Federal law enforcement announced the seizure of 100,000 pills presumed to be fentanyl and the federal arrests of eight individuals in Solano County over the last two weeks, including a Thursday raid that saw 11,000 pills taken from a Vallejo daycare facility.
Federal officials collected dozens of firearms and over $100,000 in cash as a part of the crackdown, which serves as the culmination of over a year of investigations from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith said a mother who operated the daycare on Avian Drive was arrested on suspicion of state charges of child endangerment. Her adult son was arrested on federal gun charges. Beckwith said a parent was dropping their child off at the daycare when the bust began.
In coordination with Vallejo Police Department, ATF officials conducted a raid on a Super 8 motel on Solano Avenue on Thursday Feb 20. Four Vallejo residents were arrested and 24 firearms were seized, according to ATF Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Cicolani, San Francisco Field Division.
Officials described the Super 8 as a “hub of criminal activity” where high powered weapons and drugs have been sold.
Zuryess Anthony Roberts, 24, was charged on suspicion of possession and transfer of a machine gun. Taezon Laurece Sanderson, 23, was charged on suspicion of being felon in possession of a firearm. Divaya James Talley, 18, was charged on suspicion of transfer and possession of a machine gun. Anderson Thurston, 66, was charged on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Several more arrests of individuals associated with the Brown Brotherhood, a subset of the Sureño gang active in Vallejo since the 1990s, were made through an FBI investigation in conjunction with the Vacaville, Fairfield and Dixon police. The FBI announced that 16 pounds of methamphetamine and half a pound of powder cocaine were seized, along with over a dozen guns and machine gun modifying equipment allowing the guns to fire over 20 rounds a second.
Leo Alonso-Medina, 32, was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Carlos Higuera-Aldana, 23, was charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. Jeremiah Salanoa, 22, was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Doroteo Suastegui, 47, was charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.
According to court records, the group intended sell the guns to rival Norteno and Sureno gangs in the area.
The city hosted the joint press conference in the Vallejo Room with representatives of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California, the FBI and ATF.
Vallejo Mayor Andrea Sorce used the occasion to make declare progress crime in Vallejo.
“I want to send a message to the criminal element that the days of thinking you can come to Vallejo and do your business with impunity are over,” she said.
Sorce said these investigations, which began over a year ago before she was in office, are in line with her calls for federal, state and local collaboration to crack down on gun violence and crime in Vallejo. Sorce said the city needs to rebuild trust in law enforcement and acknowledge the trauma of these entrenched issues here. She thanked state and local federal officials who are hunting for gun resources for the city, including U.S. Rep. John Garamendi and state Sen. Chris Cabaldon.
City Manager Andrew Murray thanked the governor and California Highway Patrol, and said city staff and elected officials are engaged in becoming the “spirit of the bay” again.
Both Chief of Vallejo Police Jason Ta and PIO Sergeant Rashad Hollis said the department cannot “arrest its way out of” the violence that has plagued the city, but were bullish that a “strategic” and “surgical” approach to policing would improve the city’s situation.
Ta thanked the city’s federal partners and the members of the community who have worked to end gun violence. He thanked the DA, FBI and ATF. He also thanked Solano County Sheriff and the California Highway Patrol, neither of which offered information at the event.
“The positive energy in this room, to me, it’s infectious,” Ta said. “We have so much collaboration in this room at the same time and that’s amazing to me.”
Ta said he thinks the arrests and seizures could have a profound effect on the future of the city’s crime landscape.
“Every gun we take off the street could be one less shooting, one less homicide,” he said.
Ta noted the city’s the Violence Intervention Support Improving Our Neighborhoods or VISION program, which aims
FBI Special Agent in Charge Sid Patel lauded local collaboration and predicted these arrests would make a difference in Vallejo moving forward. “Today’s arrests are the result of hundreds of hours of collaborative effort,” said Patel.
In April, the city and the police department entered into a five-year settlement agreement with the Department of Justice, agreeing to complete the remainder of the original reforms under a previous settlement agreement. Last Month, Source and other local leaders spoke out following the shooting of a 4-year-old child in the Crest neighborhood of Vallejo.