1st Drug Dealer Convicted of Playground Law Violation

A Los Angeles man who sold drugs to an undercover officer in Canoga Park was convicted Wednesday in what prosecutors said was the first case in the nation under a new federal law that sets stiffer penalties for dealing drugs near playgrounds.

Oscar Gutierrez-Rizo, 19, was found guilty by a jury of selling one-third of a gram of cocaine at Lanark Recreation Center on Lanark Street. He was standing five to seven feet from the edge of the playground at the park, Assistant U.S. Atty. Jimmye Warren said.

“The officers set up the operation there in response to numerous citizen complaints of narcotics trafficking,” Warren said.

Federal Law

Under a federal law passed in 1987, people convicted of dealing drugs within 100 feet of playgrounds, schoolyards, video arcades, colleges and public swimming pools may receive double the sentence previously imposed, Warren said. Consequently, Gutierrez faces a minimum of one year in prison without the possibility of parole or probation and a maximum of 40 years in prison, Warren said.

He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 2 by U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon.

Before the law went into effect, there was no mandatory minimum sentence for selling very small quantities of drugs, such as occurred in this case, Warren said.

There have been a number of convictions under the same law for selling drugs near schools, Warren said, but this was the first case in the nation involving the sale of drugs near a playground.

A co-defendant in the case, Sergio Hurtado-Esquivel, who was with Gutierrez during the drug sale, is scheduled to be tried in federal court starting today.