'Gang Mom' Case Shows How Crime Can Run in Families

News that a Watsonville mother allegedly cheered on her daughter and shouted gang slurs as the teenager fought another girl earlier this month stunned the community.

But police say —the mom reportedly pictured on a 30-second YouTube video of the fight—are rare. What’s not unusual is for parents and other relatives to pass down their gang affiliations to children.

“A lot of time, if one member of the family is a gang member, you often see other members of the family are gang members as well,” said Jarrod Pisturino, a Watsonville police gang detective.

Watsonville’s gangs are primarily male-dominated. Boys inherit gang ties from their fathers, uncles, grandfathers, cousins, even older brothers, Pisturino explained.

“It’s not as common among women, but we do see it,” he said. “There are some hardcore women out there in the city.”

However, Rivas, 41, was not considered one of them before the girl fight. Pisturino said she is not a documented gang member in police files. He is still investigating if her family is linked to one of the city’s eight Norteño or two Sureño street gangs.

None of those are girl gangs, according to police.

“Right now, we don’t have any real female gangs,” Pisturino said. “We do have, I guess you could say, females who sympathize with male gang members.”

What provoked the Sept. 12 fight between the two students, both 16, isn’t clear.

“I’m not too sure. I heard something in the video—one person talking about the other person’s family member,” Pisturino said. “I think there’s been some history between these girls before.”

The girls met in a wooded area on the trails at the edge of Harkins Slough, not far from school. Pisturino said it appeared the fight was planned. Other kids surrounded the teens during the fight, the video showed, and Rivas allegedly was there shouting gang slurs “as a form of intimidation,” Pisturino said.

The short video of the fight was posted on YouTube and seen by a school official, who notified the PVHS school resource officer. Rivas was arrested Sept. 14 on suspicion of neglecting her parental duties, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and gang participation.

The video has since been taken off the Internet, police said.

“Any time if we get evidence like this, that a parent promoted their child in a gang activity, we’re going to go after it as hard as we can,” Pisturino said.

Rivas has already made one court appearance. She's due back before a judge next month and remains in County Jail on $25,000 bail, according to jail records.

“It’s an interesting case. I think everyone in law enforcmement was outraged about it. She’s basically promoting gang violence," Assistant District Attorney Alex Byers, who is prosecuting the case, said, adding that everyone else in the video were kids. “She’s ringing the bell for gangs. She’s starting them young.”

Her public defender, Mark Garver, told the Santa Cruz Sentinel Rivas was at the fight because she heard her daughter was in trouble. Garver also said she has an immigration hold now.

“I’m not really sure what her (immigration) status is,” Byers said to Watsonville Patch. “She has a hold.”

Rivas could face up to a year in county time, if convicted, and possible prosecution by federal immigration authorities. If she's put on probation, she'll be required to take parenting classes, Byers said.

"She's not the mom of the year," Byers said.

Her daughter and the other girl in the fight both got citations, according to police.

Gang violence has been a Watsonville police priority for years, but the city’s gang problem grew so severe this summer that all of the police agencies in Santa Cruz County .

Four of the five homicides in the city this year were gang-related, and all are unsolved. A sixth violent death was an officer-involved shooting.

Police, the school district and the city Parks and Community Services Department provide .

“We do so much as far as programs, but we really need the parents,” Pisturino said. “All the efforts that we put forth for young gang members … it needs to be reinforced by the parents at home. When we’re teaching one thing against gangs, and they go home and their parents are gang members, their parents are preaching the gospel of the gang and how great the gang is.

“Usually the parents' influence wins over ours,” he said.