Police Used 'Unorthodox' Method in Gang Investigation

A gang fight at a party in Watsonville on a Friday night nearly three years ago set off a pair of shootings—one retaliation for the other—that killed an innocent man and sent several gang members to prison.

The final accused gang member associated with the rash of violence was in court this week.

Colby Isidro, now 22, is charged with attempted murder, as well as gang and gun enhancements, for allegedly shooting Michael Escobar at a Friday night party in March 2009.

Isidro's alleged shooting spurred Michael Escobar's brother, Julian Escobar, to exact revenge. Julian fatally shot Angel Escobedo, a 19-year-old college student who was not involved in gangs, while the teen played basketball in Watsonville's Apple Hill neighborhood the following afternoon, March 21, 2009.

Julian Escobar and Jose Sandoval, two Salinas gang members, were convicted in August of killing Escobedo.

Isidro had a two-day preliminary hearing that concluded Wednesday. The court appearance is the time when a prosecutor presents an overview of the case and a judge decides if there is enough evidence to move forward.

The judge ruled that Isidro will stand trial, according to Watsonville Police Detective Morgan Chappell, the gang investigator who got a confession from Isidro while the young man was serving time in at a state prison in Susanville for an unrelated crime.

“We employed some unorthodox investigative technique to illicit a confession from Colby Isidro," Chappell said.

To tie Isidro to the party shooting, the police detective visited him at High Desert State Prison. He was there for a separate  case: he had been the passenger in a car that was pulled over in Watsonville, but ran from officers and tossed a gun, according to police.

Chappell said he told Isidro that investigators were onto him and he would be charged, brought to trial and convicted of the shooting.

During the interview, Chappell had a prison guard hide a digital recorder in Isidro's cell. Chappell left and, for the next 14 hours, the inmate talked about the shooting with his cellmate, according to Chappell. The discussions amounted to a confession, which was shared in court this week, Chappell said.

“We’re effectively removing some of their leadership but the gangs in Watsonville are used to their leaders being locked up and a younger generation springs up.”

Chappell outlined the deadly chain of events from March of 2009:

“This is how this went down. I was tasked with finding out the motive for the Apple Hill homicide. We were aware a shooting had taken place the night before. Once we had found out the murder suspect was Julian Escobar, we looked back the night before and I remembered that Michael Escobar had been shot. We figured that might be something behind the Angel Escobedo shooting.

“Michael was shot because a fight broke out at the part. Michael was fighting with the leader of the Varrio Green Valley gang, Julio Cabrera. Colby Isdro saw, this ran to Julio's aid, jumped in the fight and, as Michael was running away, shot him.”

Cabrera was arrested for and convicted of shooting at a man outside a Watsonville restaurant on Jan. 1, 2010.

“We’re taking a lot of dangerous people off the street and we’re prosecuting some very dangerous guys from crimes they did in this community," Chappell said. “They’re all in jail. The only one dead is Angel, who had nothing to do with it."