Breaking News
Criminal Street Gang Busted
From Issue: Volume XX - Number 24
1/1/1900
From LBPD Media Relations
On Thursday, Dec. 6, the Long Beach Police Department, with the assistance of the United States Secret Service, the United States Postal Inspector's Office and the Internal Revenue Service, served search warrants at 32 locations across the Southland, as part of a long and intensive investigation that originally began in November 2009.
The original operation was part of a several month long multi-agency investigation that stemmed from 13 shootings and a murder investigation that spanned over three years. Multiple search warrants were served and numerous arrests were made of gang members from the Baby Insane Crip criminal street gang, and evidence linking this gang, as well as some of their family members and associates, to a large-scale fraud ring.
The LBPD, with the assistance of the US Secret Service and the United States Postal Inspector’s Office, continued the investigation into the members of the gang. The joint investigation determined that the gang was heavily involved in identity theft and tax fraud and investigators learned that the suspects were stealing personal identifying information to commit various financial crimes, including the filing of fraudulent tax returns
Through tedious investigative work, it was determined there had been tens of thousands of dollars of loss to the federal government, and several hundred thousand dollars more of attempted fraud identified, totaling over one million dollars combined. The stolen proceeds from these crimes were then used to fund the gang’s extravagant lifestyle.
Today’s operation utilized over 200 detectives and agents from LBPD, the US Secret Service, and the US Postal Inspector’s Office. The 32 search warrants were served in Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Harbor City, Van Nuys, Carson, Inglewood, Gardena, Anaheim, Cerritos and Los Angeles, and 11 individuals were arrested that consisted of members of the Baby Insane Crip Gang, as well as family members and associates. With the assistance of the Department of Children & Family Services, eight children were taken into protective custody.
Several thousands of dollars in cash was seized, in addition to several tens of thousands of dollars worth of property that included 10 guns (one assault rifle, one shotgun, and eight handguns), major electronics such as numerous large screen plasma TVs, and stereo and video projection equipment, multiple cars including several high-end vehicles, and a $50,000 boat.
"We would like this operation to serve as another strong message to the gangs in the City of Long Beach and throughout the region, that we will not stand for the destruction you bring to our communities, and will do everything within our power to stop the violence and corruption that you inflict upon society, stated Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell.
“We will continue to unite with our law enforcement partners at the local, county, state and federal levels, and utilize every tool available to us to target not only you, but those who conspire with you to victimize members of our community for your personal gain," McDonnell said.
The LBPD would like to remind residents to be extremely cautious whenever asked to provide any personal information, whether through the computer, over the phone or in person, and to closely monitor their bank accounts to ensure their information hasn’t been compromised.
The LBPD would like to thank the agents of the US Secret Service, the US Postal Inspector’s Office, and the Internal Revenue Service, who put in a tremendous amount of time to this investigation and dedicated themselves to this operation. They have all played a vital role in dealing yet another blow to this gang in an effort to reduce criminal activity and violence in our community.
The arrest information relating to today’s operation are listed below:
Name: Age: City of Residence: Booking Charge:
Crystal Armijo 27 Long Beach outstanding warrant
April Clark 21 Long Beach identity theft
Christina Clark 23 Long Beach identity theft
John Hermida 48 Long Beach poss. of stolen property & stolen veh
Lakanda Horn 40 Carson identity theft
Dominique Lewis 24 Los Angeles ex-felon in possession of firearm
Ebony Mosely 30 Harbor City outstanding warrant
Dejuana Oliver 22 Long Beach identity theft
Lamartin Patterson 30 Long Beach identity theft
Torrence Stokes 27 Los Angeles ex-felon in possession of firearm
Edward Winston 27 Long Beach outstanding warrant
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