Homeland Security agents make arrests, seize weapons in Santa Cruz County

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UPDATE 2/13/2017 6:30 PM:

A five-year investigation leads to the arrests of a dozen gang members in Santa Cruz County Monday morning. Authorities say the focus was to dismantle the hierarchy of the violent El Salvadorian street gang, Mara Salvatrucha 13 (MS-13).

By air and by ground, agents from the Department of Homeland Security, with the help of Santa Cruz, Watsonville, Santa Clara and Daly City police, cracked down on MS-13 gang members living in Santa Cruz County and Daly City.

12 men, ranging in age from their 20’s to early 40’s, were taken into custody during targeted arrest warrant busts. Some of the busts were on 17th Avenue, 38th Avenue and Park Avenue. Two weapons were also recovered. According to federal indictments, the suspects have been identified as:

Velarmino Escobar-Ayala (aka Velarmino Escobar, aka “Meduza”)
Tomas Rivera (aka “Profugo,” aka “Caballo”)
Ismael Alvarenga-Rivera (“Casper”)
Willfredo Edgardo-Ayala (aka “Chino”)
Jose David Abrego-Galdamez (aka “Largo”)
Melvin Lopez (aka “Sharkey”)
Alexander Martinez-Flores (aka “Pocar”)
Gerber Morales (aka “Choco”)
Emilio Escobar-Albarnaga (aka “Diablo”)
Josue Alcedis Escobar Cerritos (aka “Penguino”)

Many are facing drug and extortion charges, but there could be more. The suspects made their first appearance in federal court on Monday. Federal authorities are not releasing pictures of the suspects because it could hamper the investigation and court process.

The investigation began five years ago after police began getting information about extortion from members of the gang. The Department of Homeland Security Investigations became involved and took over the case because of the member’s affiliation with MS-13.

“We believe at Santa Cruz PD that they are involved in several shootings within our city including homicides, some that occurred as recent as 2016,” Deputy Chief Dan Flippo said. “So we had to find a time that we could ramp up this investigation before any other acts of violence were conducted by this gang.”

But according to some neighbors at the 38th Avenue site, it sounded like World War III was happening outside their windows.

“It lit up my room and then two bodies hit my wall and I dropped to the floor,” Gina Doty described. “I wasn’t sure if I was being shot at, then I went to the next room and another of those grenade things went off and it lit that room up so I hit the floor in there. I went up into this room here and another one went off there and it lit that room up and I thought I was being surrounded by gunfire and then I came screaming out the front door and they said to get back inside and I couldn’t see anything. It was a long night.”

Another neighbor thought it was a deportation raid until he realized just how many law enforcement officers were involved.

“Then I saw the ICE agents, I saw their jackets and honestly I became really enraged,” Anthony Valdiviez said. “I started screaming, yelling at them. There was once policeman standing right here, and I was yelling at him.”

But Santa Cruz police are reaffirming their promise not to enforce federal immigration laws.

“Let me be clear, the Santa Cruz Police Department nor the City of Santa Cruz would be involved in any sort of immigration raid,” Flippo said. “This was truly a criminal investigation. I know the community is very sensitive at this time, but we are talking about a gang that has shot and killed people and has extorted money from people within their own community and is also been trafficking heroin and methamphetamine. These are also people that we feel, for the safety of the city, need to be taken off the street so this was a very, there was a lot of due diligence a lot of very professional, in-depth investigations to get us to this point today.”

UPDATE 2/13/17 12:09 p.m.: Details about a multi-agency arrest operation in Santa Cruz County early Monday morning continue to unfold.

Santa Cruz police said officers worked with the Department of Homeland Security’s investigations unit to arrest 12 people connected to MS 13, a criminal street gang with ties to El Salvador.

Investigators said arrests were made in Santa Cruz and part of the county, based on search warrants issued for their connection to two murders over the past three years and several shootings.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement falls under the umbrella of agencies managed by the DHS, however investigators said ICE agents were not a part of the operation.

“Special agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) are currently conducting a multi-agency operation targeting a violent criminal organization. More information will be available once the operation has concluded,” said James Schwab, public affairs officer for the San Francisco branch of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

PREVIOUS STORY: Agents with the Department of Homeland Security, along with local law enforcement agencies, arrested several alleged members of a criminal street gang in a pre-dawn operation Monday at locations in Santa Cruz County.

According to Santa Cruz police, the gang was responsible for such crimes as murder, extortion and narcotics trafficking. Police say the arrests are the result of a five-year investigation into the criminal gang.

Officers also seized firearms during the operation.

The Department of Homeland Security said it will provide further information when the operation has concluded.

KION will have more on this story at 5.