10 Orange Glen H.S. Pupils Are Arrested in Drug Sting

Ten Orange Glen High School students were arrested during their first-period classes Wednesday on suspicion of selling drugs to a police officer during a five-month, undercover investigation at the school, Escondido police said.

The arrests were part of a roundup by police who, with the cooperation of the Escondido Union High School District, placed a female undercover officer at Orange Glen High to investigate students and others suspected of selling drugs, Sgt. John Houchin said.

Along with those arrested at Orange Glen, three students from nearby Valley High School and a non-student were arrested near the Orange Glen campus, said Houchin, who headed the investigation.

An additional 14 people, most of them students, were still being sought by police late Wednesday for allegedly selling small amounts of marijuana and methamphetamines on and off campus to the undercover officer, Houchin said.

Houchin said the undercover officer participated in 32 drug transactions, one of them during a class. Most of the drug buys, however, were made in the school’s parking lot, hallways and outside areas, Houchin said.

The purchases totaled $640, but no single transaction exceeded $20, he said.

Seven of the people now being sought are adult non-students, Houchin said.

One adult arrested Wednesday was Scott Donald Bushre, 29, of San Diego, who was held on two counts of suspicion of possessing a controlled substance for sale. Bushre was arrested a block from the Orange Glen campus, Houchin said.

District Supt. John Cooper said he was the only school official who knew of the police presence in Orange Glen High. Cooper said he was contacted five months ago by Escondido police, who wanted to place an undercover officer at the school because of reports that drug transactions were taking place on campus.

The juveniles arrested Wednesday could face expulsion for the remainder of the school year, Cooper said.