State Announces Arrest Of 17 Alleged Gang Members Of NorCal Criminal Organizations

More than a dozen people have been arrested in connection with multiple violent crimes and shootings, including an August 2022 shooting at a Stockton Sikh temple, state Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Monday.

State and local law enforcement agencies from Yuba City and Sutter County announced that 17 people were arrested after a monthslong, multi-agency investigation into rival organized crime groups operating across Solano, San Joaquin, Sutter, Sacramento, Yolo and Merced counties.

Law enforcement officials conducted a “large-scale” search and seizure operation Sunday at more than 20 locations across the six counties. As a result of the arrests, officials also seized 41 firearms.

Members of the criminal groups were allegedly involved in an Aug. 27, 2022, shooting at the Sikh Gurdwara Sahib temple in Stockton and a March 27, 2023, shooting at the Gurdwara Sacramento Sikh Society Temple in Sacramento, according to Bonta’s office.

“No family should ever have to worry about drive-by shootings or other forms of gun violence in the neighborhoods where their children live and play,” Bonta said in a statement. “As a result of this joint law enforcement effort, we’re taking guns off the street and putting suspected gang members and their associates behind bars.”

The state Department of Justice launched its investigation into the alleged criminal organizations in February in coordination with the Yuba City Police Department, the California Highway Patrol, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Sutter County District Attorney’s Office.

Federal, state and local authorities also received assistance from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations; Stanislaus Special Investigations Unit; sheriff’s offices in Sacramento, Sutter and Merced counties; and the police departments in the cities of Woodland, Vacaville, Stockton, Ceres, Manteca, Merced and Tracy.