Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Category Archives: Gangs

OCDA Rackauckas honored for helping to keep kids out of gangs

Posted on by Posted in Crime, Gangs, OCDA, Orange County, Santa Ana, Tony Rackauckas Leave a comment

Date: October 5, 2018

ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY TO BE RECOGNIZED BY ANGEL LIGHT ACADEMY WITH “2018 ABOVE AND BEYOND AWARD” FOR WORK TO KEEP KIDS OUT OF GANGS

SANTA ANA, Calif. – Orange County District Attorney (OCDA) Tony Rackauckas will be recognized among others by the Angel Light Academy as honorees of the ninth Annual Above and Beyond Award for their work with the Orange County Gang Reduction Intervention Partnership (OC GRIP) and keeping kids out of gangs. The honorees selected for this award are local citizens who have proven excellence in community leadership and service and have consistently gone above and beyond. Continue reading→

New bill ensures that teenage gangbangers in California won’t be tried as adults

Posted on by Posted in california, Crime, Democratic Party, Gangs, Jerry Brown, Politics Leave a comment

California Governor Jerry Brown has signed a bill that will allow teenage gangbangers to kill each other without having to worry about being sentenced as adults. Please remember this when you vote for our next Governor as Gavin Newsom is likely to continue such policies! Here is the official press release:

Gov. Brown signs bills to end sentencing of 14- and 15-year-olds in adult criminal court, support exonerated people after prison

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Brown today signed research-based criminal justice reforms to improve rehabilitation and reduce the odds of re-offending. Continue reading→

The Costa Mesa police arrested four gang parolees including one from Santa Ana

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Charles Oswald

Costa Mesa Police Department (CMPD) Gang Investigators, the CMPD TARGET Deputy Probation Officer, and a State Parole Agent conducted a joint enforcement sweep targeting several local gang parolees on Sep. 26.

The sweep targeted four locations of interest within Costa Mesa and resulted in the arrest of four subjects including Angel Estrada, 25, Lake Forest, Bryant Islas, 35, Santa Ana, and Binh Giang, 31, Westminster, for being in violation of their parole. Continue reading→

The SAPD SWAT team raided a cyber cafe suspected of gang activity

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If you were wondering what happened this afternoon in Santa Ana, on 17th Street, we now know that the SAPD raided the Happy Times Cyber Internet Café, which was investigated as a front for gang activity, according to ABC News.

The SAPD SWAT team searched the Happy Times Cyber Internet Cafe, which is located at 1117 17th Street, at about 3:30 p.m. while police questioned dozens of people in an adjacent parking lot after receiving multiple complaints of suspicious activity from nearby residents, according to the O.C. Register. Continue reading→

A Riverside gangbanger got 9 years in jail for murdering a Santa Ana man

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Joshua Encinas

Joshua Anthony Encinas, a 24-year-old Riverside man, was sentenced to nine years in state prison for shooting Joseph Frank Garcia, 23-years-old, to death behind a closed grocery store in Santa Ana last year, according to the O.C. Register.

Encinas could have faced more time behind bars but he accepted a plea agreement on June 22 that resulted in a murder charge being dropped. He did plead guilty however to charges of voluntary manslaughter and personal use of a gun. Continue reading→

Mexican Mafia leader who united three gangs sentenced to 25 years in state prison

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Defendant Who Described Three-Gang Coalition As a “New World Order” Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison

LOS ANGELES – A gang member who helped manage a coalition of three rival street gangs in Northeast Los Angeles that were brought together by orders issued by a member of the Mexican Mafia was sentenced today to 25 years in federal prison.

Manuel Vallejo, also known as “Boxer,” 36, of Los Angeles, was a leader and “shot caller” of the Toonerville gang. He was sentenced this morning by United States District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez for conspiring to violate the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, committing a Violent Crime in Aid of Racketeering (VICAR), conspiring to traffic methamphetamine, and carrying a firearm during and in relation to the commission of a VICAR. During the sentencing this morning, Vallejo told the court, “Even if I stole God’s calculator, I couldn’t add up all the mistakes I’ve made.” Continue reading→

A 20-year-old Santa Ana man was shot and killed early this morning in a gang-related shooting

Posted on by Posted in Crime, Gangs, Santa Ana, SAPD 3 Comments

Santa Ana Police Department

Advisory: SAPD Detective Investigating Homicide 3100 South Main Street

Victim: Bryan Anthony Steubing (20) Santa Ana

On Saturday, May 19, 2018, at approximately 03:40 AM, Santa Ana Police Department responded to a report of a shooting at 3100 S. Main Street in the City of Santa Ana. Upon arrival, officers located a victim suffering from a gunshot wound to the upper body.

Orange County Fire Authority Paramedics responded and transported the victim to Orange County Global Medical Center. Later, Orange County Medical Center staff declared the victim, Bryan Anthony Steubing, 20 years-old, to be deceased. The shooting appeared to be gang related. Continue reading→

Murderous Santa Ana gangbanger who fled to Mexico gets life in prison without parole

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Jesus Canales

Jesus Canales, 24, of Santa Ana, aAn ex-fugitive who spent years on the county’s most-wanted list after he gunned down a 16-year-old gang rival and fled to Mexico, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Friday, according to the O.C. Register.

Co-defendant Juan Manuel “Stitch” Galvan, 25, Santa Ana, was charged on July 25, 2011, with one felony count of murder and one felony count of street terrorism, with sentencing enhancements for criminal street gang activity and vicarious discharge of a firearm causing death. Galvan eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter in exchange for his testimony against Canales and he was ultimately sentenced to six years in jail. Continue reading→

A 22-year-old Santa Ana man was killed in a shooting on Mother’s Day

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Noe Cabanas, from Facebook

Santa Ana Police Department

Advisory: SAPD Detectives Investigating Homicide – 300 South Halladay Street

Victim: Noe Cabanas (22) Santa Ana

On Sunday, May 13, 2018, at approximately 10:26 PM, Santa Ana Police Department responded to a report of a shooting at 300 S. Halladay Street in the City of Santa Ana.

Upon arrival, officers located three adult victims suffering from gunshot wounds to their upper bodies. Orange County Fire Authority Paramedics responded. The victims were transported to local trauma centers. Continue reading→

A gang-related shooting injured a victim early this morning in Santa Ana

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An unidentified Santa Ana resident was shot and injured very early today at the 1300 block of West First Street, hear S. Bristol St., according to the O.C. Register.

SAPD police officers showed up at the scene at about 1:30 a.m. after they received calls about a shooting. They found the victim alive with a gunshot wound to his upper torso, according to the SAPD. Continue reading→

A snitch helped to convict a Santa Ana gangbanger of killing a teenager

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Jesus Canales, a 24-year-old man who gunned down a teenage rival gang member in Santa Ana and then fled to Mexico, where he was on the lam for five years, was convicted Tuesday of first-degree murder, according to the O.C. Register.

Canales was charged on July 25, 2011, with one felony count of special circumstances first degree murder committed for a criminal street gang purpose and one felony count of street terrorism, with sentencing enhancements for criminal street gang activity and discharge of a firearm causing death.  Continue reading→

The SAPD arrested a 44-year-old gangbanger for possessing four guns, a grenade and possibly meth

Posted on by Posted in Crime, Drugs, Gangs, Guns, Public Safety, Santa Ana, SAPD Leave a comment

Santa Ana Police Department

Advisory: Gang Detectives Arrest Suspect For Possession of an Explosive Device, Four Handguns And Controlled Substance

Suspect Arrested: Gregorio Rojas (44) Santa Ana

On 3/19/18, at approximately 8:00 PM, Gang Detectives conducted a traffic stop of an occupied vehicle in the area of 2900 W. 1st Street. When officers asked the driver if he had anything illegal the driver advised he had a hand grenade in the vehicle. The detectives observed an item, which appeared to be a modified pineapple grenade, on the front passenger seat. Continue reading→

OC Jail snitch fiasco resulted in a lighter sentence for a murderous Santa Ana gangbanger

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Eric Vasquez Ortiz, 28, a Santa Ana gangbanger, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on Friday after three trials for the same murder, according to the O.C. Register.

Ortiz shot and killed Emeterio Adame, 54, outside his Santa Ana home back in 2006. He was convicted of first-degree murder and faced life in prison without parole for that shooting death. However he was granted a new trial in 2015 by a Judge who found that he had been a victim of the Orange County jail-snitch fiasco. Continue reading→

Santa Ana gangbanger gets 35 years to life in prison after killing a 15-year-old boy

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Brian Jose Miguel, a 23-year-old alleged gangbanger, was sentenced to 35 years to life in prison on Friday for the shooting death of Jimmy Hernandez, a 15-year-old boy, who was riding a bicycle in Santa Ana, according to the O.C. Register.

Miguel was looking at life in prison until he pleaded guilty last year to second-degree murder for the 2012 fatal shooting of Hernandez in the 2000 block of West Myrtle Street. Continue reading→

A man was wounded in a possibly gang-related shooting in Santa Ana on Friday night

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A man was hospitalized and in critical condition on Saturday morning, Jan.13 following a shooting Friday night that police say could be gang related, according to the O.C. Register.

The incident happened at the 1200 block of South Pacific Ave. Police showed up there at about 10:20 p.m. and found a male victim with wounds in his upper body, according to the SAPD. Continue reading→