On Friday, November 20th, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims announced results of an ongoing investigation primarily focused on the criminal street gang known as the Fresnecks and the Aryan Brotherhood, a prison gang.
The operation, titled “Lucky Charm,” focused on crimes such as murder, robbery, drug dealing, illegal gun trafficking and kidnappings. This was occurring across the state of California, as well as in other states.
As part of Operation Lucky Charm, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office and the Multi-Agency Gang Enforcement Consortium (MAGEC) worked in conjunction with several law enforcement agencies. They include: The California Department of Justice (DOJ), California Highway Patrol, Fresno Police Department, Fresno County District Attorney’s Office, Clovis Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California.
The investigation into the illegal activity partnership between the Fresnecks and Aryan Brotherhood began in January 2020. As leads developed, law enforcement served search warrants at several locations. By mid-November, a total of 102 arrests were made, 47 guns were recovered, $136,000 in cash was seized, nearly 90 lbs. of methamphetamine was confiscated along with close to six pounds of heroin. These numbers include results from a large joint-agency operation which took place on Thursday, November 19th, where search warrants were served at two dozen homes and cell searches were conducted within several California state prisons.
A key element of the operation was the ability of prison inmates to obtain cell phones. This allowed certain gang leaders to give directions to other gang members outside the prisons; ordering them to sell guns, drugs and orchestrate violent crimes. Investigators worked with CDCR to identify inmates in control of calling shots. Some of these key players include: 34 year old Kenneth Bash, 52 year old Todd Morgan, 47 year old Robert Eversole, 40 year old Marlon Palmer and 40 year old Angel Lopez. Numerous times, investigators were able to intercept cell phones and drugs which were attempting to be smuggled into the prisons.
The success of this operation is a tribute to great working relationship between local, state and federal agencies. All of the people arrested now face state and / or federal charges.
Detectives are still seeking to arrest the following 13 people.
- Sarah Booth
- Carlos Bravo-Orozco
- Cody Brown
- Robin Davis
- Fawn Dehmel
- Callie Eversole
- Karie Gunter
- Chancelor Kaufman
- Brock Larson
- Jeffrey Moore
- Emarie Ornelas
- Vanessa Palomar
- Eric Rochlem
Anyone with additional information related to this investigation is asked to please contact the Sheriff’s Office at (559) 600-3111 or Crime Stoppers at (559) 498-7867, www.valleycrimestoppers.org You will remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward.
