UNSUNG HEROES AWARD
Robert Kraft
Deputy Probation Officer II, San Luis Obispo County Probation Department
Robert Kraft has been a Probation Officer with San Luis Obispo County for over 10 years. For the last five years, he has served on the multi-jurisdictional Gang Task Force, which is administered by the Sheriff’s Office. Kraft has qualified numerous times as an expert witness on gangs. He has kept the quality and reputation of the Gang Task Force exceptional.
Several significant facts and cases have occurred that Kraft was instrumental in. In particular is this: At Thanksgiving time, in 2006, Kraft was on his way to go off duty when he decided to take a look at a local motel that gang officers had been watching. He discovered a person lying in a pool of blood, and when he got out to take a closer look, he discovered that it was a local gang member who had been shot and killed. This was in the jurisdiction of the Arroyo Grande Police Department. Kraft, as well as DA investigators and local police and sheriffs, worked on this case. During the lengthy investigation, it was discovered that a number of other gang members were involved, and Kraft worked diligently with informants and others. He brought the defendant’s own brother and girlfriend in to testify against the defendant. Threats were made, and even a courtroom assault was attempted while Kraft provided hours of expert testimony. The defendant was found guilty by jury trial, and on January 20, 2009, the defendant was sentenced to 25 years to life.
Recently, members from a local gang were convicted for threatening to kill Kraft and his family. This case began in the courtroom as Kraft was providing expert testimony on February 1, 2010, against criminal street gang members. It continued through phone calls intercepted in the jail, and evidence discovered during warrants and probation searches. At great expense, both emotional and physical, Kraft took great steps to ensure his family’s safety while his partners at the Gang Task Force and DA’s Office brought together a successful investigation and prosecution (with the conviction occurring on April 1, 2010).
While larger counties may face these situations regularly, many don’t realize these types of crimes also happen in counties as small as San Luis Obispo. Kraft represents the numerous gang task force officers who serve around the state, in smaller counties, and are truly unsung heroes in the war on criminal street gangs.
Finally, Robert Kraft was instrumental in the successful prosecution of two violent-gang-involved brothers which resulted in significant prison sentences. Below is an excerpt from an email from the Deputy District Attorney who prosecuted the case:
“I wanted to let you know that but for the extraordinary efforts of Robert Kraft, this case would never have even made it to my office for prosecution. Originally, the Grover Beach Police Department responded to the victim’s home after his stepmother’s call for help. Those officers, finding a non-cooperative victim and witnesses, wrote a cursory report. Officer Kraft later learned of the incident through a citizen informant, and within a day had spoken to two witnesses, gotten a statement from the victim and his father and had apprehended and interviewed the suspects. He was able to get Robert Garay to make a full admission to the crime. Officer Kraft then did an outstanding job in narrowing in on the gang relative motive for the incident (a cross out of gang graffiti) and wrote a comprehensive gang report documenting the gang’s history and the brothers’ involvement in the gang; he even thought to do a probation search on Jessie Garay’s home, where he found gang indicia showing both brothers’ involvement in Oceano 13. Once the preliminary hearing was set in this matter, Officer Kraft made himself available to prepare for it on a weekend when he otherwise would not have been working. At the prelim, Officer Kraft, putting himself in harm’s way since he was testifying before many members of the Garay family, did an excellent job of laying out the case facts. His expertise on this gang and on gangs in general is invaluable in prosecuting these types of cases. After Officer Kraft’s testimony in that prelim, Richard Garay, older brother of the two Garay brothers in my case, called Robert Garay and was caught on the jail house phone making threats against Officer Kraft. I filed that case and, as a result, Richard Garay, also of Oceano 13, will be spending three years and eight months in prison for making a threat against an officer. I strongly believe that it is because of Officer Kraft’s dedication, enthusiasm and very hard work that these three gang members will now be in prison.”
