Tweeker Seeker

Gotta love this one. I got this new case on a guy who beat his girlfriend silly and then held her against her will. He was charged with kidnapping and domestic violence and stopped going to court when he realized the best he was going to get was 8 months in county jail. I started working the case by looking for his mother and his “friend”, both of whom had bailed him out. Neither address was good so I started doing drive by’s on his address. He lived in a not so very nice neighborhood near Highway 101 and Oakland Road in San Jose. His 50’s era house was surrounded by commercial and industrial buildings on a very narrow, seedy street.

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One of the coolest perks of this job is the ability to travel, especially on short notice. My partner was assigned a case where the defendant was living in a town call Silver Springs, Nevada. Silver Springs is a small town (8,000 residents) south east of Reno. You can learn more about Silver Springs here and here.  

We left the bay area at 9:30am and figured we would arrive around 2:30pm. With about 100 miles to go I was getting tired of my my partner’s slow pace and told him to let me drive. I don’t want to be up here all day. I want to get back home. I am a much more aggressive driver and am not afraid to drive fast, really fast. As a matter-of-fact I get stopped for speeding a lot and, for some strange reason, rarely get cited. I think it’s because I never argue police and always admit when I am wrong.

I learned a long time ago that if your get stopped for speeding you deserve a ticket and arguing with the police is a waste of time. Just be sincere, admit you were wrong. Tell the truth. If you don’t know how fast you were going then just admit it. Giving a cop attitude will get you nowhere fast. You can always take your chances in court.

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Today we get to spend the day in Salinas. I really dislike working in Salinas because I don’t speak a word of Spanish and nearly everyone we talk to can’t speak English. As soon as I arrived I knew I wasn’t going to have fun today because I realized I’d left my gun at home. Uh Oh, big problem. It’s bad enough that I never have my Kevlar vest with me but leaving my gun at home somewhat limits what I can do.

Lucky for me my partner has a spare Glock 9mm (I carry a .40) and a matching holster. That’s nice except he’s right handed and I’m left handed and I’m need work on my off hand shooting. Let’s hope I don’t have to defend myself.

Our first stop is the Monterey County Court House. This is the other reason I hate working in Salinas. Monterey County requires that we have a certified copy of the bail bond when we surrender a fugitive in their jail. So we have to visit the courthouse and get a copy of the bond.

Our first stop after court is a shack located in the east part of Salinas. We set up surveillance with a good view of the house. Intel tells us that the fugitive is staying here with his girlfriend without the knowledge of her parents. He sneaks in at night and leaves in the morning before her parents wake. We see to Hispanic males arrive in a white car, enter the residence and leave again.

A couple hours go by so we decide to make contact. Just as we’re walking to the door the white car reappears. Two parolee looking guys approach us and we identify ourselves. They tell us that they are related to the fugitive and don’t know where he is located. Another male comes to the front door and identifies himself as the father of the fugitive’s daughter.

He assures us that the fugitive is not there and allows us to search the house. Nothing. We chat for a bit and leave. As we we are leaving the father flags us down around the corner and basically rats the fugitive out. He give us a location the check nearby. Nothing.

On to another case in Salinas. This one is more straight forward. We just need to check and address but don’t believe the fugitive is there. Knock, knock… We hear people in the house and most of the windows are open. Knock, knock. Nothing. This goes on for 5 or 10 minutes. Finally, an Hispanic male answers the door and speaks very little English. Surprise.

After and awkward attempt to communicate he tells us the fugitive no longer lives there and allows us to search. This is a typical house in Salinas, all the bedrooms have been converted to little houses. There are maybe 6 different, unrelated people living in the house and all of them are here illegally.

One of our biggest problems is that illegal immigrants get arrested here, bail out and then go back home to Mexico. This is a common problem and because of this they hardest people to find. I also see a lot of them using social security numbers that don’t belong to them. We have a database system that we use to locate people by social security number. There have been occasions when I run a number and 20 or 30 Hispanic people are using the same number. I have even had people tell me they will just change their name and social security number and no one will find them. Very frustrating. This is another reason why I hate working in Salinas.

On to Seaside and we talk to another Spanish speaker. He told us that the fugitive is his brother and that he has not seen him in a month. He also doesn’t seem to care that he’s going to have to pay $15,000 for the bond if we don’t find him. He shrugs it off indicating that he isn’t going to pay it anyway.

Now were in Watsonville looking for one of my fugitives. We already have reason to believe that he’s gone back to Mexico but we need to talk to his employer and check his address. His employer says the fugitive has been working there for 8 years and up and quit last month. He tells me that they are all like family but does not know why he quit. Funny, the guys been there 8 years, you’re like family but you didn’t bother to find out why he quit?

At his house it’s the same thing – empty. It looks like they packed it up and split. This case is going to take some work. It’s been a week since I’ve arrested anyone and I’m getting frustrated.

Today we’re doing surveillance on one of my partner’s cases. Were watching a house in San Jose waiting to get eyes on his defendant who is a mid-twenty, Hispanic male. This is a dumpy neighborhood surrounded by railroad tracks and industrial buildings near downtown. This is supposedly the home of the fugitive’s sister. Our informant says he may be staying here but she’s a but nutty so we’re not sure about her information. She’s given use addresses in the past that turned out to be a waste of time.

There are not too many choices for parking so we’re closer to the house than we would like. There are lots of people in the neighborhood and an old man paces back and forth in front of the house. You can tell he is trying to figure us out.

The neighbors pull up, I think I’ll ask them if they know the fugitive. Nope, they’ve never seen him. Not sure I believe them because she just looked at the photo and immediately said no. It’s also an indication they may be lying when they don’t ask you who he is or what he did. Most people will ask, most people are nosy and want the details. I would ask.

We decide to make contact at the house and see what they say. Knock, knock… Your adrenaline always gets going a bit when you knock on someone’s door. You never know who’s going to answer or what’s going to happen when the door opens. Is the fugitive just going to run out and start fighting, do they have a gun, how many people are inside and the bigger question – do they have big dogs? You always have to be planning for the worst. You have to be watching all around you.

It’s also difficult when there’s only two people, someone has to watch the side yard in case the fugitive decides to jump the fence and someone has to be at the door when they answer. So I watch the side yard and try to peek though the fence until someone answers the door. Dogs are barking and it smells like sewage. I am trying to watch both the yard and my partner. It’s tricky.

The large Hispanic woman opens the door and I can hear my partner ask for the fugitive. She tell us that she is the his sister and has not seen him in 9 months. 2 small children are also standing at the door. My partner asks if we can search the house. She refuses. Sometimes this is an indication that the fugitive is in the house. However, after talking with her we decide that she’s telling the truth. I want to search. I love searching houses. I love finding people hiding under beds or in closets. Most people are not that creative when it comes to hiding.

On to Dad’s house in South San Jose. This is a nicer neighborhood and were not too concerned about being discreet. Again, we make contact at the front door and talk to yet another sister who confirms the other sister’s story about him disappearing 9 months ago. I get the feeling that none of his siblings likes him too much. He sounds like a dirt bag. He thinks he’s a gang banger and pedal dope.

I always get disappointed when we hit a wall. There’s nothing more exciting then getting a solid lead and you know your close. After all we do this because we like hunting people. We like outsmarting people who think they can hide forever. I love the surprised look on their face when you tell them their under arrest. Were done with this case for the day.