A Wilmington gang member was sentenced Tuesday to three months in jail for violating a gang injunction that authorities say is cracking down on crime in the community.
Marco Castaneda, 18, was convicted Sept. 1 in Long Beach Superior Court of two counts of violating conditions of the Eastside Wilmas gang injunction prohibiting him from associating with gang members and one count of possession of marijuana in the safety zone. Jurors convicted him in little more than an hour following a two-day trial. Castaneda was the first gang member to take his case to trial. Others previously pleaded guilty in deals with prosecutors. "Hopefully with the conviction and the rather strict sentence, it sends the message, 'Yes, we will go to trial and we will follow through on what we are going to do. We will hold fast against criminal street gangs,' " said Elizabeth Greenwood, a Los Angeles deputy city attorney assigned to prosecute gang members in Wilmington. Los Angeles police Harbor Division officers arrested Castaneda and Eustollio Toa, 18, on Aug. 8 when the pair rode their bikes through a red light at Avalon Boulevard and L Street and caused several vehicles to brake abruptly. Gang officers who had served the pair with the injunction in March recognized them as members of the gang. Castaneda, known on the street as "Peacock," and Toa, known as "Lil Nariz," were taken to the Harbor Division station on suspicion of associating with each other, a violation, Greenwood said. Officers later found 3.55 grams of marijuana stuffed into one of Castaneda's shoes, Greenwood said. Toa pleaded guilty to violating the injunction and received a 120-day sentence, but Castaneda decided to fight the charges and took the case to trial. "His defense was that he was not a gang member, therefore the order did not apply to him," Greenwood said. "So, we put on evidence to prove he was a gang member." During the trial, a police officer testified that he had stopped Castaneda more than 60 times and always saw him with gang members. Greenwood showed the jury a photo of Castaneda wearing a red jersey that said "Eastside," and testimony showed he was warned five times to comply with the injunction, Greenwood said. Castaneda's attorney, Stephen Varga, did not put on a defense. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon. At sentencing Tuesday, Judge Tomson Ong sentenced Castaneda to the jail term, placed him on three years' probation and ordered him to stop wearing or displaying any colors, signs or symbols that represent his gang, including anything with the color red or with the name "EW," "ES" or "East Side." He also was prohibited from associating with any gang members or possessing any vandalism tools. The court ordered gang injunction was imposed on March 19 and is credited for a 31 percent drop in violent crime in Wilmington. Under the order, members of the Eastside and Westside Wilmington gangs cannot meet or drink in public or own guns or anything that could be used for graffiti. Nor are they permitted to warn others if police are nearby. At a news conference last month to tout its success, Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton said the injunction had resulted in 75 arrests and 41 convictions. The injunction is one of 23 in effect against gangs throughout Los Angeles. Gang injunctions also are in effect in Redondo Beach, Lennox and Harbor City. "Gang injunctions continue to be an effective tool in tackling the gang problem in the Harbor Area and across our city," City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo said in a statement. "We will continue to seek creative sentencing and pursue aggressive prosecution of these criminals." Prosecutors can use the misdemeanor convictions obtained through the injunction against gang members in future cases filed against them, including felony cases.
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