Santa Cruz Police

All in a Day’s Work for the SCPD Neighborhood Enforcement Team (NET). Another felon and another gun off the streets thanks to their hard work and street savvy.

Last week NET was working a surveillance detail when... out of the blue, they spotted our suspect Mr. Jeremy Pineda - 32 years old.

Mr. Pineda is known to our officers as someone with a long criminal history chalked full of felony convictions, including auto theft and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He’s a legitimate Probation All Star.

Our officers stopped Mr. Pineda and found he had a warrant out of Santa Clara County. A subsequent search of his car found a loaded .45 caliber handgun. Turns out, the handgun was stolen in May during a residential burglary here in Santa Cruz.

Mr. Pineda was arrested and booked into jail for his outstanding warrant, and a host of gun charges to include being a felon in possession of a firearm. Thankfully, the on-call judge granted our request for a bail increase from $50,000 to $200,000.

While we were at it, we contacted Mr. Pineda’s female acquaintance, Ms. Fallon Feurtado – 23 year old.

She too is on probation 2x over for drug convictions. She was subject to search as a term of her probation so we obliged and searched her motel room at the Mission Inn. We found heroin and paraphernalia in the room. Ms. Feurtado was booked into jail for violating her probation and drug possession charges.

Hard to believe.....but summer is coming to a screeching halt. In case you haven't stocked up on lunch supplies, backpacks and binders....here's a reminder!!!

Most Santa Cruz City Schools start tomorrow (Wednesday August 27th).

In just a few weeks, UCSC will be starting classes too. What this likely means to you is that you will experience more traffic in your morning and afternoon commutes. This increased traffic comes in all varieties; vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians.

Traffic safety and safe school commutes are a priority issue for the Santa Cruz Police Department. Our traffic officers are dedicated to ensuring school zones that are safe from aggressive and unsafe driving practices.

We will be increasing our presence and traffic enforcement around our school zones, so you will be seeing more of this:

Don't let your driving habits give you cause to meet these guys!

They will be out in force to help ensure our school commutes are safe!!

Here are a few common violations we see around the schools:

Speeding (parents late for drop off or pickup)
Illegal parking (parents late for drop off or pickup and not willing to walk from a distance)
Illegal turns (parents trying to get that coveted up-close drop off/pick up location)
Stop Sign Violations
Not yielding to pedestrians
Pedestrians crossing unsafely

It is our hope that commuters engage in safe and courteous habits to avoid experiencing an enforcement action. Some tips to help your commute:

Leave in plenty of time and anticipate heavier than usual traffic
Be aware of school zones and traveled routes to school
Be courteous and respectful to all traffic
Be respectful to neighbors of schools avoiding parking in their driveways or parking lots without their permission

We encourage all commuters to develop safe and courteous habits and help us ensure this school year is a safe one. If you have any questions or concerns about traffic safety in your school zone, please contact our Traffic Unit Sergeant @ (831) 420-5850.

In the waaaaaay early morning hours of Wednesday August 20th (last week) and armed robbery occurred at the 7-11 Store, 2429 Mission Street. The robbery occurred at approximately 3:25 AM. The suspect took a carton of cigarettes at gunpoint from the store clerk. Pretty desperate act for a carton of smokes!!

Here is a storyboard of the robbery.

Our suspect walked into the store looking like this:

After a few minutes of lingering around....like this

He asks the clerk for a carton of cigarettes from behind the counter. The clerk gets the cigarettes and turns around to find the suspect doing this

Our suspect walks around the counter like this

The suspect grabs the carton of cigarettes as can be seen here

And leaves the store toward Swift Street

The suspect is described as:

White Male Adult Late 20’s to Mid 30’s

Approx. 6 feet – 175 lbs

Goatee beard and moustache

Possible Tattoo on neck (calligraphy style writing)

Dark Pants

Blue & White Checked Shirt

Blue Bandanna

Sunglasses

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Santa Cruz Police Department Investigations Unit (831) 420-5820. Anonymous tips can also be sent to the police department through our Tip Line (831) 420-5995, or from our Website; www.santacruzpolice.com . Tipsters can also submit an anonymous tip via our smartphone app or from an SMS text. Visit our Website for instructions.

Here's hoping we find this guy before he does this again, or hurts someone.

Dont miss out on one of our highlight programs here at the police department. Our next Citizen's Academy starts On September 9th and ends on November 18th

Tell 'em what they'll get Johnny.......

That's right....each participant will get 11 FABULOUS sessions of behind the scenes knowledge and action as you hang out with the likes of our narcotics officers, traffic officers, K-9 Officers and their four-legged partners, detectives (they might even sign a baseball for you), dispatchers, Emergency Services Unit Tactical Team (the long way of saying SWAT), and Da' Chief.

You will meet the amazing men and women who work hard to keep your city safe. Plus you will get to meet the guy that writes this blog and many other fantastic people in the city.

Finally, we'll let you shoot our guns and drive our cars....really!

Check out our motorcycles!

And Catch Bad Guys....Well.... "pretend" bad guys!

Spaces are limited....so sign up today.

Get this initial application in to Joe Hernandez so he can get the process started with you.

Here's the small print.....

As you will be given access to sensitive information and locations within the police department....All applicants will be subject to a background check to ensure their suitability for the program. You have to agree to and pass this, or we cant let you in!

We'll see you in September!

For those of you who follow our blog, you will remember our July "Name That Thief" post on "El Mustachio The Magician" and his ability to make Bose speakers disappear from Costco. Here's the original link

http://santacruzpolice.blogspot.com/2014/07/july-name-that-thief-round-2.html

So far he has not been identified.....and he had struck again. El Mustachio has changed up his appearance a bit and is now a master of disguises.

Help us identify this serial theft suspect. If this guy tries to sell you any electronics (eBay, Craigslist, etc) they are most likely stolen.

Here are the original El Mustachio images

El Mustachio returned on July 17th. He continued with his theme of taking electronics and this time he took a laptop. In these photos he has lost the hat, but is still has that distinctive mustache.

Our thief returns on August 21st and has upped the ante on the changes in his appearance. El Mustachio is now clean shaven and has a lighter tint to his hair. Make no mistake....it is the same guy! The giveaway is that he is sporting those same boots he had on in the original theft. In this case he took another laptop.

Finally....our master of disguises is spotted by store employees on August 26th trying to take an Xbox. Realizing he was spotted, he heads for the door when he was confronted by an employee. Our thief empties some cables from his pockets, puts them on the floor and heads out the door. Here is a video of him being confronted as he walks past the registers. Our suspect is wearing the blue and black long sleeve checkered flannel.....and it is 85 degrees outside.....Folks....that's a clue!!!

Help us identify and catch El Mustachio and we'll reward you with a commemorative El Mustachio glass. We'll even have the Chief sign it for you.

Oftentimes our Officers are placed in impossible situations and are called upon to somehow bring order and safety in chaos. This is one such situation. These officers risked their safety and sustained injury trying to do just that. We are pleased the situation was resolved without further injury to anyone.

An 8 year veteran of the Santa Cruz Police Department is recovering from a stab wound inflicted by a suicidal person he was attempting to apprehend.

On September 1, 2014, at approximately 6:00 PM, Santa Cruz Police Officers responded to a report of a suicidal person. Family members called the police reporting the suspect was suicidal and had cut his wrists. The suspect had fled from family members and was at-large.

The officer and his partner (a 14 year veteran) located and contacted the suspect:

Michael Paquette – 27 years, Santa Cruz resident

Mr. Paquette was found hiding in bushes behind a store in the 1700 block of Soquel Ave. The officers could see Mr. Paquette was bleeding from the wrists and not responding to their commands.

The officers approached and attempted to take the Mr. Paquette into custody for medical treatment and psychiatric evaluation. As the officers grabbed on to Mr. Paquette, he lashed out with a folding pocket knife.

Mr. Paquette stabbed one officer in the leg just below the knee, and attempted to stab the second officer in the face. The second officer narrowly escaped being stabbed, as she deflected the attack.

As Mr. Paquette attacked the second officer, the injured officer drew and fired his Taser. The Taser darts struck Mr. Paquette and caused him to fall to the ground and drop the knife. The officers were able to handcuff Mr. Paquette without further resistance.

Mr. Paquette was taken to Dominican Hospital for medical treatment of his self-inflicted wounds and then booked at Santa Cruz County Jail for Assault with a Deadly Weapon Against a Police Officer.

The injured officer was treated and released at Dominican Hospital. He is home recovering from the stab wound.

Name That thief…Round 1 for September

OK Team…Are we ready for September’s Round 1 of “Name That Thief”......and as a little teaser....we should have good news for you next week on the ID of "El Mustachio".

The first thing you should know is…..if you see this guy in your neighborhood, keep your eyes on him and call 9-1-1, he is a thief!!

The second thing to know is that it pays to have a good video surveillance system.

On September 3^rd, our suspect went shopping for luggage that did not belong to him. He found it in the backyard of a home on Main Street. Our suspect entered the unsecured backyard and took luggage that was stored there.

The home was covered nicely by security cameras allowing us to get these portraits of the suspect.

Now that is a good video system. Notice the clarity of the picture and placement of the camera allowing us the ability to identify the suspect. Good job by this homeowner!

The victim was alerted to the presence of the suspect when his home security system alerted him of the motion activation. This is a cool new feature on many home security systems that will alert you via your smartphone.

The luggage was found a block away, but the suspect was nowhere in sight.

The suspect is described as

White male adult

Unshaven with sandy blonde hair

Wearing a hit with LA logo

Blue Backpack with black straps.

If you recognize out suspect, the fantastically talented Officer Adrienne Heebner would like to hear from you. Refer to Case #14S-07302.

Over the past several days, 6 suspects on 4 cases were arrested. What they all had in common…..they were all involved in drug activity, and all of them were already on felony Probation. Here are the highlights:

More GREAT Work by our Neighborhood Enforcement Team (NET). On September 4^th, NET was out and about once again making drug buys and arresting the sellers.

Case #1

Ms. Christina Foster and Ms. Shannan Vudmaska contacted our undercover officer in the 100 block of Coral Street at about 2:30 in the afternoon.

Christina Foster - 37yrs, Transient

Shannan Vudmaska - 46yrs, Transient

These two suspects conspired and worked together to sell methamphetamine to the undercover officer. Both were arrested for the sale. Both have multiple arrests and felony probation terms that include stay away orders from downtown.

Ms. Foster is on felony Probation several times over. She has been cited 11 times in 2014 for violations such as camping, open container of alcohol, etc. She has been and arrested 5 times, just by SCPD alone since January. Her arrests include warrants, drug offenses.

Ms. Vudmaska is on felony Probation multiple times as well. She has 4 arrests buy SCPD in 2014, mostly for drug offenses. She has also been cited several times for municipal code violations.

Case #2

At about 3:40 PM, our undercover NET officer contacted Mr. Peberdy in Grant Street Park.

Robert Perberdy - 54yrs, Transient

Mr. Peberdy offered a selection of either methampheamine or heroin to our officer. After taking care of the pre-sale logistics, Mr. Peberdy sold methamphetamine to our officer near the bathroom in the park.

Mr. Peberdy has a long history of arrests and cites, including 7 in 2014 alone. He too is currently on Probation while he is selling drugs in the park.

Case #3

Mr. Gonzales was contacted by our officer at about 6:40 PM at Ocean and Barson Streets.

Albert Gonzales - 31yrs, Transient

This area has been plagued by drug sales and prostitution activity over the summer months. We were looking for methamphetamine; however, Mr. Gonzales was benevolent enough to offer cocaine for sale instead. He completed the sale to our officer on the street in plain view of the world. Mr. Gonzales has a long history of drug related arrests dating back to 2002. And yes….he too, is on felony Probation….Again!

In all the cases, once the sale was done, other officers swooped into to make the arrest and recover evidence like additional drugs and our “buy money”. All of the suspects were arrested for sales of their respective drugs.

Case #4

Our final case occurred in the morning of September 7^th. At about 9:50 AM, Officers were dispatched to a report of a suspicious car near W. Cliff Drive and Columbia. The car was reported to be left running with two people passed out inside. Officers arrived and found these two inside the car:

Travis Harville – 35 yrs, Unknown Address

Kelsey Mangan – 19 yrs, Unknown Address

Both were in a car that was reported stolen out of Aptos about 48 hours previously. Both were under the influence of narcotics at the time we contacted them.

Mr. Harville has a significant history of arrests for drugs, domestic violence and theft charges. He is currently on felony Probation.

Ms. Mangan already has an adult arrest history that includes drug related offenses. She too was on felony Probation at the time of this arrest.

Both were arrested for drug charges and being in possession of a stolen car.

While Mr. Harville was the driver, Ms. Mangan is an associate of the stolen car owner, Mr Robert Beckwith. We know Mr. Beckwith as he was convicted of Manslaughter in the 2002 murder of his girlfriend’s 64 year old mother, Elvira Burnson. Elvira had threatened to cut off her daughter’s trust fund monies if she continued to be associated with Mr. Beckwith and his drug influenced ways. In retaliation, Mr. Beckwith killed Ms. Burnson. He has since served his prison time and is out of custody.

There was much more that occurred over the past several days, but I am running out of blog space. We will catch you up on those cases in the days ahead. In the meantime….we’ll keep doing our part to arrest, re-arrest, and arrest again these repeat offenders.

When Officer Jesse Pidcock came to us from Scotts Valley PD, we knew we were getting an Officer with solid policing skills. Jesse showed off those skills early Monday morning catching a car burglar in a West side neighborhood.

Officer Pidcock (Middle) Taking Oath of Office With Officers Gomez (Left) and Whaley(Right)

On September 8th at about 0120 hours (that’s “police talk” for early morning 1:20 AM), Officer Pidcock was patrolling through the 200 block of Sheldon. He took note of a bicyclist riding past him at this early morning hour and continued to patrol through the neighborhood.

As he kept his eagle eye out, Officer Pidcock noticed a dome light on inside a car parked in a driveway. Upon checking the car, he noticed the door was ajar and the glove box ransacked. As he continued to check the neighborhood he found yet another car with the dome light on and door ajar.

At this point he is focused on finding the bicyclist that passed him just a few minutes ago. Officer Pidcock uses his best prowling/sleuthing skills and surprises the bicyclist at High Street and Highland Ave. He stops the bicyclists and the investigation is underway.

Our suspect is….you guessed it, on Probation for possession of stolen property. A search of our suspect reveals a CPR bag, coins and binoculars. Officer Pidcock sends Officer Nick Kramer back to contact the occupants of the homes where he found the dome lights on. Guess what.....all of those items the suspect had were taken from a car on in the neighborhood.

Our suspect, Mr. Eric Neff is arrested and the stolen property returned to the victim.

Eric Neff - 46yrs, Transient

Mr. Neff has a long, long history of contacts and arrests by SCPD. In 2014 alone we have arrested him 5 times and issued him 5 cites.

Outstanding work by Officer Jesse Pidcock!!! We are proud to have him on our team.

When it comes to the low-down dirty things you can do….stealing a kid’s bike is one of them.

On Monday (September 8^th) at about 6:00 PM, we took a report from a 13 year old young man who was at Safeway on Mission Street getting groceries for his family. While he was inside the store, this guy stole his bicycle:

The suspect is captured on store video taking the bicycle from the bike rack. The image we have is from the suspect being inside the store just prior to the theft.

The suspect is described as a white male in his early 20’s wearing the baseball cap and black sleeveless shirt. If you recognize him, please call us. We’d love to get the bicycle back and we’d love to lock this guy up!!!

The stolen bicycle is described as a red cruiser.

As far as our 13 year old victim, we are making a bicycle available to him through our program with the Teen center using bicycles from our inventory of stored bicycles.

While we are at it…we had two bicycles reported stolen this morning (September 11^th) while locked to a car bike rack near Maple and Center Streets.

The bikes were taken in the night between 9:00 PM last night and 8:00 AM this morning. Here is a picture of the bikes.

They are also described as:

A forest green Soma Saga brand men's bicycle, 8 speeds, with steel fenders, a brown leather seat, brown handle bar grips, and "Gator Skin" brand tires, valued at $1,200.

A dark blue Globe Vienna brand women's bicycle, with steel fenders, a black seat, black handlebar grips, and a generator attached to the front tire that was used to power the large head lamp affixed to the goose neck of the bicycle. This bicycle was valued at about $800.

There is your regular “proud” and then there is a higher level of “SCPD Proud”. Today, we are definitely “SCPD Proud” to introduce our 4 newest Police Officers who took the oath of office after their graduation from the police academy earlier today.

SCPD command staff and Mayor Lynn Robinson were on hand to witness the graduation ceremony for Academy Class SB 125 of the South Bay Regional Public Safety Training Consortium……(wow that’s a mouthful).

Meet our newest officers:

Left to Right; Elizabeth Howard-Gibbon, Bernadette Erlach, Chief Kevin Vogel, Sarah Benjamin, Dominique Hohmann

Elizabeth Howard-Gibbon is 26 years old. Elizabeth previously worked as a contractor for the USGS and was an esteemed member of the Best Buy Geek Squad. Elizabeth graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a B.A. in Anthropology.

Bernadette Erlach is 25 years old. Bernadette previously worked in real estate and the food service industry. She graduated from UC Davis with a B.S. in Human Development.

Sarah Benjamin is 26 years old. She started here at SCPD as a volunteer and eventually was hired as a Police Records Technician. She is now a full-fledged Police Officer. Sarah graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a B.S. in Sociology.

Dominique Hohmann is 22 years old. Dominique is the niece of the legendary (retired) Lieutenant John Hohmann from Scotts Valley PD. Dominique comes to us from the Clovis area where she has previous experience working with their police department as a non-sworn CSO.

It is not too often that we have an academy class of 4 or more people. It is even more unusual when all of our recruits make it through the grueling 6 month long course and graduate together. They proved they are as tough as they come!!!

What is extra-special about this group is that this marks the first time in SCPD history we have graduated an all-female academy class. Chief Vogel is extremely pleased to provide this opportunity to these four fantastic women.

Not only did these women rise to the top in the hiring process, but they graduated near the top of their academy class. We are excited about their future here at SCPD.

Our newest officers will have about a week of orientation work to complete, then they will hit the streets with their training officers for a 4 month Field Training Program and evaluation before they are solo beat officers.

Please join us in welcoming these fantastic new officers!!!

“El Mustachio The Magician” has been caught.

"El Mustachio" has been identified as

Shawn Fialho - 45 years old

with a last known address in Boulder Creek.

Shawn Fialho was dubbed “El Mustachio The Magician” for his distinctive moustache captured on security surveillance from Costco, and for his ability to make merchandise disappear from store shelves and packaging. Here are those Costco images:

Fialho has taken electronics merchandise from the store on a number of occasions and has been captured on their video surveillance. The last time he entered the store, he had shaved his trademark moustache and looked like this:

but, alas....he had the same boots on!

We posted images from the video asking for the public’s help in identifying him and offering a commemorative El Mustachio glass signed by the Chief, as a reward.

This fabulous and priceless reward did its job, as shortly after the offer we received a call from a tipster identifying Fialho as “El Mustachio”.

Our tipster asked to remain unidentified.....so now I have a case of El Mustachio glasses sitting on my office.

He was picked up by the Sheriff’s Office in Soquel last week on an unrelated arrest. We have attached our cases to his arrest for prosecution. Fialho has a long history of arrests for theft and drug related cases. He is a true Probation All Star, as he is currently on Probation 5x over.

Fialho's history of booking photos match the different looks he sported during his Costco heists:

His latest booking photo shows the moustache is coming back

Congrats Santa Cruz Community…..you have come through again on our “Name That Thief” feature. This year alone, you have helped us identify a number of suspects from photos posted here on our blog! Good Job Everyone!

We’ll keep posting up the photos and I’ll keep springing for equally fabulous rewards (courtesy of Dollar Tree), as we work together to clean up the town!

Believe it or not….It is time for another round of Name That Thief.

This case involves a suspect who used a stolen credit card to purchase about $1,600 in surf clothing from O’Neill. Dude! It’s just not cool to rip off a local icon like that!.....or any of our businesses for that matter!

After O’Neill he tried to use the card to get about $2,000 in surf clothes from Pacific Wave. They chapped him and asked for ID. He left the store and tried again at O’Neill. This time they chapped him too and declined the purchase. Because of the suspicious nature of things, we were called and a report was taken.

The theft happened on Sunday September 21st at approx. 2:45 PM.

Officer “Big Wave” Dave Albert did the legwork and followed up with the card owner and got video. Turns out the card was stolen from a hotel room at a nice resort outside the city. The card was stolen the day prior. Here are the images from the video:

Here is the suspect actually swiping the credit card at the cash register reader:

We’re betting someone recognizes this thief and will give us the tip.

Help us “Bum His Voyage”, and arrest this surf clothing thief.

Thanks to our “Gnarlatious” friends in the “Line Up”, we “Caught a Few”, and were able to identify our suspect.

Officer "Big Wave" Dave Albert took the "Swell" of information and "Locked In". Here are the photos from the store video:

Tips led us to this “Tasty” Facebook posting where the suspect is wearing the same tank top he had on during the theft video.

This was like a big ‘ol "Neptune’s Cocktail" followed by a “Sand Facial”.

Detectives on the “Dawn Patrol” “Dropped In” on our unsuspecting “Shubie” and “Towed Him In”.

The suspect is a 17 year old Cabrillo College student from Novato. Since he is a juvenile, we won't identify him by name. Turns out he was staying at the luxury hotel with his parents at the same time the credit card was stolen.

The case is closed thanks to your tips and the hard work of Officer "Big Wave" Dave Albert. We’ll show our gratitude with a friendly nod of the head and with a smile, simply say, “Dude”.

Help us identify this sandwich thief turned robber.

This suspect attempted to steal a pre-made sandwich from a downtown grocery market. When store employees became wise to his intentions the suspect bolted for the back door.

Store employees continued to follow the suspect to the back parking lot and confront him. That is when one of the employees took this photo of our suspect saluting the camera with the sandwich still in his hand.

The suspect eventually threw down the sandwich and got on a bicycle. Store employees still tried to restrain the suspect. Our suspect pulled out a knife and brandished it at the store employees. This is when the case turned from a lunchbox larceny to a robbery. For those who aren’t versed in the legal differences; using force or fear in the course of a theft transforms it to a robbery.

Here is a video of the incident.

The store employees did the right thing by backing off and calling 9-1-1.

Be a “Hero” and help us “Submarine” this sandwich stealing suspect.

The case of the “Lunchbox Larceny”…..actually “Robbery” has been solved.

Last week we posted this video

and photo

of our suspect who attempted to steal a sandwich from a downtown store. When confronted, our suspect pulled a knife on store employees.

An alert Sheriff’s Sergeant saw the photo and called in to identify him as Daniel Replogle

Mr. Replogle is 32 years old and transient in Santa Cruz. He was located on Saturday on the 100 block of Coral Street and arrested for this robbery.

For those that criticized the store and defended Mr. Repogle; rationalizing his behavior as just that of “a hungry man”……Well, not quite. We take offense when you pull a knife on store clerks, or anyone for that matter!!!

That was a robbery and you should know Mr. Replogle has a long history of arrests dating back to 2003 for offenses such as drugs, prescription meds without a prescription, theft, and possession of stolen property. In fact, he has been arrested by our agency 5 times this year alone, and….he is on Probation!

Officers recovered the knife he used in the brandishing, and also recovered a credit card that does not belong to him. We’ll be following up on that part of this, as well.

Thanks to our alert and knowledgeable friends at the Sheriff's Office for the assist on this one.

Great patrol work by Officer Ben Whaley results in the arrest of a bike theft suspect and 2 of the suspect’s cohorts.

While most of us are asleep comfortably in our homes, there is a whole crew of dedicated SCPD Officers working to keep the city safe and respond to your needs. Officer Ben Whaley is one of those dedicated officers.

Officer Whaley was called to take a bike theft report at 1:30 AM in the 900 block of Cayuga Street. The victim was awakened by the sound of someone going through her backyard. She caught a glimpse of the suspect taking her bicycle from the backyard and riding away.

While Officer Whaley took the report, other officers circulated the area to no avail. After completing the report, Officer Whaley kept an eagle eye for any suspicious looking characters out in the early morning hours.

At about 2:20 AM, Officer Whaley spotted our suspect along with two of his drug-using cohorts in the Chevron lot at Ocean and Soquel. They were at the Chevron putting air in the tire of the bicycle they had stolen just an hour before.

Officer Whaley (and a few of his friends in blue) stopped our suspects in the Chevron lot. Our suspect makes up a story about owning the bicycle and buying it a week and a half ago. The bicycle had some distinctive features, so we knew his story was rated a solid “4 Pinocchio’s” on the liar scale.

We called the victim and she shows up to positively ID her bicycle and provide pictures for proof. Thanks to Officer Whaley, she gets her bike back which was otherwise doomed to a “rattle can” flat-black spray paint job.

Turns out our suspect is (drumroll please)…….on Probation. He has a long, long history of arrests with our department alone. This makes his 4^th arrest this year. He is identified as

Gabriel (Gabe) Langan – 24 years old – Transient

Mr. Langan was arrested for Possession of Stolen Property, Theft, and Violation of Probation.

Now for his two friends.

Mr. Donovan Dehart was in the company of Mr. Langan.

Turns out he had a warrant for his arrest out of Campbell, CA for drug charges. Not only that, but he was in possession of drug paraphernalia and heroin. Mr. Dehart was promptly taken into custody and booked in jail.

Mr. Caleb McGuire was also contacted with our suspects.

Mr. McGuire is also on Probation. He too, has a history of multiple arrests and this occasion memorialized his 4^th arrest by SCPD this year. Mr. McGuire was found in possession of drug paraphernalia. He too was arrested.

Great work by Officer Whaley and our brave victim.

The Santa Cruz Police Department sends a fond farewell to Officer Mark Bailey after 26 ½ years on the force. Mark attended his last roll call today before riding off into retirement. Deputy Chief Rick Martinez presented Mark with a certificate of appreciation from Governor Jerry Brown.

Mark was hired on February 1, 1988. Here he his showing up for his first day of orientation

He retires as the third –most senior member of the department. Here he is in a photo with the department's most senior members.

Left to Right, Sgt. Jack McPhillips, Chief Kevin Vogel, DC Steve Clark, Officer Mark Bailey

Mark has enjoyed a number of assignments in his tenure with the department. Mark left his fingerprint on the organization as a as a Field Training Officer, responsible for teaching and molding our new recruits into the department. Many of the officers working today were trained by him.

Mark was one of the first officers to work in the department’s DUI Unit, before being assigned to the traffic unit where he rode a motorcycle for years. He was not only responsible for enforcement, but also investigation of collisions, including major injuries or fatalities.

In his years, Mark served the city and the department well. He will be missed by his friends and colleagues here at the police department. Here’s wishing Officer Mark Bailey a fantastic and well-deserved retirement.

For those of you suffering from Coulrophobia (Fear of Clowns), this case justifies your concerns.

Our suspect was arrested for Attempted Homicide after our investigation showed he intentionally ran down a bicyclist in a case of mistaken identity. Witnesses also reported that the driver of the suspect truck was wearing a rubber clown mask when he ran down the bicyclist.

The suspect is Jeremy Lee Anecito - 28 years old from the live Oak area of Santa Cruz

The collision occurred last Wednesday, September 24th at about 8:45 AM. Witnesses told us the suspect intentionally accelerated and swerved to strike the bicyclist. Turns out, Mr. Anecito was looking to exact some revenge, but......he mistook this bicyclist for someone with whom he has an ongoing dispute. (After reading that, did you find yourself saying, "WOW")

The collision occurred as the truck was traveling eastbound on Soquel Avenue crossing the San Lorenzo River Bridge. The bicyclist was traveling eastbound along the westbound lanes (against the flow of traffic). Witnesses reported that the pickup truck accelerated to the point of squealing tires and driving on the wrong side of the road to hit the bicyclist.

Outstanding detective work eventually led to the discovery of the truck and then the driver.

On October 1^st, the truck was discovered in the parking garage for the Saint George Hotel. The truck was impounded for evidence and will be processed next week. The truck is a green 1995 Chevy pickup truck. The truck had damage consistent with the collision on the right rear.

And yes, there is actually a clown mask still in the truck.

Mr. Anecito was found in a room at the Saint George. He has a history of arrests with our department.

Evidence and information in the case, including limited admissions by Mr. Anectio led to the charge of Attempted Homicide as this was clearly an intentional act. Here is the damage to the bicycle:

The bicyclist is a 39 year old transient from Santa Cruz. He too has a history of contacts and arrests with law enforcement. The bicyclist sustained injuries that were initially life-threatening, so he was airlifted to a Bay Area trauma center, where he is expected to recover.

One of our “Most Wanted” suspects turned himself in to the CHP office in Aptos on Tuesday afternoon. Our friends at the CHP were happy to pick up the assist on this one and promptly gave Detective Williams a call, letting him know they had his guy.

Here is our suspect Jesus Tello.

Mr. Tello is 29 years old and hails from Castroville, CA. Mr. Tello also goes by the name “Jesse Lopez”.

Jesus Tello was wanted in connection with a March 2014 robbery at the 7-Eleven Store on Mission Street. Truly amazing detective work by Detective Damon Williams identified Mr. Tello as one of the suspects involved in this robbery. According to the suspect, he knew he was wanted and was tired of living “on the lam”.

During his interview, our suspect denied any involvement in the robbery. His story rated a full 4 “Pants On Fire” as we pointed out his fingerprints were all over the evidence and his image was on video evidence as well.

Turns out, our suspect was the “Wheel Man” for the getaway car during this heist.

Off to jail he went. Good teamwork all around….from the detective, to the media to the CHP.

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