SIMI VALLEY : 3 Gang Members Get Prison Terms

Three Filipino gang members have received prison sentences, including a three-year term handed to the triggerman, for their roles in a drive-by shooting in Simi Valley in which no one was hurt.

Stephen Clint Gallekanao, 21, of Pico Rivera was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for firing 10 shots from a 9mm handgun into a house on Merrill Court last December, said Pete Brown, Ventura County assistant district attorney. There were three people in the house at the time, but no one was injured.

Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren is “not very fond of gang members,” Brown said in response to the stiff sentence. Gallekanao is deeply involved “in the gang culture in Los Angeles, and we want him to know that we’re not going to tolerate this kind of behavior in Ventura County,” Perren said.

Edilberto Dones, 21, of Simi Valley was sentenced to one year in County Jail and placed on five years’ probation for his role in the shooting. Dones is believed to have provoked the incident because he believed one of the occupants of the house on Merrill Court had vandalized his car, Brown said.

Christopher Lacap, 18, of Woodland Hills received one year in County Jail and was placed on five years’ probation. But Lacap’s jail term was deemed served because of time he spent in Juvenile Hall in Ventura after the shooting, Brown said. Lacap was 17 at the time of the incident.

A fourth defendant in the case, Franley Jardeleza, 27, of Pacoima will be sentenced Jan. 11 for his role as a driver in the incident.