San Diego
San Diego police arrested 18 members of three rival Filipino gangs early Tuesday during a sweep of five neighborhoods, authorities said.
School task force officers assisted the street-gang unit in serving arrest warrants on eight adults and 10 juveniles in Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Penasquitos, Mira Mesa, Paradise Hills and Southeast San Diego, said Dave Cohen, a police spokesman.
All 18 will be charged with conspiracy and with gang membership, which under a new law can add three years to any sentence, Cohen said. Some will also be charged with felony vandalism and assault with a deadly weapon.
The warrants were obtained during investigations of several recent violent incidents.
Lt. George Saldamando said that, in February and March, gang members beat one person with cue sticks, tried to run over another with a car and destroyed a grand piano.
Saldamando said there are six Filipino gangs with about 400 members in San Diego.
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