Our readers sometimes complain that we only report bad news about Santa Ana. Quite frankly we wish this was not the case. But we are not here to sugarcoat what goes on in our city.
That said here is a bit of good news that I missed this month. Apparently the winner of this year’s 13th OC Marathon lives in Santa Ana. He is Jose Madera, a 25-year old. He completed the 26-mile, 385-yard course in two hours, 31 minutes, 43 seconds. Continue reading
Costa Mesa Police Department
Advisory: Information Bulletin: Wanted suspect
Richard Anthony Campo has two active warrants out for his arrest on domestic violence-related charges. He is also wanted for questioning on a separate domestic violence case out of Costa Mesa. Campo is currently homeless and believed to be staying in parks in both Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach.
If Campo is located, contact the Costa Mesa Police Department at 714-754-5252. Continue reading
City of Santa Ana
On Tuesday, May 16, 2017, the Santa Ana City Council took the first step toward establishing a legal services program for Santa Ana residents facing deportation. By a vote of 4-2 (only Council Members Juan Villegas and Jose Solorio voted No), the City Council directed staff to further pursue all five options presented in a staff report to assist detained immigrants in deportation proceedings who cannot afford an attorney.
The five options included: Continue reading
Santa Ana Police Department
Advisory: Come Join Us For Our Annual Open House this Saturday, May 20th from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
The Santa Ana Police Department will be hosting their 2nd Annual Open House event on Saturday, May 20th from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at their headquarters, located at 60 Civic Center Plaza, in Santa Ana. Continue reading
Santa Ana Police Department
Crime Type: PC 211 Commercial Robbery
On 05/17/2017 at approximately 7:15 pm, the suspects entered the Motel 6 located at 1623 E. 1st Street, where they jumped lobby desk brandishing a knife at the hotel clerk demanding the money in the cash register. The clerk fearing for her life gave the suspect the money from the cash register and suspects fled the location. Continue reading
Santa Ana Police Department
Missing Person: Enrique Rivera (23) , Male/Hispanic 5’07”, thin build, 135 lbs., black hair and brown eyes.
Tattoo: Picture of Rubik’s Cube on left shoulder Continue reading
On May 16, 2017, at approximately 7:12 p.m., Tustin Police Department Officers responded to a call of a suicidal subject.
Officers contacted the subject, 24-year-old Edwin Fuentes, who served in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan and later struggled with PTSD, inside of a vehicle in the alley of an apartment complex located in the 16200 Block of Main St. in the City of Tustin, just south of the Santa Ana Zoo, according to the O.C. Register. Continue reading
Antonio Delgado Juarez, a 38-year-old man who robbed the Food 4 Less supermarket at 2140 S. Bristol St. while he was zipping around in a motorized wheelchair, back on Sep. 18, 2014, has pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree robbery and carjacking, all felonies, according to the O.C. Register.
As it turns out Juarez can walk. Why he was in a motorized wheelchair has not been determined. Continue reading
City of Santa Ana
SANTA ANA, CA – The Andalucia Apartments, the first workforce housing community developed in the City of Santa Ana’s Harbor Mixed-Use Corridor Plan (the Harbor Plan), was selected as Orange County’s Affordable & Workforce Housing 2017 Development of the Year at the annual Orange County Affordable Housing Awards event.
Hosted by the Affordable Housing Clearinghouse, Kennedy Commission and the Orange County Community Housing Corporation, the AHA event recognizes and celebrates exceptional affordable housing accomplishments for lower income households living in Orange County. Continue reading
Jeffrey Robert Smith, a 45-year-old Costa Mesa man, was sentenced to 30 years in prison, after he admitted to peeping and molesting some of his victims, according to the O.C. Register.
Smith pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree burglary and single counts each of assault with intent to commit a sex offense and inflicting injury on an elder adult, all felonies, as well as multiple misdemeanor counts of touching an intimate part of another person, indecent exposure, peeping, disorderly conduct, aggravated trespass and lewd conduct in a public place, on Friday, May 12. Continue reading
Juan Angel Rivera, 23, a Santa Ana resident who stabbed a fellow concertgoer, Nathan Alfaro, (a 23-year old resident of Westminster) to death during a March 2016 punk show at the Underground DTSA was convicted Monday of manslaughter, not murder, after jurors found that he acted in the heat of the moment, according to the O.C. Register.
Rivera is still looking at a prison term of up to 12 years. But if he had he been convicted of first-degree murder he could have ended up in prison for 26 years to life. Most likely he will not serve a full term as the State of California routinely lets inmates out of prison early. Continue reading
ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Date: May 15, 2017
Case # 15CF0617
SANTA ANA, Calif. – Assistant District Attorney Tracy Miller of the Orange County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA) was honored as a “Champion of Children” in Orange County for her extensive work with Orange County Gang Reduction Intervention Partnership (OC GRIP). The award was presented at The Raise Foundation’s 6th Annual Spring Soirée Garden Gala in Irvine on May 12, 2017. Continue reading
Juan Carlos Cruz-Olmos, a 38-year-old man, was sentenced on Friday to six years in prison for molesting four boys during sleepovers in Tustin last year, according to the O.C. Register.
Cruz-Olmos accepted a plea deal from the OCDA which included four counts of lewd acts with a minor younger than 14. Continue reading
Sergio Joaquin Mendoza, a 27-year-old Santa Ana man, was sentenced to nine years in prison on Friday, after kidnapped his girlfriend, carved his name into her chest with a razor blade and was convicted of multiple felony counts including criminal threats, false imprisonment and domestic battery, according to the O.C. Register.
Mendoza argued with his girlfriend and punched her on several occasions, according to the OCDA. He even forced her to sit in his car while he was at work and threatened her with violence. He eventually told the woman he would let her leave if she allowed him to carve his name into her chest. Continue reading
Kevin Jonas Rojano-Nieto, a 21-year old Santa Ana man, got lucky when County Superior Court Judge M. Marc Kelly sentended him to a 10-year prison sentence on April 3, 2015, after Rojano-Nieto sodomozed a 3-year old relative. Kelly could have sentenced Rojano-Nieto to a state-mandated life term in prison. The outcry after Kelly’s lame sentence led to an aborted attempt to recall the Judge.
On Friday Rojano-Nieto’s luck ran out as the California State Supreme Court rejected a defense appeal, clearing the way for the Fourth Appellate District in San Diego to finalize its reversal of the sentence Friday, according to the O.C. Register. Continue reading