Deputies Raid 16 South-Central Locations : Crime: Authorities seize guns, furs and jewelry believed stolen from dozens of homes throughout the county.

Wielding battering rams and shouting orders, deputies from the sheriff’s anti-gang, robbery and burglary units descended on 16 locations in South-Central Los Angeles on Friday and seized guns, furs and jewelry believed stolen from dozens of homes throughout the county.

More than 200 deputies armed with search warrants concentrated on the Jordan Downs housing project, where six people were arrested on suspicion of residential robbery and one man was taken into custody on a parole violation, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Richard Dinsmoor said.

The deputies also seized 19 handguns and rifles, several fur coats, dozens of pieces of gold and diamond jewelry and $10,000 cash found inside a small safe that also contained two .38-caliber handguns and ammunition, Dinsmoor said.

“Suspects were taken into custody who were identified as participating in these crimes, and we recovered items taken during the robberies,” he said. “Our main objective was to take these suspects off the streets.”

Later, deputies acknowledged that in one instance they broke down the door of a house only to find they had gone to the wrong address. No one was injured in the raids, dubbed “People Eaters,” which targeted known members of a Crips gang, said Deputy Kim Thompson, who helped coordinate the predawn crackdown in the housing project and at residences on 10th Street near Inglewood.

“There were assaults and kidnapings during the commission of these crimes . . . they terrorized victims in their homes,” Thompson said. “They were good for one to two robberies a week since September throughout the county.”

Thompson was unable to provide information Friday on how the gang targeted its victims.

“We believe we have barely touched the surface,” Thompson said. “The investigation is continuing.”

Deputies made their error when they invaded the wrong address in the 10000 block of Wilmington Avenue in Los Angeles.

“They rammed the door, had a conversation with the man inside and then stopped immediately,” Dinsmoor said. “Commanders of the operation apologized, videotaped the damage to his house and gave him a claim form to submit to the county.”

The deputies involved moved on to the location they had targeted and found jewelry believed taken in a robbery.

“We served 667 warrants from Jan. 1 through April 28, and this is the first incident in which a wrong house was hit,” Dinsmoor said. “That’s a rude way to be awakened in the morning, I don’t care who you are.” The raids drew mixed reactions from the hundreds of residents in the housing project who were roused from their sleep by the shouts of deputies and the crash of battering rams used to make surprise entries.

Standing outside of their units in bathrobes and pajamas, some accused deputies of ransacking apartments without reason.

“They broke my windows, kicked in the door and scared my 88-year-old grandmother who has a bad heart,” said one woman who stood outside with folded arms while deputies searched her apartment in the Jordan Downs housing project. “They said they’re looking for my brother, but my brother has been in jail for six months.”

Another woman standing nearby was enthusiastic about the raids, suggesting that they do not come often enough.

“I hate what’s going on around here. They try to plant flowers, they get trampled. They clean the walls, they get spray painted,” the woman said. “I love it when the police raid this place.”

Dinsmoor argued that investigators “really work on their intelligence before they decide to raid a place.”

“Still, you can’t guarantee that the suspect you are looking for is going to be there on a particular morning,” Dinsmoor said. Beyond that, he added, “Most anybody caught up in a case like this is going to deny involvement.”