SANTA PAULA : Officer Arrested in Drug Raid on House

A 28-year-old Santa Paula police reserve officer was arrested in Oxnard on Wednesday evening on suspicion of selling cocaine, police said.

Wayne Fountain was arrested about 7:30 p.m. at his home in the 2000 block of Hemlock Street after police obtained a search warrant for his house and found half an ounce of cocaine, said Sgt. Frank Devorick of the Oxnard Police Department. The cocaine was believed to be for sale, he said.

Fountain, who works in the city’s waste-water treatment plant, was taken to Oxnard City Jail, Devorick said. Fountain was released Wednesday night on $10,000 bail.

Santa Paula Police Chief Walt Adair said his department was saddened by the arrest. “People are disappointed and disturbed, of course, because it reflects on them,” he said.

Adair said Fountain has been released from his post on the Santa Paula police reserves, which Fountain held since May.

Reserve police officers, who have full police powers while on duty, must undergo 290 hours of training and work under the supervision of a regular officer, Adair said. In the Santa Paula Police Department, they are required to volunteer a minimum of 16 hours a month and are used as backup to the regular officers, he said. The department has 10 reserve officers.

Fountain’s arrest was the result of a joint investigation by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department and the Oxnard and Santa Paula police departments.

The investigation, which is continuing, began in the first week of January after police received a tip about Fountain, Devorick said.