In a front-page story about the CalGRIP anti-gang police operation printed Friday, Oct. 26, the Times incorrectly reported the status of two suspects identified by Morgan Hill police.
Michael Espinoza, 26 of Morgan Hill was not arrested as of Thursday, but police issued a warrant for his arrest during the Oct. 19 police operation.
Colby Worsham, 22 of San Jose, was not suspected of street gang involvement, and was not on probation or parole when he was arrested Oct. 19.
Police combined forces with area law enforcement agencies to arrest 13 residents on a variety of charges during a parole and probation sweep targeting street gang activity last Friday.
The sweep was part of the “multi-faceted,” state-funded California Gang Reduction, Intervention and Prevention program, known as CalGRIP, according to Morgan Hill police Sgt. Troy Hoefling.
The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, Gilroy police, state department of probation and the department of corrections participated in the operation, Hoefling said. More than 60 officers participated.
Officers conducted 20 probation and parole checks of known gang-related residents, stopped 20 vehicles and contacted 16 pedestrians during the operation, Hoefling said.
Those on probation or parole who were contacted were “all tied to gangs through the terms of their probation or parole,” Hoefling said.
Motorists and pedestrians targeted in the operation were stopped for “probable cause” observed by officers such as curfew or vehicle code violations, and through “consensual encounters” with police, Hoefling said.
The 13 arrests included allegations of eight narcotics-related violations, three parole violations and two warrant arrests, police said. None of those arrested resisted officers or tried to flee before their detention.
The operation was restricted mostly to Morgan Hill, with some officer activity extending just outside the city limits into San Martin, Hoefling said.
South County law enforcement agencies collaboratively applied for and received the CalGRIP funding to allow them to combine resources in an effort to combat criminal street gang activity, Hoefling said.
The South County area has seen a rise in gang-related activity in recent years, including 272 gang-related incidents in Morgan Hill since 2007, police said.
Hoefling noted that violent gang-related activity historically rises during the period of September through December each year. Of the total gang-related incidents reported in Morgan Hill in the last five years, 125 of those occurred during these fall and winter months.
The last three homicides in Morgan Hill were all gang-related, and all three happened from September to December in previous years, Hoefling added.
Tara Romero, 14, was killed almost a year ago, on Nov. 4, 2011, when a car full of gang members drove by the corner of Del Monte and Cosmo avenues and opened fire on Romero and a group of her teenage friends standing outside the Village Avante apartment complex. Police say the victims were not gang-related, and were likely targeted by mistake.
On Oct. 2, 2009, Juan Arellano, Jr., was shot to death outside the Crest Avenue apartments northwest of downtown Morgan Hill. No one has been identified as a suspect or arrested in connection with that crime. Police said both the shooter and victim were gang-related, though Arellano’s family members have said he was not involved in gang activity.
The last gang-related homicide before that was the shooting murder of Luis Bautista, which happened outside the Safeway store at Tennant Station, Sept. 30, 2005.
Police do not know why this time period seems to generate more gang-related violence than others. So far this year since September, Morgan Hill police have seen a rise in gang-related graffiti and tagging, Hoefling said.
Plus, a number of murders have been reported in recent months in surrounding communities such as Gilroy, Hollister, Salinas and San Jose, police said.
CalGRIP also focuses on intervention and prevention to keep young people out of street gangs, and the South Santa Clara County Youth Task Force was formed by the CalGRIP grant to achieve that end, Hoefling said.
The task force is a two-year project, and will connect gang-involved or at-risk youth in Morgan Hill, Gilroy and San Martin to a continuum of community-based services, such as job training and juvenile justice programs, Hoefling said.
CalGRIP was started by the governor’s office of Gang and Youth Violence Policy in 2007 under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The program seeks to “take a strategic, comprehensive, and planned approach” to gang and youth violence, which have spread throughout the state in recent years, according to the CalGRIP website.
Between 1981 and 2008, more than 15,000 gang-related murders occurred in California, the website states. Once confined predominantly to the Los Angeles area, this violence has spread to mid-sized suburban cities and small towns such as Salinas, Richmond and Vallejo.
CalGRIP encourages the participation not only of law enforcement, but also that of educators, nonprofit service providers and faith-based organizations to develop prevention and intervention strategies to reduce the violence.
The state’s strategy is to support these programs at the local level by administering grants to areas such as South County.
“It’s our effort to use (CalGRIP) to get out ahead of (the gang problem), and let people know that gang violence and activity won’t be tolerated,” Hoefling said.
Arrested in the Oct. 19 CalGRIP Morgan Hill operation were:
• Milao Arellano, 33 of San Martin on suspicion of possession of marijuana for sales;
• Anthony Chavez, 46 of Morgan Hill on suspicion of possession of drug paraphernalia and being under the influence of a controlled substance;
• Phillip Jimenez, 32 of Morgan Hill for a parole hold;
• Michael Alvarez, 23 of Morgan Hill for a parole hold;
• David Iglesias, 25 of Morgan Hill for a parole hold;
• Jose Isais, 19 of Morgan Hill on suspicion of possession of marijuana for sales and cultivation of marijuana – a violation of his probation;
• A 16-year-old male on suspicion of possession of marijuana for sales and a juvenile probation violation;
• Sergio Vargas, 20 of Morgan Hill, on suspicion of possession of less than one ounce of marijuana;
• Three male juveniles on suspicion of possession of less than one ounce of marijuana;
• Colby Worsham, 22 of San Jose, on suspicion of possession of a concealed large knife and possession of marijuana;
• Thomas Mendoza, 33 of Morgan Hill on an outstanding no-bail warrant out of San Benito County;
• Michael Espinoza, 26 of Morgan Hill – warrant was requested;
• Eloy Duran, 30 of Morgan Hill for an outstanding warrant
