Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Category Archives: Gangs

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

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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

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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→

A drive-by shooting seriously wounded a man on a bike last night on S. Towner St.

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An unknown male on a bicycle was shot and badly wounded last night, Jan. 11, at the 2000 block of South Towner St., in Santa Ana, according to the O.C. Register.

An occupant of a vehicle shot at the victim, striking him in his lower torso, at around 10:55 p.m., according to the SAPD.  Continue reading→

Santa Ana man who informed on the Mexican Mafia gets a reduced prison sentence

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ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Case # 05CF3926

Date: December 22, 2017

GANG INFORMANT SENTENCED TO 17 YEARS IN STATE PRISON FOR 2005 ATTEMPTED MURDER OF RIVAL GANG MEMBER

*Sentence reduced based on testimony that led to federal and state convictions of 79 gang members affiliated with the Mexican Mafia; FBI in collaboration with U.S. Attorneys’ Office request leniency in detailed letter

SANTA ANA, Calif. – Oscar Daniel Moriel, a gang informant, was sentenced today to 17 years in state prison for the attempted murder of a rival gang member in 2005. The defendant’s informant work and testimony led to the federal and state convictions of 79 criminal street gang members affiliated with the Mexican Mafia, a notorious Hispanic prison gang infamous for their violence and criminal enterprise, and resulted in dozens of prison sentences totaling 293 years. Continue reading→

Female gangbanger gets 45 years in prison for dragging a woman to death in Little Saigon

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ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY NEWS RELEASE

Case # 10WF0524

Date: December 22, 2017

FEMALE GANG ASSOCIATE SENTENCED TO 45 YEARS TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR MURDERING WOMAN BY DRAGGING HER WITH CAR

*Co-defendant in this case was previously convicted and sentenced

SANTA ANA, Calif. – A female associate of a criminal street gang was sentenced to 45 years to life in state prison today for murdering a woman by dragging her several blocks on the outside of her car.

Defendant: Lynn Ai Quach, 27, Garden Grove

Found guilty by a jury on Sept. 4, 2014, of: Continue reading→