LAKEPORT, Calif. – A suspected gang member from Upper Lake was arrested early Sunday on charges including possession of a concealed handgun, and three people with him also were taken into custody after they attempted to flee from police in a vehicle.
Octavio Raul Martinez, 36, of Upper Lake was arrested, along with his three associates, Kelseyville residents Arrmando Perez Fernandez, 31, and Rachel Eunice Ponce, 30, and Latasha Jasmine Hasegawa, 25, of Stockton, according to Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen.
Shortly after midnight early Sunday morning, two uniformed Lakeport Police officers were conducting a bar check at the Clearlake Club on Main Street in Lakeport when one of the officers spotted Martinez, who Rasmussen said is a known convicted felon and suspected criminal street gang member.
Rasmussen said the officer noticed that Martinez also saw him. The officer monitored Martinez and watched him exit the bar and walk to a sport utility vehicle outside, where he opened the driver’s door and appeared to remove something from his clothing near his waist before closing the door and locked the vehicle.
The officer walked by the vehicle and used his flashlight to look inside, where he saw a Glock handgun partially covered with a bandanna lying on the driver’s seat, Rasmussen said.
Before being able to secure the handgun, officers had to immediately initiate a felony arrest of Martinez at gunpoint at which time the three associates of Martinez – later identified as Fernandez, Hasegawa and Ponce – approached the officers and became hostile toward them, according to Rasmussen.
Rasmussen said the officers, who were then assisted by a Lake County Sheriff’s deputy, had to give them repeated commands to back away while they completed the arrest of Martinez.
During Martinez’s arrest, Fernandez, Hasegawa and Ponce then went to the same SUV and fled the scene, traveling south bound on Main Street at a rapid speed, Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen said the second officer and the deputy went after the vehicle which blacked out all of its lights in the area of Esplanade Street.
Officers overtook the vehicle in the area of South Main Street near Lakeport Boulevard, conducted a felony traffic stop and detained Fernandez, Hasegawa and Ponce and then searched the vehicle for the handgun but did not locate it, Rasmussen said.
He said officers on foot conducted a search of the area and the handgun was located, loaded, on the west sidewalk of Main Street, between the scene of the stop and the location where the vehicle had been blacked out.
Fernandez, Hasegawa and Ponce were all arrested for being accessories to a felony and destruction of evidence and booked into the Lake County Jail with bail set at $15,000 each, according to Rasmussen.
Martinez was arrested for felony charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a loaded and concealed firearm by a known suspected criminal street gang member, and possession of an unregistered firearm along with ammunition. He was booked into the Lake County Jail with bail set at $100,000 based on an increase approved by a Lake County Superior Court judge, Rasmussen said.
At the time of his arrest, Rasmussen said Martinez also was in possession of approximately $6,000 cash, which was seized because officers believed it was criminally obtained.
Rasmussen said Martinez has prior arrests for resisting and evading officers, battery with serious bodily injury, possession of a dangerous weapon and terrorist threats, and has served a prison term for battery resulting in serious bodily injury and mayhem.
As of Sunday, all suspects had posted the required bail and were released from custody, Rasmussen said.
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