Local News in Brief : 5 Held in Cocaine Deal
Five people were arrested outside the South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach during an alleged drug transaction in which 30 kilograms of cocaine and $15,000 were seized, sheriff’s deputies said Thursday.
Four men and a woman in the shopping center’s parking lot at Artesia and Hawthorne boulevards allegedly started the drug sale about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, Deputy Dan Cox said.
After watching the alleged deal, sheriff’s investigators and Montebello police officers arrested Henry Zapada, 38, of Rancho Cucamonga in San Bernardino County, Jaime Cespedes, 34, of Miami, and Jaime Giraldo, 27, of Los Angeles. The suspects allegedly were trading drugs and money with Juan Rivera, 26, of Los Angeles and a woman, Roccio Silvia, 24, of Torrance, he said. The arrests came as part of a joint investigation of the Sheriff’s Department and Montebello police.
Silvia was booked at Sybil Brand Institute for Women, and the men were booked at the Lomita sheriff’s station on suspicion of possession of cocaine for sale, Cox said. Bail was set at $100,000 each.
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