Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Call them FAT. They don't care.

Undercover law-enforcement officers makes arrest in Cardiff

And they don't care if you call their boss...but good luck getting that number.
And they don't care if you call their boss...but good luck getting that number.

For the second time in as many weeks in Cardiff by the Sea, well-armed U.S. Marshals in unmarked vehicles pulled over and arrested a male driver. Both times the arrests occurred in front of San Dieguito Academy high school.

At 6:30 a.m. on November 4, at the corner of Santa Fe Drive at MacKinnon Avenue, two new, unmarked, blacked-out Chevy Tahoe SUVs had their concealed red-and-blue flashing lights illuminated, blocking in the man’s car.

After taking the man into custody and explaining the situation to the woman he was with, as the officers approached their vehicles, I asked the officer in the black SUV what department they were with. Climbing into his vehicle he said, "Call my boss."

Sponsored
Sponsored

With his door closing, I asked, “Are you FAT guys?” He answered, “Yes," as he closed his door. I asked both officers — the other in a silver SUV with his window down — for a contact name and phone number as both vehicles drove off the dirt lot.

FAT, the Fugitive Apprehension Team, is a little-known agency working under the California Department of Corrections. Officers are deputized U.S. Marshals. They can move between jurisdictions — cities, counties, even across state lines — to apprehend fugitives. As they stake out their suspects and make arrests, they usually don’t notify local police agencies of their presence.

According to a department of corrections spokesperson, FAT is not required to notify local authorities prior to serving warrants or making arrests; however, other agencies, such as the FBI, DEA, and CHP, when involved in multi-agency task-force action, welcome local cops to assist. This avoids blue-on-blue incidents — uniformed cops shooting at plainclothes cops from other jurisdictions.

In the past, FAT has been accused of shooting first and asking questions later. Two incidents in 2013 caused the death of their suspects. A Temecula cab driver was terrorized when his fare turned out to be a staked-out fugitive. The apprehension with shots fired took place in a residential neighborhood, killing parolee John Armes. Later in the year, another parolee was publically gunned down in a parking lot at the corner of Convoy Street and Clairemont Mesa Boulevard.

A similar arrest took place in Cardiff on October 26. That incident was just one block away on Santa Fe Drive at Windsor Road. While saying they appreciate the job the undercover officers have to do, a neighbor asked, “Why do they have to do this right in front of the school? Can’t they choose another area?”

While the November 4 arrest was before school hours, the one on October 26 was as students were arriving to school. Students had to walk around the three unmarked SUV police vehicles.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Melissa Etheridge, The Imaginary Amazon

Events April 1-April 3, 2024
Next Article

Summit Fellowship wants to be a home of belonging

Unitarian Universalism allows you to be exactly who you are in the moment
And they don't care if you call their boss...but good luck getting that number.
And they don't care if you call their boss...but good luck getting that number.

For the second time in as many weeks in Cardiff by the Sea, well-armed U.S. Marshals in unmarked vehicles pulled over and arrested a male driver. Both times the arrests occurred in front of San Dieguito Academy high school.

At 6:30 a.m. on November 4, at the corner of Santa Fe Drive at MacKinnon Avenue, two new, unmarked, blacked-out Chevy Tahoe SUVs had their concealed red-and-blue flashing lights illuminated, blocking in the man’s car.

After taking the man into custody and explaining the situation to the woman he was with, as the officers approached their vehicles, I asked the officer in the black SUV what department they were with. Climbing into his vehicle he said, "Call my boss."

Sponsored
Sponsored

With his door closing, I asked, “Are you FAT guys?” He answered, “Yes," as he closed his door. I asked both officers — the other in a silver SUV with his window down — for a contact name and phone number as both vehicles drove off the dirt lot.

FAT, the Fugitive Apprehension Team, is a little-known agency working under the California Department of Corrections. Officers are deputized U.S. Marshals. They can move between jurisdictions — cities, counties, even across state lines — to apprehend fugitives. As they stake out their suspects and make arrests, they usually don’t notify local police agencies of their presence.

According to a department of corrections spokesperson, FAT is not required to notify local authorities prior to serving warrants or making arrests; however, other agencies, such as the FBI, DEA, and CHP, when involved in multi-agency task-force action, welcome local cops to assist. This avoids blue-on-blue incidents — uniformed cops shooting at plainclothes cops from other jurisdictions.

In the past, FAT has been accused of shooting first and asking questions later. Two incidents in 2013 caused the death of their suspects. A Temecula cab driver was terrorized when his fare turned out to be a staked-out fugitive. The apprehension with shots fired took place in a residential neighborhood, killing parolee John Armes. Later in the year, another parolee was publically gunned down in a parking lot at the corner of Convoy Street and Clairemont Mesa Boulevard.

A similar arrest took place in Cardiff on October 26. That incident was just one block away on Santa Fe Drive at Windsor Road. While saying they appreciate the job the undercover officers have to do, a neighbor asked, “Why do they have to do this right in front of the school? Can’t they choose another area?”

While the November 4 arrest was before school hours, the one on October 26 was as students were arriving to school. Students had to walk around the three unmarked SUV police vehicles.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Reader 1st place writing contest winner gets kudos

2nd place winner not so much
Next Article

Navy solves San Diego homeless crisis by retiring four locally moored ships

Decommision Accomplished
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.