idahopress.com Idaho Press-Tribune -...
1
Idaho Press-Tribune • SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2010 C M Y K idahopress.com MAIN 11 SPECIAL REPORT By Sharon Strauss [email protected] CANYON COUNTY — The number of gang members booted out of Idaho is up and the frequency of drive-by shootings and other overt violent gang-related criminal activity in Canyon County has fallen sharply four years after local communities came together to address the problem. Mayors, commissioners, police commanders and prosecutors from Ada and Canyon counties showed the Treasure Valley what cooperation can accomplish when they organized a campaign several years ago as gang vio- lence peaked. Those officials took part in the Treasure Valley Partnership — a group of local city and county leaders concerned about the changes in their commu- nities since the rapid growth of the 1990s. The group sought to take the streets back from the gangs and bring a sense of security back to the community. What came out of the meetings was an innovative program called the Special Assistant United States Attor- ney project. The idea: Federal attorneys from Boise work closely with community law enforcement to prosecute gang-re- lated crime. The convicted gang members are sent out of state to serve tough prison sentences in federal facilities, not state prisons, cutting off ties to their local affiliates. The result: Gang-related crime trends are reversing and an estimated $8.3 million of state tax payer dollars has been saved in prison housing costs. And in terms of gang violence, Caldwell and Nampa now are not the same places they were a few years ago. “Violent gang crime is reducing significantly,” Trea- sure Valley Partnership executive director Bill Larsen said. “Obviously law enforcement has the big hammer now with the federal prosecution.” Anti-gang crackdown exceeds expectations More than 100 Treasure Valley street criminals sent out of Idaho through innovative partnership Photos by Mike Vogt/IPT Above, below: Investigators bring out evidence from a house in the 1600 block of Everett St. where a man was arrested in December 2007. Special success Since the Special Assistant U.S. Attorney program launched in Feb- ruary 2007 in the Treasure Valley: n 143 indictments (official charges) have been issued against gang members suspected of violent crimes. n Of those 143 defendants indicted, 90 percent have been convicted . n 110 individuals have been sentenced to federal prison. n Those defendants serve an average of 44.3 months (more than 3 1/2 years) when prosecuted by a special U.S. attorney. Headline-making SAUSA convictions in 2010 included: n Luckybill Nugent — 27, of Boise was sentenced Nov. 18 to 144 months (12 years) in federal prison for possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, and five years of supervised release following his prison term. He was arrested in Boise on July 9, 2009, after officers discovered 344 grams of methamphetamine in his vehicle during a traffic stop. Nugent admitted to officers that he intended to distribute the meth. n Juan Jose Gomez-Regin, 33, of Meridian, and four other defen- dants from Caldwell and Nampa were sentenced in May for participating in a methamphetamine trafficking ring. Gomez-Regin was sentenced to 144 months (12 years) in federal prison. Miguel Angel Hernan- dez-Flores, 33, of Nampa, was sentenced to 85 months (7 years); Francisco Garcia-Basulto, 27, of Caldwell, received 63 months (more than 5 years) Juan Luis Hernandez-Flores, 34, of Nampa, was sentenced to 46 months (nearly 4 years) and Marisol Beverly Sanchez, 24, of Caldwell, got 36 months (3 years). n Alfredo Ybarra, 47, of Nampa, received 195 months (more than 16 years) in federal prison for possession of methamphet- amine with intent to distribute, and for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, in April. He also must serve five years of supervised release after completing the prison term. Ybarra admitted to possessing 237 grams of methamphetamine, a loaded Berreta .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun, and more than $10,000 in cash in his vehicle, which were discovered during a traffic stop in downtown Boise on Aug. 10, 2009. n Julian Jose Garza, 28, of Notus and a member of a gang in Caldwell, received a 70-month (nearly 6 year) sentence to federal prison for unlawful possession of a firearm in February. He also must serve three years of supervised release after he completes his prison term. Garza admitted to possessing a 9mm semi-automatic handgun during a confrontation with two men in Caldwell in May 2008. Garza had been previously convicted of discharge of a firearm into an occupied dwelling in Caldwell, and was prohibited from possessing firearms under federal law. Canyon County crime nexus Here is a list of sentenced defendants prosecuted by the gang Special Assistant U.S. Attorney. Not all of the defendants are gang members. The list shows where the underlying offense was committed. Many originated in Canyon County. Noe Aleman-Ramos, Caldwell Eddie Alfaro, Caldwell Paul Almarez, Caldwell Anthony Austin, Boise Francisco Javier Basulto, Nampa Clinton Bays Jr., Boise Anthony Bernal, Owyhee County Richard Bloxham, Boise Joshua Boyer, Boise Marlow Campos, Boise Paul Cano, Owyhee County Stephen Carlson, Twin Falls Alonzo Juarez Caro, Caldwell Jose Carrillo Jr., Nampa Jose Cartagena-Reyes, Caldwell Noe Castillo, Hailey Sergio Chavez-Cruz, Caldwell Alberto Chavez-Vasquez, Jerome Sergio Colin-Martinez, Caldwell Jesus Delgado-Castillo, Caldwell Alfredo Esparza Sr., Caldwell Lucio Esparza, Caldwell Kirkley Evans, Boise Jerry Ferreira, Payette Arturo Flores, Boise Steven Gallinger, Caldwell Armando Garcia Jr., Caldwell Sammy Garcia Jr., Fruitland Jose Angel Garcia-Alvarez, Caldwell Victor Garcia-Orozco, Caldwell Gabriel Garza, Notus Julian Jose Garza, Caldwell Michael Goddard, Horseshoe Bend Juan Jose Gomez-Dominguez, Nampa Jose Gomez-Gaona, Caldwell Ernesto Gomez-Vargas, Caldwell Linda Green, Nampa Rey Gutierrez-Hernandez, Caldwell Ramiro Hernandez-Carmona, Caldwell Juan Luis Hernandez-Flores, Nampa Miguel Angel Hernandez-Flores, Nampa Panther Herrera, Caldwell Stephanie Hofman, Caldwell Joshua Cabe Holman, Twin Falls James Hood, Boise Brandon Hoodenpyle, Boise Dusty Knight, Nampa Marcus Koepnick, Twin Falls Holly Koyle, Hailey Victor Landeros-Villa, Boise County Matthew Lantz, Boise Eric James Larrea, Caldwell Joshua Larrea, Owyhee County Floyd Lay, Wilder Agustin M. Lazo, Hailey Tobias Leary, Boise Daniel Lopez, Boise Sean Manees, Boise Jose Martinez-Aguilar, Boise Ray Martinez, Nampa Jesse Massey, Boise Rock Mendoza, Caldwell Jeremy Miller, Twin Falls Daniel Gene Montgomery, Boise Jamaica Musquiz, Caldwell Louis Nickel, Middleton Shawn Norris, Caldwell Luckybill Nugent, Boise Michael Nugent, Boise Frank O’Leary, Caldwell Christopher Ohlsson, Nampa David Oliver, Weiser Juan Carlos Ortiz, Nampa Yesenia Ortiz, Nampa Daniel Paz, Nampa Everett Peone, Boise Cassandra Perez, Nampa Trino Perez-Sanchez, Nampa Gaynell Pickinpaugh, Boise Jeffery Pound, Twin Falls Juan Quiroz-Taffola, Gooding Alex Ramirez, Caldwell Rick Pacheco Ramirez, Nampa Chelsea Robbins-Gonzalez, Caldwell Noel Rodriguez, Caldwell Forest Saba, Caldwell Leeroy Salazar, Caldwell Luis Salgado-Ibarra, Nampa John Anthony Sanchez, Boise Marisol Beverly Sanchez, Caldwell Sophia Sanchez, Caldwell Saul Omar Sanchez-Delgado, Caldwell Cody Allen Sandifer, Caldwell Mario Sinforiano-Aguilar, Caldwell Rafael Soto, Buhl Eric Paul Strong, Twin Falls Ryan Stuard, Boise Cesar Tellez-Castro, Caldwell Christopher Torres, Caldwell Mario Trochez-Nunez, Boise Oscar Verdugo-Ortiz, Twin Falls Julian Vieyra-Morelos, Caldwell Sergio Villareal, Caldwell Adrian Villasenor, Caldwell Saul Villasenor-Rangel, Caldwell Jeremy Whitten, Boise Alfredo Ybarra, Boise Omar Zamudio, Nampa Elyze Zuniga, Nampa Jesus Zuniga, Nampa Snapshot: Caldwell Gang violence in Canyon County reached stunning levels in the middle of the past de- cade. “August of 2004 was probably the peak of gang violence in Caldwell. We had over 100 confirmed reports of gunfire. That includes shots fired into the air and confirmed cases of property or people being hit,” Caldwell Police Street Crimes Unit Sgt. Joey Hoadley said. Reports of gang-related shots fired calls in Caldwell since then have dwindled drastically: “There was a spike in shootings in 2006, however, our patrol officers, detectives and Street Crimes Unit investigators worked diligently on those cases and sent many high-ranking gang members to prison for their involvement,” Hoadley said. Since October 2004, Caldwell street crimes officers have taken 110 guns off of the streets — and they aren’t your average firearms. “These are stolen guns or guns possessed by violent gang members,” Hoadley said. Caldwell street crimes officers work with a Special Assistant U.S. District Attorney dedi- cated to taking violent gang-related cases to federal court, resulting in time served out of state, saving tax-payer dollars and cutting ties with local gang affiliates. 2004 — 100+ 2005 — 27 2006 — 73 2007 — 18 2008 — 5 2009 — 2 2010 — 1 Julian Jose Garza IPT file photo Officers display examples of various guns used by gang members in Canyon County.
Transcript of idahopress.com Idaho Press-Tribune -...
Idaho Press-Tribune • SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2010 C MY K
idahopress.comMAIN 11
special report
By Sharon [email protected]
CANYON COUNTY — The number of gang members booted out of Idaho is up and the frequency of drive-by shootings and other overt violent gang-related criminal activity in Canyon County has fallen sharply four years after local communities came together to address the problem.
Mayors, commissioners, police commanders and prosecutors from Ada and Canyon counties showed the Treasure Valley what cooperation can accomplish when they organized a campaign several years ago as gang vio-lence peaked. Those officials took part in the Treasure Valley Partnership — a group of local city and county leaders concerned about the changes in their commu-nities since the rapid growth of the 1990s. The group sought to take the streets back from the gangs and bring a sense of security back to the community.
What came out of the meetings was an innovative program called the Special Assistant United States Attor-ney project.
The idea: Federal attorneys from Boise work closely with community law enforcement to prosecute gang-re-lated crime. The convicted gang members are sent out of state to serve tough prison sentences in federal facilities, not state prisons, cutting off ties to their local affiliates.
The result: Gang-related crime trends are reversing and an estimated $8.3 million of state tax payer dollars has been saved in prison housing costs. And in terms of gang violence, Caldwell and Nampa now are not the same places they were a few years ago.
“Violent gang crime is reducing significantly,” Trea-sure Valley Partnership executive director Bill Larsen said. “Obviously law enforcement has the big hammer now with the federal prosecution.”
Anti-gang crackdown exceeds expectationsMore than 100 Treasure Valley street criminals sent out of Idaho through innovative partnership
Photos by Mike Vogt/IPT
Above, below: Investigators bring out evidence from a house in the 1600 block of Everett St. where a man was arrested in December 2007.
Special successSince the Special Assistant U.S.
Attorney program launched in Feb-ruary 2007 in the Treasure Valley:n 143 indictments (official
charges) have been issued against gang members suspected of violent crimes.n Of those 143 defendants
indicted, 90 percent have been convicted .n 110 individuals have been
sentenced to federal prison.n Those defendants serve an
average of 44.3 months (more than 3 1/2 years) when prosecuted by a special U.S. attorney.
Headline-making SAUSA convictions in 2010 included:n Luckybill Nugent — 27, of Boise was sentenced Nov. 18 to 144
months (12 years) in federal prison for possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, and five years of supervised release following his prison term. He was arrested in Boise on July 9, 2009, after officers discovered 344 grams of methamphetamine in his vehicle during a traffic stop. Nugent admitted to officers that he intended to distribute the meth.
n Juan Jose Gomez-Regin, 33, of Meridian, and four other defen-dants from Caldwell and Nampa were sentenced in May for participating in a methamphetamine trafficking ring. Gomez-Regin was sentenced to
144 months (12 years) in federal prison. Miguel Angel Hernan-dez-Flores, 33, of Nampa, was sentenced to 85 months (7 years); Francisco Garcia-Basulto, 27, of Caldwell, received 63 months (more than 5 years) Juan Luis Hernandez-Flores, 34, of Nampa, was sentenced to 46 months (nearly 4 years) and Marisol Beverly Sanchez, 24, of Caldwell, got 36 months (3 years).
n Alfredo Ybarra, 47, of Nampa, received 195 months (more than 16 years) in federal prison for possession of methamphet-amine with intent to distribute, and for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, in April. He also must serve five years of supervised release after completing the prison term. Ybarra admitted to possessing 237 grams of methamphetamine, a
loaded Berreta .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun, and more than $10,000 in cash in his vehicle, which were discovered during a traffic stop in downtown Boise on Aug. 10, 2009.
n Julian Jose Garza, 28, of Notus and a member of a gang in Caldwell, received a 70-month (nearly 6 year) sentence to federal prison for unlawful possession of a firearm in February. He also must serve three years of supervised release after he completes his prison term. Garza admitted to possessing a 9mm semi-automatic handgun during a confrontation with two men in Caldwell in May 2008. Garza had been previously
convicted of discharge of a firearm into an occupied dwelling in Caldwell, and was prohibited from possessing firearms under federal law.
Canyon County crime nexus
Here is a list of sentenced defendants prosecuted by the gang Special Assistant U.S. Attorney. Not all of the defendants are gang members. The list shows where the underlying offense was committed. Many originated in Canyon County.
Noe Aleman-Ramos, CaldwellEddie Alfaro, CaldwellPaul Almarez, Caldwell Anthony Austin, BoiseFrancisco Javier Basulto, NampaClinton Bays Jr., BoiseAnthony Bernal, Owyhee CountyRichard Bloxham, BoiseJoshua Boyer, BoiseMarlow Campos, BoisePaul Cano, Owyhee CountyStephen Carlson, Twin FallsAlonzo Juarez Caro, Caldwell Jose Carrillo Jr., Nampa
Jose Cartagena-Reyes, Caldwell Noe Castillo, HaileySergio Chavez-Cruz, Caldwell Alberto Chavez-Vasquez, JeromeSergio Colin-Martinez, CaldwellJesus Delgado-Castillo, CaldwellAlfredo Esparza Sr., Caldwell Lucio Esparza, Caldwell Kirkley Evans, BoiseJerry Ferreira, PayetteArturo Flores, BoiseSteven Gallinger, Caldwell Armando Garcia Jr., CaldwellSammy Garcia Jr., FruitlandJose Angel Garcia-Alvarez, Caldwell Victor Garcia-Orozco, Caldwell Gabriel Garza, NotusJulian Jose Garza, Caldwell Michael Goddard, Horseshoe BendJuan Jose Gomez-Dominguez, NampaJose Gomez-Gaona, Caldwell Ernesto Gomez-Vargas, CaldwellLinda Green, NampaRey Gutierrez-Hernandez, Caldwell
Ramiro Hernandez-Carmona, CaldwellJuan Luis Hernandez-Flores, NampaMiguel Angel Hernandez-Flores, NampaPanther Herrera, CaldwellStephanie Hofman, CaldwellJoshua Cabe Holman, Twin FallsJames Hood, BoiseBrandon Hoodenpyle, BoiseDusty Knight, NampaMarcus Koepnick, Twin FallsHolly Koyle, HaileyVictor Landeros-Villa, Boise CountyMatthew Lantz, BoiseEric James Larrea, CaldwellJoshua Larrea, Owyhee County Floyd Lay, WilderAgustin M. Lazo, HaileyTobias Leary, BoiseDaniel Lopez, BoiseSean Manees, BoiseJose Martinez-Aguilar, BoiseRay Martinez, NampaJesse Massey, BoiseRock Mendoza, Caldwell
Jeremy Miller, Twin FallsDaniel Gene Montgomery, BoiseJamaica Musquiz, CaldwellLouis Nickel, Middleton Shawn Norris, Caldwell Luckybill Nugent, BoiseMichael Nugent, BoiseFrank O’Leary, CaldwellChristopher Ohlsson, NampaDavid Oliver, WeiserJuan Carlos Ortiz, NampaYesenia Ortiz, NampaDaniel Paz, NampaEverett Peone, BoiseCassandra Perez, NampaTrino Perez-Sanchez, NampaGaynell Pickinpaugh, BoiseJeffery Pound, Twin FallsJuan Quiroz-Taffola, GoodingAlex Ramirez, CaldwellRick Pacheco Ramirez, Nampa Chelsea Robbins-Gonzalez, Caldwell Noel Rodriguez, CaldwellForest Saba, Caldwell
Leeroy Salazar, CaldwellLuis Salgado-Ibarra, NampaJohn Anthony Sanchez, BoiseMarisol Beverly Sanchez, Caldwell Sophia Sanchez, CaldwellSaul Omar Sanchez-Delgado, CaldwellCody Allen Sandifer, Caldwell Mario Sinforiano-Aguilar, CaldwellRafael Soto, BuhlEric Paul Strong, Twin Falls Ryan Stuard, Boise Cesar Tellez-Castro, Caldwell Christopher Torres, CaldwellMario Trochez-Nunez, Boise Oscar Verdugo-Ortiz, Twin FallsJulian Vieyra-Morelos, CaldwellSergio Villareal, CaldwellAdrian Villasenor, CaldwellSaul Villasenor-Rangel, Caldwell Jeremy Whitten, BoiseAlfredo Ybarra, BoiseOmar Zamudio, NampaElyze Zuniga, NampaJesus Zuniga, Nampa
Snapshot: Caldwell Gang violence in Canyon County reached stunning levels in the middle of the past de-
cade. “August of 2004 was probably the peak of gang violence in Caldwell. We had over 100
confirmed reports of gunfire. That includes shots fired into the air and confirmed cases of property or people being hit,” Caldwell Police Street Crimes Unit Sgt. Joey Hoadley said.
Reports of gang-related shots fired calls in Caldwell since then have dwindled drastically:
“There was a spike in shootings in 2006, however, our patrol officers, detectives and Street Crimes Unit investigators worked diligently on those cases and sent many high-ranking gang members to prison for their involvement,” Hoadley said.
Since October 2004, Caldwell street crimes officers have taken 110 guns off of the streets — and they aren’t your average firearms.
“These are stolen guns or guns possessed by violent gang members,” Hoadley said.Caldwell street crimes officers work with a Special Assistant U.S. District Attorney dedi-
cated to taking violent gang-related cases to federal court, resulting in time served out of state, saving tax-payer dollars and cutting ties with local gang affiliates.
2004 — 100+
2005 — 27
2006 — 73
2007 — 18
2008 — 5
2009 — 2
2010 — 1
Julian Jose Garza
IPT file photo
Officers display examples of various guns used by gang members in Canyon County.
