The Arcadia Police Dept. will receive $1,227,823 of a total of $12 million for its part in the largest drug bust in history at a Sylmar warehouse last September. The money will be used to step up drug enforcement, as well as for community programs in drug prevention and awareness. The undercover work was by officer Dean Caputo.
Arcadia Police, alerted that a home was being burglarized, wound up confiscating 23 kilos of cocaine valued at $500.000 and arresting two men on suspicion of drug trafficking.
Twenty-eight persons, most of them students at Arcadia High School, were arrested as suspected drug dealers. The arrests were the culmination of a secret investigation by undercover agents.
Arcadia police arrested 4 men in 4 separate rooms of the Embassy Suites motel, confiscating more than 2 ounces of cocaine and $5,600 in what police called "drug money."
Two Arcadia men have been sentenced to serve 90 days in the Los Angeles County Jail after pleading guilty to drug charges arising from the undercover investigation at the high school.
Tere Akune, the undercover police officer whose work led to the arrests for drug dealing at the high school, was on loan to Arcadia from another city in Los Angeles County. Her background and her work with this assignment are discussed.
Articles discuss the progress of the proceedings involving the 28 persons arrested over drug dealing on the high school campus. Citizen reaction is also discussed.
Arcadia police seized more than 154 lbs. of cocaine worth an estimated $70 million and arrested 4 Colombian nationals in the largest drug haul in the city's history. Homes on Fairview Avenue, Arcadia Avenue and Huntington Drive were raided.
Mark Douglas Pryor, 19, arrested after an undercover investigation at Arcadia High School, has been placed on three years formal probation and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service work. He was convicted of selling less than an ounce of marijuana to a woman who turned out to be an undercover officer. He was the first of eight defendants arrested to raise an entrapment defense.
Article discusses the sentencing of one of the eight adults arrested in December's drug bust at the high school. Regarding the other adults involved: charges against one have been dropped; three have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing; three are awaiting trial.
Arcadia's Police Department has received $384,025 from the federal government as its share of drug money confiscated in various arrests in the past few years.
Two Colombian nationals arrested for having 23 kilos of cocaine in their Arcadia home have pleaded not guilty to the charge of possession and sale of cocaine.
In the largest local cocaine raid in a year, Glendale police crossed into Arcadia and arrested 2 residents of a condominium on Fairview Avenue where they found 15.5 pounds of cocaine.
Mayor Don Pellegrino has declared October "Drug Abuse Education Month" in Arcadia. Presentation by Carla Lowe discussing "Current Drug Issues and What We Can Do About Them". Ms. Lowe is on the Board of Directors of the National Federation of Parents for Drug Free Youth.