CYPRESS : 15 Suspects Arrested in Narcotics Sweep

Police arrested 15 people suspected of dealing drugs in a pre-dawn sweep of homes and motels Thursday that concluded a three-month investigation.

The investigation focused on several blocks of Lincoln Avenue, a thoroughfare that had become the site of cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine sales and prostitution over the past several months, Lt. Jim Weuve said.

Weuve said police began their investigation, dubbed Operation Room Service, because they had received complaints from businesses and residents indicating that there was a lot of street drug traffic and prostitution in an area near several avenue motels. “It had gotten so obvious,” he said.

Some motel managers in the area agreed. Michael Chu, general manager of the Royal Inn, said maids would sometimes find drug paraphernalia in rooms.

“I think the sweep will help,” said Chu, whose motel on Lincoln Avenue near Valley View Street was the site of a drug arrest.

Nine other people were arrested Thursday on unrelated charges at locations where officers served arrest warrants, police said. All 24 men and women were scheduled to be transferred to Orange County Jail in Santa Ana.

Twenty Cypress police officers and Orange County Probation Department officers served arrest warrants at 16 motels and homes in Cypress, Buena Park, Stanton and Westminster, police said.

As part of the undercover operation begun in September, female Cypress police officers posed as prostitutes and conducted a daylong sting along Lincoln Avenue, police said. During that sting, in mid-November, 12 men were issued misdemeanor citations for solicitation of prostitution, Weuve said.

Police waited until Thursday to conduct their drug sweep so they could conduct more undercover buys and obtain more arrest warrants, Weuve said.

Investigators said they do not believe that motel owners or managers were involved in the increased prostitution or drug sales along Lincoln Avenue, concentrated primarily between Walker Street and Knott Avenue.