By Jorge Casuso

August 23, 2024 -- Police arrested two suspects believed to be responsible for three commercial burglaries, returned three suspects wanted in other jurisdictions and made five arrests that involved brandishing knives.

The incidents were among the 56 arrests made between August 10 and 16 in Santa Monica, according to Friday's update in The Blue Notebook, the Police Department's blog reporting notable crimes.

In three of the cases, the suspects were returned to law enforcement authorities in Ohio, Texas and San Diego County for crimes committed in those jurisdictions.

One of the out-of-state suspects arrested was fugitive Jose Flores, 45, who was wanted by the U.S. Marshals Service and the Richland County Sheriff’s Office in Ohio for rape.

The Police Department's Directed Action Response Team (DART), which patrols the beach and Pier, located Flores after contacting a group sharing an illegal encampment on the beach and using a fingerprint reader.

The officers received a late response to the fingerprinting results after the stop had been completed and found Flores in the Downtown area. He will be extradited to Ohio, where the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force has been offering a reward for information leading to his capture.

During the seven-day period, a total of 2,686 calls for service (CFS) were made, 1,594 of the calls were initiated by civilians and 1,092 by officers, according to the blog.

Of the total calls, 547, or 20 percent, involved the homeless, and 44 were related to encampments, not including 311 calls made to the City.

So far this year, 13,334 of the 79,195 calls for service, or 17 percent, were related to the homeless, according to the data.

Knives, most of which are legal to carry, were used in five incidents that led to the arrests of the following:

• A suspect who brandished a dagger, which is illegal, at a passerby from the doorway of a restaurant on the 1300 Block of the Promenade. The man was wanted for crimes in Texas.
  
  
• A suspect who brandished a knife on the Pier and threatened to kill the victim. Officers determined the suspect was responsible for two similar incidents in the area.
  
  
• A man who displayed a knife on the 1400 block of 2nd Street and threatened to kill the victim. The suspect was located nearby and arrested.
  
  
• A suspect who brandished a knife near the Downtown Metro train station then fled from police. The suspect, who was arrested after a short foot pursuit, had "made stabbing motions at two additional victims who left the area."
  
  
• A homeless suspect who entered a store on the 2500 block of Santa Monica Boulevard and stole several towels and shirts, then pulled a knife and threatened to stab an employee who approached. The suspect fled on a navy-blue electric bike and remains at large.

The blog did not indicate whether the suspects in the first four incidents were homeless, although Santa Monica has seen a surge in stabbings among the homeless ("Why Homeless Knife Attacks Have Increased in Santa Monica," March 16, 2023).

Likely driving the surge is a dangerous mix of legal knives, illegal drugs and lenient State laws, including Proposition 47, approved by California voters in 2014, which classifies “non-serious, nonviolent crimes" as misdemeanors instead of felonies, police have said.

Two arrests for commercial burglaries were made during the one-week stretch, one on the 2700 block of Ocean Park Boulevard, the other on the 2500 and 2700 blocks of Main Street.

In the first incident, "witnesses reported two subjects attempting to gain entry to the building by removing the front door from its frame," according to the blog.

The suspects stole property, along with money from two cash registers, and fled in a waiting vehicle. They remain at large.

In the second burglary, two suspects smashed a lock box and gained entry by prying a door open, a method used in two other cases where the lock boxes were smashed and the missing keys used to enter the businesses.

The thieves made off with electronics and cash and remain at large. "All three incidents are believed to be related and are being investigated," police said.

In a separate robbery on the 800 block of Montana Avenue, the suspect assaulted an employee at a business while attempting to steal alcohol. The suspect was located nearby and arrested.

On the 1700 block of Montana Avenue, officers responded to a report of a battery on an elderly man,who suffered a head injury.

"The victim did not know how he ended up injured and on the ground," police said. "There were no witnesses to the incident."

The victim -- who was transported to a local hospital for treatment -- told officers "that he had a verbal altercation with a bicyclist' a block from where he was found but "did not know if that subject assaulted him."

During the same seven-day stretch, a YouTube group "known for setting up and catching child predators" told police they had detained a subject on the 1700 block of Ocean Avenue. The subject had contacted a 15-year-old girl used as a decoy. He was arrested.

A sex registrant with a No Bail Parole Warrant was also arrested after DART officers monitoring the performer lottery on the Pier were flagged down by several tourists.

The tourists "were concerned about a suspicious male subject following them for the past 20 minutes."

The arrest comes some two weeks after the DART team arrested a registered sex offender on July 28 on the 1600 block of the beach for felony child annoyance after taking pictures of a 16-year-old girl in a bathing suit.

The suspect -- who had a prior conviction for lewd and lascivious acts with a child -- "was in possession of multiple photographs of multiple underage females in their bathing suits," police said.