Police Theory : Raided ‘Rock Houses’ Could Be Iceberg Tip

Two suspected “rock houses” that were raided Tuesday night in Pacoima and Lakeview Terrace could be among a dozen or more fortified dwellings used for drug sales in the eastern San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles police officials said Wednesday.

Police Capt. Stan McGarry said the dwellings appear to lie at the center of an expanding drug trade in the two communities.

On Tuesday night the police arrested two men and seized 1 1/2 pounds of cocaine in separate raids on fortified homes at 13031 Louvre St. in Pacoima and at 11683 Vanport St. in Lakeview Terrace.

Raided Last Year

The Louvre Street house was raided last year by the Sheriff’s Department. It is next door to a house raided last month by police narcotics investigators using a battering ram that became the subject of controversy.

Police spokesman William Booth said law-enforcement agencies are investigating the possibility that several rock houses--so-called because cocaine to be smoked in pipes is sold in hardened “rock” form there--lie in the area. He would not say whether the Tuesday raids were part of the broader investigation.

He said investigators are trying to learn whether rock houses “are run on a network basis, whether a number of them are owned by a small group of people and whether they operate in an organized manner.”

Tony O’Brien, a spokesman for the Police Department’s narcotics division, said the Tuesday night raids were prompted by specific investigations into activities at the two houses.

Door Broken Down

The Vanport Street house was raided at 7 p.m. Police broke down a metal-reinforced door at the back of the structure. Inside they seized two grams of cocaine, many car stereos and videocassette recorders, a loaded shotgun and a loaded rifle, O’Brien said. No one was arrested.

The second raid, at 8:15 p.m., was preceded by an undercover drug purchase at the Louvre Street home, O’Brien said. After seizing 1 1/2 pounds of rock-like clumps of cocaine, police arrested Kennith Beaux of Los Angeles on suspicion of possession of cocaine for sale. A second man, Carl Boyd of Los Angeles, was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of the drug phencyclidine, or PCP, O’Brien said.

Police also removed a set of reinforced doors from the Louvre Street house for evidence. Typically, authorities say, rock houses are fortified to give the sellers time to dispose of drugs during raids.

O’Brien said a car with flat tires was parked in the driveway of the Louvre Street house, in what appeared to be an effort to make it impossible to use the battering ram. The ram was not used Tuesday.

Hands Burned

O’Brien said Beaux and a policeman burned their hands when Beaux tried to destroy some of the cocaine by dropping it into a pot of boiling grease. Officer Glen Clark burned himself when he poured the liquid onto the floor to recover the drugs, O’Brien said. O’Brien said neither man required treatment.

Beaux, 26, and Boyd, 29, were held in Van Nuys Jail, O’Brien said. Bail of $50,000 was set for Beaux; for Boyd, $1,000.

Police obtained separate warrants for the raids after making undercover drug purchases at both of the houses, O’Brien said. He said police were seeking arrest warrants in connection with the raid on the Vanport Street house.

O’Brien described the Louvre Street house as a “major source” of drug traffic in the Pacoima area. Investigators estimate that $3,000 worth of cocaine has been sold at the home daily, he said.

Battering Ram Used

In the raid last month the battering ram was used to break a hole in the side of the other Louvre Street house. Some civic leaders in Pacoima criticized the use of the ram as needlessly dangerous to occupants. But, at a later raid in South Central Los Angeles, many neighborhood residents applauded when it arrived.

According to county property records, the Vanport Street house is owned by Charles and Muriel Aubry of Lakeview Terrace. Both Louvre Street houses are owned by Jeffrey A. Bryant, 33, of Pacoima, according to county records. In court documents the police have described Bryant and his brother Stanley as “large-scale dope dealers in the Pacoima area.”

Jeffrey Bryant was arrested by sheriff’s deputies after a June 27, 1984, raid on the house at 13031 Louvre St. Deputies said they seized three ounces of cocaine in the raid, packaged and ready for sale. A preliminary hearing on the case has been set for March 28 in Van Nuys Municipal Court.

O’Brien would not comment on a possible relationship between Bryant and either Beaux or Boyd.