Schoolyard Patrol Nets Armed Gang-banger
Santa Barbara – Santa Barbara High School—home of “The Dons” and the site of the landmark Eddie Mathews Memorial Baseball Field—was the focus of Santa Barbara Police Department Gang Suppression Team efforts on September 5th. As the bell rang announcing the start of the school day, SBPD Tactical Patrol Force and Beat Coordinator Units deployed around the campus and surrounding Eastside streets, investigating reports of recent gang activity in the area.
Miguel Angel Ramirez
According to Sgt. Riley Harwood, SBPD Public Information Officer, “half our officers were working in plain clothes on bicycles,” and were focused upon juvenile activity during school lunch hour and immediately thereafter.
‘The operation resulted in five gang contacts,” Harwood reported in his statements to the media, resulting in citations for marijuana possession, truancy, tobacco possession by a minor, and other Municipal Code violations.
As a direct result of the increased police presence throughout the area, David Allen Bogard, 42—known to authorities from prior law enforcement contact—was stopped by patrol Officer Michael Hollis and Officer Bryan Kerr at 1:30 p.m. for a Municipal Code violation related to riding his bicycle on the sidewalk. While detained, it was discovered that Bogard was in possession of burglary tools as well as heroin paraphernalia, and he was arrested on those charges.
Just 15 minutes later, Officers Epstein and Van Eyck contacted two apparently truant adolescent males. Upon field interview, one of them was determined to be 18-year-old non-student adult “Eastsider” gang member Miguel Angel Ramirez. Pursuant to Officer Epstein’s pat-down, Ramirez was found to be in possession of a loaded .22 pistol as well as additional live rounds of ammunition, whereupon he was taken into custody and booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on charges of being a gang member in felony possession of a loaded firearm, with bail set at $35,000.
Photo: Santa Barbara County Jail Booking; Santa Barbara High School
Read more:
Noozhawk: Saturation Patrol Nets Gun Arrest Near Santa Barbara High
EdHat: Gang Arrest
KCOY: Gang Arrests Made in Santa Barbara
