Red Hawk casino kidnapping leads to 5 arrests

An altercation at Red Hawk casino near Shingles Springs last month culminated in the arrests of five people Friday, seizure of several guns, ecstasy, marijuana and cash.

Search warrants were executed simultaneously at four locations by El Dorado County sheriff’s SWAT, Folsom Police SWAT, Sacramento County sheriff’s SWAT and Stanislaus County sheriff’s SWAT. One was served in Orangevale, two in Folsom and one in Riverbank.

Arrested were Jesse Madrigal, Steven Santiago, Ricky Mora, Stephen Lizotte and Ernie Lizotte.

The arrests stem from an Oct. 14 incident when several Hispanic males and females confronted tow Caucasian males and a Caucasian female while at the Red Hawk Casino.

Several of the Hispanic males confronted the Caucasian males asking them if they were “Placerville Peckerwoods.” The Caucasian males denied any gang affiliation and our investigation did not reveal they had any gang ties, according to officers.

At the same time one of the Hispanic males also made threats to sexually assault the

Caucasian female. The Caucasian female became enraged and attacked the Hispanic male that made the comment. One of the Caucasian males attempted to separate the female from the Hispanic males when he was punched and hit with a beer bottle, authorities said.

Red Hawk security responded to the area and the groups separated.

One of the groups went to an elevator where they confronted a female victim that had not been involved in the original incident. The group told the victim she was going to get them out of the casino using her vehicle and they would let her go once they were at the freeway, officers said.

The victim was forced to move with them through the casino floors to the parking garage. Once in the garage, the victim was able to get away from the group and contacted Red Hawk Casino security and ultimately El Dorado County sheriff’s deputies.

Using security video from the casino, detectives were able to identify the suspects who were involved in the kidnapping of the victim.