Task Force Arrests Two Parolees In One Week

Task Force has taken nine guns off the streets to date

Rene Lara and the gun found in his possession

WATSONVILLE—Agents with the Santa Cruz Gang Task Force arrested 39-year-old Watsonville resident Rene Miguel Lara at a local hotel for possession of a firearm.  They are familiar with Lara as he is a felon on probation for an arrest last year for the same charge.

Police found Lara there in possession of a firearm on the third floor of the Resetar Residential Hotel on West Lake Street.  He was on a court ordered release from the Santa Cruz County Superior Court for the incident that occurred last May.

“We were conducting a follow up investigation at the hotel when we located Mr. Lara,” Santa Cruz County Gang Task Force Sergeant Stefan Fish said. “He was on probation, so we conducted a search, and during that search we found the handgun.”

Back in May of last year, Lara was arrested at a home on the 100 block of Riverside Drive for being in possession of an unloaded .44 caliber handgun and six grams of methamphetamine.  A check of the gun’s registration revealed that Lara was not the legal owner of that handgun.

Manuel Cabazuela and the gun found in his possession

The Santa Cruz County Task Force has been busy last week monitoring the activity of local parolees.  In an earlier incident police caught up with a parolee from San Juan Bautista.

In that incident, officers contacted 32-year-old Manuel Augustin Cabazuela, a known acquaintance of Lara, outside of the Ms. Donuts & Ice Cream shop in Watsonville because he was also on probation for possession of a stolen firearm in Santa Cruz County. They searched him and found a loaded firearm in his possession.

Lara was with Cabazuela when he was arrested in a prior incident but the police released him at the time because there was no evidence that he committed a crime.  The two are now together again only this time it is at the Santa Cruz County Jail.

Lara was booked into the Santa Cruz County Jail on charges of a felon in possession of a firearm, illegal possession of ammunition, possession of a controlled substance and controlled substance paraphernalia and the removal of a manufactured serial number.

Cabazuela faces charges from the April 3 incident of carrying a concealed weapon, promoting a street gang, participating in a street gang, obstructing a police officer, felon in possession of a firearm and violation of probation.

Read More:

KTVU: Felon on Court-Ordered Release Arrested in Watsonville for Having Weapon

Santa Cruz Sentinel: Man on probation arrested with loaded handgun in Watsonville