Citizen Staff Writer
DAVID L. TEIBEL
dteibel@tucsoncitizen.com
Police said the arrest of three men and a woman have broken up a Tucson crime syndicate. All four have had initial court appearances.
Tucson police and Pima County sheriff’s detectives have been investigating the case since last year when police received information about a group of people committing violent home invasions, said Tucson police spokeswoman Officer Linda Galindo in a news statement.
The syndicate is suspected of being “involved in numerous violent crimes, including home invasions, armed robberies, aggravated assaults, weapons violations, drug trafficking, as well as drug rip-offs,” Galindo said in the statement.
“This group has been operating in the city limits, as well as in the country, and is suspected of acting as the enforcers within the methamphetamine community,” Galindo said.
Arrests of the four suspects began in October and continued until late last week, Galindo said.
Those arrested are:
• Ralph T. Jessup, 56, on charges of aggravated robbery, armed robbery, aggravated assault, theft of a means of transportation and kidnapping
• Craig R. Erhorn, 23, arrested on charges of aggravated robbery, armed robbery, kidnapping and aggravated assault
• Robert B. Davis, 33, on charges of armed robbery, aggravated assault, forgery, theft, identity theft, fraudulent schemes and trafficking in stolen property
• Katie E. Fought, 31, on charges of armed robbery and aggravated assault.
At initial appearances, Jessup was ordered held in the Pima County Jail in lieu of $75,000 cash only bail, Erhorn was ordered held without bail, and Davis was ordered held on $25,000 bail on a theft charge and without bail on the other charges he faces.
Fought was ordered held in lieu of $50,000 bail, a jail records clerk said.
Jessup was arrested in October, as was Erhorn, who barricaded himself in an apartment in the 9200 block of East Tanque Verde Road, prompting a standoff with SWAT officers, Galindo said in the statement.
A search of Erhorn’s home turned up suspected stolen property, weapons, a homemade pipe bomb and smoke grenades, Galindo said.
Erhorn was released from jail after that arrest; the reason was not given in the statement. He was arrested again last week.
“Detectives have information that this criminal syndicate may be responsible for additional violent crimes that have gone unreported in city and county jurisdictions,” Galindo said.
Detectives ask anyone with information about the alleged syndicate or those arrested in the case to call 911 or 88-CRIME, Galindo said.
LAW AND ORDER REPORT