Gang Members Involved With Violent Stockton Crimes Arrested
STOCKTON (CBS13) — Ten individuals involved with the most violent crimes in Stockton are now in police custody after a long investigation involving several law enforcement agencies.
Police say the suspects may also have ties to other unsolved crimes in the community.
When Stockton police and other law enforcement agencies recently served warrants, they seized guns and made several arrests including a man and his mother.
Manuel Solis, 23, and his mother, Mona Sandoval, 44, are in police custody. They face a handful of charges, Solis for a string of robberies at local banks and Sandoval for child endangerment and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
"[This is] not one of our larger operations, but probably one of the most meaning and impactful," said Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones.
Using smarter strategies, Stockton police, with the help of other law enforcement agencies, were able to arrest the duo along with eight other men believed to be connected to subsets of the Nortenos gang and responsible for several violent crimes.
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"We have seen a lot of our retaliatory gun violence has to do with the same groups, over and over, and that's when they hit our radar. We do something we haven't traditionally done in law enforcement and that is bringing all of our law enforcement partners on board, in this case, most critical was the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office," Jones said.
The youngest person arrested was Addonnys Bustamente, 18. He's charged with kidnapping a 16-year-old and trying to kill him. The other individuals are charged with robbery, assault, and trafficking. All 10 could also be responsible for more crimes.
"Shootings, homicide, attempted homicides...as well as gun purchasing, gun sales, transportation of firearms...really the entire spectrum of gun crimes, we believe these groups have been involved in," Jones said.
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The arrests came after an investigation that lasted several months. In addition to the key individuals in Stockton's violent crime, detectives were able to seize more than a dozen firearms.
"We saw that, as a trend...very young suspects, in these cases, [are] responsible...for a very significant amount of violence in our community," said Jones.
Police hope people with information on unsolved crimes will come forward now that these suspects are in custody.
