A male teenager was shot in Santa Ana on Friday at around 6:30 p.m. when he was walking near the 1700 block of North Spurgeon St., according to the O.C. Register.
The young man was approached by two males. He began running away due south on Spurgeon St. and both of the suspects then pulled out guns and fired multiple shots at the teen. He was hit in his right arm and left hand. Continue reading
Santa Ana Police Department
Advisory: OCSD Airship “Duke” Assists SAPD Locate Armed Auto Theft Suspect After Pursuit
On Thursday 9-10-15 at midnight, an officer was patrolling the area of 500 S. Oak Street when he observed a suspicious vehicle occupied by a lone male occupant. The officer attempted to stop the vehicle for traffic violations but the driver failed to yield and led officers on a pursuit. During the pursuit, suspect Jeffery Zavala tossed a handgun out of the vehicle.
The pursuit ended in the city of Tustin when the driver fled on foot to a nearby school. The officer chased Zavala and used his Taser but it was ineffective. Zavala temporarily eluded capture until Orange County Sheriff’s Air Support “DUKE” observed him inside a nearby apartment complex. Officers established a perimeter and ordered Zavala to surrender. When he refused, the K9 was deployed and the suspect was taken into custody. The weapon Zavala tossed out of the vehicle during the pursuit was located and recovered by assisting officers.
NEWS, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: Lt. Jeff Hallock, 714.904.7042, JHallock@ocsd.org; Emily Osterberg, 714.647.1840, EOsterberg@ocsd.org
Murder Suspect Arrested
WESTMINSTER, Calif. (September 11, 2015) – On Friday, September 11, 2015, Orange County Sheriff’s Department Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) deputies arrested Craig Tanber, 37, Dana Point, wanted in connection with the stabbing homicide that occurred last Monday, September 7, 2015 in front of the Patsy’s Irish Pub in the City of Laguna Niguel. Tanber was taken into custody without incident or injuries.
Tanber was arrested at approximately 6:15 a.m. this morning after investigators obtained information he was staying at the Motel 6 at 13100 Goldenwest Street., Westminster. SWAT operators made entry into the motel room and safely took Tanber into custody. Continue reading
Jaime Prieto Rocha aka “Slimmer”
Jaime Prieto Rocha, 42, pleaded guilty Friday to voluntary manslaughter. He also admitted a sentencing enhancement for gang activity and a murder charge was left open. Rocha was ordered to return to court Oct. 30 for a pretrial and sentencing hearing, according to the O.C. Register. He is expected to be sentenced to 16 years in prison for the manslaughter conviction.
A co-defendant, Irvin Tellez, 27, a Garden Grove resident, will begin soon. His case is expected to be assigned to a judge on Tuesday. He is also charged with felony murder but also attempted murder with sentencing enhancements for the personal discharge of a firearm causing death, personal discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury, and great bodily injury. He faces up to 75 years to life in prison if found guilty, according to the OC Weekly. Continue reading
Alvar Albert Gonzalez
Santa Ana Police Department
Advisory: SAPD & SA School Police Arrest Teacher For Unlawful Sex With A Minor Student
On 9/4/15, after a joint investigation between the Santa Ana Police Department and the Santa Ana Unified School District Police, detectives arrested Alvar Albert Gonzalez, 45, of Santa Ana, for possessing/producing obscene matter and unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.
The female victim first met the suspect when she was in his class her freshman year at Santa Ana High School. In 2013, Gonzalez arranged to meet the 16-year- old victim in his classroom during school lunch breaks. There, Gonzalez allegedly engaged in consensual sexual intercourse with the victim on over 9 occasions. This activity was initially not reported. Continue reading
Santa Ana Police Department
On 9/4/15, after a joint investigation between the Santa Ana Police Department and the Tustin Police Department, detectives arrested Jose Aguilera, 41, of Santa Ana, for multiple counts of sexual assaults against children.
Aguilera met, and befriended, the four families of his victims at the Kingdom Hall Jehovah’s Witness church in Santa Ana where they worship. Aguilera is not an employee of the church. Aguilera created situations where he was allowed to visit the victims’ homes or transport victims in his car. The alleged assaults occurred when Aguilera was alone with the children. Continue reading
A Santa Ana homeowner, Erickson Dumaual, defended himself early today when a man tried to break into his home, at the 2500 block of West Manly Ave., in Santa Ana’s Ward 6, which is represented by Councilman Sal Tinajero.
The homeowner shot the suspected burglar and held him at gunpoint. The shots were fired before 4:30 a.m., according to the O.C. Register.
Dumaual saw two suspects in his backyard and he told the police that one of the suspects appeared to be brandishing a gun. Somehow Dumaual was able to wrestle the gun away from the suspect, who has been identified as 19-year-old gang member Bryan Bravo. Dumaual shot Bravo while the other suspect ran off. Continue reading
Santa Ana Police Department
The Santa Ana Police Department will be conducting a DUI/Drivers License checkpoint on Friday, September 4th, 2015. It will begin at 9:00PM and is scheduled to conclude at 3:00AM. It will be conducted in the area of 500 W. First Street, Santa Ana, CA.
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
Ruben Olguin
Santa Ana Police Department
SANTA ANA, Calif. – The Orange County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA) and Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) are seeking the public’s help identifying potential additional victims of a barber who is charged with molesting a teen boy during a haircut. Ruben Olguin, 51, Santa Ana, is charged with one felony count of lewd act upon a child. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of three years in state prison and mandatory lifetime sex offender registration. He is being held on $100,000 bail and is scheduled for continued arraignment tomorrow Sept. 4, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. in Department
CJ-1, Central Jail, Santa Ana. Continue reading
A Riverside man, Walter Levar Mallet, 37, was arrested by Santa Ana police in an undercover sting Wednesday over the theft, on May 22, of high-end computer parts from a computer manufacturer located at the 1300 block of East Edinger Avenue, according to the O.C. Register.
Mallet is thought to be one of three hooded men who smashed a glass door to get into the computer business, where over the course of several hours they made off with around $400K worth of computer components that are used in aircraft and medical equipment, according to the SADP.
The SAPD investigators are not sure how the burglars were able to disable the computer manufacturer’s security system for three hours. Continue reading
Border Patrol Stops Sex Offender at the Border
CALEXICO, Calif. – U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the El Centro Station arrested a previously deported convicted sex offender in the desert area approximately 13 miles west of the Calexico port of entry today.
The 34-year-old man was apprehended by Border Patrol agents when illegally entered into the United States. Agents later identified the man as Jesus Bermudez-Alvear, a citizen of Mexico.
Criminal record checks revealed that Bermudez is a convicted sex offender, convicted of sexual intercourse with a minor out of Santa Ana. Bermudez was previously removed from the United States and served a 60 day prison term and a three year supervised release on Mar.30, 2000. Continue reading
Robert Daniel Carranza
ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY PRESS RELEASE
Case # 15CF1967
Date: September 1, 2015
THIRD-STRIKER CHARGED FOR STABBING-MURDER OF MAN IN TUSTIN
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A third-striker was charged today for stabbing and murdering a man at a park in Tustin. Robert Jesus Wilson, 51, is charged with one felony count of murder with a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon and prior strike convictions for assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer in 1998 and making criminal threats in 2014. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 85 years to life in state prison. He is being held on $1 million bail. The scheduled arraignment was continued in court today to Sept. 18, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. in Department CJ-1, Central Jail, Santa Ana. Continue reading
A bank robber who liked to wear hats when he commits crimes has struck again – this time he robbed the Farmers & Merchants Bank at 1750 E. Seventeenth St., in Santa Ana, on Monday at around 4:15 p.m., according to the O.C. Register. This bank is located in the parking lot of a Superior Grocers and is across the street from a Wells Fargo Bank.
The FBI believes this is the same guy who previously robbed a Farmers & Merchants in Orange on Tuesday and a Bank of the West in Santa Ana on Thursday.
The FBI has dubbed the suspect the “pre-season bandit” because he likes to wear sports caps while he robs banks. Continue reading
Bianca Renee McNair
Santa Ana Police Department
Arrested: Stephone Jawonn Fellows (27) Los Angeles –Burglary, Conspiracy to Commit Crime, Resisting Peace Officer and Bianca Renee McNair (25) Santa Ana – Burglary, Conspiracy to Commit Crime
On 8-31-2015 at 8:50 am, a resident reported seeing a suspicious male knocking on his neighbor’s door. When the male received no answer at the door, he went through the side yard to the rear of the residence and out of sight. Responding officers requested the assistance of Orange County Sheriff’s Airship “Duke.”
The suspect, matching the description provided by witnesses was located by Duke in the rear yard of a residence where two window screens had been removed. When Duke arrived on scene the suspect observed the airship and ran out of the yard, entering the passenger side of a vehicle. Duke directed responding units to the vehicle, and a car stop was conducted. The male subject fled from the vehicle and ran through the apartment complex at the northeast corner of Fairview and Segerstrom. Continue reading
A 24-year-old Santa Ana woman used a knife to attack a 36-year-old woman at the 400 block of South Birch Street, in Santa Ana, on Monday night, just before 9 p.m. But the other woman was able to disarm her younger attacker – and she then used the knife in self-defense, according to the O.C. Register.
The attacker ended up being hospitalized in serious condition. She is expected to survive her wounds. But she is also expected to be arrested on possible charges of assault with a deadly weapon. Continue reading