Multi-Agency Raid in Orange Leads to Seven Arrests

Six men and one juvenile were arrested Wednesday on charges that include carjacking and robbery after 22 search warrants were served at the homes of area gang members, authorities said.

Between 75 to 100 police officers and agents from the district attorney’s office and probation department arrested seven people age 13 to 41 and seized 23 guns and several pieces of illegal weapons and stolen property, Police Lt. Timm Browne said.

The raids resulted from an investigation into eight assaults against rival gang members within the past two months, Browne said.

Arrested were Patrick Neil Caudle, 20, of Westminster; Richard Benny Cruz, 41, of Orange; Joseph Michael Gonzalez, 23, of Orange; Richard Reil, 29, of Orange; Theodore Albert Schmitz, 23, of Orange; David Victor Vasquez, 19, of Orange, and a 13-year-old boy from Orange whose name was withheld because of his age, police said. Most of the charges were misdemeanors.

Wednesday’s operation also was assisted by Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Garden Grove, Placentia, Santa Ana, Tustin and Westminster police departments, Browne said.