School Drugs Probe Results in 15 Arrests : Youthful-Looking Officer Infiltrates Irvine Campuses

Thirteen students, 12 of them juveniles, and two other adults have been arrested in the culmination of a four-month undercover investigation of drug sales in Irvine’s high schools, police said Wednesday.

Another adult was still being sought.

Those arrested were charged with felony drug sales, according to Irvine Police Lt. Al Muir. An undercover officer posing as a student completed 38 separate purchases during the four-month period, almost all of them involving small quantities of drugs, Muir said.

Only five of the purchases actually took place on high school campuses, Muir added, but the others were initiated there.

Drugs Can Be Found

“The problem is not of great significance, but if you are of a mind to locate or purchase drugs, you can find them on campus,” he said.

The investigation was launched after a 21-year-old woman joined the department as a reserve officer, Muir said. The officer’s youthful looks made it possible for her to infiltrate the high schools, where she attended classes and took part in campus life, he added.

The officer, whose identity was withheld, operated in Woodbridge, University and Irvine high schools with approval from Irvine Unified School District administrators, Muir said.

Her purchases netted about two ounces of marijuana, 630 individual doses of LSD, 50 amphetamine tablets and about an ounce of cocaine, police said.

Small Amounts Bought

Muir said relatively small amounts of drugs were bought because high school students are generally small-quantity purchasers and police did not want to jeopardize the officer’s cover.

But Sgt. Leo Jones, who took part in the investigation, maintained that the arrests eliminated “two major sources of drugs” in Irvine schools, including the prime source of LSD.

Fourteen of the arrests took place early Wednesday morning, and the other occurred the night before, Muir said.

Police said the adults arrested were Paul E. Hobart, an 18-year-old University High School student who already was suspended from the school; Larry Doss Tucker, 20, a junior college student from Huntington Beach, and David P. Wilkirson, 18, of Irvine, a non-student.

The other 12 students arrested all attend Irvine high schools, Muir said. One was a student at SELF Alternative High School in the city, he said. Jones said the juveniles were expected to be arraigned today in Juvenile Court.

The principals of two of the high schools involved promised disciplinary action for those arrested, while pointing out that only a handful of the city’s 5,500 high school students had been implicated in the investigation.

Students Warned

Irvine High School Principal Gary Norton said, “We’re obviously concerned about substance abuse among our students,” and added: “We’d like to think kids are aware of the fact that use and abuse on the campus is going to be dealt with in a very strict manner.”

Norton said suspension notices were mailed to the students involved from his school Wednesday night. He disputed a police claim that 11 of those arrested were from the school, saying he believed the number to be seven.

University High School Principal Robert Bruce said the two students involved from his school would be suspended and recommended for expulsion, but he added that the small number of arrests “reassured us that we do have a healthy and safe environment here.”