Crime Briefs: Wanted Parole Caught Hiding Under House

A paroled gang member wanted by authorities was caught hiding in a room under a house in rural Watsonville on Friday, the county's Gang Task Force reported.

Pedro Fuentes, 32, was arrested at the Rancho Road home along with Pablo Deleon, who was with Fuentes and allegedly high on drugs, according to Mario Sulay, task force commander.

The actions of an observant sheriff's detective sparked the investigation, Sulay said.

The detective was driving an unmarked police car early Friday afternoon when he saw a person he thought to have been Pedro Fuentes, a known Watsonville-area gang member, in the passenger seat of a vehicle being driven in Watsonville. The detective got the license plate number and reported it to the Gang Task Force, according to Sulay.

Fuentes had a warrant for allegedly violating his parole.

Task Force officers followed up on the information and found that the vehicle was registered to a Rancho Road address in Watsonville. Task Force officers and sheriff's deputies set up surveillance on the property and eventually spotted Fuentes in the back of the home, Sulay said.

When officers went to the door and were allowed in, they found Fuentes hiding in a room under the house and arrested him, according to Sulay. They also arrested Deleon on the drug charge.

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Traffice officers from across the county congregated in Watsonville Tuesday to target bad drivers.

BADGES, or Before Aggressive Driving Gets Everybody Stopped, focused on aggressive driving, safety-related violations and bike/pedestrian issues.

It was dangerous bike riding that caught the officers' attention. Of the 69 tickets written, the majority went to cyclists who were riding on the wrong side of the road, police reported.

Bikes should move with traffic, not against it. Police said riding on the wrong side of the road is the single biggest cause of bike-car accidents in Watsonville.

Motorists got tickets for running red lights, not wearing seatbelts, not yielding to pedestrians and mechanical violations, such as illegal window tinting. Some vehicles also were impounded and towed, police said.