New Santa Ana | Category Archives: Crime

Two men shot while working on a vehicle in their driveway, near several schools

Posted on June 19, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Crime, David Benavides, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Another day another ridiculous shooting in Santa Ana. This time two men with no gang connections were badly wounded as they were shot while they worked on a car in their driveway at the 1300 block of South Rita Way, in Santa Ana, at around 9:15 p.m. on Thursday evening, according to the O.C. Register.

One victim, identified him as 21-year-old Juan Seneseros, was shot in the back. The other victim, a 26-year-old man was shot in the upper and lower torso and was in serious condition. Continue reading→

Santa Ana men fight over recyclables and one of them gets pounded with a hammer

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Crime, Santa Ana 3 Comments

Violence has been growing in Santa Ana all year long but today we hit a new low as a man attacked another man with a hammer after they had a disagreement on Thursday evening about recyclables, according to the O.C. Register.

SAPD police officers interviewed the victim at an unnamed local hospital at 5:30 pm, where he was being treated for a 1-inch cut on his head and an ankle injury. Continue reading→

SAPD DUI checkpoint set for June 19

Posted on June 17, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Alcohol, Crime, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Santa Ana Police Department

Advisory: SAPD conducting DUI/Drivers License checkpoint Fri, June 19, 2015, 9:00PM -3:00AM, 1000 E. Fourth Street,

The Santa Ana Police Department will be conducting a DUI/Drivers License checkpoint on Friday, June 19, 2015. It will begin at 9:00PM and is scheduled to conclude at 3:00AM. It will be conducted in the area of 1000 E. Fourth Street, in the City of Santa Ana. Continue reading→

9-year-old Santa Ana girl stops a man from stealing her mom’s wallet

Posted on June 16, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Crime, Santa Ana Leave a comment

The suspected robber is wearing a blue shirt in this security camera shot

A 9-year-old girl named Genesis Ramos, stopped a would-be robber from taking her mom’s wallet on Monday morning, while she and her 13-year-old sister Ingrid were sitting in their car at a 7-Eleven parking lot on Grand Ave. and East Warner, according to the O.C. Register.

A man pulled up next to the girls in the parking lot and then opened an unlocked door and grabbed a wallet that had been left on the seat by their mother, who was inside the store using an ATM so she could buy donuts for the girls before heading to school.

Genesis, a fourth-grader, jumped out of the car and struggled with the man, who all the while kept trying to close his driver’s side car door. The man insisted he didn’t take anything before finally relenting and letting go of the wallet. Continue reading→

Press conference and rally against the SAPD’s marijuana dispensary raids set for 6/15

Posted on June 13, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Crime, Drugs, Entertainment, Long Beach, Marijuana, Police Brutality, Politics, Public Safety, Santa Ana 16 Comments

A press conference regarding Santa Ana Police Department outrageous raids on medical marijuana dispensaries will be held this Monday, June 15, 2015, at 1:30 p.m., at the Westin Hotel located at 333 E. Ocean Blvd., in Long Beach.

The event organizers ask that you please dress as you would for court support. Continue reading→

Worthless Santa Ana gang banger gets life in prison after killing an innocent student

Posted on June 12, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Crime, Santa Ana 7 Comments

Ricardo Ray Alcala, a disgusting Santa Ana gang banger who shot and killed Edgar Sura, a 20-year-old Santa Ana phlebotomy student, on Oct. 19, 2012, laughed as his victim begged for his life – and now the cholo has paid the price as he has been sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole, according to the O.C. Register.

Alcala’s fellow gang bangers and co-defendants, Isaac Angel Martinez, 27, and Jeamy Beatriz Melendez, 25, also accepted plea deals Friday and they were sentenced to 26- and six-year prison terms.

Alcala is such a pig that he returned to the scene of the shooting after a makeshift memorial was set up in Sura’s memory. Continue reading→

Gang bangers shoot at a married couple walking near 17th and Spurgeon

Posted on June 10, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Angelica Amezcua, Crime, Gangs, Santa Ana 8 Comments

While our city leaders keep saying that crime is going down in Santa Ana there is at least one local couple that would disagree. A married couple in their 40’s, was walking near 17th and Spurgeon, in Santa Ana’s Ward 3, when shots were fired at them at about 9:11 p.m., according to the O.C. Register.

The husband hit the ground when he was shot at but as it turned out he was not struck by any bullets. He was not at the scene when the SAPD police officers arrived. Continue reading→

Volunteer Sunday School teacher charged with molesting 7 boys and distributing kiddie porn

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Churches and Religion, Costa Mesa, Crime, Newport Beach, OCDA, Orange County Leave a comment

ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY PRESS RELEASE

Case # 12HF3538

Date: June 9, 2015

FORMER VOLUNTEER SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER TO FACE TRIAL FOR MOLESTING SEVEN MINOR BOYS AND POSSESSING AND DISTRIBUTING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

SANTA ANA – A former volunteer Sunday school teacher is scheduled to face trial tomorrow for molesting seven minor boys and possessing and distributing child pornography. Christopher Bryan McKenzie Sr., 51, Costa Mesa, is charged with 15 felony counts of lewd acts upon a child under 14 years old, one felony count of attempted lewd acts upon a child under 14 years old, four felony counts of using a minor for sex acts, one felony count of attempting to use a minor for sex acts, two felony counts of distributing pornography to a minor, and one felony count of possession of child pornography with sentencing enhancement allegations for substantial sexual conduct with a child and committing lewd acts upon a child under 14 years old against more than one victim. If convicted, McKenzie faces a maximum sentence of 234 years to life in state prison. Opening statements are scheduled to begin tomorrow, June 10, 2015, at 9:00 a.m. in Department C-40, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.

At the time of the crimes McKenzie worked as a swimming pool cleaner. The defendant was a volunteer Sunday school teacher at Christ Church by the Sea in Newport Beach between 2004 and 2006 and at Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa. Continue reading→

Santa Ana pest control company employee gets huge sentence for distributing kiddie porn

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Crime, FBI, Santa Ana Leave a comment

Billie Joe Harris, Jr., a 53-year-old Santa Ana pest control company employee, was sentenced on Tuesday to a prison term of 210 months for distributing child pornography on the Internet, according to the OC Weekly, which also reported that the sentence was extra harsh because the felon had already been convicted in a 1987 case of lewd and lascivious contact with a minor.

According to court documents, during an online conversation with an undercover FBI agent, Harris provided a password for locked folders containing child pornography in his online Gigatribe account. Federal authorities described Gigatribe as an online platform that is considered a “haven” for traders of child pornography. Among the images and videos the agent accessed in Harris’ account was one involving a “prepubescent minor,” according to the O.C. Register. Continue reading→

Car chase leads police from Santa Ana to two other cities and back to Santa Ana

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Anaheim, Crime, Drugs, Garden Grove, Santa Ana Leave a comment

It turned out to be a wild afternoon in Santa Ana on Monday as police chased a man and a woman in a car from the intersection of Tustin and Franzen Avenues in Santa Ana through Garden Grove and Anaheim and then back to Santa Ana. The driver was finally arrested at the 2600 block of Greenbrier Street, at the corner of Bristol Street and Park Lane, in Santa Ana, where the driver was arrested, according to the O.C. Register.

The incident began about 1:30 p.m. when a witness reported hearing nine shots fired by the occupant of a gray Cadillac CTS at a Mazda SUV near North Tustin and Franzen avenues, a Santa Ana Police Department watch commander said, according to KTLA. Continue reading→

Parole denied for gang banger who murdered a man to improve his gang status

Posted on June 7, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Crime, Gangs, OCDA, Santa Ana Leave a comment

ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY PRESS RELEASE

Case # C-94882

Date: June 4, 2015

PAROLE DENIED FOR THREE YEARS FOR GANG MEMBER CONVICTED OF 1993 SHOOTING-MURDER OF MAN AND CAUSING PERMANENT INJURY TO THREE OTHERS TO ENHANCE HIS GANG STATUS

*Victims were innocent men playing basketball at Santa Ana High School

SANTA ANA – The Board of Parole Hearings (Panel), California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation denied parole for three years June 2, 2015, for a criminal street gang member convicted of the shooting murder of one man and causing the permanent injury of three other men in a van to enhance his gang status. Uciel Murgo, 42, is currently being held at Chuckawalla State Prison in Blythe. Murgo pleaded guilty June 7, 1993, to one felony count of second degree murder and eight felony counts of attempted murder with sentencing enhancements for inflicting great bodily injury during the commission of a crime and the personal use of a firearm. On July 30, 1993, Murgo was sentenced to 20 years to life in state prison. This case was originally prosecuted by Senior Deputy District Attorney Mark Sevigny.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Jim Mendelson and the victim’s next of kin attended the hearing at the prison to oppose Murgo’s parole. Continue reading→

Teachers convicted of having sex and drinks with students on an O.C. beach

Posted on June 7, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Crime, OCDA, Santa Ana Leave a comment

ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY PRESS RELEASE

Case # 15HF0219

Date: June 5, 2015

TWO FORMER FEMALE TEACHERS SENTENCED FOR UNLAWFUL SEXUAL INTERCOURSE WITH AN UNDERAGE MALE STUDENT DURING BEACH CAMPING TRIP

*Ghirelli was also convicted of furnishing a controlled substance

NEWPORT BEACH – Two former female high school teachers were convicted and sentenced today for unlawful sexual intercourse with an underage male student during an alcohol and drug fueled camping trip at San Clemente State Beach. Melody Suzanne Lippert, 38, Covina, pleaded guilty to one felony count of unlawful sexual intercourse. She was sentenced to three years formal probation and three months in jail stayed pending completion of 15 days of CalTrans.

Co-defendant Michelle Louise Ghirelli, 30, West Covina, pleaded guilty to one felony count of unlawful sexual intercourse and one felony count of furnishing a controlled substance. She was sentenced to three years formal probation and 180 days in jail stayed pending completion of 180 days in a lock-down rehabilitation facility. The defendants’ conviction in this case qualifies them, under the California Education Code, to have their teaching credentials revoked for life in the State of California. Continue reading→

Irvine homicide victim identified as Octavio Jesus Alcala of Santa Ana

Posted on June 6, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Crime, irvine, Santa Ana 1 Comment

Irvine Police Department Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PRESS RELEASE: 06-06-2015

Subject: Homicide Victim Identified

Contact : Farrah Emami, Public Information Officer, Irvine Police Department, 949-724-7112, femami@cityofirvine.org

Irvine, CA – The victim in a homicide case being investigated by the Irvine Police Department (IPD) has been identified as 19-year-old Octavio Jesus Alcala of Santa Ana.

On the morning of June 5, 2015, employees arriving to work at a construction site in the area of Wolf Trail and Orchard Hills located a deceased adult male, later identified as Alcala. The victim was located face-down in a remote, graded construction area that does not have any buildings. The construction workers called 911 and IPD responded to the scene. Continue reading→

Santa Ana gang banger shot in the hand but he isn’t talking of course

Posted on June 5, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Crime, Gangs, Orange County, Santa Ana 5 Comments

Apparently a local gang banger tried to block a bullet with his hand! Or perhaps he was not quick enough to dodge the bullets fired at him by an unknown assailant.

SAPD police officers drove to the 100 block of South Broadway Street, in Santa Ana’s Ward 2, which is represented by Council Member Michele Martinez, on Thursday night at around 10:30 p.m., after reports of shots fired, according to the O.C. Register.

The police arrested a man who was seen running east on East Walnut Street. The man was shot in the right hand and the police also found a handgun under a nearby parked car. Continue reading→

The SAPD is conducting a DUI/Drivers License checkpoint on Friday, June 5

Posted on June 4, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Alcohol, Crime, Santa Ana 1 Comment

Santa Ana Police Department

Advisory: SAPD conducting a DUI/Drivers License checkpoint Fri, June 5th, 2015 9:00PM – 3:00AM in the area of 3300 W. 5th Street

The Santa Ana Police Department will be conducting a DUI/Drivers License checkpoint on Friday, June 5th, 2015 It will begin at 9:00PM and is scheduled to conclude at 3:00AM. It will be conducted in the area of 3300 W. Fifth Street, in the City of Santa Ana.

The primary purpose of a DUI Checkpoint is to deter impaired driving, not to increase arrests. All too often, members of our community are senselessly injured or killed on local roadways by impaired drivers. This DUI/Drivers License checkpoint is an effort to reduce those tragedies, as well as ensuring drivers have a valid driver’s license. The DMV reports that unlicensed drivers are 4.9 times more likely to cause a fatal crash than a licensed driver. Continue reading→