Three reasons to post bail in San Diego for your loved one now

1. The San Diego jail system can be a dangerous place. For people who are not use to this kind of environment and lack street experience and or connections an extended stay can at times prove to be rather hazardous.

2. It always makes a better impression on a judge and possibly jury should it go that far if a defendant is well dressed and relaxed in the appropriate attire rather than an orange jump suit and held in shackles while in court.

3. Being out on bail gives a defendant a better chance to fight his or her case. It puts less stress to “make a deal” and allows the defendant ample time to find suitable legal representation.

Man Who Stole Sheriff’s Cruiser Arrested 50,000 Bail Bond

POWAY, Calif. — A 30-year-old man is behind bars Monday after stealing a sheriff’s cruiser and leading law enforcement personnel on a 38-minute pursuit from Poway to Carmel Valley, authorities said.

Sean Michael Webber stole the white cruiser from Midland and Twin Peaks roads about 9:45 a.m. Sunday, said San Diego County sheriff’s Sgt. Daniel Vengler.

The vehicle is used by the department’s senior volunteer patrol, which was in the area assisting with traffic control for Poway’s annual “Tour de Poway” cycling event. Two members of the volunteer patrol were standing near the cruiser when Webber stole it, Vengler said.

A sheriff’s deputy spotted the vehicle minutes later and a pursuit ensued, according to Vengler, who said Webber led deputies out of Poway toward the coast.

San Diego police assisted with the pursuit until authorities decided to back off and let a sheriff’s helicopter crew follow the stolen cruiser. The California Highway Patrol also assisted by closing intersections for the pursuit.

Webber eventually drove to the end of a cul-de-sac in the Carmel Valley area, stopping briefly before barreling through a fence to get to another street, Vengler said.

He then drove backward slowly toward sheriff’s, San Diego police and CHP vehicles that had converged on the area, but then bounded out of the still-moving cruiser and surrendered, Vengler said.

The vehicle came to a stop on its own and the only property damage was to the fence Webber crashed through and the cruiser, Vengler said, noting no one was injured in the 23-mile, 38-minute pursuit.

Webber was booked into San Diego Central Jail on suspicion of felony evading, felony theft of an on-call emergency vehicle, misdemeanor drunken driving and misdemeanor driving under the influence of a controlled substance. Bail was set at $50,000. He could be arraigned as early as Wednesday afternoon, according to jail records.

2 Teens Plead Not Guilty In Rancho Penasquitos Rape Case 5 Million Bail

SAN DIEGO — Two 16-year-old boys, who allegedly raped two teenage girls at knifepoint in a Rancho Penasquitos park during the Labor Day weekend, pleaded not guilty Monday to 16 felony charges, including kidnapping, forcible rape and sodomy by force.

Leonel Contreras and William Steven Rodriguez — charged directly in adult court — were each ordered held on $5 million bail.

Deputy District Attorney Wendy Patrick said 13 of the 16 charges carry a potential penalty of 25 years to life in prison, making the defendants’ possible exposure 325 years to life behind bars if convicted.

“The nature of the crimes, the duration of the crimes, the number … the brutality of the crimes, the callousness … the stranger-rape nature of this offense justified charging them as adults,” the prosecutor told reporters outside the courtroom.

Ivan Contreras, the older brother of one of the defendants, disagreed with the severity of the charges.

“The charges they’re giving [Contreras] are obviously too much,” he said. “How are you going to get him as an adult?”

According to law enforcement, the defendants are in the United States illegally, Patrick said, but Ivan Contreras said his younger brother has a Social Security number and is in the process of gaining citizenship.

The 15- and 16-year-old girls had been attending a family party in the 12600 block of Spindletop Road and walked to a nearby park about 8:15 p.m. on Sept. 3, police said.

The prosecutor told Judge Michael Smyth that the defendants — both wearing jackets with hoods — walked past the girls, then came up from behind and immediately ordered them across the street and into a secluded area.

The defendants ordered the girls to take off their clothes and took turns sexually assaulting them for 30 to 40 minutes, until family members of one of the girls started calling their names, Patrick alleged.

“This included every kind of rape you could imagine,” the prosecutor told the judge.

The defendants threatened the girls before riding off on a bicycle that had been stashed in the bushes, Patrick alleged. As they departed, one of the boys told the alleged victims, “Don’t scream, I don’t want to have to hurt you,” according to Patrick.

The girls and the defendants didn’t know each other, but Rodriguez lived in the neighborhood where the crimes occurred, the prosecutor said.

One social worker told 10News she believes the teens belong in the juvenile justice system.

“Yes, they should have consequences but these were big mistakes and I just don’t think their brains are quite ready to be forever condemned,” said Lorraine Barker.

A status conference was set for Sept. 19 and a preliminary hearing for Sept. 23.

Police Arrest Man Linked To Craigslist Thefts $50,000 Bail Bond

SAN DIEGO — A Mission Valley man was in custody Thursday and facing armed-robbery charges in connection with three holdups of people trying to sell Apple iPads on Craigslist this week.

San Diego police arrested Keith Randall Smith, 34, at his home Wednesday, SDPD Lt. Andra Brown said.

The first of the robberies occurred about 9:30 p.m. Sunday, when Smith allegedly pulled a gun on an iPad owner at the victim’s Talmadge apartment, stole the tablet-style computer and fled, Brown said.

The other two holdups played out in similar fashion the next night, according to police. The first occurred about 8:30 p.m. in the backyard of a Mount Hope woman’s home, and the second roughly 90 minutes later, near another victim’s Corridor-area residence.

During the first and third robberies, the thief was accompanied by an accomplice described as a thin, roughly 5-foot-4-inch blonde in her early to mid-20s, wearing a hooded sweat shirt and dark-colored pants. She remained unidentified and at large.

In each case, the bandit was responding to a for-sale notice placed on the Craigslist classified-ad website, according to Brown.

At the time of Smith’s arrest, detectives recovered two of the stolen iPads along with the pistol the suspect allegedly pulled on the victims, the lieutenant said.

Smith was being held in county jail on $50,000 bail pending arraignment, scheduled for Friday afternoon.

Family Sues Chula Vista Police, Claims Police Brutality

Lawsuit Says Dr. Eric Harris Was Beaten By Officer After 2008 Concert

SAN DIEGO — The family of a top Navy surgeon is speaking out about the night they say he was beaten by a Chula Vista police officer.

In October 2008, following a Jimmy Buffet concert, members of the Harris family said their good time turned into a nightmare.

“I was terrified for my husband and horrified for my children,” said May Harris, the alleged victim’s wife.

In a parking lot jammed with traffic, Dr. Eric Harris, chief spinal surgeon at Naval Medical Center San Diego, got out of his sport utility vehicle to help create a space to merge.

May Harris said Chula Vista police Officer Fred Krafft yelled at her husband to get back into his SUV. She said her husband muttered a curse word under his breath and headed back to the SUV.

“The officer sped up and caught up with him. My husband didn’t notice him,” May Harris said.

She said Krafft came up behind her husband.

“[His face] was repeatedly slammed violently against the side of the car, right in the passenger side window,” said Harris.

She said her husband’s face was slammed three or four times as their children watched from the backseat.

“I just saw surprise in his eyes,” said son Cameron Harris, who was 12 years old at the time.

“I was sad and scared, and I was screaming,” said the couple’s daughter, Haley, who was 8 at the time.

May Harris called 911, but it was her husband who faced charges that included resisting arrest.

Prosecutors declined to pursue the case, but the Harris family filed a lawsuit.

“He couldn’t sleep. He had night tremors and he’d wake up screaming. He had so much anxiety being around people we had trouble going out,” said Harris.

Soon after the incident, Eric Harris was diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. He is currently deployed to Afghanistan.The Chula Vista City Attorney’s Office declined to comment, citing pending litigation. However, in court filings, it claims the incident was “caused … by the plaintiff’s own negligence, fault, reckless or unlawful conduct.”

The family’s attorney, Mary Frances Prevost, said witnesses will side with them.

10News learned Krafft was one of 9 officers named in a police brutality suit settled for $85,000 in 2009.

“What it boils down to is an angry rogue cop taking out — whatever is on his mind — on an innocent bypasser,” said Prevost.

“He’s supposed to protect and serve. He didn’t. Instead, he abused,” said Harris.

10News learned Krafft remains with the Chula Vista Police Department.

In a statement, Chula Vista Police Captain Gary Wedge said:

“The Chula Vista Police Department takes seriously its obligation to protect the rights of all persons, including an individual’s right to pursue civil action when they feel wronged. However, the simple fact that an officer has been named in a lawsuit does not indicate fault or wrongdoing, even if that officer has been named in a prior lawsuit for which a settlement was reached. Unfortunately, the very nature of police work means that lawsuits will be filed. While the police department cannot discuss details of personnel matters or pending litigation, every use of force is thoroughly eviewed, and every allegation of misconduct is investigated. We believe the actions of our officer and the department were appropriate and justified.”

SDPD Officer Arrested On Suspicion Of Rape, Kidnapping

SAN DIEGO — A San Diego police officer was jailed on Wednesday on suspicion of rape, assault, kidnapping and other felony charges, one day after the city’s top cop publicly apologized for a recent rash of misconduct cases within his department and pledged to put a stop to such behavior.Daniel Edward

Dana of Escondido, a three year member of the San Diego Police Department, was booked into county jail Wednesday afternoon. The accusations against Dana, which promptly cost him his job, involve alleged on-duty acts committed early Wednesday morning against a 34-year-old prostitute he had recently befriended.

The woman reported that she agreed to meet with Dana, 26, about 3 a.m. on his suggestion, sent via text message, according to SDPD officials. They went to Presidio Park, where the officer allegedly forced her to have sex with him by threatening to arrest her if she refused.

Afterward, the woman reported what allegedly had happened, and the officer was questioned and arrested. As of Wednesday afternoon, he was no longer employed by the SDPD. Department officials declined to say if he voluntarily resigned or was fired.

Dana, who describes himself on the SlideShare website as a married Washington State native and former Marine, was booked on suspicion of multiple rape counts, kidnapping for purposes of rape, assault by a peace officer and oral copulation under threat of authority. He was being held without bail pending arraignment on Friday afternoon.

Dana’s wife Shauna is reportedly expecting their first child.

“I have no comment,” she said from her Escondido home.

The couple’s neighbors were shocked to hear of the allegations against Dana.

“Wow. Wow, that’s crazy,” one neighbor told 10News.

Neighbor Marygail Tobler was at a loss for words.

“I’m very sad and surprised. I think it’s a shock this is happening so often… I know it’s very humiliating for the police department,” she said. “I believe that God will forgive him for that… It breaks people’s hearts.”

Chief William Lansdowne told 10News, “This one stunned me. My anger is deep-running.”

He said many of his 1,900 officers called him Wednesday to voice their outrage as well.

“My officers that have called are as outraged as I am. They’re proud of who they are. They clearly understand this handful of officers have tarnished the very job they cherish,” he said.

When asked about Dana, Lansdowne responded, “There are no complaints. There are excellent appraisals and ratings about his performance in the San Diego Police Department over the last four years. This one’s so unusual. It comes in such a cluster over a period of time. No one’s comfortable in what we’re seeing, nor am I.”

On Tuesday, Chief William Lansdowne and his top command staff held a news conference to address what he called an “unprecedented number” of accusations of impropriety or criminal behavior on the part of SDPD officers over the last three months — 10 cases total, six of which have resulted in arrests of officers.

“I want to personally apologize to every citizen of the city of San Diego, as this behavior is not expected, nor condoned by me or anyone in the San Diego Police Department,” Lansdowne said.

Promising to do everything possible to regain citizens’ confidence and “repair the damage done,” the chief outlined a seven-step program with a goal of “greatly reducing future incidents” of wrongdoing.

The strategies include increased internal-affairs staffing, more ethics training, an around-the-clock complaint “hot line,” a review of the department’s discipline manual and use-of-force tactics, psychological “wellness” assessments during officers’ annual evaluations and a series of meetings with all employees.

The announcement of the plan came three days after SDPD Officer William Johnson, a 12-year department veteran, was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated in the South Bay.

Johnson was off-duty when he was taken into custody by Chula Vista police about midnight Saturday, following a collision that left another motorist with minor injuries. He is working a desk assignment pending the outcome of the case.

Last week, officials announced that an internal investigation was under way into whether an SDPD officer used excessive force while arresting an allegedly drunk and combative man outside a North Park nightspot.

The patrolman, whose name has been withheld, was one of three San Diego police officers who struggled to subdue 38-year-old Shawn Allen McPherren in front of the Alibi bar late on the night of May 1, Executive Assistant Chief David Ramirez said.

A witness captured the arrest with his cellphone camera and later contacted television news stations, which aired the images.

The footage showed the uniformed personnel crouching around McPherren, who was prone on a sidewalk, grappling with him while one of the officers punched him in the midsection or arms a half-dozen times.

The following day, an SDPD motorcycle patrolman pleaded not guilty to driving under the influence and hit-and-run allegations in connection with an off-duty Feb. 22 traffic accident on Murray Ridge Road in Serra Mesa. Officer David Hall, 41, faces up to three years and eight months in prison if convicted of the charges.

In late April, a judge ordered San Diego police Sgt. Kenneth H. Davis, 47, to stand trial on one count of stalking a fellow officer he had dated and three counts of making harassing telephone calls to her. Davis, a 23-year department veteran, could serve up to three years in prison if found guilty of the allegations, which came to light in February.

On April 11, an SDPD patrolman was involved in an off-duty dispute during which he allegedly assaulted a 17-year-old neighbor boy he caught smoking marijuana. The officer, a Mira Mesa resident whose name has not been released by police, has been transferred to desk duty pending the outcome of an internal investigation and a concurrent review by the District Attorney’s Office.

In March, 42-year-old Art Perea, a vice officer with the department, resigned amid accusations of raping a Point Loma Nazarene University student at an El Cajon home. He has not been charged in the case, which remains under investigation.

On March 11, San Diego police Officer Anthony Arevalos, 40, was arrested after a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her following a traffic stop in the Gaslamp Quarter.

Four other women subsequently came forward and made similar allegations against Arevalos, who has pleaded not guilty to 18 felony counts, including sexual battery, false imprisonment, assault under color of authority and receiving a bribe.

On March 24, San Diego police Officer Roel Tungcab was arrested by sheriff’s deputies in the aftermath of a fight with his wife at their Imperial Beach home. Tungcab, 39, faces misdemeanor domestic violence charges.

On March 29, an SDPD officer was videotaped wrestling with an allegedly inebriated and disruptive soccer fan at Qualcomm Stadium.

The 49-second recording, posted on YouTube the following day, shows the officer on the floor of a stadium concourse, struggling to subdue 27-year-old David Rangel of San Diego.

The officer, whose name has not been released, at times used an arm to put Rangel in a chokehold from behind and finally shoved his head onto the concrete, causing a loud smacking sound when the side of the suspect’s face and the palm of his hand hit the floor.

Police officials opened an internal probe into the arrest, which occurred during a Mexico-Venezuela soccer game.

Less recently, a San Diego police officer and his wife were criminally charged for allegedly looting and trashing their foreclosed home in Riverside County out of spite.

Robert Conrad Acosta, 39, and his wife Evette Acosta, 35, were accused last autumn of burglarizing and vandalizing their former residence, a six-bedroom tract home east of Murrieta.

The damage included stones smashed off the facade, dye poured on the carpet, a missing air conditioner and other appliances, destroyed and stolen fixtures, wiring torn out of the walls, uprooted trees thrown in the swimming pool, a missing garage door, a torn-up flagstone patio, walkway and hallway, and spray paint on the walls, according to prosecutors.

Robert Acosta was put on paid administrative leave pending the resolution of the case. He resigned from the department late last year.

Suspect In 2 Sex Assaults, Kidnapping Pleads Not Guilty

VISTA, Calif. — A registered sex offender accused of raping two neighbors at his North County apartment, then abducting one of the young women and holding her captive overnight, pleaded not guilty Thursday to numerous felony charges.Because of the seriousness of the charges against him and because the 33-year-old Stutzman is a parolee with a prior record, the Deputy District Attorney Patrick Espinoza asked that bail be set at $2 million.

The judge doubled it to $4 million, saying Stutzman is an extreme danger to the community and a flight risk.

A 20-year-old Vista woman reported Monday night that she had been sexually assaulted by a neighbor at the South Santa Fe Drive apartment complex where she lives, according to sheriff’s officials.The woman told detectives that a 19-year-old friend of hers also had been raped by the same long-haired man, then threatened with a knife and taken against her will in a charcoal-gray 2005 Toyota Corolla owned by the older woman, Lt. Larry Nesbit said.

About 9 a.m. Tuesday, the abductor dropped the teenager off near her residence and drove away in an unknown direction, authorities said.

The victims identified the alleged assailant as Stutzman, a parolee-at-large and a resident of the apartment complex where both women live. He was arrested Tuesday afternoon at an Oceanside motel.

“The two young ladies were bound, blindfolded and gagged while they were inside his apartment,” Espinoza told the judge.

Espinosa also said Stutzman knew the two women because they were his upstairs neighbors.

The investigation revealed what Espinoza called “chilling” details of the crimes Stutzman is accused of committing. Espinoza revealed that Stutzman forced the women to try on various lingerie items while he watched. Espinoza accused Stutzman of using a knife to cut the women’s clothing off.

The defendant also tied one of the women to a shower rail, the prosecutor told Judge Marshall Hockett.

Stutzman is charged with rape, kidnapping for sexual purposes, forcible oral copulation, sexual battery, assault with a deadly weapon and robbery. He faces a maximum of 307 years to life in prison if convicted.

Stutzman, a former Marine, was convicted in 2002 of sexually assaulting an Escondido woman and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was paroled in August 2009. In the 2002 case, Stutzman held the woman at gunpoint and cut her lingerie off with a steak knife.

The defendant will be back in court June 13 for a readiness conference and June 16 for a preliminary hearing.

Bail Bond Set At $2M For Accused SR-163 Shooter

Stephen Dragasits Suspected In Shootings On SR-163

SAN DIEGO — Bail was set at $2 million Tuesday for a transient accused of opening fire on freeway traffic in Kearny Mesa, wounding a college student and damaging another motorist’s car.

Stephen Joseph Dragasits, 58, faces more than 19 years in prison if convicted.

The defendant had been held without bail since his April 22 arraignment, but Tuesday Deputy Public Defender Euketa Oliver told Judge Theodore Weathers that Dragasits was entitled to have bail set.
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Citing the defendant’s lack of a felony record, Oliver argued unsuccessfully that his bail be set at $1 million.

A readiness conference was set for May 31 and a preliminary hearing for June 13.

Dragasits, who was living in a motor home near the site of the April 5 shootings on state Route 163, was arrested April 20 at a Walmart in the area, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Deputy District Attorney Chandelle Konstanzer told Judge David Szumowski at Dragasits’ arraignment that he is a flight risk who also represents an “extreme danger” to the community.

Dragasits is charged with two counts each of shooting into an occupied vehicle and assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury.

Konstanzer said the 7 a.m. shootings were completely unprovoked,The wounded 21-year-old student, Ashley Simmons, unaware she had been shot, called her mother and told her she was having trouble breathing, authorities said. A bullet had come through the rear passenger door of her Toyota Matrix and pierced her rib cage.

Konstanzer said Simmons suffered a collapsed lung and the .22-caliber bullet lodged in her liver, leading to a one-week stay in a hospital.

Authorities learned a second vehicle had been hit by a bullet on the same stretch of freeway about the same time Simmons was shot. On April 6, a 42-year-old Rancho Bernardo resident reported that his southbound car was shot near the junction of state Route 52.

Dragasits, a New York native who told investigators he was a former Navy man and one-time employee of the county of San Diego, allegedly was linked to the shootings through surveillance and DNA evidence found on a bullet casing picked up after the shooting, CHP Capt. Rich Stewart said.

The gun that fired the rounds, believed to be a .22-caliber Winchester 190 rifle, has not been recovered, Stewart said.

He said that prior to the shootings, Dragasits had been arrested and convicted for throwing rocks at cars on the freeway in the same area.

Stewart said it remained unclear exactly where the gunfire came from, though investigators do not believe the shooter was inside a moving vehicle.

Deputy Public Defender Salvatore Tarantino said the defendant has lived in San Diego County for 35 years.

NCAA To Look At San Diego Gambling Case When FBI Finishes

INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA plans to conduct its own investigation into an alleged basketball gambling ring at the University of San Diego but will wait until the FBI completes its work.

On Tuesday, NCAA vice president of enforcement Julie Roe Lach called the allegations sad, acknowledging the serious nature of the charges that were unsealed one day earlier in San Diego.

The accused include Brandon Johnson, the school’s career scoring leader who is now playing in the NBA Development League, former assistant coach Thaddeus Brown and former player Brandon Dowdy.

Eight of 10 people charged pleaded not guilty Tuesday in federal court. Six of the eight defendants were granted bail ranging from $35,000 to $50,000.

A detention hearing was expected later this week for Steve Goria and Paul Thweni, who prosecutors say are considered flight risks because they’re primary defendants. Johnson, who was arrested in Texas, was arraigned there Monday. Remaining defendant Jake Salter is set to be arraigned Friday.

All are charged with conspiracy to commit sports bribery, conducting an illegal gambling business and distributing marijuana. If convicted, they each face up to five years in prison and $250,000 fines.

Federal authorities have charged them with running a sports betting business to affect the outcome of games.

“The FBI is leading the investigation and we will stand by and let them do their work because they have more tools in their tool boxes to get at what’s going on than we do,” Lach told The Associated Press. “After they conclude their investigation, we will begin ours.”

Lach said FBI officials contacted college sports’ largest governing body before the indictments were made public Monday. She declined to say when the NCAA learned of the case.

Point-shaving scandals have occurred before in college sports, but they are rare.

The most notable occurred in the early 1950s when players at 1950 NCAA champion CCNY, Kentucky and other schools were found to have accepted payoffs from gamblers to ensure their teams did not cover the point spread.

Since then, there have been other point-shaving scandals involving college basketball teams at schools such as Boston College, Arizona State and Northwestern.

The NCAA is using everything at its disposal to root out potential problems.

Lach acknowledged that the NCAA has “relationships” with people in Las Vegas who contact the governing body when there are unusual betting patterns. Typically, for college basketball games, that involves a three-point swing once the opening line is established, she said.

“They help us monitor the lines so that if something doesn’t look right, we flag it,” Lach said. “I’d say that happens not more than once a year, and most times, it’s where a line moved and there’s an explanation that doesn’t involve point-shaving.”

But it’s not just the big cases at high-profile schools that are getting the attention of NCAA leaders.

“We had an actual case where a student-athlete owed a student bookie a couple of hundred bucks and instead of having him pay it back, the bookie said, ‘I have a better idea,’” Lach said without providing details about the students or the school.

In this case, the 24-year-old Johnson is accused of taking a bribe to influence a San Diego game in February 2010 and then soliciting someone else to affect the outcome of additional games in January – after Johnson had already started playing for the Dakota Wizards.

The NCAA, Lach said, has repeatedly tried to educate players and coaches about the dangers of associating with gamblers and running up debts.

The most problematic sport, according to a 2009 study, was golf.

NCAA officials have used the catch-phrase “Don’t Bet On It” to send a message to student-athletes and use printed and video materials to educate coaches and players about the dangers of gambling.

Now San Diego, a small, Catholic school that plays in the West Coast Conference, finds itself at the center of college sports’ newest scandal.

Keith Slotter, head of the FBI’s San Diego office, said the FBI investigation evolved from a probe of a marijuana distribution operation that began about a year ago.

Johnson scored 1,790 points in four seasons at San Diego and was on the team that stunned Connecticut in overtime in the first round of the 2008 NCAA tournament, the biggest win in school history.

“There is nothing more threatening to the integrity of sports anywhere than the uncovering of a point-shaving scheme,” NCAA President Mark Emmert said in a statement Monday. “This scheme is especially disturbing because efforts to compromise game outcomes extended over more than one season, involved individuals on more than one team and was successful, according to the indictment.”

(This version CORRECTS Updates with eight of 10 people charged pleading not guilty Tuesday in federal court; corrects to Development in third paragraph.)

MICHAEL MAROT, AP Sports Writer

Man Accused In Home Invasion, Arrested Vista Jail

Julian Johnson, 33, Accused In Carlsbad Home Invasion, Marijuana Growing

A 33-year-old man is behind bars Thursday, accused of participating in a home invasion in Carlsbad two months ago and of growing marijuana indoors with the intent of selling the drug, police said.

Julian Johnson was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of a number of robbery- and drug-related charges, according to Sgt. Mickey Williams of the Carlsbad Police Department. The arrest stemmed from the search of a residence in Oceanside earlier in the week, he said.

On Monday, Carlsbad police searched a residence in the 3100 block of Noreen Way in Oceanside and allegedly found evidence related to a home invasion robbery that occurred in the 2000 block of Avenue of the Trees in Carlsbad on Jan. 16. According to Williams, they also found an indoor marijuana growing operation, marijuana possessed for sale and other controlled substances possessed for sale.

Detectives later negotiated with Johnson, leading to his surrender and arrest on Wednesday, the sergeant said.

Johnson was arrested on suspicion of robbery, kidnapping with intent to commit robbery, residential burglary, conspiracy, possession of stolen property, possession of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance for sale, cultivation of marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale, and possession of a deadly weapon. He was booked into the Vista jail.

During the Jan. 16 home invasion, two men armed with handguns broke into the residence on Avenue of Trees, Williams said, adding that they fled when police arrived. One of the men was immediately found hiding in the laundry room of a nearby residence, while the other got away, according to Williams.

The first man was identified as Michael Dickson, 29. He was arrested on suspicion of robbery, kidnapping with intent to commit robbery, residential burglary and conspiracy, Williams said.

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