Posted on 03/16/2005 12:41:48 PM PST by BenLurkin
PALMDALE - Nine people were arrested Monday as authorities continue to investigate a vast Antelope Valley burglary ring uncovered during a Section 8 housing check in January. Sheriff's deputies served search warrants Monday on five locations around Palmdale and seized more than 150 stolen items, as well as methamphetamine, firearms and a hand grenade, Detective Bill Pickett said.
Nine people were arrested and booked on various charges including parole violations, weapons violations, drug infractions or burglary.
Detectives believe some or all of the suspects are part of a burglary ring operated by gang members who hit homes throughout the Antelope and San Fernando valleys. The stolen merchandise likely was used to finance drugs and was spread to other gang members, said Pickett, who is assigned to the Lancaster Sheriff's Station gang unit.
The ring was uncovered in January as sheriff's deputies from Lancaster Community Appreciation, or LAN-CAP, team were conducting housing checks on Section 8 rental assistance recipients. Two men drove up to a house deputies were checking, then sped away. Deputies chased them in what turned out to be a 40-minute pursuit down the Antelope Valley Freeway that ended in Sylmar when the suspects' truck ran out of gas.
Ricardo Nuñez, 27, and Tomas Torres, 23, were arrested and later linked to dozens of home burglaries and identity thefts. Detectives recovered at least 240 stolen items at that time including computers, stereo equipment, DVDs, checkbooks, passports, cell phones and a sheriff's deputy's flashlight. At least a third of the stolen items recovered in January have been returned to their rightful owners.
Nuñez and Torres are scheduled to appear in court on April 4. Both remain in custody, with Nuñez being held on $500,000 bail and Torres held on $130,000.
Methamphetamine ping.
Glad to see that criminals know how to use the system and that the government is totally clueless...
Isn't this kind of activity enough to get them thrown out of subsidized housing? Oh, sure, they'll reapply and requalify under one of their many other official brand bew names and identities but, under these fake names, won't they and their families be expelled?
They found a meth lab in a K-mart bathroom recently. Sad. Wonder if backhoe has a crystal meth thread collection.
Since it is likely that these guys are either illegal or children of people who came here illegally (not so outrageous an assumption), I can say that these guys are just stealing the stuff that Americans who were born here are not willing to steal.
I don't have one of those, but ironically, Kingsland is two towns to the south of me-- Woodbine first, then Kingsland, then Yulee and Jacksonville.
And we never passed through Yulee when I was a kid without Dad giving a pretty decent "Yu-dee-lay-dee-ooh!" yodel imitation...
Have a baby at 20, no degree. The government will subsidize your rent. One girl I met pays $14 a month for a $600 apartment. Others pay more. They then use their money for buying a nice car, furnature, big screen TVs.
Anyone who believes Clinton ended "welfare as we know it" is an idiot. Or maybe not. Perhaps "as we know it" was one of his inadvertant truth tellings. We still have wefare, but it's a new version. One you don't know where to look for. Try section 8 for a start.
If we had real Republicans they would END this program in the next budget. FULL STOP.
I've had these a--holes dumped into my neighborhood before. Why not just keep them isolated in the PJs where we can keep an eye on them?
Uh, most of the Section 8ers I know are part of a certain other ethnic group that has been in this country for generations and commit a larger percentage of crime than hispanics.
And that's supposed to be news??
Just a guess, but are Nuñez and Torres American citizens?
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