Brute Force?

[speedracer2169]

What is the name of your state? California

Ugh go figure that this had to happen at my house. Well 2 weeks ago at 7am I woke up to the sound of "Sheriff, Search Warrant" and my front door was broken down. My two brother in laws are being accused of burglary, receiving stolen property, and Felony gang involvement. They searched our house and found nothing and took some of my property. They also searched my car and I asked them why and they said because it was on the property and I live here but the paperwork says that vehicles that are registered to people who live in the house can be searched. The car is registered under my mother and I explained that to them and the detective started to threaten me about towing my car and whatever. Well there's is damage on my car. Go figure. They left and they didn't give the property manifest of the stuff they took and when i asked for it he wouldn't give it to me. On top of this this so called gang that they are trying to charge them with is based off information that they saw on myspace and that they started a gang. What my brother in law and his friend started was a music group and were posting some music they made online but the on the police report it says that they are a tagging gang (a nonviolent crime) and that it is an offspring of some blood gang in l.a. WTF? On top of that what really got me upset is that I opened the door to my room to let them know that I had children in there and when I grabbed my 2 year old son to keep him from running out one of the guys rushes me and cuffs me up. They arrested my 2 brother in laws one who just turned 18 and the other is 17. They were released later because the DA had 72 hours to file charges and they didn't. So i guess my question is that this i completely unaccpetable to me how we were treated. Especially when I went out to serve my country and almost died in combat just to come back and treated with no respect. Other than the property damage to my house and car what else can I seek with the sherriff department. They discriminate my brother in laws a few times already and there is so much more that I left out of this as well. Also in order to have a Search warrant doesn't a witness have to swear to the police that they saw them or know that they did it?

[tranquility]

It is near impossible to go through all the issues raised in your post. I start with the warning that the police will tell a very different story. I end with the advice that you need to see an attorney if you want to follow up on this. While I agree this seems fishy in many ways, there is no way to unravel the thing here.

Good luck. Things will get harder before they get easier.

[CdwJava]

Originally Posted by speedracer2169

What my brother in law and his friend started was a music group and were posting some music they made online but the on the police report it says that they are a tagging gang (a nonviolent crime) and that it is an offspring of some blood gang in l.a.

As you were told, there is no way to unravel this here - there are too many issues, and the likelihood os very high that the officers' accounts will be greatly different from yours.

In general, I can only see a couple of issues wrong on the face of it - the lack of a receipt being left at the scene is one of them.

As for the "gang" stuff, it is not a crime to be affiliated with a gang, but it IS a crime to commit certain enumerated crimes in furtherance of the gang.

A street gang in CA is defined pursuant to PC 186.22(f) and note that it does NOT have to be "violent" crimes. 10 years ago we started making big conspiracy and gang cases against tagger "crues" - largely because they had graduated to using weapons to protect their tagging turf throughout southern CA.

Here is the section on gangs:

186.22(f) As used in this chapter, "criminal street gang" means any
ongoing organization, association, or group of three or more persons,
whether formal or informal, having as one of its primary activities
the commission of one or more of the criminal acts enumerated in
paragraphs (1) to (25), inclusive, of subdivision (e), having a
common name or common identifying sign or symbol, and whose members
individually or collectively engage in or have engaged in a pattern
of criminal gang activity.

And note that felony vandalism (more than $400 in damage) is included in the requisite crimes ... and all that takes is a few tags on some big walls to qualify.

- Carl