Gang members investigated for weapons and drugs in DHS
UPDATE: 5:30 p.m.
Donna Lozano sat in the audience Thursday morning in Desert Hot Springs at the community center named after her son, Henry Lozano, who was shot and killed by a gang member in 2001.
“I never believed in the devil until that person killed my son,” Lozano said. “I surround myself with love and good people. I don’t understand how these people have so much hate in their hearts.”
Lozano watched as many local and federal law enforcement officers came together to mark the culminattion of months of investigations.
After a nine-month long joint investigation named “Operation Desert Impact,” officers arrested 22 suspected gang members in a raid in and around the city Thursday morning.
Officers also recovered dozens of weapons, including rifles, shotguns, buckets of ammunition and a pair of rocket launchers.
“The gangs are here to stay,” Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said. “We’re never going to get to know gang violence in Riverside County, but in law enforcement, we must keep the pressure on them.”
After Thursday’s raid, Desert Hot Springs Police Chief Dale Mondary said this is only the beginning.
“This is not even the icing on the cake,” Mondary said. “We’re just pulling the cake out of the oven. We’re going to continue our investigation of gangs in this community.”
As they make sure no one will have to go through what Donna Lozano did.
“Every time something like this happens, it gives us a glimmer of hope that the future will be more bright than it is,” Lozano said.
Police arrested 25 people total over the nine-month joint investigation.
Investigators could not comment on specific gangs, or the exact origin of the weapons.
Along with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office and Desert Hot Springs Police, other agencies that helped include the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
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The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office held a news conference with the Desert Hot Springs Police Department Thursday morning to discuss the details behind a nine-month-long investigation involving gang members and the illegal sales of weapons, drugs and other various crimes.
More details from Thursday’s news conference laid out by DA Hestrin
Photos: See the weapons seized in Operation Desert Impact
The Riverside County Gang Intervention Unit assisted with Thursday morning’s raid, capping off the lengthy investigation which led to 22 total arrests. Authorities are calling the investigation, ‘Operation Desert Impact’. There is only one suspect still at large.
Operation Desert Impact was conducted in and around Desert Hot Springs. Officials said 13 of the gang members were arrested on federal charges.
Desert Hot Springs Chief of Police Dale Mondary spoke at the conference at 11 a.m., which took place at the Henry V. Lozano Community Center in Tedesco Park. DHS Mayor Scott Matas and Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin were also at the conference.
Dozens of firearms, handguns, and even a couple of rocket launchers were seized in the operation. Authorities did confirm that it is illegal to own a rocket launcher in the state of California.
News Channel 3 and CBS Local 2 will have updated information from the conference during our evening newscasts.
