The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office today announced the arrests of five persons, including a Fresno County Superior Court Clerk, on victim intimidation and conspiracy charges after a month long investigation.  Arrested were 31 year old Christina Marie Lugo, 31 year old Ricky Modesto, 26 year old Leonard Aguilar, 42 year old Moises Lopez, and 37 year old Anthony Ray Tapia, all of Sanger.

Several weeks ago, the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office received information that Lugo, a Superior Court Clerk, was assisting an inmate at the Fresno County Jail in threatening a victim to keep him from testifying in a criminal case.  Because the case involved several self-admitted street gang members, MAGEC, the Multi Agency Gang Enforcement Consortium, was asked to investigate the case.

MAGEC detectives learned Modesto had been arrested in November of 2012 after being involved in an assault at a bar in City of Sanger.  The victim received a broken jaw and lost several teeth during the assault.  Modesto eventually bailed out on the felony battery charge and was given a date to appear in court.  When he failed to show up for court, a warrant was issued for his arrest.

This past November, Modesto was arrested on the warrant and booked into the Fresno County Jail.  While in custody, he was assisted by Lugo who set up communications between him and other subjects on the street to intimidate the victim into not testifying in his criminal case.

This morning at 7:00am, MAGEC detectives, SWAT personnel, and assisting law enforcement officers served four search warrants at four different residences in the City of Sanger.  The residences were located in the 1000 block of 9th St, the 800 block of Post St, and two in the 700 block of 11th St.

During the service of the warrants, detectives discovered evidence of narcotics possession and sales, and seized one handgun, one shotgun, three rifles, and seven thousand dollars in cash.  

Lugo was arrested on two counts of conspiracy to dissuade a victim.  Aguilar was arrested on one count of conspiracy to dissuade a victim.  Lopez was arrested on one count of conspiracy to dissuade a victim.  Tapia was arrested for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.  All were later booked into the Fresno County Jail.

The case is ongoing and is believed to be gang related as several of the arrestees have ties to gang members in the City of Sanger.