Armed felon arrested in stolen car in Hemet
Mando Kaphan was arrested while driving a stolen vehicle. He was armed with a sawed off rifle when he was arrested.
HEMET – A Hemet resident on PRCS probation out of San Bernardino County was arrested while driving a stolen vehicle during a traffic stop Friday, Sept. 9. During the early morning traffic stop, an officer located a sawed-off rifle inside the stolen car. The traffic stop and subsequent arrest occurred at the Hemet Valley Hospital in the 300 block of North San Jacinto St in Hemet.
After the stop and discovery of the weapon, officers arrested 25-year-old Mando Eugene Kaphan.
A Hemet Police officer was on patrol at about 1:20 a.m. when he conducted a records check on a Toyota. The officer learned the license plates attached to the vehicle belonged to a Ford.
As the officer followed the car and other officers were converging on the area Kaphan suddenly pulled into the hospital parking lot. After pulling into the parking lot Kaphan stopped the car, which was occupied by two men and a woman With assistance from other responding officers, the officer conducted a high-risk, felony traffic stop.
After Kaphan and the two other occupants were detained and officers were searching the vehicle, they located a sawed-off rifle on the floorboard of the car.
An officer stands near the detained trio. John Strangis photo
Officers determined the car had been stolen from a Hemet resident less than two hours before the traffic stop.
At the conclusion of their investigation officers arrested Kaphan and transported him to the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.
The female occupant of the vehicle was arrested for a no bail juvenile warrant. The other occupant, an adult male, was released at the scene.
A jail record search revealed Kaphan was booked on suspicion of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm, possession of stolen property, and vehicle theft. He was originally being held on $10,000 bail.
Later, San Bernardino officials agreed to take custody of Kaphan for the PRCS violation. Hemet PD transported him to San Bernardino County Jail where he is being held without bail.
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Trevor Montgomery spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg in an off-duty accident.
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations, including the Robert Presley Detention Center, the Southwest Station in Temecula, the Hemet Station, and the Lake Elsinore Station, along with many other locations.
Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, Personnel and Background Investigations and he finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator.
Trevor has been married for more than 26 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and has 13 children and 10 (soon to be 12) grandchildren.
Hemet ranks 3rd highest in PRCS placement but is only 10th highest in population in the county. To add insult to injury Hemet attracts, for whatever reason, a large number of so called “non-violent, low-level offenders” imported from out-of town. The resultant toxic disaster is what ostensibly is putting Hemet front & center in the daily crime report. The majority of these perps are quickly apprehended thanks to very effective law enforcement. More resource will need to go into detention to keep them out of circulation for a long time.