC 7 confirm that Nathan Fletcher filed for divorce on Jan. 13 and that the couple separated last Dec. 1.

The Fletchers were married in 2003 and have two boys, ages six and three.

In his petition for divorce, Nathan cited the couple’s “irreconcilable differences” as the legal grounds for ending their 11-year marriage.

In a statement released to NBC 7, the couple said, “We have made the best decision for our family. It is an amicable divorce and we remain good friends. Our first priority is our children and we hope that everyone will respect our privacy as we make this transition.”
 

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer read to a group of students at Balboa Park Monday morning to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Seuss. The mayor read "Oh The Place You’ll Go" to a group of elementary school students.

If only financing a new stadium for the San Diego Chargers could be that easy. But on Monday, Faulconer’s stadium advisory group heard many ideas from fans at a public meeting at Qualcomm Stadium.

Though a rally was scheduled for 5 p.m., enthusiastic fans got it started early with chants of "Save our Bolts" in the Qualcomm Stadium parking lot. The blue and gold-clad supporters filled the lot with signs, Bolts gear and costumes to show how much they want the Chargers to stay in San Diego.

Former Charger Nick Hardwick was out there leading the cheers.

The meeting with the group lasted two and a half hours with a long line of speakers allowed 90 seconds each. While the committee may walk away with a handful of ideas, they were more than assured of San Diegans' passion for their team.

"I don't got a great plan. I don't got the solution. All I got is a lot of spirit, want to show it want everyone in here to feel it," saad Ryan Read.

Others came with a plan. Anthony Moratta told the group he spent a month on his that would "generate revenue in the billions of dollars for here." 

The fans were asked to weigh in on two categories: stadium location — either Mission Valley or downtown — and stadium financing ideas.

One fan suggested there should be a $3 surcharge on everything, from ticket sales to concessions.

"We're determined to make sure this team doesn't leave. We're all fighting together to send a message to the NFL, to the city, to the Chargers, that San Diego's not the place you want to leave and this city is ready to fight for its team," said David Agranoff with SaveOurChargers.org.

But will the fans opinions carry much weight as the advisory committee works to come up with a plan within a self-imposed 90-day time frame?

“Most important for me, is that we have a plan with real numbers attached to it. That’s what’s been missing in this dialogue for the last 10 years,” said Faulconer.

A sig alert has been issued for a water main break in Escondido that officials estimate could be gushing up to 10,000 gallons of water a minute from a water main break.

The Sig alert was issued for Broadway from 3rd Avenue to 6th Avenue shortly before 6 a.m. Tuesday. The street is closed from 5th Avenue to 2nd Avenue.

The water main break happened at 3rd Avenue and Broadway just before 4 a.m.. It is unclear how that break started or how long it will take to clear up, although it is not uncommon for pipes to break with a change in weather.

The break is just in front of Central Elementary School. Officials on scene said the priority was to get water back on for the Elementary School.

Offiicals from the Water Department arrived on scene at approximately 5 a.m. NCTransit has also been notified.

The Escondido Police Chief Sergeant on scene personally estimated abut 10,000 gallons a minute are flowing from the break.

There was palpable relief Tuesday for dozens of jurors excused from serving on the Boston Marathon bombing trial.

"Because I can go back and do my job and not worry about my job," dismissed juror Nancy Cederholm said.

"Personally I'm relieved because I don't have to be here for the next four months," said Hazel Grenham, another dismissed juror.

Twelve jurors and six alternates were seated after two months of jury selection; among them are are eight men and 10 women. It's a jury that will not only decide whether accused bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is guilty, since if he's convicted, they will have to vote on whether he should be put to death.

"I wouldn't want to pass judgment on somebody else, so I'm glad I didn't have to do that," dismissed juror Jim Frias said.

During initial questioning, three jurors seated said they believed 21-year-old Tsarnaev was guilty, while a fourth juror said "obviously he was involved in something" and a fifth juror said "my impression was he was certainly present that day, was part and parcel of it."

However, all have said they will keep an open mind.

Two jurors said they lean toward the death penalty, while two said they lean toward a life sentence, but all said they are open to either sentence.

Jurors who were excused weighed in on whether they thought Tsarnaev would be able to get a fair trial here in Boston.

"I don't know that a fair trial could have been held anywhere, perhaps the fairest trial would be here," Grenham said.

Opening statements are scheduled to start Wednesday at 9 a.m.

Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to all 30 charges against him. He's accused of planting two bombs near the finish line in April 2013, killing three people and injuring more than 260. He's also charged in the killing of MIT police officer Sean Collier days after the attack.

A train engineer who was hospitalized after a Southern California commuter train derailed when it slammed into a truck on the tracks has died in the hospital, police said Tuesday.

The death of train engineer Glenn William Steele, 62, marks the first fatality in the Feb. 24 crash in which a Metrolink train struck a Ford F-450 truck, towing a trailer, on the Ventura County Line tracks and derailed, injuring 28.

"We are deeply saddened by the news," Oxnard Police Cmdr. Marty Meyer said in a statement. "And, we are concerned for those still recovering from this collision and their families."

The Metrolink train bound for Los Angeles struck the heavy duty pickup truck and trailer as it straddled the tracks. Three of the train's five cars toppled over.

Metrolink said in a statement that Steele, who was an employee of Amtrak, worked in the rail industry for over 40 years and was the longest tenured engineer among Metrolink operators.

"The entire Metrolink family is deeply saddened by the loss of this dedicated and hardworking railroader," said Sam Joumblat, Metrolink's interim CEO. "Everyone associated with Metrolink extends our most heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and co-workers. Our thoughts and prayers are with them all."

The driver who abandoned the pickup truck before it was hit by the train, 54-year-old Jose Alejandro Sanchez-Ramirez, will not face charges in the crash at this time, according to the Ventura County District Attorney's office.

His attorney said Sanchez-Ramirez accidentally drove onto the tracks and made the situation worse by continuing forward in an attempt to gather enough momentum to get the wide pickup over the rails. He also used his high-beam headlights in an effort to warn the oncoming Metrolink train.

Sanchez-Ramirez could not back up because his truck was towing a trailer, attorney Ron Bamieh said. When his efforts to move the truck failed, he ran for help, Bamieh said.

But federal investigators who arrived in Oxnard last week said the truck was not stuck on the tracks in the sense that it had bottomed out at the crossing. Investigators have not ruled out that the truck was somehow stranded and will attempt to determine why it traveled 80 feet down the tracks and remained there with its parking brake engaged.

A commuter train's onboard camera captured the fiery crash and might help investigators with effort to piece together the events that led to the derailment.

The video, taken from the outward-facing camera on the front car of the Metrolink train, was sent back to the Washington home of the National Transportation Safety Board for analysis, board member Robert Sumwalt said.

Editor's Note: Police identified the engineer as Glen Steele. The LA County Coroner's Office and DMV said the correct spelling is Glenn Steele.

A flight passenger was found hiding inside the cockpit of a JetBlue airplane that landed in New York from the Dominican Republic early Tuesday after everyone else had gotten off the plane, authorities say.

The JetBlue ground crew found the 26-year-old New Jersey man hiding in the cockpit after the flight landed just before 2 a.m., according to the Port Authority. He was sitting by the window in the cockpit. 

The man was a passenger who failed to exit the plane after it landed, according to JetBlue. 

While he was being taken off the plane, the man opened an alarm door but he never made it through or got away from the airline workers escorting him off, authorities said. 

He was taken to Jamaica Hospital for observation, then arrested and charged with trespassing. 

It wasn't clear how the man, who lives in Atlantic City, got into the cockpit unnoticed. 

A Hazmat team responded to a Skyline home after four residents complained of throat irritation.

The team was called to a single-story home at about 12:30 p.m. at Old Oak Drive and Gribble Street in Skyline, south of the Lemon Grove area.

By 2:15 p.m., firefighters had left the scene and residents received the OK to go back in the home.
 

Chula Vista police are searching for a man who exposed himself to a 13-year-old girl and videotaped it.

The girl was walking to school at about 8:30 a.m. Friday in the 400 block of Fifth Avenue when she saw a 40-year-old man sitting in his silver colored 4-door SUV.

The girl said the man was videotaping himself masturbating and then turned the camera on her as she walked by and shouted "hey!" to her, police said.

She ran to school and reported the situation to school officials, who then called police. Officers began patrolling the area, but couldn't find the man.

"As soon as she was confronted and threatened she ran directly to the school and notified authorities," said Chula Vista police Capt. Lon Turner. "That's exactly what we want to have happen in these cases."

The man appeared to have a dark complexion and was wearing a black shirt and blue jeans.

Anyone with information should call Chula Vista Police Department’s Family Protection Unit at 619-691-5188.

The University of California will cap out-of-state enrollment at current levels next year for several of its campuses, including Berkeley and Los Angeles, UC President Janet Napolitano told a newspaper on Tuesday.

“It’s good to have a mix of international and out-of-state students on the campuses. That’s the world these students are going to graduate into,” Napolitano told The Sacramento Bee’s editorial board. “The question is how much of a good thing is it, and how much is an appropriate number?”

In November 2014, State Assembly Speaker Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego) had issued several plans to avoid a UC tuition hike, and one of those ideas was to cap 2014-15 out-of-state enrollment levels.

The UC system has faced a slew of state budget cuts over the last several years, and so, the entire public university system tried to recruit outside California. Out-of-state undergraduates must pay about $36,000 a year in tuition to attend UC, compared to Californians who pay $13,200, according to the admissions office. 

But as the Sacramento Bee reported, nonresident enrollment has reached about 15 percent systemwide, and more than 20 percent at the flagship campuses in Berkeley and Los Angeles, the university has come under increasing criticism for squeezing out the students the system was mandated to teach beginning in the 1950s.

In January, Gov. Jerry Brown added an out-of-state enrollment cap to his budget proposal that would grant UC a 4 percent increase in state funding. Since then, Napolitano and Brown have met several times as a “committee of two” to discuss the university’s finances and a controversial proposed tuition increase.

As of spring 2015, the University of California has 10 campuses, a combined student body of 238,700 students.

The families of three young men stabbed to death in last year's Isla Vista massacre are suing the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department and the apartment housing company, saying they never fully investigated gunman Elliot Rodger as a threat despite a slew of red flags.

Rodger killed UC Santa Barbara students David Wang, 20, James Hong, 20, and George Chen, 19, in the apartment he shared with two of them, before he began a rampage that left three other students dead and over a dozen hurt across the seaside town of Isla Vista on May 23, 2014. All three went to high schools in either Fremont or San Jose in the Bay Area.

"Deliberate killing of innocent life is the lowest of all lows and the darkest of all evils," Wang's mother Kelly said Tuesday. "It should be crushed with no excuse."

The victims' families are suing the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department for negligence and violation of due process over several incidents, including when deputies didn't search Rodger's apartment during an April 30, 2014, wellness check after being flagged by a health worker about a series of disturbing videos he posted on YouTube.

At the time deputies showed up to the apartment, Rodger had a cache of weapons and ammunition in his room, according to the suit. After the wellness check, Rodger wrote in a manifesto that if deputies had searched his room, "that would have ended everything," the lawsuit says.

The department previously admitted last year that deputies had known about Rodger's YouTube videos but had not watched them. Deputies who responded to the check found him "shy, timid and polite" and had him call his mother to tell her he was OK before leaving him.

Deputies asked Rodger about the disturbing videos he had posted online, which Rodger said were a way for him to express himself after having trouble "fitting in socially in Isla Vista," but they did not, view the videos.

"There (were) many stages along the way that this could've been prevented," Wang's attorney Todd Becker said.

The sheriff's department said Tuesday it would not comment on the pending litigation.

The lawsuit also claims that Capri Apartments, which primarily houses UCSB and Santa Barbara Community College students, failed to warn the roommates of Rodger's dangerous tendencies, especially given that he had earlier conflicts with several others who lived with him in the complex.

The suit says that after all the "bizarre behavior," Capri didn't investigate Rodger or do a background check before assigning Hong and Wang to live with him.

"Virtually all of the content Rodger had posted online was easily discoverable with simple Google searches of his name," the lawsuit states.

According to the lawsuit, in August 2011, Rodger confronted his two Hispanic then-roommates, whom he "considered 'rowdy, inferior, pig-faced thugs,'" insulting them and telling them he was superior. Rodger went to the leasing manager and "explained everything that happened," and he later sign a lease for another, larger apartment, the suit says.

The next month, Rodger moved in with a new roommate, with whom he eventually developed a "hostile" relationship, according to the lawsuit.

In September 2012, Capri management heard Rodger throwing a "wild tantrum" and thrashing furniture with a "wooden practice sword," and the complex later assigned new roommates to live with him, according to the lawsuit.

During the time Rodger lived at the complex, he purchased weapons under his own name and posted threatening rants on the Internet, as well as complained to a Capri neighbor that he "was going to kill" himself and a group of students who upset him at a party, according to the lawsuit.

Capri declined to comment to NBC4.

On May 23, 2014, Rodger emailed his family and therapist his manifesto, and uploaded a video to YouTube titled "Elliot Rodger's Retribution" that outlined his attack plan.

Rodger then stabbed to death his two roommates and their friend, then opened fire on the busy college town of Isla Vista where he killed three more students and himself.