Officers spent six months gaining intel on Loc Town Crips
June 15, 2007
By Scott Smith
Record Staff Writer
The Record (Stockton, Calif., USA)
STOCKTON - Investigators carried out undercover surveillance, listened in on cell phone conversations and dug through the trash of suspected gang members, according to court documents filed Thursday, the first real glimpse into an extensive law enforcement probe into a street gang's inner workings.
The six-month investigation culminated last week in the take-down of the city's Loc Town Crips, a gang authorities have said ran a Stockton-based nationwide drug operation. Law enforcement officials last week called the gang's members "vicious" and "domestic terrorists."
Suspected gang members, most of whom are ethnic Cambodians, reminded each other to speak in code over the phone and sent cellular text messages to orchestrate shootings, buy weapons and traffic drugs, according to the affidavit filed in San Joaquin County Superior Court.
To build their case, investigators with the Stockton Police Department and state Department of Justice's Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement used Khmer language interpreters and intercepted packages of drugs and money sent cross-country through courier services, court papers said.
Michael Hudson, the state narcotics agent who spearheaded the probe, wrote the 138-page affidavit filled with transcribed conversations sent among suspected gang members.
"Funna shoot sOme oNe up in her mang ..." read a text message sent from the cell phone of suspected gang member Parith Sith. Investigators interpreted the message as part of a plan by the 19-year-old Sith to shoot a rival gang member.
Sith sent another text message to a different gang member called "Looney" in what investigators believe was an attempt to gather ammunition for a .40-caliber handgun. According to the affidavit, he wrote: "Yo loOney dO u have any extra shell fOr da fourty?"
Nearly 40 suspected gang members were arrested in last week's gang sweep targeting the Loc Town Crips. They sit in the San Joaquin County Jail awaiting their preliminary hearings, during which a judge will decide if there is enough evidence to make each one stand trial.
Several homes and cars searched during the sweep bore bullet holes, tell-tale signs of recent shootouts, law enforcement officials said. Neighbors of these homes talked of hearing gunfire break out in the new homes, which cost up to $700,000.
Officials suspect the street gang of sending drugs to other gang members in North Carolina, who then distributed methamphetamine, marijuana and Ecstasy on the East Coast. The profits were then wired back to Stockton, officials said.
Suspected gang members spoke in a mixture of English and Khmer, the language spoken in Cambodia, and used code words. They called marijuana "purple" or "purp," methamphetamine was "ice," and Ecstasy was referred to as "candy." Guns were called "heat" or "toys," according to the affidavit.
The probe began in January, according to Hudson's affidavit. In that same month, investigators intercepted a package at a North Carolina FexEx office en route to Stockton. It contained two 9 mm handguns and $22,900. A package intercepted one month later contained $27,890.
Also included in court papers filed Thursday were lists of weapons and evidence confiscated during the searches that began before the major sweep last week.
Several loaded handguns and ammunition were found by police in a search May 4 of a new home in the 3600 block of Massimo Circle. Chareunphan Keopradabsy, 24, lived there and was arrested during last week's raid. His wife was arrested and subsequently released.
The affidavit does not spell out exactly why investigators seized certain property from suspected gang members' homes. At 24-year-old Tai Huynh's home in the 9500 block of Colington Place, investigators confiscated a blue bandanna, a photograph of five men flashing gang signs, a computer and income tax forms.
Investigators searching the home of Samnang Rang, 25, in the 8800 block of Bergamo Circle confiscated a Western Union money transfer receipt, bank slips from Washington Mutual and a BlackBerry cell phone.
The affidavit also describes a cat-and-mouse interaction between investigators and the suspects they watched. Ngoc Hoang, 19, warned Veasna Sith, 21, in a March 24 phone call that police were snooping around in front of a home in which one of them lived.
"What the hell they doing out there?" Hoang asked.
"I don't know," Sith said. "They were out there looking at the garbage."
Contact reporter Scott Smith at (209) 546-8296 or ssmith@recordnet.com.
The six-month investigation culminated last week in the take-down of the city's Loc Town Crips, a gang authorities have said ran a Stockton-based nationwide drug operation. Law enforcement officials last week called the gang's members "vicious" and "domestic terrorists."
Suspected gang members, most of whom are ethnic Cambodians, reminded each other to speak in code over the phone and sent cellular text messages to orchestrate shootings, buy weapons and traffic drugs, according to the affidavit filed in San Joaquin County Superior Court.
To build their case, investigators with the Stockton Police Department and state Department of Justice's Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement used Khmer language interpreters and intercepted packages of drugs and money sent cross-country through courier services, court papers said.
Michael Hudson, the state narcotics agent who spearheaded the probe, wrote the 138-page affidavit filled with transcribed conversations sent among suspected gang members.
"Funna shoot sOme oNe up in her mang ..." read a text message sent from the cell phone of suspected gang member Parith Sith. Investigators interpreted the message as part of a plan by the 19-year-old Sith to shoot a rival gang member.
Sith sent another text message to a different gang member called "Looney" in what investigators believe was an attempt to gather ammunition for a .40-caliber handgun. According to the affidavit, he wrote: "Yo loOney dO u have any extra shell fOr da fourty?"
Nearly 40 suspected gang members were arrested in last week's gang sweep targeting the Loc Town Crips. They sit in the San Joaquin County Jail awaiting their preliminary hearings, during which a judge will decide if there is enough evidence to make each one stand trial.
Several homes and cars searched during the sweep bore bullet holes, tell-tale signs of recent shootouts, law enforcement officials said. Neighbors of these homes talked of hearing gunfire break out in the new homes, which cost up to $700,000.
Officials suspect the street gang of sending drugs to other gang members in North Carolina, who then distributed methamphetamine, marijuana and Ecstasy on the East Coast. The profits were then wired back to Stockton, officials said.
Suspected gang members spoke in a mixture of English and Khmer, the language spoken in Cambodia, and used code words. They called marijuana "purple" or "purp," methamphetamine was "ice," and Ecstasy was referred to as "candy." Guns were called "heat" or "toys," according to the affidavit.
The probe began in January, according to Hudson's affidavit. In that same month, investigators intercepted a package at a North Carolina FexEx office en route to Stockton. It contained two 9 mm handguns and $22,900. A package intercepted one month later contained $27,890.
Also included in court papers filed Thursday were lists of weapons and evidence confiscated during the searches that began before the major sweep last week.
Several loaded handguns and ammunition were found by police in a search May 4 of a new home in the 3600 block of Massimo Circle. Chareunphan Keopradabsy, 24, lived there and was arrested during last week's raid. His wife was arrested and subsequently released.
The affidavit does not spell out exactly why investigators seized certain property from suspected gang members' homes. At 24-year-old Tai Huynh's home in the 9500 block of Colington Place, investigators confiscated a blue bandanna, a photograph of five men flashing gang signs, a computer and income tax forms.
Investigators searching the home of Samnang Rang, 25, in the 8800 block of Bergamo Circle confiscated a Western Union money transfer receipt, bank slips from Washington Mutual and a BlackBerry cell phone.
The affidavit also describes a cat-and-mouse interaction between investigators and the suspects they watched. Ngoc Hoang, 19, warned Veasna Sith, 21, in a March 24 phone call that police were snooping around in front of a home in which one of them lived.
"What the hell they doing out there?" Hoang asked.
"I don't know," Sith said. "They were out there looking at the garbage."
Contact reporter Scott Smith at (209) 546-8296 or ssmith@recordnet.com.
