3 charged with murder in 2020 slaying of Spring Valley dispensary security officer
Spring Valley CA July 16 2021
Authorities announced on Tuesday charges against four men and one woman in connection with the June 2020 killing of 59-year-old security guard Kenneth Love II at an unlicensed cannabis store in Spring Valley.
The three men charged with murder in Love’s shooting are 30-year-old Dave Onda Juan Hicks Sr. in Compton, 29-year-old Curry James Williams Jr., and 41-year-old San Diego-based Jamal Johnson. .. Prosecutors also charged the trio with 10 other felony charges in connection with the extortion program and two other shootings in the Spring Valley area in July and November 2019.
The prosecution said the three shootings were part of “for money … a broader plan to blackmail illegal pharmacies.”
According to the District Attorney’s Office, Adrian Casey Batten, 36, was charged with blackmail and other conspiracies related to shootings in the Spring Valley. 28-year-old Jester Ramos was charged with attempted robbery and shooting in an occupied building.
Authorities arrested Hicks and Williams in Compton on July 1. On June 23, sheriffs sought help from the general public to identify “persons of interest.” In murder. Johnson and Batten were arrested on July 7, after getting off the plane in Los Angeles, and Ramos was arrested at his home in San Diego that same day.
According to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, all five defendants will be charged, acquitted and will return to court in El Cahon Wednesday morning.
Prosecutors said Hicks and Williams were members of the Los Angeles gang while Johnson was “related” to the San Diego gang. The prosecution said in a statement that if the blackmail was not paid, the group “threatening” unlicensed pharmacy owners with intimidation and violence.
“This case shows how violent gang crimes can make money by taking advantage of opportunities such as marijuana pharmacies where violent gang crimes are borderless and illegally operated,” said District Attorney Summer Stephan. I mentioned in the news release.
At the end of last month, sheriff murder agents updated their call for help in resolving the case earlier in the year when they sought the help of agents from the FBI’s Violent Crime Countermeasures Headquarters. The detective released a surveillance photo of the “person of interest” and on June 23, visited the Spring Valley area around the shooting site door-to-door and handed out a photo of the man on a leaflet.
The prosecution did not say whether the effort directly led to the arrest, but Sheriff William Gore said in a news release that his department “provided hints when seeking new information.” I am grateful to the general public. “
The arrest was made in Los Angeles on July 1, eight days after the effort, when police officers, deputy sheriffs, and FBI agents issued warrants at two locations in Compton and one each at Bellflower, Hawthorne, and Long Beach. It started in the county. They arrested Hicks and Williams at Compton’s home and found five guns between five locations.
The arrest continued last Wednesday when Sheriff San Diego’s detective arrested Johnson and Batten shortly after landing at Los Angeles International Airport. Later that same day, a sheriff’s SWAT unit attacked Ramos’s San Diego home, where he was arrested.
Prison records show that all three murder suspects were detained without bail on Tuesday night, while Batten was detained at Santi’s Las Corinas Women’s Prison in lieu of $ 175,000 on bail. According to prison records, Ramos was no longer in custody as of Tuesday.
