Comerica Bank Robbed in Santa Cruz
Last Friday around 2:30PM, SCPD responded to the Comerica Bank on 25 River Street after getting reports of a bank robbery. Before they arrived, the masked male suspect had already fled the scene on a bicycle, successfully stealing an undisclosed amount of cash. SCPD determined the suspect gave a note to the bank teller with a drawing of a bomb on it demanding money. No weapon was seen.
Armed Robbery at the Bayfront Inn
Around 6:30PM last Friday, SCPD responded to the 300 block of Pacific Avenue after getting reports of an armed robbery at the Bayfront Inn. The victim described being robbed by a guy who pulled a gun out of a Safeway bag who was last seen headed for the roundabout on Center Street. As far as I know, nobody was caught or arrested.
Crash Into Me
Friday afternoon around 3:30PM, a black Mercedes made an unwelcome entrance through the front of a local business on Doyle Street near Soquel Avenue. SCPD and Santa Cruz Fire responded after the car was stuck in the front of the building. Both the driver and passenger were taken to Dominican for their injuries. The driver reportedly drove the car into Darco Printing on Doyle Street on purpose after arguing with his female passenger. After driving into the building, the 25 year old male driver removed the female passenger against her will and tried to leave the scene. Bystanders intervened and stopped this from happening by pummeling him. The female passenger was taken to a hospital due to injuries she sustained while the male was trying to remove her from the scene. No one inside the building was injured. The driver was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, domestic violence, and DUI. He was also found to be on Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS) for two separate cases: one for felony battery and one for felony violation of a court order. Police said he is also on active misdemeanor probation for four counts of a lewd act.
You think this guy’s sitting in jail? Of course he’s NOT in jail.
The State Wants to Dump a Violent Sex Offender in Bonny Doon
This past week, the Sheriff and the Santa Cruz District Attorney’s Office let the public know that the state is considering placing Michael Cheek, a sexually violent predator, at 310 Wild Iris Lane in Bonny Doon. Forty one years ago, Michael Cheek of Concord visited Santa Cruz and violently abducted and sexually assaulted a Santa Cruz woman he met at Seabright Beach. After he was convicted, he escaped and violently raped a 15 year old. He has since served time in various prisons. His only connection to Santa Cruz County appears to be that he raped a woman here. He has no family, no connections, no other reasons to be placed here. He will be on an electronic monitor reliant on wifi, and Bonny Doon has poor internet and cell phone access and frequent power outages making effective monitoring unreliable. Past reports indicate the felon is unrepentant, noting that his behavior is intimidating, hostile, demanding, and he does not see himself as a sex offender. Make your voice heard. Tell the state and courts that this location or any place in Santa Cruz County is unacceptable. It is vital that the court hear from the community. Please email before August 23rd to both svp@scdao.us and criminalinfo@santacruzcourt.org stating your opposition.
This is What Happens When You Allow Free Camping Anywhere
This week, SCPD was out yet again supporting the Santa Cruz Fire Department serve “eviction” notices for bums camping in the Pogonip and Sycamore Grover areas of Santa Cruz.
“some of them have been camping out here for years”. Gee, how did that manage to happen? It’s called willful ignorance. The city isn’t oblivious to what is going on. They are just tone fucking deaf. Out of sight out of mind. Never mind we’re one bum fire away from burning our town down.
The Weekly DOA in San Lorenzo Park
Thursday morning around 6:30AM, SCPD responded to a drug overdose in the benchlands free for all in San Lorenzo park. The victim was described as a female in a tent under a blue tarp in the benchlands behind the courthouse. She was dead on arrival. It probably happens at least once a week now. It’s a death trap.
Stabbing on Felker Street
Wednesday night around 10:30PM, SCPD responded to Felker Street (just one of our many “skid rows”) after getting a call from a victim who reported being stabbed in the hand. He was reported to be uncooperative and was eventually located near the McDonalds on Ocean St. The suspect was described as a female in her twenties. Nobody was arrested.
Naked Wrestling With SCPD!
Wednesday afternoon around 2PM, SCPD responded to a home on Cedar Street in downtown Santa Cruz after getting reports of a prowler. The caller described the suspected prowler as being naked and in someone’s backyard. Police arrived and wrestled a 33 year old male to the ground before arresting him. The suspect is on probation, so a probation hold was placed on him. He was charged with loitering on private property and soliciting a lewd act.
The Latest Willful Ignorance From Our Tone Deaf Mayor
Speaking of tone deaf, here’s the latest laughable social media post from the Mayor. The pandering is thick and the oblivious is tone deafening. The Coastal Watershed Council is a joke. They sit back and do NOTHING while raw sewage, needles, and other HAZMAT leaches into the San Lorenzo River every single day now for years. The only thing they truly advocate for is more funding.
Did they even bother to cross the bridge and check out the toxic, HAZMAT human pig sty directly across the river? Did they even bother to look at it? They obviously made sure to not show any of it in this laughable photo op. The gate and foot bridge to hell is paved with idiot compassion, used needles, and pandering local politicians.
Back on the Chain Gang
Saturday night around 7PM, SCPD responded to the 100 block of Dakota Avenue, aka the San Lorenzo Bum Squat, after getting reports of a victim who was hit in the head by a chain. The victim apparently didn’t know who attacked him in his tent in the benchlands. The victim told police it was multiple people who attacked them. Nobody was arrested.
Penny Bailers
Sunday night, a couple members of SCPD were doing a foot patrol of San Lorenzo Park when they saw a guy smoking in the park. He was on parole for burglary, so they searched him and found about 10 grams of methamphetamine in bindles ready for sale, 21 Xanex tabs, packaging, cash, and a scale. He went to jail for possession and sales of methamphetamine and a parole violation. The Sheriff let him out of jail for a penny. Earlier the same day during a daytime foot patrol of San Lorenzo Park, SCPD rolled up on a guy who was sitting on a bench with a baggie of methamphetamine and a scale. As he was weighing the meth to put into smaller baggies to sell, he was arrested for narcotics sales. The Sheriff let him out of jail for a penny. What kind of message are we sending to drug traffickers? Come to Santa Cruz. We’ve got a soft Sheriff and penny bail!
Smoking His Stash
Last week during another foot patrol in San Lorenzo Park, SCPD Officers contacted a bum in the middle of smoking meth in public. After a quick search, they found multiple burglary tools, alomost 8 grams of methamphetamine, 4 grams of heroin, packaging material, cash, and a bb pistol. The combination of charges for drug sales, paraphernalia, burglary tools earned him a trip to jail. Where the Sheriff let him out of jail for a penny.
Penny Lane
Last Saturday night, Santa Cruz Sheriff’s deputies found a vehicle stolen from Kansas. After stopping the vehicle and arresting the driver, a convicted felon, they found ammunition and stolen checkbooks inside the vehicle. he was taken to jail but he wasn’t kept there. Any guesses why? Of course! Penny bail.
Early Morning Fire Torches Santa Cruz Home
Last Friday morning around 2AM, Santa Cruz Fire responded to the 200 block of Pearl Street after getting reports of a home on fire. When they arrived, they found heavy smoke and fire coming from the back of one home, with the fire spreading to a couple of adjacent neighboring homes. All occupants were safely evacuated and one person was treated for minor burns at the scene. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Santa Cruz Fire Extinguishes Bum Fire on the West Levee
Last Thursday afternoon around 3PM, Santa Cruz Fire responded the West Levee area across from Trader Joe’s after getting reports of a vegetation fire. SCPD also responded to help with traffic control, and after about an hour the fire was finally extinguished. Police deemed the fire suspicious, and were looking for a couple guys who might have been involved, including one guy described as a “mud covered male in a torn bathing suit walking down Pacific Ave”. Apparently nobody was actually arrested.
Bail is Irrelevant
Last Thursday around 2AM, deputies from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s department responded to the 100 block of Lazy Woods Lane where they arrested a 29 year old male and charged him with battery, resisting arrest, and being drunk in public. His bail was set at $1K but our Sheriff was feeling benevolent and let him out of jail for nothing. “PTA”. Otherwise known as “Punt That Asshole”.
The Human Dingleberry Gets Arrested For Stalking
You know who didn’t get a PTA? John Colby. The Human Dingleberry (THD)! Thursday morning around 12:30AM, 911 dispatchers took a call about a disturbance and possible 5150 (a person having a severe mental breakdown who is a danger to others) on the 200 block of Jessie Street. Something about a neighbor and a knife and incoherent rambling according to the call. They kind of dismissed the call but about 2 hours later, the same neighbor called back saying the same guy was banging on their door and to call the police. THD was at her door threatening to break the neighbor’s door in. His sister apparently tried to get him back inside their apartment but he was obviously arrested. He was detained for 5150 but then arrested and charged with felony stalking his neighbor. They called a judge who also granted an emergency protective order for the neighbor against THD. THD stalking and harassing his neighbors? I’m shocked! He’s still in jail. He’s already spent more than a week in jail, and he’ll spend at least another ten days there. Apparently his public defender thinks he’s mentally incompetent to stand trial, and the judge agreed. So he might be committed instead. Meanwhile, his sister continues to do the stuff that got him in trouble. I heard a rumor that she’s now being investigated for the same charges that put him in jail. Some people just never learn.
Santa Cruz Tow & Go Getting Rid of Nuisance RVs & Vehicles
This past week, it appears the Santa Cruz Police were taking out the trash when it comes to nuisance RVs and vehicles. They impounded a Coachmen RV with expired registration tags that was illegally parked in a no-parking zone on the 200 block of Natural Bridges. They also impounded a van with expired registration tags parked next to the Bum Camp on Dakota Avenue in front of San Lorenzo Park. Report nuisance vehicles on the batphone: 831-420-5863. The city’s Public Works Parking Department also enforces and issues parking citations citywide. Call them at 831-420-5185 to get your neighborhood parking concerns on their radar.
Mask Mandates Are Back in Santa Cruz
As of Midnight on Friday, all Santa Cruz County residents will be under a new mask mandate on everyone regardless of their vaccination status. The new mask order applies anywhere people are indoors other than being alone in a private office or in your own home or with members of your household. It impacts when people go indoors at most businesses, with restaurants having some exceptions while eating. If you are outside, masks are optional but still recommended in crowded areas. This order comes after an uptick in local cases and hospitalizations from the Delta variant. This mask order will extend until transmission rates decrease to more manageable levels, and may be rescinded in the next few weeks.
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re “… Willful Ignorance…” Ben- you nailed it: “Did they even bother to cross the bridge and check out the toxic, HAZMAT human pig sty directly across the river? Did they even bother to look at it? They obviously made sure to not show any of it in this laughable photo op. The gate and foot bridge to hell is paved with idiot compassion, used needles, and pandering local politicians.”
Meyers is such a disappointment. 6 weeks paid vacation, and now 2 consecutive council meetings NOT addressing the drug slum in the benchlands she helped create. dmaeyers@cityofsantacruz.com
Is that an error in Donna Meyers’ email?
I was expecting so much more from Donna Meyers, but no such luck. Such a disappointment is right.
Thanks for the heads-up about Bonny Doon. I used to live in that general vicinity, and am acquainted with a little old lady who lives very close to the mentioned address. She uses the bus. I’ll get on the bus and warn whomever.
The university is also clearing campers (if any), due to potential fire hazard. I regularly bike through that area, but have never smelled a campfire. I’ve seen a couple of folks who might be camped, but if that is true, they are quiet and inconspicuous. Or, maybe they are U employees out for a pre-work or post-work stroll. On the other hand, I don’t bike in the area close to Pogonip, so maybe that’s the problem.
Fuck penny bail! Fuck endless probation! We are going to hell in a handbasket. At this sorry point I place most of the blame on the voters. Other communities don’t have this magnitude of problems. The primary reason is that they elect people who won’t tolerate the destruction of their community. It isn’t rocket science, but it does require some guts.
The voters and the local judges are to blame, I think. Probation is a joke, but it’s not funny.
What do you have to do to go to jail and stay there in this town? Bail bondsman business must be pissed .No more need to pay them for a bond to get out of jail for everything short of murder
I doubt if any of these penny bail folks actually show up for their court dates.No problem to forfeit that penny!
Exactly! Steal a bicycle and sell it. After you have purchased your next hit you will still have enough pennies left over to bail yourself out of hundreds of future crimes. Any leftover cash can be used to buy Chief Mills a vanilla latte or contribute to Sheriff Hart’s reelection campaign. Drug addicts, drug dealers and vagrants are the privileged/protected class in our community.
This morning my husband, myself and our dog walked around Antonelli Pond. As we walked across the train trestle…the guys we saw earlier doing their drug deal were underneath the bridge and I heard the fucking clown say to his buddy “Dude be careful with the gun!”….then he discharged the gun. Did I report? Nope. Just grateful we weren’t hit.
Bucks Deluxe city officials not listening to concerns of hard working families….They have let this town spiral and don’t care. Isn’t it obvious??
Solution: Do not go near Antonelli pond. Tell your friends. Maybe even put up signs along the highway, warning visitors of various no-go zones.
As I recall, decades ago, when state highways were still the usual means for traveling long-distances and the roads ran through many small downtown areas along the way, there was a town somewhere along the East Coast (think along the lines of “Mayberry”) with a fast-change red light. The light was manually changed by someone in a nearby booth. When he saw a car coming with out of state plates, he would rapidly change it from green to yellow to red, so that the car necessarily had to go through the red light. Then a waiting motorcycle cop would issue a ticket. Cash bail. They knew that the out of state driver would not be there to protest the ticket. Forfeited bail money went to the local police department. There was enough outrage that the state’s governor put up billboards along the highway outside of that town, urging drivers to detour around it. That got the message across.
Sadly, diversion notices would have to be placed far up the coast, due to lack of alternative routes around the bums.