Landlord of Alleged ‘Rock Houses’ Pleads Not Guilty on Cocaine Counts

In a case representing the first time Los Angeles County officials have attempted to prosecute the owner of a building used as a cocaine “rock house,” a Pacoima man pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Van Nuys Municipal Court to nine felony drug charges.

The charges resulted from five raids--four by Los Angeles police and one by sheriff’s deputies--at three Pacoima homes owned by Jeffrey A. Bryant. In two of the raids earlier this year, Los Angeles police used the controversial battering ram to gain access to the houses, which were heavily fortified with steel bars, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen A. Marcus.

Bryant, 33, described by police as the primary supplier of cocaine in Pacoima, was charged Monday with two counts of conspiracy to sell cocaine, one count of possession of cocaine for sale and six counts of knowingly maintaining a house where cocaine was sold.

Untested Statute

Prosecutor Marcus said the last six charges were filed under a 1982 state statute that has not been tested in the county against the owner of a rock house, so named because the houses are used to process cocaine into rocklike clumps.

Although Bryant was not discovered on the premises during any of the five raids, Marcus said he will attempt to prove that Bryant was the kingpin of the operation and knew that cocaine was being sold at his three houses. Four persons found at the houses during the raids already have been charged with possession and sale of cocaine, Marcus said, but Bryant will be prosecuted as the absentee landlord.

“We’re going after the man who gets the huge profits, the man at the top,” Marcus said. “We’re going to argue that it’s enough to own the house where drugs are being made and sold.”

The prosecutor said he will present evidence illustrating that Bryant has owned the houses for a long time and ordered repairs to the electronic gates and iron bars immediately after they were damaged during police raids.

“He was, as far as we are concerned, running a business,” Marcus said. “The people inside were being paid money to work for him.”

If convicted on all counts, Bryant could be sentenced to a maximum of six years in prison, Marcus said. He is being represented by Alternate Defense Counsel of Van Nuys, an independent group of defense attorneys paid by the county to handle overflow cases from the public defender. ADC attorney Bruce Ficht would not comment on the charges against Bryant.

The raids were conducted with search warrants in June, 1984, and January, February and March of 1985 at 13031 Louvre St., 13037 Louvre St. and 11442 Wheeler Ave. Police seized a total of $32,000 in cash and four pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of $182,000, according to LAPD Detective James Dumele.

During two of the raids, suspects inside the homes dropped the drugs into pots of boiling grease, but police reached into the grease to retrieve the evidence, Dumele said. On a third occasion, the suspects poured battery acid over the cocaine but failed to destroy it, Dumele said.

Dumele served an arrest warrant on Bryant Tuesday morning at his home. A warrant also was issued for the arrest of Bryant’s 27-year-old brother, Stanley, who is charged with one count of possession of cocaine for sale and one count of conspiracy to sell cocaine, Marcus said. By late Tuesday, Stanley Bryant had not been apprehended.

Van Nuys Municipal Court Commissioner Patricia G. Schwartz set a preliminary hearing date of Oct. 4 for Jeffrey Bryant, who was being held in lieu of $300,000 bail.