CRIME SHIFTING?

Pomona Crackdowns May Be Transferring the Problem

POMONA - Wednesday was moving day, and Melissa George couldn't get
away from her Karesh Avenue apartment fast enough.

Shootings, killings, people doing drugs in broad daylight: The mother
of four young children says the 700 block of Karesh is a nightmare.

"I haven't let the kids go outside for six-and-a-half months," she
said. "It's that bad."

In a Pomona neighborhood known for drugs and violence, the area of
Karesh south of East Kingsley Avenue might be the worst.

Three people have been shot and killed in the 700 block of Karesh
since November.

James Wheeler, a 27-year-old Rialto man, was the first.

In March, 31-year-old Rolland Holloway and 36-year-old Pamela
Campbell were shot in an alley.

Two weeks ago, four people were shot outside a house party in the 900
block of Karesh, just north of Kingsley, leaving a 17-year-old girl
in critical condition.

George's $700-a-month apartment is just a few feet from the spot
where Wheeler, Holloway and Campbell were shot. It's a place Pomona
police know well.

During a sting operation two weeks ago, Chief Joe Romero pulled his
unmarked car to the curb at Abbey Lane and Karesh, just across the
street from George's apartment.

"We arrested a guy with 12 rocks (of cocaine)," Romero said. "He
walked up to the car. He was really brazen. He was a 16-year-old in
the company of a violent parolee."

Romero said the increase in violence on Karesh might be part of a
pattern that has seen crime shift in Pomona as police have cracked
down on trouble spots.

That includes the notorious Angela-Chanslor neighborhood, where a
court-ordered injunction barring gang members from gathering has
sharply reduced crime.

Romero said a crackdown on the drug trade along Kingsley seems to be
having a ripple effect.

"Some of the drug trade has shifted," he said. "It has to go somewhere."

That somewhere seems to be Karesh, where Lt. Paul Capraro says long
rows of aging apartment complexes are an attractive target for
dealers and drug users.

Capraro said police once worked closely with the owners of the drab,
two-story apartments. But in the past two years, owners have changed
frequently. Many are absentee owners.

He said the neighborhood has deteriorated. In the stretch of Karesh
where George lived, lawns are unmowed or nonexistent.

There are plenty of hiding spots in the small courtyards and alleys,
which makes it a recipe for crime.

"The apartments are part of the draw," Capraro said.

With the rise in crime has come an increase in the number of
tag-bangers, tagging crews with gang ties - and gang expectations.

"They're very dangerous," he said. "They're trying to make a name for
themselves."

With four months left in the year, Pomona is one killing away from
matching the 19 deaths recorded in 2006.

George says she's getting out before she or someone she loves ends up dead.

"I think it's the year of psychotic-ness. I have to get away from
this. It's too dangerous."