Thursday, Aug. 07, 2008

Riverbank sweep yields arrests, bombs

Agencies team up to check probationers

Seven probationers arrested, four firearms recovered and three pipe bombs detonated. All in a day's work.

A multiagency sweep in Riverbank Wednesday to check whether probationers were following the rules was "very productive," said Stanislaus County sheriff's Detective James Walsh, who works with Riverbank Police Services.

Walsh started planning the sweep in June by getting in touch with the Stanislaus County Probation Department. By Wednesday, several others, including county gang task force members and the Sheriff's Department STING (Special Team Investigating Narcotics and Gangs) unit, had joined the effort.

Walsh said recent gang- related shootings, gang assaults and an increase in property crimes led him to plan the sweep. It was also time, he thought, for local officers to meet the city's probationers.

Law enforcement teams searched 21 probationers Wednesday. A third were found to have violated probation, Walsh said.

At 9 a.m., officers pulled up to the 7000 block of Burneyville Road to visit Stuart Alfred Eggleston, 49. In a shed about 150 feet behind Eggleston's home, they found three pipe bombs, Walsh said.

Authorities called in the Sheriff's Department bomb team to handle the bombs. They evacuated 30 to 40 people from nearby homes and Jacob Myers Park, Walsh said. The team blew up the bombs because they appeared too unstable to move.

Two bombs were taped together and had what appeared to be a detonation switch, said sheriff's Detective Mark Copeland, who also works in Riverbank.

Copeland couldn't comment about the strength of the bombs, saying he's not an explosives expert, but said it was clear they were dangerous.

"If you're in close proximity of something like that, it's probably going to kill you," he said.

Eggleston was arrested because of the bombs, although he told officers he didn't know anything about them.

Three men were arrested after officers said they found firearms at their homes: Rodney Kevin Turman, 37; Philip Mathew Munoz, 31; and Travis Lee McCullough, 32.

Walsh said officers found McCullough with a sawed-off shotgun, a ballistic vest and drug paraphernalia.

Darrin Hardy, 39, also was arrested on suspicion of possessing drug paraphernalia.

Two other probationers had warrants for their arrest and were taken into custody: Gilbert Garcia, age unknown, and Jessie Winona Ramirez, 42.

Walsh said officials keep a close eye on probationers because so many of them, statistically, turn out to be repeat offenders.

"The majority of them are trying to live a life of obeying the laws and trying to be productive in society," he said. "Unfortunately, there's another percentage that continues to break the law."

Bee staff writer Emilie Raguso can be reached at eraguso@modbee.com or 578-2235.