Police in Santa Maria conducted DUI and gang enforcement sweeps on Nov. 21 and 22, resulting in the arrest of several people, according to press releases from the Santa Maria Police Department.
Officers with local gang suppression units teamed up with the Santa Barbara County Probation Office, fanning out across portions of Santa Maria and Guadalupe to conduct probation compliance checks all day Nov. 22. Three gang-related search warrants were conducted in an effort to curb gang activity in the area. The officers went to the addresses compiled from probation records.
Law enforcement officials made 10 arrests after conducting 15 compliance checks. Those arrested are facing charges that include probation violations, possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, unlawful gang association, minors possessing alcohol, and possession of a dangerous weapon, although it’s not clear what weapon was found during the search. The Santa Maria Police Department was unable to provide the Sun with details on gang-affiliated crimes.
The effort was a collaboration between the Santa Maria Police Department’s Gang Suppression Unit, the Santa Barbara County Compliance Response Team, the Guadalupe Police Department and the county’s probation department.
On the night of Nov. 21, nine officers from the Santa Maria Police Department conducted neighborhood sweeps from 5 to 9 p.m. to look for people who didn’t show up on their court dates to face DUI charges, according to Sergeant Mark Streker.
Officers went to 20 addresses to search for suspects, but were only able to contact one person, 34-year-old Bartolome Flores, who police said attempted to give them a fake name. It is likely, Streker said, that Flores gave a false name during his DUI arrest from 2013. Streker said family members tried to cover for him, too, but it didn’t work because police already had a prior photo of Flores and recognized him when he answered the door. A press release from the SMPD said that Flores is also an unregistered sex offender from 2009.
Sweep searches that result in only one arrest are typical because many of the people being sought out are undocumented immigrants who move around, Streker said.
Flores was booked into county jail and his bail was set at more than $100,000. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement will also be notified of his custody status, according to the press release.
The DUI warrant sweep was made possible by a grant awarded to the department from the California Office of Traffic Safety and National Traffic Safety Administration.
This article appears in Nov 26 – Dec 3, 2014.