Photo: K9 Oakley at work
Originally published as a Salinas Police Department Facebook post –
“On 04/27/21 Salinas PD patrol was dispatched to a robbery that took place at Northridge Mall. During the commission of the robbery four (4) males assaulted the victim and asked him where he was from.
The Violence Suppression Task Force (VSTF) took over the investigation and was able to identify all four (4) males who were active norteno gang members from the City of Salinas.
Search warrants were authored for four (4) locations in Acosta Plaza and arrest warrants were obtained for Bertin Medrano (27) and three (3) juveniles for the robbery and gang enhancements.
On 5/13/21 Salinas PD SWAT, VSTF, Detectives, HSI SRT, CDC SERT, State Parole, FBI, and Officers from CTF/ SVSP prisons served the arrest and search warrants in Acosta Plaza.
During the service of the search warrants 3 of the 4 robbery suspects were taken into custody and 2 other males, Juan Gallardo (24) and Jose Mexicano (22), were also taken into custody for probation violations and narcotics charges.
During the search of the residences Officers located the clothing all four males wore during the robbery, a unregistered loaded .40 caliber firearm, 50 fake M30 pills, and gang indicia. In total five (5) males were taking into custody and transported to Monterey County Jail and Monterey County Juvenile Hall.
The Salinas Police Department would like to give a huge thank you to all the outside agencies that helped with this operation, it would not have been possible without them.”
