Fentanyl Drug Dealers Released on Penny Bail
This past Friday night, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies arrested two men after spotting them in a suspicious vehicle on Ocean Street Extension near Graham Hill Rd. Basically where the Bum Camp is. After making contact with the occupants of the vehicle, who were BOTH on probation, they searched the vehicle and found more than 5 OUNCES of fentanyl, approximately $4000, and other items consistent with drug trafficking and sales. Both were temporarily arrested and booked into the County Jail, before Sheriff Jim Hart let them out of jail on penny bail each. That’s right, penny bail for the Fentanyl dealers. My two cents here: our Sheriff is the number one threat to public safety in Santa Cruz. It goes without saying but I feel I need to say it yet again.
I agree with Brian. The Sheriff could have gotten a bail increase or better yet, how about a fucking no bail hold for the probation violation. Nope. I’m just gonna put this out there. The Sheriff is an ELECTED position. We need to get rid of this asshole Sheriff we have. I’d support pretty much anyone but Jim Hart in the next election. I didn’t support him last time, and God knows he’s fucked things up since.
Taking Out the Trash
This week, SCPD along with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s department and county probation paid a visit to the growing homeless camp near Felker as part of an effort to check for parole and probation violations among the people squatting there. According to news reports, 33 people were arrested. But before anyone gets too excited, it also appears the majority (21 of them) were given citations and released. One parolee was found with a loaded handgun. Santa Cruz Police also found fentanyl, meth, and heroin. They said there have been fentanyl overdoses at the encampment. According to police, there are about 100 people squatting in the area with about 50 structures.
Here they are parked in front of Brent’s House of Idiot Compassion.
Don’t get me wrong. I think this is great. Terrific. But we’re just spinning circles here, as the people they arrest will just get cited and released or penny bail from our asshole Sheriff, and they’ll be doing the same shit tomorrow and the next day. There aren’t any real consequences to bad behavior here. Just a never ending cycle of recidivism and bad behavior enabled by our judges, our sheriff, our district attorney’s office, and our community. It’s the equivalent of walking around with a permanent “Kick Me” sign taped to our collective back. Keep reading if you think I’m being over dramatic.
Watsonville Stabbing Leaves One Dead
A man was stabbed to death in Watsonville this past Saturday in what appears to be a gang related incident. Around 9:30PM, Watsonville Police responded to Marin Street, where they found the victim who died of their injuries. This follows a couple other gang related incidents nearby that involved gang members with guns. Around 1AM on Friday, Watsonville Police responded to a gang related fight at a gas station on East Lake Avenue. During the fight, one of the suspects pulled a gun before fleeing the scene. Police located four of the involved suspects in a Chevy pick-up truck. Two guns were seized and the four suspects were arrested. Two days earlier, a community member reported seeing several gang members with guns. After getting a description of the suspects and the car they were driving, police spotted their car parked at the cemetery on East Lake Avenue. During a vehicle search, they recovered two loaded guns. Three adult men were arrested for violating their probation/parole terms and two underage gang members were taken into custody for being in possession of a loaded gun. Maybe the stabbing was because their guns got confiscated? But these guys seem pretty hell bent on killing each other in Watsonville.
12 Pounds of Heroin Couldn’t Keep Him in Jail
Friday afternoon around 4PM, SCPD responded to the area of Ocean and Felker streets where they arrested a 37 year old male and charged him with drug trafficking. Last December, the same guy was arrested after investigators found 12 pounds of heroin, one pound of meth and a loaded gun.
The Usual Felony Violation of Parole
Last Friday morning around 2:30AM, SCPD responded to the 1500 block of Ocean Street where they arrested a 42 year old male and charged him with assault with a deadly weapon, making criminal threats with intention to terrorize, vandalism, and the ever ubiquitous felony violation of parole. His bail was set at $100K and last check he’s still in jail.
Capsicum
Monday night around 8PM, SCPD responded to the 700 block of Chestnut Street where they arrested a 47 year old man and charged him with being a felon in possession of pepper spray and having a felony warrant. He was arrested after banging on a resident’s door and windows. He was all set to get out on penny bail but for now, he’s still in jail on the outstanding felony warrant.
The Usual Drunk and Disorderly Along Mission Street
Monday morning around 8AM, SCPD responded to the 2500 block of Mission Street where they arrested a 39 year old male and charged him with assault with a deadly weapon, carrying a concealed weapon, making criminal threats, vandalism, drunk in public, and resisting arrest. His bail was set at $50K and last check his still in jail.
Bum Rushed in San Lorenzo Park
Last Wednesday morning around 4AM, SCPD responded to the all too familiar location of the bum camp in the benchlands of San Lorenzo Park after getting a report of a man being jumped and beaten by a gang of people. They apparently stole his truck keys and busted up his face. Nobody was arrested for the robbery and battery, and I haven’t heard about any suspects. And let me guess, there were no witnesses either?
She Went to Hell and Came Back Alive
Saturday morning around 6:30AM, SCPD responded to the “Hells Trail” area near Felker Street after getting a report of a female having an overdose. She was “camping” in a transient camp along the Hells Trail in a blue tent and not breathing. CPR and Narcan was administered and she survived. SCPD seemed to think it was another fentanyl overdose. It was at least the 14th drug overdose they’ve responded to in the last two weeks.
Over the Edge
Last Thursday night, a woman sitting in her parked car in the parking lot at Lighthouse Field off West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz got spooked when a random person mistakenly opened the door to her vehicle, causing her to accelerate and drive off the cliff behind the lighthouse. The woman suffered an injury to her foot and nobody else was injured. The car was a total loss. The cars were parked next to each other and the person who opened the door thought they were getting into their car, which was a similar model and color.
That Pesky COVID Thing is Still a Problem
Santa Cruz County released its revised face-covering mandates on Thursday, making masks a requirement if the public visits one of the 20 Santa Cruz County buildings. More than 2,500 county employees who will also be required to wear a mask regardless of vaccination status. The new order was issued due to rising COVID-19 infection rates from the Delta variant. It does not mandate employees get vaccinated. Monterey County is mandating that all county employees be vaccinated. The state is requiring mandatory vaccinations for correctional officers, health care workers and those serving the homeless population. Those workers will need to have received their first dose of a 1 dose vaccine or second dose of a two-dose vaccine by Sept. 30th in order to be employed by the county.
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12 Responses
L.A. County Sheriff Villanueava did his own outreach of the homeless in Venice Beach before making them move on and cleaning up after them. They received responses from 255 people in the homeless squatters camp. Only 33 were from California. Does that tell you anything about the flood of unskilled, unprepared, below poverty line people flooding into this state, now who are graciously being cared for by you and me thanks to Gov. Newsom? Thanks for keeping us up to date, Ben. Just negligent what our politicians are doing to us from criminals being set free to a lack of sufficient water storage to crappy non payment of unemployment benefits to those who have paid into it while wasting billions to scam artists, to power outages and kids being kept out of school. What are we expected to do? Keep paying and saying how much more, bring it on, we love it?
There’s plenty of blame to throw around for the mess we’re in. I tend to focus on the obvious pandering local bozos who fail to keep us safe (Hart and Mills), as well as the local electeds who are more concerned with being popular with progressives than they are about community well being. And let’s not forget the paternal leader of idiot compassion in California, former Governor Jerry Brown, who sold voters on the lies of “prison reform” in what amounted to a massive dump of felons into the community as a way of placating the feds for suing California for prison overcrowding. He dumped thousands of unsupervised felons into our community with AB109, then reclassified lots of felonies into misdemeanors that no longer result in arrests but in a cite and release, or “penny bail”. But hey, felony crime is down! It is when it’s no longer considered a felony. Thanks for reading and commenting.
Yeah, I agree. And by the time the the birds have come home to roost and they damage has been done, our reps. are out of office and there is no accountability. Just more of the same.
Why was that lady that drove off the lighthouse cliff “parked” with her engine on and in gear? I also wander which spot she was parked in, because the pic shows the broken railing is WAY across the lawn (not one of the spots facing north that are just across the bike path. There’s a bigger story here.
Not necessarily. Occasionally, a driver panics and steps on the gas instead of the brake. When the vehicle accelerates, the drivers steps on the gas harder (thinking it’s the brake).
I agree with you Yoko. I don’t have answers but I sure do wonder what is the true story….
Yeah, I live at the Tannery lofts. Not surprised they gave out penny bail – and released those people camping out just across from us. Frustrating living here. It’s gotten worse the last few years. We hear – and sometimes smell- all kinds of things daily.
I’m beginning, more than beginning to believe, your term ‘idiot compassion’ is correct. Yes. ‘Kick me’ could be the Santa Cruz motto – not that annoying ‘Keep Santa Cruz Weird’ I heard when I moved here years ago – How about ‘Make Santa Cruz Smart’
I wish I could take credit for the term “idiot compassion” but I was enlightened to it by a Buddhist monk. It fits us perfectly. https://bigthink.com/21st-century-spirituality/idiot-compassion-and-mindfulness
Sheriff Hart is deeply embarrassing. He’s either in over his head or involved in some sort of corruption. Whatever it is, he’s put our county at serious risk. is anyone planning to run against him? Here’s hoping.
I agree- It’s one of those two.
The failures land at the feet of city and county elected officials. This shit doesn’t occur (at least at this level) in Los Gatos, Scotts Valley or Carmel. That’s because these communities do not tolerate that kind of behavior. More important, they don’t vote for candidates who allow such behavior. It needs to start with district elections in Santa Cruz. Let the brainwashed UCSC Trotskyites elect their own little toady, but then invest in reasonable, adult candidates in the other districts. Next, find a responsible replacement for Sheriff Hart and start raising money to elect a better person. Lastly, find the least Commie electable person to replace retiring Ryan Coonerty for 3rd District County Supervisor and work hard for that person. Stop your fucking hand wringing and get to work.
Excellent post!