FREE
Compassionate San Bernardino Cop Donates Skateboard Decks
El Monte Union Alumnus to Lead South El Monte High as New Principal
Page 3
Page 3
Go to BelmontBeacon.com for Belmont Specific News MONDAY, JULY 22 - JULY 28, 2019
VOLUME 5, NO. 29
22 LOS ANGELES-BASED MEMBERS OF MS-13 TRANSNATIONAL GANG NAMED IN FEDERAL RACKETEERING CASE An investigation by federal and local authorities has resulted in a federal racketeering case that charges 22 people linked to the MS-13 transnational gang, most of whom allegedly participated in a series of murders, including several slayings in which victims were hacked to death with machetes in the Angeles National Forest. A 12-count indictment unsealed alleges that members and associates of the gang murdered seven people over the last two years. The indictment charges gang leaders who allegedly authorized and coordinated the murders. Also charged are gang members who allegedly murdered and attempted to murder rival gang members, those who were perceived to be cooperating with law enforcement, and, in one instance, a homeless man who was temporarily living in a park controlled by the gang. The indictment focuses on a particularly violent subset of the gang known as the Fulton clique, which operates in the San Fernando Valley and has recently seen an influx of young immigrants from
- Courtesy photo
Central America. Under the influence of these young gangsters, younger associates who wanted to become members of MS-13 were “required to kill an
OCSD ARRESTS 43-YEAROLD MAN ON SUSPICION OF ELDER SEXUAL ABUSE The Orange County Sheriff’s Department Special Victims detail on Wednesday, July 17, arrested a 43-year-old man on suspicion of rape, elder sexual abuse, oral copulation and sexual battery. Russell Bernardino, of Mission Viejo, was arrested at approximately 8 a.m. at
his residence in Mission Viejo. He is currently in custody at the Orange County Jail, with bail set at $100,000. Bernardino has been a licensed massage therapist for approximately three
SEE PAGE 3
MS-13 rival or someone perceived to be adverse to MS-13 to be initiated into MS-13,” according to the indictment. In one murder detailed
in the indictment, several MS-13 members allegedly targeted a rival gang member who was believed to have defaced MS-13 graffiti. On March
Non-Verbal Found Adult Finally Identified By Riverside Rorensic Center An adult man who detectives had been looking to identify for over 6 months has finally been identified after exhaustive DNA matching and investigative work. On Christmas Eve of 2018, an unidentified man was found unconscious near a homeless encampment in the Santa Ana River bottom and brought
to a local hospital. He remained in the care of that hospital for almost one month and appeared unable to speak, move, or even open his eyes. On January 15, 2019, the Riverside Police Department began an investigation after the hospital
SEE PAGE 4
6, 2017, according to the indictment, the rival gang member was abducted, choked, and driven to a remote location in the Angeles National Forest,
where six people attacked him with a machete. The victim was dismembered, and his body parts were thrown into a canyon after one of the defendants allegedly cut the heart out of the victim’s body. The federal RICO case – which was unsealed Monday during arraignments for three defendants who were taken into custody over the past several days in the Los Angeles area – is the product of an investigation by the Los Angeles Metropolitan Task Force on Violent Gangs, which is made up of special agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, officers with the Los Angeles Police Department, and deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. A fourth defendant was arrested over the weekend in Oklahoma. Over the past year, the other 18 defendants named in the indictment were taken into custody, some on state charges and some on federal charges previously filed. The superseding indictment announced today, which was returned by a federal grand jury on
SEE PAGE 20
Body of San Bernardino Teen Recovered from Kern River The Kern County Sheriff’s Office has searched for five people who went missing in the Kern River this year. Thus far, the bodies of four of the five missing people have been recovered and identified. An 11-year-old girl from Bakersfield who fell into the river in the Keysville area on June 22 remains missing, and the
search for her continues. Both of the teenagers who went missing on June 16, 2019, have been recovered from the Kern River. The body of 16-year-old Ivan Esquivel of San Bernardino was found on June 25th. His cousin, 19-year-old Hugo Esquivel
SEE PAGE 3