East County News Service

January 4, 2022 (La Mesa) – La Mesa Police have arrested a suspect accused of robbing Bank of the West at Grossmont Center this morning, following a pursuit through the mall. Officers also recovered the money taken during the robbery.

Asim Daniels, 36, of Brawley is accused of demanding money from several bank tellers at 10 a.m., simulating that he had a firearm. The suspect left the bank on foot, heading toward the shopping mall.

La Mesa Police responded to a 9-1-1 call and began searching the area.

By Miriam Raftery

December 16, 2021 (El Cajon) – Sheriff’s deputies deployed a spike strip on Interstate 8 East in El Cajon Tuesday night to help stop a suspected carjacker who forced an Amazon driver out of a delivery truck in Kearny Mesa. The driver drove a short distance on the shredded tires before he was surrounded by officers and arrested in the parking lot at Shadow Mountain Church on Greenfield Drive in El Cajon around10 p.m.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo courtesy of ECM news partner 10 News

Update December 17, 2021:  Burton Kanehailue, who was in the New Mexico/Texas area, contacted El Cajon Police Department arson investigators, indicating he wanted to turn himself in to police. Kanehailue was subsequently taken into custody by the Socorro Police Department in New Mexico without incident. The tow truck stolen by Kanehailue was also recovered. Kanehailue is being held in New Mexico pending extradition to California, where he will face charges of arson and auto theft, says Lt. Randy Soulard with El Cajon Police.

December 15, 2021 (El Cajon) – El Cajon Police seek public help to locate Burton Kanehailua, 29, a tow truck driver wanted for allegedly setting fire to C&D Towing before fleeing in a stolen C&D flatbed tow truck, which is a 2016 Dodge Ram 5500.  He is also known to drive an older-model white Volvo station wagon.

The suspect weighs about 320 pounds, is 5 feet 9 inches tall, and has brown hair and brown eyes.

Updated to include comments from Councilmember Laura Lothian.

By Miriam Raftery

December 12, 2021 (La Mesa) – On May 30^th last year, racial justice protests in La Mesa were fueled in part by a viral video of a white police officer’s treatment of a young black man, Amaurie Johnson, at a trolley stop as well as by the killing of George Floyd, a black man, by a Minneapolis police officer.

Johnson was initially charged with assaulting an officer and resisting arrest, but charges were dropped after police body camera footage and a viral video failed to substantiate the officer’s allegation. Video showed the Officer Matt Dages grabbing Johnson’s shirt and pushing him into a seated position and Johnson putting up a hand in response, briefly brushing his fingers against the officer.

Protests turned violent after dark, including the burning down of two banks and a historic building, actions that terrorized many La Mesa residents. 

Dages was fired by the city and criminally charged with falsifying a police report; charges against Johnson were dropped.

But now a jury has found OfficerDages not guilty.  In addition, Ricky Bernard Cooper, who pleaded guilty to lighting papers on fire inside Chase Bank which burned to the ground  as well as to looting businesses, was sentenced to probation after serving just 100 days in jail.

East County News Service

Photo: CC via Bing

December 10, 2021 (San Diego) – More than six months after Lester Marroquin, 35, was found dead in his cell at San Diego Central Jail on May 30, the Medical Examiner’s autopsy has determined an unusual cause of death: ingesting a deadly amount of water.

East County News Service

December 9, 2021 (Pine Valley) – A dozen passengers in the back of a pickup truck were ejected and suffered moderate to major injuries on December 7 after a pursuit from Border Patrol agents ended in a crash. None of the passengers were wearing seatbelts; only the driver was restrained.

"These types of extraction operations pose an inherent risk to public safety.” --Shelly S. Howe, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Agency 

Source: U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency

December 3, 2021 (El Cajon) --  Yesterday the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Narcotic Task Force and El Cajon Police Department executed a state search warrant at a warehouse at 1478 Fayette Street in El Cajon.  Investigators uncovered an active and sophisticated hexane hash oil extraction laboratory operation. 

By Miriam Raftery

November 30, 2021 (Ramona) – John Romeo, 57, a convicted felon seen leaving the vicinity of a shooting in Ramona, has been arrested on charges of illegally possessing a handgun and drug possession. He has not been charged in the shooting because the woman injured has refused to tell deputies how she sustained the wound, says Sergeant Jared Anderson.

On November 29 shortly after 4:30 p.m., deputies at the Ramona Sheriff’s station responded to a call reporting a woman had been shot at her home in the 2100 block of Walnut Street. They found her in the front yard with an apparent gunshot wound on her leg. 

East County News Service

Photo: Central Jail; cc by ND via Bing

November 28, 2021 (San Diego) – While breakfast was being served yesterday at 4:30 a.m. in the San Diego Central Jail, 57-year-old inmate Robert Dwayne Moniger told deputies that he was not feeling well.

East County News Service

November 24, 2021 (San Diego) -- Felony arrest rates decreased 14%, and misdemeanor arrest rates decreased 38% in the San Diego region in 2020, compared to 2019, according to a new report released by SANDAG, Arrests 2019 and 2020: Law Enforcement Response to Crime in the San Diego Region.  Overall, arrests dropped 31% countywide.

By Miriam Raftery 

November 18, 2021 (Lemon Grove) -- A man described by authorities as a transient suffered multiple gunshot wounds in an apparent drive-by shooting last night at 6:20 p.m. in front of the Albertson’s store at 7090 Broadway in Lemon Grove.

By Miriam Raftery

November 16, 2021 (El Cajon) — On February 26, 24-year-old Jaylin Moore was sleeping in his apartment when he was fatally shot through a bedroom window. Shortly after 4 a.m. Following an eight-month investigation, Lt. Keith MacArthur announced today that El Cajon Police Homicide Detectives have arrested two suspects for murder.

East County News Service

November 13, 2021 (La Mesa) -- This weekend, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department teamed up with its law enforcement and community partners to help get unwanted weapons off our streets through a Guns for Gift Cards event in East County.

Source: San Diego Sheriff

November 13, 2021 (San Diego) -- The San Diego County Sheriff's Department is partnering with the San Diego County District Attorney's Office, La Mesa Police Department, El Cajon Police Department and the United African American Ministerial Action Council to get unwanted guns off our streets.

Join the Guns For Gift Cards event on Saturday, November 13 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the La Mesa Civic Center, 4825 Date Avenue, La Mesa. Turn in your unwanted gun and receive a gift card ($100 for handguns, rifles and shotguns & $200 for assault weapons).  Remain anonymous.  No questions asked.

Suspect has long history of violent crimes and had been released early after his most recent conviction

East County News Service

November 11, 2021 (El Cajon) – El Cajon Police seek public help to locate Israel Ezekiel Valdiva, who is wanted for savagely stabbing a man in his 70s near the trolley stop at Marshall and Petree. The unprovoked random attack on November 3 shortly after 5 a.m. was recorded on surveillance video at the trolley station.

“The victim had numerous life-threatening stab wounds and had been severely slashed across his face. The victim’s ear was nearly severed off and he had lost a significant amount of blood. The victim was transported to a local trauma center in critical condition,” says Lieutenant Randy Soulard.