Officers in Fillmore Stage 3rd Gang Raid

Ventura County sheriff’s deputies raided eight homes of gang members in Fillmore early Thursday in response to a recent upsurge in violence linked to the shooting of a Fillmore teen-ager last weekend, officials said.

It was the third time this year police and probation officers have conducted gang sweeps in Fillmore where officials estimate more than 50 youths have strong ties to one of two local gangs.

Thursday’s operation ended in four arrests--fewer than in the two raids in early March when deputies arrested 16 people and seized a cache of drugs and weapons.

Deputies found no weapons Thursday and discovered only a small amount of marijuana.

Sheriff’s Lt. Dick Purnell, the officer in charge of the Fillmore police station, said the failure to locate guns may be a sign that youths have gotten wise to search tactics.

“It doesn’t take too much thought process on their part to conceal the weapons elsewhere,” he said.

Nevertheless, Lt. Richard Diaz said the raids are a way to reinforce the department’s “zero-tolerance” of criminal gang activity.

“We want the people to know we have the ability to come in and do something about it,” he said.

In all, 36 sheriff’s deputies and four probation officers took part in the 6:30 a.m. raid. The group included members of the sheriff’s SWAT team who stood by in case of resistance.

The Sheriff’s Department also flew a helicopter to the area in case someone was shot or injured. But it was not used and remained out of sight during the searches.

Diaz said the searches went smoothly and there was no resistance.

All of the youths targeted in Thursday’s raids have agreed to spot searches as a term of probation, officials said.

Jose Felix, 18, was arrested on a warrant for allegedly possessing alcohol as a minor. He was taken to Juvenile Hall because the warrant was issued before he turned 18.

Humberto Cruz, 21, was arrested on suspicion of felony battery. The arrest stems from a June 6 attack on 18-year-old Adolfo Contreras of Pacoima at a Carl’s Jr. restaurant in Fillmore.

Deputies said Contreras was attacked with a crow bar when he stopped at the fast-food restaurant while returning with friends from a concert in Oxnard.

During Thursday’s raid, deputies also arrested a 16-year-old boy on an undisclosed violation of probation, and a 15-year-old boy on a violation of probation and on suspicion of possessing drug paraphernalia and a small amount of marijuana, Purnell said.

Purnell said the raids were planned early this week in response to a rash of vandalism and graffiti among rival gang members that culminated in the shooting of 19-year-old Ruben Felix about 3:15 a.m. Sunday.

“It was escalating and we wanted it stopped,” he said.

Felix was shot in the 600 block of Lemon Way in Fillmore, hours after deputies were called to the street because of a loud party. When deputies arrived to break up the party, rocks and bottles were thrown at them, Purnell said.

He remains in stable condition at Santa Paula Memorial Hospital and has been moved out of the intensive care unit into a regular room, a nursing supervisor.

Detectives have made no arrests in the shooting, but suspect some of the party-goers were involved, Purnell said.

Before the shooting, deputies took reports on four “major incidents of vandalism” of houses and cars belonging to rival gangs, Purnell said.

In March, a police task force conducted two early morning raids in one week after a sheriff’s deputy shot and wounded a 20-year-old man during a nighttime disturbance. The raids prompted complaints of harassment from Latino activists.

Such raids have become almost commonplace in Fillmore since 1991, when sheriff’s deputies said they had put the worst of the troublemakers behind bars.

“We had a group in there for a long period of time, but just about all of them are back on the street,” he said. “We’re recycling.”