Santa Ana Police Get Their Man--Again : Law enforcement: Five days after mistaken release, embarrassed department rearrests a reputed gang member accused of felonies.

Five days after he was released from jail because of a bookkeeping error, a reputed gang member accused of harassing witnesses to a gang shooting was rearrested Wednesday by embarrassed city police.

“It’s a real relief to know that this kid’s behind bars again, at least for now,” said Isabel Rodriguez of Santa Ana, a police witness whom the suspect had been accused of harassing. “I know that mistakes happen, but to release a guy like they did just really upset me.”

Richard (Sleepy) Ramirez, 21, was first arrested last Thursday for allegedly intimidating Rodriguez and other witnesses to a Sept. 16 drive-by shooting on Bonita Avenue that killed a 4-year-old boy and a 17-year-old youth and wounded six others.

But the suspected 5th Street gang member was released from jail the next day because the charges against him were mistakenly listed as misdemeanors, rather than felonies, officials said. Because of jail overcrowding, officials have been citing and quickly releasing some misdemeanor suspects for the past three years.

Stung by publicity over the snafu, law enforcement officials on Wednesday tried to explain the mishap while at the same time downplay its importance.

“The important thing is that (Ramirez) is in custody and no other incidents of intimidation occurred” after the suspect’s mistaken release, Santa Ana Police Chief Paul M. Walters said. Rodriguez confirmed there has been no further harassment.

Nonetheless, Assistant Sheriff John (Rocky) Hewitt said the department will re-examine its procedures to prevent such mistakes from happening in the future.

Walters said the confusion occurred when the Police Department’s booking officer arrived at the jail with Ramirez and, together with Sheriff’s Department jail deputies, decided the charges were misdemeanors. Investigators in the case had intended them to be felonies, he said.

The booking officer “had 10 or 12 prisoners to transport,” explained Hewitt. “When we’re dealing with so many citations and releases, something like this happens. It’s an unfortunate incident and we are sorry it happened.”

Santa Ana Capt. Bruce Carlson said police were first made aware of Ramirez’s release on Saturday after a relative of a victim in the drive-by shooting reported seeing him in the neighborhood.

The department’s gang unit was then told to pay special attention to the area where the witnesses live. But Lt. David Salazar said Ramirez was not picked up again until Wednesday because police wanted to consult with the district attorney’s office on whether they could arrest a suspect twice on the same charges.

In the end, they didn’t. In the Wednesday morning arrest at his home in Santa Ana, Ramirez was booked on suspicion of violating his probation and possessing a firearm with an altered serial number, police said. The gun was found at Ramirez’s home during last week’s arrest, police said.

But the charges of intimidating witnesses are still pending--clearly corrected and marked this time around as felonies, police said. Held on $10,000 bail, Ramirez will remain in custody because of the outstanding probation violation, police said. A probation hearing is set for Monday.

Meanwhile, police have taken into custody one of the other two persons allegedly involved in the witness harassment--15-year-old Joel Villarreal (Chim Chim) Delarosa. But Randall Gilbert (Speedy) Martinez, 20, remains at large.

The three allegedly harassed witnesses to the drive-by shooting by issuing nightly “death threats” against them, tossing Molotov cocktails into their homes and trying to run down Rodriguez’s 12-year-old son as he played football in the street, police charge.