Charges filed against three more suspects in weekend assault

Felony complaints were filed in Yuma Justice Court on Wednesday against three of the four adult gang members arrested in connection to a weekend assault and robbery involving two female victims, one of whom was pregnant.

Sirena Sanchez, 19, Alex Renteria, 18, and Christina Delcid, 19, were each charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of assisting a criminal street gang.

"What we have here is a group of women who call themselves gangbangers," said prosecutor John Ballos of the Yuma County Attorney's Office during the suspects' hearing. "They went to the victim's home solely for the purpose to engage in physical violence and promote their gang activity. There was no other legitimate reason for them to be there."

All three suspects appeared before Justice of the Peace David Cooper, who raised Renteria and Sanchez's bail to $110,456 each.

"So I won't be getting released today?" Sanchez asked the judge after her hearing. To which Cooper replied, "If you make bail."

Ballos had also asked the judge to increase Delcid's bond to $110, 000, which is the same bail that had been set for seven other suspects in the case. But the judge decided not to do so after hearing remarks from her attorney and her family members, instead increasing it to $55,000.

"We aren't talking about a person who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, with the wrong crowd," Ballos said. "She admitted to police she went over there knowing there was going to be a fight. According to police reports, knives were found in her purse."

In all, 11 suspects - seven juveniles and four adults - were arrested in connection to the crime.

Police were called to the 100 block of North 13th Avenue at 11:53 p.m. Sunday in reference to a disturbance involving multiple subjects, according to a Yuma police news statement issued Tuesday morning.

Officers found two female victims who had been robbed and assaulted, one being a pregnant adult and the other a juvenile. Both victims sought their own medical treatment and have since been released from that treatment.

Police said assault appears to have been the suspects' primary motive. In the course of attacking the victims, several of the suspects allegedly also tried to steal some cell phones.

The majority of suspects fled the area in two vehicles, according to
police. One vehicle with five suspects was stopped at 12:21 a.m. Monday along the 1200 block of Colorado Street, while the vehicle with five of the remaining suspects was stopped at 2:14 am. at 16th Street and Avenue B, police said. An 11th suspect was arrested later Monday.

The juveniles arrested were Guadalupe Duarte, 17; Stephanie Beltran, 16; Brandy Soliz, 16; Herlinda Reynaga, 16; Victoria Reynaga, 15; Tyana Harris, 16, and Ashley Bendele, 17.

They were originally booked into the Yuma County Juvenile Detention Center, but were transferred to the Yuma County jail Tuesday after the county attorney's office filed paperwork charging them as adults.

All seven juveniles were arraigned in Yuma Justice Court on Tuesday and charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a dangerous instrument, aggravated robbery and assisting a criminal street gang.

A fourth adult suspect and alleged gang member, Ashley Harada, 22, made her initial appearance Tuesday and will return to court today (Thursday) to find out if prosecutors have filed a criminal complaint against her.

The judge set all three suspects' next court hearing for Oct. 16 at 4:45 p.m. for preliminary hearings.

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James Gilbert can be reached at
jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854.