Dawn Raids Give Gang Suspects a Rude Awakening

Shortly after dawn Friday, authorities crept up to a beige stucco apartment near the city’s core with their guns drawn, preparing to pay a surprise visit to a 17-year-old gang suspect on probation.

A police officer knocked twice before the front door finally yawned open, revealing half a dozen family members in a cramped living room lit by a flickering television set.

Rousted from his sleep, the lanky teenager with the close-cropped hair was arrested minutes after police said they discovered what they considered gang paraphernalia: a Dallas Cowboys sweatshirt.

“A condition of his probation is that he can’t possess clothing like this,” said Sgt. Gary Chennault of the teenager, who authorities said has been linked to a recent gang shooting in El Rio.

Oxnard attorney Oscar C. Gonzalez questioned the youth’s arrest for owning a particular sweatshirt, but said he believes the probation agreement gives police the right.

“I am bewildered by that,” said Gonzalez, a spokesman for the Ventura County Mexican-American Bar Assn. “I understand the intent, but that strikes me as extremely unjust and unwarranted.”

But police said they will not give any breaks to members of local gangs.

Similar raids were played out at 32 other residences across Oxnard early Friday as teams of law enforcement officials combed through homes of suspected gang members, searching for weapons, drugs and gang paraphernalia.

Although the 50 law enforcement officials who conducted this gang sweep did not turn up any knives or guns, authorities found a crude, homemade bomb outside one gang suspect’s apartment in south Oxnard.

By the time the crackdown was complete, authorities had arrested six adults on misdemeanor warrants and for parole violations. They also cited four juveniles for violating probation, including the 17-year-old who owned the gray and blue football sweatshirt.

As a condition of their probation, gang suspects must agree to such random searches, during which they are questioned or asked to sign a statement that warns them about the risks of gang affiliation.

“It lets them know that they have been identified as a gang member and that they will receive a longer sentence if they commit a gang-related crime,” said Cheryl Garcia, an Oxnard Police Department official.

The department estimates that there are now about 3,000 gang members in Oxnard, up from 2,671 in 1995.

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But authorities said county law enforcement agencies organized Friday’s sweep as part of an effort to quell the youth violence that has rocked Oxnard in the last few weeks.

“[The sweep] is going to continue on a regular basis until it stops,” Oxnard Police Cmdr. Charles Hookstra, said of the violence. “It is a wake-up call.”

A 17-year-old former gang member, Jaime Morales, was beaten to death by three youths in a south Oxnard alley July 25. A week later, in what police believe could be a retaliation incident, Travon Miller, 19, and Derrick Parks, 16, were both injured in a shooting on Channel Islands Boulevard.

Although police made no arrests on Friday for those crimes, Hookstra said the majority of the suspects they nabbed during the sweeps had some connection to other recent violent incidents.

“They were all members of gangs that have been active recently,” Hookstra said.

Despite gang suspects consenting to such sweeps, some critics say the tactic of searching homes violates the rights of other family members.

“It is an infringement on basic civil liberties,” said attorney Gonzalez. “It is about the ability to live at home without a military presence suddenly entering into your house and that is what it is.”

Authorities counter that youth violence in Oxnard is out of control and that measures such as sweeps are needed to clamp down on gang activity.

On Friday, officers from Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Ventura, county probation, state parole, and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department met in a mist-covered parking lot in Port Hueneme at 6 a.m., before forming several teams that scattered across Oxnard.

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Just before 7 a.m., a team of officers parked their squad cars near a house on Pamela Street and walked up to the residence. As is typical during such raids, one officer knocked on the front door and filed inside with the others after someone opened the door.

Moments later, the officer reemerged from the home, escorting a glowering and handcuffed Edward Rene Marruffo, 23, to a police cruiser. A warrant had earlier been issued for Marruffo’s arrest.

Across town on Cypress Road, a team of officers conducting a similar search discovered a homemade bomb outside the apartment where gang suspect Jimmy Ernest Garcia, 23, lives. A Sheriff’s Department bomb squad unit rushed to the scene and put the device in a special container using a robot.

“If it had a fuse and it went off, it would be . . . extremely dangerous,” said Randy Coates of the Oxnard Police Department, adding that the device consisted of razor blades, ammunition and gunpowder packed into an 8-ounce glass jar.

While sheriff’s deputies transported the bomb to a spot at the Camarillo Airport for analysis, police arrested Garcia for violation of parole and possession of an explosive device.

During the morning sweep, authorities also arrested Gustavo Tapia, 23, for violating parole. Oxnard residents Eddie Perez, 20, Gabriel Martinez, 20, and Antonio Mendoza, 19, were also arrested on outstanding warrants.

Authorities said they plan to continue with additional sweeps later this summer.

“This is just the first of many to come,” Hookstra said.