Youth from the Juvenile Ranch Facility will be moved to the Camp Barrett facility by early August.

County News Service

July 3, 2015 (Camp Barrett)--Plunging juvenile populations are prompting San Diego County Probation to consolidate operations of its two camps for young people: Juvenile Ranch Facility in Campo and Camp Barrett youth facility in rural Alpine. Both camps house male youths.

East County News Service

Photo: Surveillance image from U.S. Bank

July 3, 2015 (La Mesa) - The FBI and La Mesa Police Department are seeking the public’s assistance to identify the suspect responsible for robbing the U.S. Bank, located inside of the Albertsons grocery store located at 8920 Fletcher Parkway, La Mesa, California, on Thursday, July 2 at 10:07 a.m.

By Miriam Raftery

June 30, 2015 (El Cajon)—A suspected vehicle thief who tried to ram an El Cajon Police officer with a stolen vehicle has been arrested and charged with assault.  The suspect, 27-year-old Jose Maldonado of El Cajon, was bitten on the leg by a police dog after a pursuit that covered four miles from El Cajon into Spring Valley.

East County News Service

June 29, 2015 (Spring Valley) – Renee Chan, a parolee wanted on a warrant is under arrest for assaulting a deputy with a vehicle in Spring Valley this morning.

East County News Service

June 28, 2015 (La Mesa)--Two pedestrians in the 4300 block of Rosebud Lane in La Mesa were robbed at gunpoint at 12:50 this morning by a suspect armed with a handgun.

The unknown suspect approached the male and female victim as they were standing on the sidewalk. The suspect produced a silver semi-automatic handgun and demanded the victims’ money and cell phones. After the victims complied, the suspect ran away southbound on Rosebud Lane.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Glendale Police

June 25, 2015 (El Cajon) – A rap music artist suspected of breaking into a home and exposing himself to a 30-year-old woman, as well as stalking a 17-year-old girl is now in custody. El Cajon Police arrested 32-year-old Von Ryan Manago, said Lt. Frank La Haye.

Manago has been charged with indecent exposure and burglary. He had previously been arrested for burglarizing a woman's home in Glendale while she was sleeping in 2012.  According to a Glendale News-Press article, Manago is a rap musician who goes by the rapper name Nem-Iz. Born in New Jersey, he has also lived in Raleigh, North Carolina and is the CEO of Writer's Blokk Media, an Indie music label.

For crime buffs out there, here are the bare facts of how police tracked down the prowler flasher suspect.

By Miriam Raftery

June 25, 2015 (El Cajon) – Nationwide, over 400,000 rape kits have never been tested, including many right here in our region.  Yet testing every rape kit can produce undeniably dramatic results.

By Miriam Raftery

June 22, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – The massacre of nine people at an African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina by an avowed white supremacist has drawn national attention to the issue of hate crimes.  So East County Magazine took a look at hate crimes statistics in San Diego County to compare our region to the nation overall. 

In 2013, San Diego had 73 hate crimes, or about 1/100 of the total hate crimes in the U.S. – consistent with our county’s percentage of the total U.S. population. But well over half -- 57% -- of local hate crimes reported were racially motivated, which is higher than the average nationwide.

Abused child’s death is symptom of national high rate of violence suffered by Native American children

By Miriam Raftery

Photo courtesy ECM news partner 10 News

June 15, 2015 (Lakeside) – An autopsy report released this week reveals disturbing details in the death of 3-year-old Roland Eagle Eyes Meza Sandoval, whose body was found in a home freezer on the Barona Indian Reservation in January. The child's death is symbolic of the high rate of violence suffered by Native American children on reservations, often at the hands of non-Indian men.

According to the Medical Examiner, the child died of asphyxiation after beatings and abuse that also resulted in blunt force injuries of his head, neck, and torso as wella s bruising on his limbs, a fracture of his upper jaw, hemorrhaging and organ damage.

East County News Service

June 15, 2015 (San Diego)—The San Diego Sheriff has issued this alert regarding scammers targeting the elderly in our region:

East County News Service

June 7, 2015 (San Diego) – Police are searching for two suspects, one armed with a machete-type knife, who assaulted a driver Sunday morning in the Fairmont village area and stole his gray Chrysler 300 car.

Grey or silver Honda with CA license 4NOG855 sought by Sheriff

June 3, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) - San Diego County Crime Stoppers and investigators from the Ramona and Poway Sheriff's stations want your help to identify and find two unknown suspects wanted in a series of vehicle burglaries.

May 30, 2015 (Lakeside) – The Lakeside Sheriff’s Substation is holding a Coffee With the Community event on Wednesday, June 24 from 6 to 7 :30 p.m. at the Lakeside Community Center, 9841 Vine Street in Lakeside.

East County News Service

May 29, 2015 (National City) -- Darla Renee Jackson, 25, has been arrested and charged with murder.  She is accused of intentionally ramming and running over a motorcyclist on State Route 54 on Thursday evening, May 28^th after an altercation with him earlier on I-5.

East County News Service

May 2015 (Washington DC.) -Organized crime rings are being blamed for the theft of over 100,000 tax returns and theft of tax refunds.