Stolen car leads to immigration arrests

By MARK FLEMING

Updated: 11.02.09

A LoJack recovery system led to more than a stolen pickup car Friday afternoon, as the tracking signal from a stolen vehicle led officers to a residence used to house newly arrived illegal immigrants.

The case began unfolding about 1:15 p.m. Friday when a Deer Park police officer following the electronic signal from the LoJack device in a stolen care followed it into Pasadena, and Pasadena police joined in the search, according to Vance Mitchell, public information officer for the Pasadena Police Department.

The Deer Park and Pasadena officers followed it to a residence in the 4100 block of Whirlaway Drive, which is near the intersection of Spencer Highway and Red Bluff Road. Two men jumped out of the truck and tried to flee, only to be caught by police officers. Another man jumped from a second floor window of the home and was also captured.

In all, police arrested five men who tried to flee the home, Mitchell said. All were found to be illegal immigrants from Mexico. Two women from Mexico and a 15-year-old girl were also in the house and found to be in the country illegally. Mitchell said they were not arrested or charged with a crime, but were taken into custody to be held for immigration officers.

Mitchell said a number of weapons were recovered from the home, including one stolen assault rifle. One of the men said he had just arrived the previous day. Another was in possession of a U.S. identification card he admitted was a false document obtained at a Houston-area flea market.

All eight people who were detained were later interviewed by federal immigration authorities and turned over to their custody for investigation and deportation, Mitchell said.

In what looks like a well-planned robbery, Mitchell said thousands of dollars worth of building materials were stolen from a construction site at Red Bluff Road and Genoa-Red Bluff Road on Thursday morning.

About 5 a.m. a security guard working at the site reported he had been patrolling the construction area on a bicycle when he was accosted by two armed men. The guard said the men’s faces were partially covered and one was holding a handgun and the other a shotgun. He said they immediately blindfolded him, limiting the description he was able to provide police.

The guard said he was tied up and locked in a storage container, during which time he could hear trucks and heavy equipment operating. After about an hour, the men untied him, but warned him not to come out of the container until they had left.

When the man came out of the container, Mitchell said, he found the battery had been taken from his cell phone. He went to a nearby store and called police.

Mitchell said the quantity of material stolen probably required three large trucks to remove.

Police crime scene investigators gathered evidence, and the investigation is continuing.

Police are still unsure exactly what crime was committed in a Halloween afternoon incident in which a Pasadena man suffered numerous cuts and had to be taken to the hospital by helicopter. Mitchell said police hope to learn exactly what happened when they have been able to question the man more fully.

What police know is witnesses saw two men come to the door of the man’s apartment in the 3600 block of Shaver Street. A struggle followed, during which the man either jumped or was thrown through the window of his second-floor apartment, falling to the parking lot below. Witnesses then saw the men flee in a newer model brown pickup truck.

The victim suffered cuts to his hand, head and face consistent with breaking through a window, Mitchell said. It was not immediately clear if the man was a victim of an attempted robbery or was assaulted for some other reason.

In another assault Saturday afternoon, quick response by bystanders and police resulted in two men going to jail charged with robbery of an ice cream vendor in the 700 block Richey Street.

Police report two men approached the vendor, who operates a tricycle-mounted cart selling ice cream about 5 p.m. and started to make a purchase. As he served them, they became belligerent and got into a verbal altercation with the vendor. One of the customers then demanded the vendor’s money and began striking him, pushing him to a ground.

A bystander called the police, and followed the attackers in his car. He led police to the suspect vehicle, and the men in it were stopped and arrested for the robbery.

Mitchell identified the men charged in the incident as Pasadena residents Jose Martin Castro, 25, and Dustin Storm Autrey, 18.