17 Students, 5 Adults Arrested in Drug Probe
The first undercover narcotics investigation of Downey high schools resulted last week in the arrests of 17 students and five adults.
Five students from Downey High, nine from Warren High and three from Columbus High, a continuation school, were arrested Monday on campus and later released to their parents, said Sgt. Rick Nathan.
The adults were arrested after police searched their Downey residences Sunday and Monday morning. They were accused of selling small amounts of cocaine, marijuana, phencyclidine (PCP), and methamphetamine to a woman undercover agent posing as a student.
Downey officers served warrants on Edward Snodgrass, 37; Rosanne Barquera, 21; Mary Lou Magallanes, 18; Jesse DeLeon, 22, and John Juarez, 21.
Nathan, who headed the three-month investigation, said the Downey Unified School District asked police to help clean up drug problems on the campuses.
A. H. Shiney, assistant superintendent of the district, said about 90 expulsions in the district last year were a result of narcotics problems.
“We recognize that there is a problem there, but we feel very positive about the results of this investigation,” Shiney said. “There are over 4,000 students and there were only small amounts of drugs found. In that we feel very good.”
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