Three jailed for burglary; one for illegal gunshots

POLICE REPORTS

Weekend arrests by the San Marcos Police Department included three for burglary and one for firing gunshots in a neighborhood in the middle of the night.

The burglary occurred shortly after 2 a.m. on Saturday, June 9 at the Copper Beach Apartments, 1701 Mill St.

Chief of Police Chase Stapp said a visitor to the apartment was there alone when three suspects entered the apartment through its second floor entry, then went downstairs. The visitor heard them kick in the door but did not confront them as they reportedly “rummaged” the apartment’s contents and then left.

The visitor did manage to call 911, and officers stopped the vehicle as it was leaving the property. Arrested were San Marcos residents Jericho Barsheen, 23, Carlos Ray Smith Jr., 24, and Andres Jidekene Aneke, 21. All were charged with burglary of a habitation, a second degree felony, and engaging in organized criminal activity, which is a first-degree felony that can be pressed, Stapp said, when more than two people collaborate on the commission of a crime.

All three were jailed under bonds of $25,000 for the organized crime charge and $10,000 for the burglary. Worrell and Aneke were released later on Saturday but Smith was still in custody as of Tuesday morning.

In the other case, police arrested Pedro Antonio Mendez Jr., 27, of Del Valle, for manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance, a second degree felony; deadly conduct/discharging a firearm, a third degree felony; tampering with evidence, a third degree felony and possession of marijuana, a state jail felony.

Officers responded to a report of gunshots in the 600 block of Knox Street at 3 a.m. Sunday and found Mendez and another man sitting in a vehicle.

There were spent shell casings outside it. Stapp said both men were uncooperative, and officers on the scene decided to get a search warrant for the home they were parked outside of. Narcotics were found during the search as was a gun. No gun was found in the vehicle, but Stapp said the one in the house was the same caliber, so it’s likely the one that was used.

“Nobody was hit, that’s the good thing,” Stapp said. He said six or seven shots were fired during what police believe was a drug deal gone wrong.

The man in the vehicle with Mendoza was also arrested for failure to report a felony.