Crime Blotter May 30-June 6: Homeless Man Beaten, Robbed

Justice unlikely

Despite a victim identifying one of his attackers, the Memorial Day beating and robbery of a homeless man a few miles north of Carmichael could very well go unsolved, Sacramento County sheriff’s officials confirmed.

The sheriff’s department’s robbery bureau is currently inundated with open cases in which weapons were used and/or large sums were stolen, explained department spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos. By contrast, the May 30 robbery of a 46-year-old Sacramento homeless man by six individuals resulted in neither serious injury nor a monetarily significant loss of personal property.

“In the grand scheme of things, quite honestly, it’s very low on the list of priorities, with respect to robberies,” Ramos acknowledged.

According to a preliminary annual uniform crime report compiled by the FBI, there were 115 fewer robberies in Sacramento city last year than there were in 2009, when 1,606 were reported. There were 44 fewer reported cases in Elk Grove.

The sheriff’s department is eyeing the potential loss of more than 60 deputies under proposed cuts before the Board of Supervisors, however, which could have even more of an impact on which cases are actively investigated.

According to a sheriff’s department report describing the May 30 robbery, the victim was attacked by six subjects in the 5700 block of Auburn Boulevard around 10:30 p.m. that Monday night. The victim knew at least one of his attackers, whom authorities describe as a 6-foot, 175-pound 34-year-old white male. The suspect’s name was not revealed in the incident report, and he hadn’t been contacted by deputies as of Tuesday.

It appears that robbery wasn’t the primary motivation for the attack, as the six subjects hit and kicked the victim before one of them said something to the effect of: “Hang on, let me get his wallet,” Ramos said.

The suspects fled on foot and a search of the area ended with negative results, the report states. The victim suffered only minor injuries in the attack and did not require medical attention.

Paint the truth

A spray-painting tween made a mess in the small community of Foothill Farms, which sits just north of Carmichael, last week.

According to at least one witness, a 13-year-old girl spray-painted the words “Die drug dealer” and “Crack Kills” along a street and sidewalk at Rambler Way and Tahama Street last Thursday evening. The young vandal, whom the witness identified, also tagged a parked Toyota Corolla belonging to a 23-year-old man.

The county Public Works Department was contacted to remove the graffiti, the report states. An attempt was made to contact the suspect at the residence referred by the complainant, Ramos said, but nobody was there. It’s uncertain whether authorities will follow up.