Cop Shop

A group of suspected gang members was arrested this week on suspicion of lying to police about a dispute that led to a shootout.

Police said that five members who belonged to the gang West Side City Crip, all between the ages of 18 and 23, were involved in a drive-by shooting with a rival gang on July 26.

Dominic A. Sagarnaga, Sergio A. Saenz, Axl W. Price, Martin U. Vasquez Valenzuela and Oscar R. Rios argued with members of a rival gang near Southern Avenue and Stapley Drive in Mesa, police said.

The two groups were preparing to fight when a resident of the home went outside and ordered them off his property. The two groups disbanded, but Sagarnaga, Saenz, Price, Valenzuela and Rios decided to follow the rival gang to their home to retaliate, police said.

Police said that the group, armed with a shotgun, got into a Chevrolet Impala and, along with four others in a different vehicle, went to a house near Hilton Avenue and Lazona Drive. Both groups concealed their vehicles and attempted a surprise attack on the rival gang, which was in front of a house on the street. However, West Side City Crip members were spotted and were shot at, police said. One of them was wounded, and the two cars drove off.

Rios directed the driver, Saenz, to turn the vehicle around. Rios opened fire on the area where the rival gang had congregated, but was shot in the face by a neighborhood resident who feared the gang was endangering innocent residents, according to police reports.

Rios told the driver that he needed medical treatment and that they need to hide their guns before heading to a hospital. The guns were dumped at Emerald Park near Harris Drive and Hilton Avenue in Mesa.

Police said the group arrived at Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa and told police they had been victims in a drive-by shooting, however they later admitted that they had been involved in the shooting and that Rios was the shooter.

All members were arrested late Wednesday night on suspicion of hindering prosecution in the first degree, assisting a criminal street gang, tampering with physical evidence and drive-by shooting, authorities said.

According to police, members of the rival gang who opened fire have not been identified.

Police found a suspected sexual predator hiding in a closet on Wednesday and a missing 14-year-old New Mexico girl who is pregnant with his child.

Frank Lerma Gamez, 37, of Mesa was arrested in the 300 block of East 10th Avenue about 1 a.m., police said. Police first learned about Gamez earlier this week when a woman saw a teenage girl in an apartment complex who looked like a girl on a missing persons poster in a local store.

Police went to the apartment complex and found a 14-year-old who at first denied her real name, but eventually told officers. Police confirmed that the girl was listed as a runaway juvenile from New Mexico and learned that she is six months pregnant, and she admitted that Gamez is the baby’s father.

Investigators figured out that the girl met Gamez on the Internet and the two sent text messages to each other. Gamez bought the girl a bus ticket to Arizona, and she has lived with him ever since, police said.

After Gamez was arrested, police learned he also has a warrant in Colorado for a similar incident involving a 16-year-old.
When police found Gamez in a closet, he at first refused to come out, but was zapped with a Taser and taken into custody. He was taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries he suffered while trying to flee police.

Gamez was released from the hospital and booked into Mesa City Jail on three counts of sexual conduct with a minor, one count of unlawful imprisonment, one count of resisting arrest and one count of aggravated assault on a police officer.

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents Wednesday arrested Akram Musa Abdallah of Mesa based on an indictment that charges him with making false statements related to his involvement in fund-raising activities for the Holy Land Foundation for Relief & Development. Abdallah, 54, aka Abu Saiaf, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was scheduled to make an initial appearance in federal court Thursday afternoon.

The indictment alleges that Abdallah knowingly and willfully made a false material statement when he represented to FBI agents that he was not involved in fund raising activities for the Holy Land Foundation. It further alleges that he was involved in fund-raising activities on its behalf from 1994 to 1997 in the Valley. The Holy Land Foundation is an organization alleged to have provided financial support for Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization.

A federal grand jury in Phoenix returned the indictment against Abdallah on Tuesday afternoon. A conviction for false statements carries a maximum penalty of eight years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.

A Mesa man was robbed Wednesday afternoon while getting his mail at a cluster box in the 1100 block of South Clancy. Two men approached the 41-year-old victim and demanded his wallet. The two began assaulting the victim and, at one point, one of them took out a knife. The victim eventually gave the men his wallet. He sustained minor injuries.

The two were last seen walking west through a retention basin. One is described as 6-foot, 165 pounds, in his early to mid 20s, wearing blue shorts and a white T-shirt, with a tattoo on his left shoulder. The other man is 5-6, 130, in his early 20s, with shoulder-length blonde hair, wearing a red baseball hat, yellow shirt and black pants.

Five teens on their way to Mountain View High School and an adult were involved in a collision at 8 a.m. Tuesday in Mesa.

As a Honda Civic with a male driver and four female passengers headed south on Lindsay Road approaching Hope Street, a Pontiac Grand AM driven by a man tried to turn left onto west Hope. The Civic didn’t have time to stop and hit the Grand AM.

Three of the female passengers were taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The Civic driver and one passenger refused medical treatment at the scene and were turned over to their parents.

The Grand AM driver did not report any injuries and was cited for failure to yield.
Police did not provide identification of anyone involved in the incident.

A Mesa woman was arrested on suspicion of child abuse after she gave police different explanations for her baby’s broken arm.

Ana Alvarado-Rodriquez, 22, was arrested Saturday night after taking her 5 month-old daughter to Desert Banner Hospital in Mesa because the baby had red marks on her arm and was crying in pain. According to police reports a skeletal scan showed that the 5-month-old had a spiral fracture in her arm. According to an online medical information site, a spiral fracture, also called a torsion fracture, occurs when bone has been twisted apart.

Alvarado-Rodriquez first told police that she had watched the baby carefully throughout the entire day except for a short time around 7p.m. when she took a shower. Family members that live with Alvarado-Rodriquez also told police that she had taken the baby with her to do some laundry for a few hours in the afternoon, according to reports.

When police questioned her again Alvarado-Rodriquez said that she had taken the baby in her car while running errands around 7 p.m. Alvarado-Rodriquez explained to police that she had failed to properly secure the car seat and that the baby had fallen to the floor and been caught under the car seat, according to police reports. An officer who wrote in the report stated that “In my experience a spiral fracture cannot occur in the manner described.”

Child Protective Services is investigating the extent of damage to the child. Alvarado-Rodriquez faces charges on suspicion of child abuse.

A Mesa man was arrested on suspicion of child abuse Sunday after police found broken glass all over the floor of his home and he admitted drinking 1/5 gallon of vodka while watching his children, court records say.

Scott Cohea, 45, was arrested just after 8:15 p.m.

According to court records, police were called to Cohea’s house to check on a 6-year-old and a 1-year-old child whose mother was in the hospital and whose father was watching them.

When police arrived, Cohea came to the door wearing no pants. A police officer told Cohea to put his pants on.

Then the 6-year-old told the officer to come inside, but to watch for broken glass on the floor, the report says.

“I went into the residence and saw broken glass all over the tile floor in the entryway,” the officer wrote in the report. “The rest of the home was dirty and had clothes and trash lying around.”

Cohea told police the glass had been on the ground for two or three days and that he had been drinking for four days.

Cohea’s brother came and picked up the children to take care of until the mother was released from the hospital. Cohea told police he had been convicted of four DUIs in the last four years and his license was revoked.

According to court records, police had been to Cohea’s house before when he was passed out drunk in his bed.

Three men held up another man at gunpoint at 4:30 a.m. Sunday in the 200 block of West Southern Avenue in Mesa. The men fled in a black Lincoln and the victim followed them to the area of Mesa Drive and Marylin Avenue, where he lost sight of them.

A Mesa police officer saw a black Lincoln Navigator traveling east on Marilyn to Olive, where its driver went north. The officer saw the vehicle turn in to an apartment complex it 533 S. Olive. When officers approached the Navigator, no one was in it.

An officer saw a handgun, two wallets and cash on the front passenger seat. A witness said the person who drives the Navigator lives at the complex. Officers detained three men who matched the robbers’ descriptions. They were taken to Mesa police headquarters for follow-up with detectives.

At 11:40 p.m. Sunday, a man entered the Circle K at 417 S. Dobson Road in Mesa,  showed a handgun and demanded the clerk give him money from the register. The man, who Mesa police say is 6-feet tall, about 180 pounds and in his late 20s, wore a long-sleeved black shirt, black pants and a black baseball style hat. He matches the description from a robbery that had occurred earlier in the day at the Burger King at 1440 S. Country Club Drive.  Detectives are investigating if the two robberies are connected.

A man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of chasing his estranged wife in his car on U.S. 60, then ramming into her car while his 2-year-old daughter rode with him.

Court records show Zephaniah Camelo Trujillo, 25, of Mesa was arrested on two counts of endangerment involving domestic violence.

Camelo is suspected of loading his 2-year-old daughter into his car at 5 a.m. and driving from west Mesa to east Mesa to find his estranged wife at her boyfriend’s home. Court records say he admitted to police that he grabbed a large kitchen knife to take with him just in case he needed to use it against the boyfriend.

Camelo told police that he saw her vehicle turning onto westbound U.S. 60 and that he made a U-turn and followed her. He said he accelerated to about 65 mph and struck the back of her vehicle to try to force her off the freeway so he could “talk” with her, court records say.

He admitted that he was angry during the incident and “would do anything to make her love me,” court records say. Also, he said he has threatened to kill himself in the past and has asked his wife to run over him and kill him if she didn’t want to be with him.

When the woman pulled off the freeway, court records say Camelo followed her and assaulted her.

“His propensity for violence is increasing and his lack of regard for the safety of his child, spouse and her new relationship is of grave concern,” court records say. “He was served with an Order of Protection while in custody.”