Sagon Penn’s Father Arrested by U.S. Agents in Drug Probe

Thomas Penn, father of Sagon Penn, was arrested Friday by federal undercover agents after allegedly agreeing to sell them 3 pounds of rock cocaine for $54,000.

Special Agent in Charge Charlie Hill, who heads the San Diego office of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said Penn, 50, was arrested outside his Logan Avenue apartment when he demanded the money from agents sitting inside an unmarked car. Hill said 12 people were arrested in the case, which stemmed from a federal indictment that will remain sealed until the suspects are arraigned in U. S. District Court next week. Penn was named in the indictment.

According to Hill, Penn and five other suspects were arrested at Penn’s apartment. Agents recovered about 3 pounds of rock cocaine and 3 pounds of cocaine powder at Penn’s residence, Hill said. Although one suspect was armed with a .22-caliber handgun and agents found a .38-caliber revolver in Penn’s apartment, the arrests occurred without incident, said Hill.

Federal Penalty

Normally, the federal penalty for possessing more than 50 grams of rock cocaine with intent to sell is 10 years to life in prison and up to $4 million in fines. But a recently enacted federal Omnibus Crime bill doubles that penalty because the cocaine was being sold within 1,000 feet of a school, in this case Knox Elementary, Hill said.

Hill declined to release any more details of the case because the indictment is still under seal, but said that Penn and the others had been under investigation for some time. He said that agents were sent to Penn’s apartment to arrest several people named in the indictment. When they arrived, they negotiated with Penn to purchase 3 pounds of rock cocaine, Hill said.

The agents reported that Penn instructed them to leave for a while and return later after he and other accomplices finished converting cocaine powder to rock cocaine. When the agents returned, Penn walked outside and asked agents inside an unmarked car to pay him $54,000 for the rock cocaine, Hill said. Penn and five others in the apartment were promptly arrested.

Clyde L. Spears, 36, identified by Hill as a gang member, is alleged to be Penn’s drug source. Spears was among the suspects arrested.

Penn’s son, Sagon Penn, was found not guilty in 1987 in the March 31, 1985, shooting that left one policeman dead and another policeman and a civilian wounded. Two juries found that the policemen had provoked the incident by using racial slurs and unnecessary force when they stopped Penn for questioning.

After Sagon Penn’s arrest and during his two sensational trials, Thomas Penn repeatedly called for better relations between police and black residents of Southeast San Diego.