Santa Ana Operation : Undercover Officers Make 24 Drug Arrests

“Where you coming from right now, Jose?” Santa Ana police investigator George Garcia asked the man sitting on the curb on 1st Street.

“I was buying some carnitas, “ said Jose Munoz, 28, of Costa Mesa, gesturing with his head toward the bag full of fried pork inside the car.

Garcia laughed, and a moment later Sgt. John M. Collins said he found something besides carnitas in Munoz’s Plymouth: two plastic bags with small amounts of marijuana, hidden underneath the front seat.

“Mr. Munoz, you are under arrest,” Collins said. “Stand up and put your hands behind your back.” Then he snapped handcuffs on Munoz and led him to a waiting squad car.

Wednesday was a bad night for drug buyers on West Walnut Street in Santa Ana. Twenty-four drug suspects were arrested. Four undercover officers were stationed on the 1300 block of that street and were broadcasting descriptions of drug purchasers to about 10 patrol cars buzzing around the neighborhood, waiting for the cars as they left the street.

Santa Ana’s narcotics investigators usually target drug dealers--ranging from small street salesmen of marijuana and cocaine to big-time crack and heroin pushers. But Wednesday night, in an effort to get the message out to buyers as well as dealers that their presence in Santa Ana is not appreciated, the police went after purchasers of as little as $5 worth of marijuana.

“A lot of them come from out of town, and the idea is to discourage them from coming down here,” Sgt. Clay Cotton said. “We’ve had a lot of complaints from the neighborhoods.”

Four officers from the Marine Corps military police also participated in the operation, because many of the buyers on West Walnut Street are Marines, Cotton said.

Police have made more than 300 drug arrests on West Walnut Street already this year. They have also made scores of arrests at other popular drug sales spots--on West 1st Street, Brook Street and South Minnie Street.

“It doesn’t seem to make a dent,” Cotton said. “We arrest one dealer and, three minutes later, someone else is there to take his place.”

Of the 24 people arrested in Wednesday night’s effort, 19 were cited and released for possession of marijuana. One was arrested on suspicion of possession of a hypodermic syringe, two for possession of a controlled substance (heroin or cocaine) and one for being under the influence of PCP.

Just one dealer was arrested--a 24-year-old man who police said was seen selling bags of marijuana he kept hidden in a cast that covered his left arm.

Santa Ana Police Sgt. Brad Messmer, cruising along Bristol Street, took a hand off the steering wheel and described some of the ground rules governing Wednesday night’s operation:

“Surveillance gives some probable cause (to search), but not enough to tear the whole car apart. . . . Sometimes you gotta use your interrogative powers and convince him that it’s in his own best interest to cooperate and tell you what he did.”

A few minutes later, Messmer got a chance to put his interrogative powers into practice. The undercover police on West Walnut Street had spotted two Marines in a white Camaro buying drugs.

A patrol car stopped the Camaro a few blocks away, and when Messmer drove up, one officer was questioning the Marines while the other was searching the car. But no drugs were found, and the Marines, who said they lived in Tustin, were not admitting anything.

Messmer, a weightlifter who stands six feet tall and weighs 270 pounds, climbed out of his car and began questioning the nervous Marines.

“What were you doing on Walnut Street?”

“We were just driving around, that’s all.”

“You were just driving around. You know, the CID (the Marine Corps’ Criminal Investigation Division) is down here tonight. Were you down here to score or not? This officer here is going to tear your car apart. You want to level with us or not?”

“I didn’t do nothing.”

“I didn’t ask you that. . . . What were you doing there? Look, we didn’t just happen to stop your car.”

One of the Marines then told Messmer that they had tried to buy some marijuana “for a friend” but had been sent away because the dealer knew he was being watched.

“Everyone on the (El Toro) base knows this is the place to come to buy drugs . . . crack coke, anything else you want,” the Marine said.

The two Marines were turned over to military police, who were waiting at a command post set up for the night.