Trio Accused of Beating Man in Palm Springs Mobile Home Park Arraigned

INDIO (CNS) – Three young men accused in a 2020 attack on a man in a Palm Springs mobile home park were ordered Wednesday to stand trial on a felony charge. Angel Valtierra, 24, Anthony Jose Lopez, 23, and Nathan Roldan Ramirez, 23, were originally charged with one felony count each of gang activity and of assault resulting in great bodily injury, with a sentence enhancing allegation of gang activity, according to court records. Ramirez was additionally charged with witness intimidation and faces an allegation of promoting gang conduct. At the end of a preliminary hearing, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Dean Benjamini dismissed the gang activity charge, but ruled there was sufficient evidence to warrant a trial for each defendant on the remaining charges and allegations. A post-preliminary hearing arraignment was set for March 22. According to the Palm Springs Police Department, the trio allegedly beat a man on Nov. 3, 2020, at about 6 p.m. at the Santiago Sunrise Mobile Home Park in the 1500 block of East San Rafael Drive. The defendants were arrested the following month during a multi-agency sweep targeting a street gang that was allegedly involved in dozens of shootings and three homicides that summer in the Coachella Valley. More than 100 law enforcement officers served search warrants at a dozen locations in and around Palm Springs, according to the District Attorney’s Office. The warrants were obtained after gang clashes near the Desert Highlands Gateway Estates neighborhood that Palm Springs Police Department Chief Bryan Reyes said was responsible for an upward spike in crime in 2020. No weapons were seized during the sweep, but the District Attorney’s Office said stolen property and items related to gang activity were found. None of the defendants have documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County. Copyright 2023, City News Service, Inc.