Labor Day Proves Laborious for Two Apprehended Locals

No place like home

Bringing new meaning to Dorothy’s heel-clicking mantra, Labor Day proved to be a bummer of a holiday for two Carmichael residents spending the day away from home in different cities.

In Elk Grove, a routine traffic stop along the 6700 block of Laguna Boulevard became something more for one local resident.

Jody Ruiz, 37, of Carmichael had a warrant out for his arrest when his 1990 Cadillac Deville was pulled over for having expired registration tags, according to Elk Grove police officials.

The $5,000 warrant was for an original charge of welfare fraud over $400 and a second charge of perjury, said police department spokesman Officer Christopher Trim.

The charges stem all the way back to August 2004, according to online court records. Ruiz was scheduled to be arraigned on both of those felony charges Tuesday morning in Sacramento Superior Court.

A misdemeanor domestic battery charge was dismissed against Ruiz in October 2003, court data shows. But in 1996, Ruiz was sentenced to 15 days on a sheriff’s work program and three years of non-searchable probation after pleading no contest to a single misdemeanor charge of assault and battery. A separate assault charge was dismissed.

Some 140 miles south, a Carmichael woman had some explaining to do when Santa Cruz police picked her up for attempted prostitution.

According to the arresting officer’s incident summary, Makeisha Renee Hersey, 25, of Carmichael didn’t accurately identify herself when police stopped her at Ocean Street and Broadway around 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 5.

Hersey “was arrested for giving me her sister’s name and loitering for prostitution,” the police officer’s summary states.

But Hersey provided an ID with her true name when her sister’s came back with two warrants attached to it, The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports.

According to the Sentinel, police were first alerted by a phone call complaining of the suspect’s activity in the area.

One online commenter identified as Tracey Heggum said prostitution remains a problem in the beach community.

"It amazes me that prostitution seems so easily gotten away with here in Santa Cruz. In fact, so easy that women migrate here from the bay area and central valley," she said via Facebook. "C'mon Santa Cruz, if we're worried about tourists coming here to spend their money, let's fix a problem that exists directly in their paths to our beaches! Or, is the prostitution just one of the perks we want to offer our visitors?"