SALT LAKE CITY -- Thanks to federal and local resources, a multi-agency anti-gang task force has arrested 158 gang members and individuals with gang ties in Utah in a four-month period.
Calling it the largest operation of its kind in the state, the purpose of the task force was to combat the growth of transnational street gangs, officials said.
Those arrested are facing deportation or already have been deported.
Ogden Police Chief Jon Greiner and three other police chiefs from across the state gathered at a news conference Thursday in Salt Lake City to announce the numbers.
Alongside the chiefs were U.S. Attorney Carlie Christensen and Kumar Kibble, special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations.
Of the gang members arrested in the past four months, 93 are facing prosecution on federal and state criminal charges ranging from solicitation to aggravated murder, Kibble said.
If convicted, the 93 will serve their sentences, then be deported. Thirty-one also are charged federally with re-entry after deportation, which is a felony and carries a potential sentence of two years to 20 years in a federal prison.
The operation focused on people with known ties to 50 street gangs in four areas of Utah, Kibble said.
Those arrested are from five countries -- Argentina, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico and Peru. They have ties to 50 street gangs, including Surenos-Alley Boys, Toonerville Rifa 13, the Mexican Mafia and 18th Street.
Greiner said after the news conference that the Weber County area has seen an increase in gang activity in the past few years.
In one case, officers in Ogden arrested a 35-year-old Mexican national accused of making counterfeit documents from his home. Celso Rodriguez-Valdivia was previously convicted of forgery and deported. He now faces federal charges that include visa fraud and re-entry of a previously removed alien.
Arrests were made in 23 Utah cities, including 29 each in St. George and Provo, 18 in Ogden, 17 in Salt Lake City, two in Brigham City, and one in Farmington. Nine were made in West Wendover, Nev.
Gang activity is not isolated to the Ogden area, Greiner said -- it is in every town across Utah -- suburban, urban and rural.
Davis County police chiefs are discussing the formation of a gang unit in order to gather and share information within the county, said Bountiful Police Chief Tom Ross, who was not at the news conference.
"We're all doing a good job individually, but we can do a better job together," Ross said.
The proposed gang task force is not being driven by illegal immigration issues, he said, but because law enforcement is seeing an increase in gang activity in the county.
Ogden Assistant Police Chief Marcy Korgenski was a detective when Ogden police formed a gang unit in 1991. She and Detective Dave Weloth spearheaded the effort.
Ogden's gang unit arrests and charges those who are committing crimes, Korgenski said, but it also is trying to reach out to educators, parents and the general public in an effort to prevent children from joining gangs.
The Northern Utah Gang and Youth Violence Conference is open to parents and the public who want to learn more about how to keep their children from joining a gang.
Sponsored by the Ogden Metro Gang Unit, it is set for Sept. 15 and 16 at the Megaplex Theatre, 2351 Kiesel Ave., Ogden, she said.
"There are pee-wee gangs," Korgenski said. "They're recruiting them in elementary school. It's a generational thing. Mom and Dad are in gangs, maybe big brother or big sister."
Having federal resources as well as resources from other communities available the past four months to battle gangs has been "phenomenal," she said.
"This gives us a better network in picking up these individuals and preventing them from committing crimes in our community."
Information from the Associated Press is included in this article.
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