REDDING – When a 38-year-old man went to meet up in person with a woman he had connected to on Facebook, he was not prepared for what awaited him.
According to the Redding Police, Margarito Santos came from his home in Chico up to Redding on Sunday, July 6 to a home on Willis Street to meet the woman he had only known from communicating with on Facebook. When he arrived, however, he was suddenly surrounded by several people, one of whom had a stun gun and one a screwdriver brandished as a weapon. He was told to empty his pockets, but he instead tried to run away from the assailants. They showed they meant business, however, hitting him with the stun gun. He went along with their demands after that.
Lynette Demello, left is still missing. Krystal Kerby and Kayla Tanner have been arrested.
The group, which included 3 men and 4 women, proceeded to collect Santos’ belongings, and they keys to his truck. Using the truck, they forced him to ride with them as they used his ATM card to visit several teller machines. They forced him, under threat of violence, to reveal his PIN number and withdrew an undisclosed amount of money from his account. While they held him, they even took videotape, and brought him to a local hotel at some point during the four hours he was held.
As the night wore on past midnight and into Monday morning, they ended up in Walmart Supercenter in Anderson, a 24 hour store. They may have been after him to make a purchase, or perhaps draw out more cash from the ATM there, but in that environment he was able to make his escape, and contacted police at around 3 am.
Karissa Freeman in images from her Facebook page. She is still missing. Zachary Parker, also from Facebook.
In the investigation that followed, detectives identified and arrested 21-year-old Tyler John Woods and 24-year-old Krystal Brittany Kerby the next day, Tuesday July 8. Woods and Kerby live at the house on Willis Street where the victim was accosted. 20-year-old Kayla Tanner was arrested the next day. Micheal Bradley, 38 and Zachary Parker, 21 were both captured over a week later, on Thursday July 17. 30-year-old Lynette Demello and 21-year-old Karissa Freeman were also identified as suspects, but remain at large and wanted.
The suspects were all booked on charges of burglary, robbery, kidnapping, carjacking, willful cruelty, conspiracy, and various probation violations depending on their individual histories.
Tyler Woods and Krystal Kerby – images from Facebook.
So what makes this incident a hate crime? First off, investigators found two other victims with very similar stories. Both of them, like Santos, are Hispanic men – Carlos Linares, 33, and Timothy Valdez, 36. In addition, during the arrest and interviews of the suspects, some of them made statements about “white power” and “white pride”. Investigators believe that this group was targeting Hispanic men due to their race and taking advantage of them. Krystal Kerby, who was likely the “bait” that attracted the victim, was arrested on similar charges in December of last year, when she was charged with kidnapping and carjacking, along with revocation of probation. Bail was set then at $500,000.00. She was back out of custody soon, and moving into her new house with Woods and her child in February.
As the investigation continues, police are searching for Lynette Demello and Karissa Freeman, and asking anyone with information to contact them at 530-225-4214.
