Phony Drug Raid by 4 ‘Agents’ Investigated

Investigation continued Monday into a phony drug raid in which suspects wearing official-looking jump suits and posing as federal agents allegedly shot and slightly wounded two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies.

David Troy, assistant chief special agent in charge of the Treasury Department’s Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms unit in Los Angeles, said he could not recall any similar attempt to impersonate the bureau’s agents, and noted that the agency has no jurisdiction in narcotics cases.

Troy said it has not yet been decided whether federal charges of impersonating federal officers would be brought against the suspects.

Lennox station Deputies Wayne Liberator, 25, and Andrew Lee, 28, suffered minor wounds when one of the suspects opened fire with a shotgun from inside a house in the 10000 block of Condon Avenue early Sunday. The deputies were treated at nearby hospitals.

One suspect surrendered as he sat in a car carrying the letters “ATF” on its trunk. The three others surrendered about 15 minutes after the house was surrounded by deputies summoned by the two wounded officers.

Booked on suspicion of attempted murder were Gregory Scott Anderson, 23; Cynthia Lewis, 27; Richard Navaro, 41, and Richard Valles, 23.

Sheriff’s investigators theorized that the four suspects posed as U.S. agents in order to steal drugs from the house, although no narcotics were found by officers. They also said it is possible they hit the wrong house.