Pastor Jesse Sanchez

Former gang members share grim tales By Kate McGinty • The Desert Sun • March 27, 2010

Two people detailed their lives as gang members — one in Desert Hot Springs — and how they turned their lives around during a middle school assembly Wednesday. Students gathered for the event at Desert Springs Middle School, 66-755 Two Bunch Palms Trail. Speakers aimed to warn them of the dangers of gangs. Jesse Sanchez described founding the Brownstown gang in the Dos Palmas area in Desert Hot Springs when he was 14 years old. Within three years, he said, he was imprisoned for attempted murder. Sanchez, who is now a pastor at Living Word of the Desert church in Indio, promised students they, too, could steer their lives in a more positive direction. Jeanette Jaime, of Desert Hot Springs, spoke from her wheelchair. She lost the use of her legs at age 17 after she was shot during a gang-related drive-by shooting in the Los Angeles area. Three of her older brothers were killed and two more imprisoned because of gangs, the Los Angeles native said. In your voice