Arrest made after ‘STOPit’ threat reported to Santa Rosa City schools

(KRON) — A suspected member of a criminal street gang from Sureno has been arrested in connection with a threat that was previously reported through the Santa Rosa City schools’ “STOPit” app system, police said.

Undercover detectives with the Santa Rosa Police Department spotted the suspect, Javier Lesama Montano, on a city bus Thursday afternoon. Detectives followed the bus to a bus stop at Meadow View Elementary School.

Lesama Montano and two girls got off the bus and began walking together into a nearby apartment complex. “As Lesama entered the apartment complex, detectives attempted to make contact with Lesama and arrest him. Lesama attempted to flee and was violently taken to the ground. Lesama briefly resisted but was arrested,” the SRPD wrote.

According to police, these items were seized from a member of a Santa Rosa Sureno criminal street gang. (Photo: SRPD)

Detectives searched Lesama Montano’s purse and found a loaded 9mm handgun. “Lesama is considered an active gang member,” police said. He was booked into the Sonoma County Jail on charges including: possession of a firearm and ammunition as a felon, carrying a loaded weapon in public, resisting arrest and violating probation.

Over the past two years, there has been gang violence at a number of schools in Santa Rosa.

Last week, a 14-year-old boy stabbed a 13-year-old student in the back at Elsie Allen High School, police said. Investigations showed the gang-related stabbing began when the two students began beating each other on the school grounds during a break between classes. Police said two other students who were “friends of the boy who was stabbed” joined in the fight and kicked the 14-year-old student in the head.

The Santa Rosa City School District offers students the ability to submit reports through “STOPit,” an online and app-based system.

The purpose of the app is to “enable students, parents, teachers and others to anonymously report anything that concerns them to school officials — from cyberbullying to threats of violence or self-harm. Students and family members have the power to put a stop to harmful and inappropriate behavior they see online via social media and other means,” according to the school district’s website.

The app has led to multiple arrests of teenage gang members. On June 12, Santa Rosa police received information from administrators at Elsie Allen High School that an anonymous tip had been received on the mobile app “STOPit” about a student who was believed to be in possession of a gun and had gang ties.

Later that day, the SRPD Gang Crimes Team executed a search warrant at a residence in the 600 block of King Street. A weapon was found in the home and Diego Cortes, 18, was arrested. In Cortes’ bedroom, detectives found “numerous clothing items and accessories commonly associated with criminal street gangs.”