Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Crackdown on East Newhall Drug Dealers Leads to Arrest of 11 : Crime: Residents had long complained of narcotics-related activity. Sting operation by undercover officers comes after a two-month inquiry.

Juan Cansino said the damage inflicted by the Northridge earthquake was only the beginning of the deterioration of his neighborhood.

The 22-year-old east Newhall resident said that after the temblor, drug dealers moved into abandoned residences and set up business in the alleys near the home he shares with his 3-year-old daughter.

He said he called the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department a couple of months ago to report the trouble, but doesn’t know if officers took him seriously.

“Normally, you’d see 10 to 12 people out here doing their thing,” he said.

Other residents of the area complained of street lights being shot out so drug dealers could operate without police spotting them, windows being shot out by those under the influence of drugs and alcohol and the shooting of a security guard by an alleged gang member.

As it turned out, the Sheriff’s Department was listening.

Undercover officers with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station arrested 11 people in a sting operation from 3 to 9 p.m. Thursday after spending nearly two months observing the area near the intersection of Pine and Market streets, said a narcotics officer, who asked not to be identified.

Authorities said that problems in the neighborhood had worsened in recent months. But they said they believe rising gang activity in the area had more to do with the increased drug activity than the problems caused by the earthquake.

“It appeared the people were engaged in blatant drug sales,” the narcotics officer said. “We went out and saw it, and it looked like a sting operation would stop it and send a message to the buyers and sellers to beware.”

Deputies posing as drug buyers arrested two people selling crack cocaine by seizing a small amount of the drug, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Brad Stone. The officers then took over the dealers’ business location and sold a replica of the drug--crushed macadamia nuts--to seven people, who also were arrested.

“When the buyer started to walk off they would give a signal to one of the deputies monitoring the transaction, and they would notify a uniformed deputy who would pull the person over and arrest them,” Stone said.

Two additional people were arrested for trying to warn potential buyers about the sting operation, Stone said.

All 11 suspects were male Latinos between 23 and 42 years old, authorities said. Five live in the Santa Clarita Valley and six are San Fernando Valley residents.

Cansino looked gratefully at the empty alley behind his house as he washed his car there Friday.

“Now, the neighborhood is a little bit quieter at night so people can sleep,” he said.

Run-down apartments and multifamily homes make up much of the lower-income, predominantly Latino neighborhood, where dozens of children often can be seen playing. Lt. Bill Dunn said the neighborhood has always had some degree of drug and gang problems.

“People call us saying they’ve been approached by a prostitute willing to exchange sexual favors for rock cocaine and such things,” he said. “I think it’s safe to say we get information regularly about those types of activity in that area and periodically we act upon it when appropriate.”

But several residents in the area said the problems since the earthquake are the worst they can remember.

“There are a lot of kids over here, and we’re scared,” said a 23-year-old man who has lived in the neighborhood for nine years. “These people drink and do drugs and then they start to get crazy and shoot.”

The man said he was afraid to be identified and that similar fears have kept other residents from calling sheriff’s officials. But he said he was glad to see deputies out in force Thursday.

“I was feeling a lot better,” he said.

Sheriff’s Lt. Barbara Persten said she isn’t sure the earthquake is solely--or even primarily--responsible for the recent increase in drug activity. She said a recent increase in gang activity in the area is a more likely factor.

“If they didn’t have those places (damaged by the earthquake), they’d probably have somewhere else to sell out of,” she said.

But the neighborhood’s problems aren’t over yet, said Sheriff’s Deputy Greg La Val of the station’s Career Offenders Burglary Robbery Apprehension (COBRA) unit, which investigates gang crimes. Four people were injured in gang-related shootings in early July, and there have been numerous related crimes recently.

“I can’t tell you all the details . . . but we’re still working on this,” he said.