| For Immediate Release
|
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
VIOLENT GARDEN GROVE GANG ENJOINED,
MARKING FIRST ORANGE COUNTY INJUNCTION
WITH GANG AS SOLE DEFENDANT
*This is the seventh gang injunction to be brought in Orange County
SANTA ANA – A permanent injunction was signed today by the Honorable Kazharu Makino against a Garden Grove criminal street gang, marking the first of its kind in Orange County to be brought against the institution of the gang as the sole defendant. All documented members of the gang will be subject to injunctive gang terms to prevent them from terrorizing their community and acting as a public nuisance.
Between Dec. 15, 2009, and Dec 22, 2009, police officers served 49 members on behalf of their Garden Grove criminal street gang. The Garden Grove Police Department (GGPD) will enforce the injunction. Deputy District Attorney John Maxfield of the Gang Unit prepared the civil injunction on behalf of the Orange County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA).
The service of the injunction was a cooperative effort between GGPD, OCDA, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Orange County Probation Department, and Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
WHAT IS AN INJUNCTION?
A gang injunction is a civil order that restricts or prohibits documented gang members from participating in specific acts or activities that may not be inherently criminal. The terms are designed to curb intimidating or harassing behavior. If a member of an enjoined gang violates the terms, he or she will be arrested and face prosecution. The case may be prosecuted as a misdemeanor for disobeying a court order and the defendant will be placed on gang probation terms or be sent to jail for up to six months.
This injunction names the gang as the defendant, unlike past injunctions which also named individual gang members as the defendants. The gang injunction subjects all active, documented members to prohibitive terms including a restriction that prohibits any association between members of the gang. Association includes standing, sitting, walking, driving, bicycling, gathering, or appearing anywhere in public or public view with any known member of the gang (except while at school or in church). The terms also maintain that there can be no intimidation, use or sale of drugs, consuming alcohol in public, guns or dangerous weapons, fighting, trespassing, blocking free passage, graffiti or vandalism, gang hand signs, gang clothes, burglary tools, or acting as a lookout. In addition, the gang members must obey curfew and all laws.
Gang members who are subject to the terms of the injunction against the Garden Grove criminal street gang include the most active gang members who are well-documented through personal admission and/or affiliation, associating with known gang members, dressing in the style of the gang or having gang tattoos, possessing gang paraphernalia, and/or committing crimes for the benefit of the gang.