CHP officers arrested a Yucca Valley man yesterday in connection with the July 2012 party bus death of a Santa Cruz woman. A Santa Clara County grand jury indicted Jon Reno St. James, 56, operator of Party Bus of Santa Cruz, with vehicular manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter May 3. The indictment accuses St. James of “gross negligence” in failing to properly maintain his bus fleet and by extension, endangering passengers. St. James was arrested without incident at his home in Yucca Valley and booked into Central Jail, where he remained in custody Wednesday afternoon on $100,000 bail. Prosecutors said Jon Reno St. James eventually will appear in Santa Clara County Superior Court. The charges carry a maximum penalty of six years in prison. Natasha Noland, 25, was riding on a bus with more than dozen passengers headed back to Santa Cruz after a Brad Paisley concert in Mountain View. According to CHP investigators, Noland and a 20-year-old Felton woman were drunkenly fighting in the bus when she tumbled out the front door to her death.
