DESERT HOT SPRINGS — For years, Donna Lozano badgered the Desert Hot Springs Police, public officials and anyone else who would listen, trying to get information about her son's killer.
Henry Lozano, a popular 20-year-old ex-Marine, had been shot dead by a suspected gang member in December 2001 while driving near his home. He was dating the man's former girlfriend and had received threats to stay away.
"I wanted answers. The police never called. The officer in charge of the case had never done a murder investigation," said Lozano, 65. "I said my son is dead, and I have no information."
She eventually reached Riverside County Dist. Atty. Rod Pacheco, who knew little about the city but vowed to find the killer. And when he did, he found something else too: a town utterly besieged by criminals.
He responded with the largest police operation in Riverside County history.
Hundreds of law enforcement officers backed by armored cars and Black Hawk helicopters swept into the city a few months ago in a massive show of force that stunned the gangs, parolees and street thugs who had terrorized the community for years.
"We are not going away," Pacheco vowed. "We will not allow a city to fall like this again."
Surrounded by desert and isolated from its well-heeled neighbors by the 10 Freeway, Desert Hot Springs is best known for its spas, award-winning drinking water and eclectic architecture. But it has a darker, seamier side, a side some call Desperate Hot Springs.
For years the town of some 25,000 has stood as one of the poorest and most crime-ridden communities of its size in the Inland Empire, and in 2006 it topped the list as the region's most dangerous city among those with populations of less than 100,000. There were 2,047 serious crimes that year, including 200 assaults, 713 burglaries, 19 rapes and 375 auto thefts.
Seven gangs with up to 250 members call the place home, and at one point it had 65% of all parolees in the Coachella Valley despite having just 5% of the population.
But Desert Hot Springs may be turning a corner.
Massive paramilitary operations have swept gang members and drug dealers off the streets at least temporarily. Local police have boosted their ranks from 13 to 30. Efforts are underway to revitalize the town, and authorities say violent crime has dropped by 30%.
