Ventura County – “We just need a few good men,” the recruiting slogan of the United States Marine Corps certainly doesn’t apply to the activities of criminal street gangs engaged in the enlistment of underage juveniles into their less-than-heroic ranks.

Fillmore Brain Trust

According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Jeremy Paris, an ongoing investigation into the activities of a Fillmore area criminal street gang produced “a multi-location search warrant” that led to the arrests of no less than eight suspected gang members, one of whom is a juvenile, on the morning of December 19th.

Brad Beltran

The investigation had its origins on October 31, 2014 when the VCSD Gang Unit served a search warrant in the City of San Fernando at the home of Salvador Velgara, 26, a documented member of the Fillmore area gang and suspected of involvement in firearms and methamphetamine violations. At the time of that search, deputies discovered a video record of a gang initiation known as a “jump in”, wherein inductees are subjected to violent assault by senior gang members.

Vincent Meraz

Additional investigation produced evidence that another initiation of two male juveniles had taken place in 2013 at a Fillmore residence at the behest of Brad Beltran, 25 of Fillmore, Vincent Meraz, 23 of Piru, Damien Virgen, 23 of Fillmore, Rudy Meraz, 18 of Piru.

Damien Virgen

With that evidence at hand, according to Paris, “a combined team of 36 Sheriff’s Office investigators and deputies served warrants at five locations” on December 19th whereupon Vincent and Rudy Meraz were arrested and charged with solicitation or recruitment to participate in a criminal street gang with enhancements relating to the juvenile status of those being recruited. Beltran and Velgara, already in custody on unrelated charges, were arrested and booked on the same charges while Virgen turned himself in to authorities pursuant to telephone contact, and Joseph Cabral was arrested at his residence where he was found to be in possession of illegal weapons and methamphetamine.

Joseph Cabral

Rudy Meraz

All seven remain in custody at Ventura County Jail.

Photos: Courtesy Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, Ventura County Jail Booking

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Jessika Lauren Smith had been in trouble before. She had been convicted of theft in both 2011 and 2012. Arrest records show that in July of 2012 she was charged with forgery, false impersonation, and driving without a license. That was followed by an arrest in December for possession of stolen property, and a probation violation.

According to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, she is in trouble once again. She is accused of using fraudulent credit card accounts to pay her rent. The investigation revealed that she had used customer records from a former employer to access credit card numbers for three separate accounts in order to pay her $1,000 monthly rent on-line for three consecutive months. Records show that she once worked for a local real estate trust deed company, though it is not clear if that employer was the victim in this case.

She was arrested on Thursday, December 18 by the Sheriff’s Property Crimes Detectives at her apartment home on Westberry Drive in Santa Rosa. She was booked for grand theft, unlawful use of willfully obtained personal identifying information, and use of a stolen credit card, as well as probation violations. She also had an outstanding warrant from a previous case of using her employer’s credit card to pay for a $1,000 utility bill.

Suspects Were Holed Up In a Motel

SEASIDE—Agents from the Peninsula Regional Violence Narcotics Team (P.R.V.N.T.) found a wanted vehicle in the parking lot of a motel on North Fremont, and arrested the owner Freddy Swanson on a felony warrant out of the City of Monterey. He is now wanted and considered dangerous once again.

Last Thursday, December 18, at 1 p.m. Agents from P.R.V.N.T. spotted a vehicle that wanted for a prior vehicle pursuit that resulted in a hit-and-run. They located it outside a motel in the 2000 block of North Fremont in Monterey. The agents had been also looking for the owner for several days as an accessory to a strong arm robbery that occurred in Monterey.

North Fremont in Monterey is home to 7 motels on the block, including Quality Inn, where Juan Watson (below) was apprehended.

But agents also had information that Swanson was in possession of a firearm. Agents from P.R.V.N.T. along with officers from Monterey Police Department and the Monterey County Probation Department surrounded the room and order him out. He obliged and exited the room, but then he attempted to flee.

Officers quickly apprehended him and took him into custody without further incident. They found that he indeed had a firearm on his person that was reported stolen from a residential burglary in Monterey. Agents also arrested Casey Kenyon, who was in the motel room at the time of incident. He was arrested for possession of a controlled substance.

Swanson was arrested for the warrant, for being in possession of a firearm and ammunition, controlled substance for sale, accessory to robbery and arresting arrest. But while in custody, on Christmas morning, he reportedly climbed up a 45-degree angle ventilation duct, punched out a four foot by two foot window, and made his way to the roof of the jail. from there, he jumped and made a successful escape. A Be-On-The-Lookout warning has been issued for him statewide, and he may be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone seeing him is urged to call 9-1-1.

Juan Demetrius Watson

Agents had also arrested Juan Demetrius Watson at a hotel on the same street two weeks prior after he was found to be wanted on a $230,000.00 warrant. He was located and arrested at the Quality Inn on December 5. Watson is currently being held on 1,000.0000.00 bail, facing charges of attempted murder of his ex-wife, dissuading a witness, threats of violence, and possession of a controlled substance. He was also charged with driving without a license, driving while his license was suspended, and with a headlight out, along with the warrant for failure to appear in court, and charges of possession of a firearm – a sawed off shotgun – by a convicted felon.

Though his charges are not nearly as serious as the other two men’s, Casey Kenyon has made a habit of getting arrested recently. He shows a record of seven arrests this year alone, with three different reported residences, in Seaside, Salinas, and Carmel Valley. In fact, since being found with Swanson, he was arrested once again on December 22 for possession of drugs for sale. His six other arrests this year were all for possession of controlled substances and possession for sale, and possession of paraphernalia. Records show at least four prior arrests since 2010 for drug charges and probation violations.

CrimeVoice staff contributed to this story

Ventura County – Denisse Lisbeth Romero, a 27-year old Oxnard resident who became so enamored of a 16-year old girl for whom she was providing services at the Camarillo Children’s Learning Center to the point that she spirited the girl off on a circuitous journey that took them to Oklahoma, Texas, and Mexico, was finally captured by Ventura County Sheriff’s Department detectives s she hid in the closet of her family home on December 22nd.

According to VCSD Major Crimes Bureau spokesman Sgt. Ryan Clark, Romero and her victim both fled the Camarillo group home in August of 2014, embarking on a road trip reminiscent of the classic “rebellious female empowerment” movie Thelma & Louise. The thrill of the open road for Romero and her young companion, however, soon became a struggle to evade capture in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, “where local law enforcement authorities, acting at the direction of VCSD investigators, nearly captured the pair,” Clark reported.

While hiding out in San Antonio, Texas, the pair were located and the 16-year old was apprehended as Romero made good her escape across the border into Mexico. Although returned to the Camarillo facility, the juvenile female remained undaunted, running away less than 24 hours later and fleeing to Mexico, where she rejoined Romero.

The pair ultimately relocated to Ensenada, Mexico, but were traced to an apartment there by VCSD detectives. With assistance from the FBI and the Mexican Government, the 16-year old was recovered and transported once again back to California in the care of her legal guardian on December 3rd.

Romero became the subject of extradition proceedings and a $250,000 warrant for her arrest on charges of child stealing and sexual assault of a minor. But extradition proved unnecessary, as detectives became aware that she had returned to Oxnard. A search warrant was promptly served on her family’s residence, and once she was located crouched in the back of a closet, she was arrested and transported to Ventura County Jail where she will presumably be spending a quiet Christmas Holiday.

Read more:

CBSLA: Former group home worker accused of running off with teenager

PETALUMA – On Christmas day, a man walking his dog saw a suspicious vehicle parked in his neighbor’s driveway. He observed the driver removing packages from his neighbor’s porch and putting them into his car. He recorded the license plate from the suspicious vehicle and notified Petaluma Police Department.

Preliminary checks for the vehicle in the vicinity of the theft and the neighborhood where the vehicle was registered were fruitless. However when officers returned hours later they found the suspect vehicle at the residence of its registered owner. As officers approached two men in the driveway, one of the men fled while the other was detained. The man who had run was discovered hiding in a shed in a year yard.

Officers searched the garage area of the home and located a pink motorized child’s car, as well as other items associated with the packaged thefts earlier in the morning. Other items from other thefts were also located including Christmas gifts and tools taken from other location(s). The Petaluma PD returned all recovered items to their owners.

The suspects were identified as 44-year-old Gregory Johnson and 36-year-old William Kirk Andrus, both of Petaluma. They were arrested and booked into Sonoma County Jail. The grinches are facing charges of possession of stolen property, possession of drug paraphernalia and resisting arrest. Records show that both men have been in trouble before. Andrus was arrested in April on charges of threats of violence, and possession of a controlled substance and paraphernalia. Johnson has had several arrests over the past five years, ranging from possession or a controlled substance and paraphernalia, to possession of stolen property, and false ID and a stolen ATM card.

Officers also took additional property for safekeeping when Johnson couldn’t explain how some items ended up in his house. Some of the recovered property included individually packaged and priced Christmas ornaments and decorations. Anyone able to provide additional victim information is asked to contact the Petaluma Police at (707) 778-4372.

Santa Barbara County – Emma Posadas-Espinoza, a 58-year old Lompoc resident, has been the subject of a mystery since her dead body was found hidden in foliage on a La Habra residential street by man walking his dog in July of this year.

Prior to the discovery of her body in La Habra, Espinoza’s son, Gabriel Espinoza–a 30-year old resident of Santa Barbara County, who had been in contact with Lompoc area police but had neglected to file a missing person’s report on his absent mother–made statements to local area broadcast media regarding his mother as “a caring person and a mom who regularly showed up to support him when he played baseball as a youth.”

Emma Posadas-Espinoza

Once his mother’s body was discovered more than 100 miles from her home, the younger Espinoza, apparently grief-stricken, appeared before the press to state “That’s my mom. I want that person, whoever it was, I forgive them, but it’s just so hard.”

With an autopsy providing no clues as to the cause of her death, the circumstances surrounding her demise remained a mystery for the past six months, with law enforcement reluctant to release any details of their ongoing investigation…until the December 23rd arrest in Santa Barbara County of Gabriel Espinoza.

According to a spokesman for the La Habra Police Department, Gabriel Espinoza was arrested at his Santa Maria home with the help of Santa Maria Police Department detectives and was subsequently transported to Orange County Jail where he is currently in custody on suspicion of first-degree murder with special circumstances.

Photo: Courtesy Santa Maria Police Department

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Santa Maria Times: Emma Posada-Espinoza

SACRAMENTO—A response by Sacramento Regional Transit officers on Tuesday, December 23 at approximately 5:45 p.m. to an electronic tracking system, which showed that a “bait bike” placed near Capitol Avenue and 30th Street began to move, led to the arrest of a 33-year-old Sacramento man.

Officers found Jason Hasher, in possession of the bait bike at Alhambra Boulevard and N Street, police said.  He was arrested on suspicion of grand theft, possession of burglary tools and possession of stolen property. Hasher had been arrested less that three weeks prior on charges of possession of a controlled substance and paraphernalia, and a failure to appear in court warrant. Oddly enough, Hasher claimed a residence in Mankato Minnesota, where he apparently has family, when arrested this week. He had claimed the Union Gospel Mission in Sacramento as his home for the prior arrest. He also claimed as a transient in Sacramento when arrested twice in 2011.

Geroge Totten, tattooed and tattooing, image from Facebook.

The next day at 3:43 a.m., officers responded to the theft of a bait bike from the area of Capitol Avenue and 28^th Street.  Police rushed to the area and arrested George Totten, 49, in the area of 27^th Street and N Street. Totten was found to be in possession of the bicycle and was booked for violation of probation and suspicion of grand theft, possession of burglary tools and possession of stolen property.

Totten is also listed as a transient of Sacramento, but his Facebook page shows his Harley Davidson motorcycle as his “home”. He is a prolific and talented tattoo artist for a business he calls Golden Eagle Tattoo, and also lives or works out of Santa Barbara. He was previously arrested on May 7 this year for possession of stolen property, burglar’s tools, a controlled substance and paraphernalia, and a concealed dirk or dagger. That was followed by a July 25 arrest for receiving or concealing stolen property, resisting or obstructing and officer, and failure to obey an officer.

High priced “bait bikes” are left as tempting targets for thieves.

Bait bikes are equipped with electronic tracking systems. When a criminal cuts the lock on a bait bike and begins to ride away, police dispatch is alerted and officers swoop in on the thief. More than 50 arrests have been made by the Sacramento Police Department in connection with the midtown Bait Bike Program. The program is a component of a more comprehensive bicycle theft and education program.

Bicycles valued at more than $1,000 face value have been added to the program, addressing a legal detail that some thieves may be unaware of. Stolen property worth more than $900 allows accusers to pursue felony charges, rather than misdemeanors as specified under the new Proposition 47 guidelines.

In a case that may turn out to be a military man suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, 50-year-old Charles Leroy Shaffer of Fairfield was arrested last night for the stabbing death of his 29-year-old nephew.

According to the Napa County Sheriff’s office, deputies responded to a call at the Napa Vallejo Highway where it meets Highway 12, going south out of Napa and towards Interstate 80 to Fairfield, and arrived about 10:30 at night. The reports were of a stabbing, and emergency medical personnel were also summoned to the scene. They found a 29-year-old man suffering from stab wounds, and after initial treatment, he was transported to the Queen of the Valley hospital. Daniel Joseph Shaffer of Fairfield was pronounced dead of his wounds soon afterward.

The two people also on the scene were Charles Shaffer, Daniel’s uncle, and Daniel’s girlfriend, identified in a Napa Valley register story as 28-year-old Amanda Shuster. Investigators determined that the couple were giving Charles Shaffer a ride home after a family Christmas gathering in Napa. Shuster was driving, and Charles Shaffer was in the back seat. From that back seat, at some point during the ride, Shaffer pulled out a knife and attacked Daniel, giving him the ultimately fatal wounds.

According to Mike Blasky of the Napa Valley Register, the attack on Daniel was not preceded by any argument or fight. Shaffer had stayed at the family party later than his wife and son, and he caught a ride home to Fairfield with Daniel and Amanda. They had reportedly been laughing and joking during the drive, and the sudden attack came out of nowhere, according to a quote from Shuster.

Charles Shaffer, a 30-year veteran of the US Air Force, who posted a picture of himself in Afghanistan in 2011 in full combat gear, was arrested and charged with murder, and booked at the Napa County Department of Corrections.

Read More: Napa Valley Register

On Wednesday, December 17, officers responded to the 1600 block of Stokes Street in San Jose for a sexual assault in-progress call. Upon arrival officers determined 26-year-old Kenneth Duane Bridges had sexually assaulted two adult female victims. They were reportedly 63 and 54 years old, and roommates at the apartment building. Both were treated for injuries at the hospital.

Bridges was taken into custody at the scene and booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail. Bridges was on active CDC parole for Robbery when the incident took place. He was also arrested in July for a parole violation when he was charged with disturbing the peace, threats of violence, public intoxication, and resisting and obstructing an officer.

But the assaults didn’t stop there. The San Jose Police Department reported that on Monday, December 22, officers responded to the area of South 33rd and East San Fernando Streets in San Jose on a report of an attempted sexual assault.

According to Officer Albert Morales with the SJPD, “The suspect approached the victim while she was walking.” The suspect was driving next to the victim when he attempted to get one of them to enter his vehicle. When the she tried to avoid the suspect, he exited his vehicle and physically assaulted her. During the confrontation by the suspect the female victim was able to get away.

Morales said, “The suspect fled the scene prior to police arrival and has not been located.” The suspect is described as a Hispanic male adult, 20 to 25-years-old, tall, thin, and with a thin mustache.

The San Jose Police Department is asking that anyone who may know the suspect or his whereabouts contact the police. Morales said, “The suspect was last seen wearing a striped sweater and dark jeans. He was driving a white 4-door sedan with a silver grill.”

Anyone with information on any of these cases is asked to contact Detective Ortiz #3788 of the San Jose Police Departments Sexual Assault Investigations Unit at 408-277-4102.

PETALUMA – At approximately 7 pm on Friday evening, a Petaluma Police Officer was patrolling the 500 block of 7th Street looking for a suspect vehicle that had been involved in an earlier assault investigation. The officer saw the silver BMW, which he believed to be that of the assault suspect.

Before the officer could contact the driver, the suspect vehicle began to leave the vicinity. The officer attempted to conduct a traffic stop for a violation when the driver failed to yield. A pursuit then ensued. The driver of the suspect vehicle failed to stop for multiple posted stop signs and exceeded speed limits travelling westbound through Petaluma.

The driver continued to recklessly flee from the pursuing officer, and left Petaluma city limits on D Street. In the course of the pursuit it was determined that the registered owner had an outstanding felony warrant for being a felon in possession of a firearm. The pursuit then escalated to include officers from multiple jurisdictions. Sonoma County Sherriff’s Deputies, Marin County Sheriff’s Deputies, and CHP Officers assisted Petaluma officers in the pursuit and search for the suspect.

The car was found abandoned just off the 2 lane rural road.

It was determined that the suspect reached speeds of 85 mph in fleeing authorities. The pursuit continued for 26 miles, heading west towards the coast. The suspect vehicle was discovered abandoned on a property in the 9400 block of Marshall Petaluma Road, a rural 2 lane road that winds through the hills approaching the small coastal community of Marshall. The search was then called off at midnight.

At approximately 8 am a Marin County Sheriff’s Deputy located the suspect on the property near where the vehicle had been abandoned. The suspect had been hiding in a creek bed.

He was identified as 45-year-old Brian Bakalar, a resident of Petaluma. Bakalar faces charges of felony reckless evading and an outstanding felony warrant. He was arrested and booked into custody at Sonoma County Jail.

SACRAMENTO—Sacramento police arrested an 18-year-old man after a large fight broke out in the Arden Fair Mall food court on Friday evening, December 26.

Oscar Armendarez was taken into custody for resisting arrest. A 17-year-old boy was also arrested, but his name is being withheld because he is a minor. Armendarez and the second teen are facing resisting arrest charges.

The mall, which normally closes at 9:00 p.m., closed its doors at 7:30 p.m. following the fight.

“A whole bunch of people got up and started running, and everybody was fighting and the security officers (were) tackling people” said Kelcie Acuna, who was at the mall when the fight broke out. Acuna said she saw close to a dozen people lined up in handcuffs shortly after the fight.

Fortunately, there was a large presence of law enforcement at the mall because it was the day after Christmas. Both mall security and police had to break up the fight that involved 20 or more people.

Dremon O’Deal and Louis Santiago were arrested in 2012 at an Arden Fair Mall fight.

The brawl came two years to the day after the mall was evacuated when there were reports of shots fired during a fight in the food court. Two men, 19-year-old Dremon O’Deal and 18-year-old Louis Santiago, were taken into custody after the incident in December 2012. An unidentified 15-year-old was also arrested.

Mall security manager Steve Reed told media that his team learned from this similar scare two years ago and took swift action to keep shoppers safe in this fight. “Just like two years ago somebody said it was shots fired, and we were a little more proactive this time. We evacuated the mall when that happened. We kind of funneled them downstairs. In the meantime, a planter box fell down, which someone determined to be shots fired” he commented on the false report of gunfire in the 2012 incident.

Police said no shots were fired during these fights, and no one was hurt. Arden Fair Mall reopened Saturday morning as scheduled.

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KCRA (2012) Teens arrested after fight at Arden Fair Mall

COACHELLA – A Coachella police officer shot a suspect who invaded a home and then attacked her when she arrived on the scene.

On Christmas day at approximately 11:30 AM, the Coachella Police Department received a call that there was a suspicious person in the 83-600 block of Shadowrock Drive, Coachella. The caller reported that a stranger had entered the residence and attacked the homeowner without provocation. An officer was dispatched to scene.

The suspect left the home and when the officer arrived, she discovered a man matching the description of the suspect in the road outside of the home. The officer commanded the suspect to stop, but the man refused to comply. Taking a fighting stance, the suspect moved toward the officer in a threatening manner. The officer continued to order the suspect to stop, but he continued to approach aggressively. Brandishing her baton, the officer defended herself, but the suspect attempted to take the baton away. In the ensuing struggle, the officer shot the suspect.

Following the shooting, backup officers immediately arrived on scene. Life-saving measures were employed to assist the suspect who was transported to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. No officers were injured during the incident. The suspect was later identified as Omar Rodriguez, age 35 of Coachella.

The investigation into this crime and the shooting are currently underway. The involved officer has been placed on administrative leave per department policy.

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There was a damper put on Christmas Eve for a Willits man and his friend, when he was arrested the night before, and booked on multiple charges with $25,000 bail on the morning of December 24.

On Tuesday, December 23 at about 10 pm, Thomas Lee Gallups, Sr. was driving though Willits on Meadowbrook Drive, near the Sherwood Valley Rancheria Casino, and about a mile from his home on Baechtel Road. According to the Sheriff’s office, Patrol Deputies noticed a lighting violation on the car and initiated a traffic stop.

The deputies addressed Gallups, and immediately noticed a strong odor of burnt marijuana. They also saw that his passenger, whom they did not identify, had an open container of alcohol.

They proceeded to search Gallups’ vehicle, and found a small quantity of marijuana, and a fully loaded Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum revolver. There was also other ammunition for the gun in the vehicle. A records check revealed the Gallups was a past convicted felon who is prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition.

Gallups, who just turned 53, was arrested and booked at the Mendocino County Jail on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and possession of a concealed and loaded firearm. At the time, no additional charges were levied for the open container and marijuana, and his passenger was not arrested. He was released after posting bail on Friday, December 26, awaiting his court date. He’ll need to get that light fixed as well.

SANTA ROSA  – Francisco Arroyo-Arroyo is just lucky he’s not being charged with vehicular manslaughter; fortunate that at 1:30 in the morning of Tuesday, December 23, there weren’t more cars or people out of the road.

It began when he was traveling eastbound on Steele towards Mendocino Avenue, going 50 miles per hour in the 35 zone. According to a Santa Rosa Police press release, an officer was working radar traffic enforcement, on the lookout for late night speeders and DUI drivers during the Christmas holiday week. After clocking his spreed, the officer took off after Arroyo to initiate a traffic stop, but the 26-year-old, driving a 2002 BMW, did not stop, instead hanging a quick U-turn at the corner and heading off down Steele westbound, accelerating up to 100 mph.

Perhaps the young man’s instinct to flee was based on his history with law enforcement. Records show that he has had several arrests in the past few years. In March of 2010 he was charged with battery on a spouse or co-habitant (domestic violence), along with resisting arrest and a violation of his probation for previous offenses. In 2012 he was twice arrested – in May and July – for possession or being under the influence of a controlled substance, possession of paraphernalia, and driving with a suspended licence. In the July incident he was also charge with resisting arrest.

In April of 2013 he was charged with vehicle theft, possession of the stolen vehicle, and committing a felony while out on bail. A year later, in April 2014, the Rohnert Park police arrested him for possession of ammunition, which he was prohibited to have as a convicted felon, and further violations of his parole.

3 officers and dogs from the Santa Rosa Police K9 team.

Another factor in his eagerness to escape may have been the alcohol he had consumed earlier that night. Arroyo’s speed, along with his disregard for red lights along Steele Lane, allowed him to pull away from the pursuing officer. Another officer responding to the pursuit saw the BMW zoom past as well, as Arroyo continued past the 101 Freeway underpass and the Guerneville Road cutoff, where Steele becomes a narrow 2 lane road. He even passed the Charles Shultz Museum, Snoopy’s Home Ice skating arena, and the Sonoma County Children’s Museum – again fortunately late at night when no kids were around.

He quickly reached the end of Steele Lane, which crosses Marlow Road and becomes a short cul-de-sac. Knowing the area well, Arroyo attempted a left turn, likely headed for his home, which is across Piner Creek on Gabriel Court. But at his high rate of speed and intoxicated state, he could not negotiate the turn, and crashed into the light pole in the south-west corner of the intersection.

Arroyo hid in these bushes, but the police dog had no trouble finding him.

As the pursuing officers arrived, Arroyo was gone from the crashed car, but a citizen who saw the wreck alerted the officers that the man had fled south on Marlowe. He was probably headed toward Valdez Drive, from where he could cross the creek and onto Nightingale, and then to home on Gabriel.

He never made it that far, however. Additional responding officers set up a perimeter, and a K9 officer used their police dog to track Arroyo, who was hiding in the bushes along Marlowe Road, right at the corner of Valdez. He was of course found to be under the influence of alcohol, and was arrested for felony evading, DUI, resisting arrest, and violations of his parole.

In connection with 2011 shootings in a Woodland bar, a Yolo County jury found a Sacramento gang member guilty of two counts of attempted murder. There were also enhancements for being a gang member and inflicting “great bodily injury.”

Marcus Blackmon, 34, also had his pending sentence enhanced in the case due to his having served time in state prison on two previous occasions, according to a Yolo County District Attorney’s Office press release.
Blackmon, according to the release, was at the time of the shootings, a member of the Fruit Ridge Vista Bloods. He entered the now-defunct Tony’s Bar, 607 East Street, on August 28, 2011. During that evening Blackmon, without provocation, approached and harassed several of Tony’s patrons, demanding to know their names and where they came from.

Images of Marcus Blackmon from Facebook.

As the evening wore on, Blackmon became more aggressive and dissatisfied with answers to his demands. Suddenly he pulled out a gun and shot one patron. He then shot indiscriminately and finally shot the nurse, who had come to the aid of his first victim, in the face.

During his testosterone-fueled rampage, Blackmon happened to touch with a fingertip a glass window; his mistake was captured by a security camera and ultimately led to his arrest. Crime scene investigators lifted a fingerprint off the window glass and ultimately connected it with Blackmon.

Blackmon was taken into custody in April 2012 at his Sacramento home. While searching the premises detectives discovered, in Blackmon’s car, an ammunition magazine that contained shell casings that matched some of those that had been expended during the rampage at Tony’s Bar. His arrest, along with 25-year-old Jason Broadbent, came 8 months after the incident. They were both arrested in Sacramento County and later brought to Yolo County.

Blackmon is due to be sentenced by Yolo County Superior Court Judge Stephen Mock on January 30.

A Roseville resident was recently arrested on suspicion of following female joggers in residential neighborhoods, according to an official statement released by the Roseville Police Department.

Dale Fagre, 22, of Roseville, was reportedly arrested on suspicion of stalking, and is being held in the Placer County Jail on $50,000 bail.

According to Roseville PD, the department has recently been investigating reports of a male driver following women joggers in residential neighborhoods near Woodcreek Oaks Boulevard and Baseline Road, and on Reserve Drive/Diamond Oaks Road. According to reports, the man did not make any contact with the women, but he appeared to deliberately follow them, reportedly making u-turns and cruising slowly past them while staring at them. Some of the women were reportedly so alarmed by his behavior that they hid or called a family member to come pick them up. The reports reportedly described him as a white male with red hair and a beard, driving an older white car.

The stalker was also seen in this area at Diamond Oaks.

Thanks to good information provided by the joggers, officers were reportedly able to identify a suspect. They were reportedly attempting to locate the suspect when on the morning of Sunday, December 28, 2014, a woman jogging in a west Roseville neighborhood noticed a man following her and called police. Officers reportedly contacted the suspect in his car near Pleasant Grove Boulevard and Foothills Boulevard and detained him. Following an investigation, officers reportedly had probable cause to connect him to the suspicious incidents involving women joggers.

Roseville PD is reportedly not releasing Fagre’s booking photo or exact vehicle description due to the ongoing investigation. They ask anyone else who has been followed while they were jogging, or had any other suspicious encounters with a man fitting his description — a white male with red hair, he had a goatee or beard, but has very recently shaved off his facial hair, driving an older white car — to call the Roseville Police Department at 916-774-5070.

SAN BERNARDINO – Police caught a man who admitted to a series of liquor store burglaries that have taken place over the past few months.

When Ledaniel Russell, 21, was spotted leaving the front of a liquor store on North Del Rosa Ave. by a patrolling officer in the early morning hours on Dec. 29, he fled on foot.

Investigation and video surveillance footage quickly revealed that Russell used a rock to break the glass door at Good Spirit Liquor, located at 2501 N. Del Rosa, according to Lt. Rich Lawhead, spokesman for the San Bernardino Police Department. Russell, a San Bernardino resident, tried to bend the second set of security bars inside the business behind the door, said Lawhead.

When he broke the window, it set off the burglary alarm, which alerted officers. While he was trying to bend the security bars, police had arrived in time to thwart the burglary attempt. Though he tried to flee on foot, he was caught be police.

“This burglary,” said Lawhead, “is similar to multiple burglaries that have been investigated over the past few months.” Lawhead noted that crimes had been committed at Good Spirit Liquor, Superior Liquor at 2950 North Del Rosa, and Terry’s Liquor at 1221 East Lynwood. The method of operation, he said, “for entry and items taken has all been similar.”

Russell, he said, was questioned about the previous burglaries, admitting his involvement in those incidents. “Russell not only admitted his involvement,” said Lawhead, “but provided officers with detailed information that only someone involved in the crime would know.” Arrested and booked on the four burglaries, investigators are continuing to look into the possibility that Russell might be involved in other similar incidents in the area, said Lawhead.

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The Sun: SB police arrest man believed responsible for 4 burglaries

Press Enterprise: Suspect arrested in string of burglaries

YUCAIPA – A Disneyland employee, suspected of committing lewd acts with several children under 10 years of age, is scheduled to appear in court on Friday facing several charges.

David Joseph Goodman, 21, of Banning, was arrested after deputies from the Highland Sheriff’s Station investigated the suspicions that were brought to their attention on December 19. Once Sgt. Dana Foster and Det. Jennifer Burkhart questioned several children suspected of being victims of Goodman’s crimes, he was arrested.

Originally, deputies had received a report that Goodman was masturbating at a residence on the 13000 block of Third St. in Yucaipa. He did so, according to reports, in the presence of victims, ages six and nine years-old.

Deputies who were dispatched on the initial call notified their watch commander, who contacted detectives from the Crimes Against Children detail.
Both investigators also questioned a five-year-old female victim and a male victim’s mother, all disclosing sexual abuse by Goodman on December 19, and on at least two prior occasions within the past several months.

Investigators revealed that Goodman, who was being held at Central Detention Center on $250,000 bail, was eventually moved to the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga awaiting his court appearance. Goodman had been employed at Disneyland since August, but law enforcement officials did not say what his job was at the family theme park.

Goodman, charged with oral copulation of a child under 14-years-old and more than 10 years younger, also faces charges of sexual penetration with a foreign object. His court appearance on Friday will be in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Foster and Burkhart are continuing their investigation, suspecting that Goodman might have victimized other children. It was not disclosed how Goodman was able to come in contact with the children.

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In the very early hours of Monday, after a late Sunday night, Ericson Reyes Carreon got into a fight with his roommate at their home in the Roseland area of Santa Rosa, in the southwest part of town. Carreon inflicted such harsh damage that the man suffered serious injuries and was transported to the hospital for treatment.

Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the call, along with the emergency medical personnel, but Carreon had already left, taking his girlfriend’s silver Honda Pilot SUV, according to witnesses. The search began for the missing assailant in the Pilot at around 4 am, in the area around Dutton and Hearn Avenues. As one of the deputies approached Dowd Drive, a man flagged him down.

According to the Sheriff’s Department, the man told the deputy that he had been run off the road by a dark colored SUV, causing him to crash into the light pole. As he spoke to the man, they heard another crash, and they saw as the suspect SUV turned down Kenton Court, which runs opposite of Dowd Drive on the other side of Hearn. The deputy told the man to wait with his car while Santa Rosa Police responded to the scene, and the deputy proceeded down Kenton to locate the suspect.

He spotted the Honda Pilot, which appeared to be dragging something – likely debris from one of the collisions – and also had the headlights off. The deputy parked and approached the Honda, shouting commands to stop the vehicle and stay where he was. Carreon instead hit the gas, accelerating toward the deputy, who yelled and jumped out of the way just in time to avoid being hit. The patrol car and another parked car were both hit by the Honda, as Carreon continued to flee in the damaged SUV.

Carreon proceeded down Hearn at speeds in excess of 80 mph.

The deputy jumped back into his damaged, but serviceable patrol car and gave chase, alerting dispatch that he was in pursuit. Carreon headed west down Hearn in the foggy December morning, sometimes with the headlights out. The deputy observed as Carreon reached speeds of 80 miles per hour down the two lane road, weaving into the center and opposite lanes. Soon other deputies and Santa Rosa police officers joined to assist.

As he approached the Stony Point intersection, where Hearn Avenue becomes an even narrower residential road, Carreon lost control, spinning out and ending up in the empty lot on the right side of the street. As deputies and officers approached, Carreon was still not ready to give up, gunning the car in an attempt to escape. But the recent rains left the field muddy, and he simply sat and spun the wheels.

Before reaching Stony Point, Carreon crashed into the field on the right.

With no clear path to escape, one might expect that Carreon would finally give himself up, having caused enough damage already. But he did not, and deputies had to forcibly remove him. Since the doors were wedged shut from the three collisions, they had to break the windows to get at him. He was removed from the car, but not before inflicting a few minor injuries on the deputies who dragged him out. Once securely in custody, He also tried to claim he was someone other than himself, but that didn’t hold up for long.

Carreon was treated the hospital for multiple injuries he suffered in the crashes and his less that cooperative extraction from vehicle, which was towed from the scene. He was booked into the Sonoma County jail facing charges of battery with serious bodily injury for the incident with his roommate, assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer for his attack with the car, felony DUI causing injury (his own), felony evading arrest, and resisting arrest. Bail was set at $50,000, and he will celebrate New Year’s Eve in front of a judge at 1:30 pm for arraignment. He will also be subject to two hit and run charges, which the Santa Rosa Police will work with the District attorney on.

Jay William Parsegian and Christina Marie Hill were apparently moving their operation. According to Sergeant Josh Ludtke of the Santa Rosa Police, the couple, along with Jeffery Allan Ward and Bethany Ann Mallie were trying to check into the Courtyard Marriot Hotel in central Santa Rosa, on Railroad Street. The credit card they presented was reported stolen, and the hotel personnel alerted police.

Officers arrived quickly, before the two couples knew they had been discovered. It was determined that the card had been stolen in a vehicle burglary in Sebastopol just recently. The officers detained the four, and Paresegian tried to claim he was someone else when it was found that he had cards or identification that turned out not to be his. Detectives from the property crimes division were called to take over the investigation.

Courtyard Hotel in Santa Rosa.

Jay Parsegian, 37, has had a history of problems with the law. Records show an arrest back in December of 2007 for possession for sale of a controlled substance, and at that time he already had priors. In 2009 he was charged with providing a controlled substance to a minor.

Later in 2009, in November, he was arrested as part of a group of shoplifters that hit the Napa Premium Outlets stores. He was driving the getaway car as two women, Fawntina Mae Touchstone and Alexandria Paumelia Perkins made off with Coach Leatherware purses valued at $2,000.00. Additional stolen goods were found in the car, along with evidence that the two women were working in concert with Parsegian and Nathan Daniel Arrula on that and other thefts. They were charged with grand theft, possession of stolen property, burglary, and conspiracy.

Parsegian was arrested again in March of 2010 for possession of a controlled substance and paraphernalia, including a needle, being under the influence and giving false information to an officer. In 2011 he was charged with failure to appear in court on the previous grand theft and burglary charges.

In this case, detectives found that Parsegian and Hill had been conducting a large scale operation manufacturing fraudulent credit cards, checks, and engaging in identity theft. Equipment and other evidence was found in another hotel room and a storage locker. Jeffery Ward and Bethany Mallie, however, were not found to be involved in that operation. They did, however, both possess narcotics, and were cited and released for that.

Parsegian and Hill were arrested on charges of forgery, possession of equipment to make and traffic counterfeit cards, conspiracy, and identity theft. Parsegian was also charged with probation violations and giving false information to an officer. They were booked into Sonoma County Jail. Detectives say the investigation is ongoing, and anyone with additional information is encouraged to call Detective Holzapfel at 707-543-4092, with the option to remain anonymous.

Read More: Napa Valley Register (2009)