Altered firearms seized by RCPD in traffic stops

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) - Rapid City police took two illegal guns off the streets when they made traffic stops Thursday night.

In the first stop around 6 p.m. in the 1600 block of Haines Avenue, police arrested 34-year-old Cynthia Dorian of Winner, 52-year-old Melanie Maximo of Rapid City, and 38-year-old Joaquin Cervantes of Grand Island, Neb. Cervantes was arrested on a charge of possession of a firearm with prior felony convictions. Maximo was arrested on a drug charge and Dorian on a warrant.

At the second stop on East Van Buren Street around 9:20 p.m., police detained two people, Mia Gonzales, 18 of Rapid City, and a juvenile male. A sawed-off shotgun was discovered during a search of the car. Police did not say who was in possession of the gun but the juvenile male is now in “the appropriate path of the juvenile justice system,” according to a release from the RCPD. Gonzales was arrested on four outstanding warrants.