Fire Captain Accused of Selling Drugs Jailed

A veteran Ventura County fire captain has been arrested after allegedly selling drugs to a police informant, prompting discovery of a cache of weapons and a bomb at his Newbury Park house, authorities said Thursday.

Capt. William Elliot Handy, 48, who is assigned to the Piru station, was taken into custody late Wednesday in connection with the sale of half an ounce of methamphetamine to the informant at an Albertson’s on Reino Road in Newbury Park.

Handy was under the influence of methamphetamines when arrested, authorities said.

Sheriff’s deputies, tipped that Handy had sold drugs from his house and made deliveries throughout the Conejo Valley, then served a search warrant at Handy’s home on the 2800 block of Denise Street.

His neighbors in the upper middle-class housing tract had complained in recent weeks of traffic they feared was related to narcotics, said Sgt. Gary Pentis, who headed the investigation.

While deputies were searching the house, Loyd Robert Wood, 28, of Newbury Park arrived and was detained after detectives suspected that he was under the influence of drugs. The unemployed construction worker was taken into custody after officers found three cellophane bags suspected to contain methamphetamine.

In the three-bedroom, disheveled house, a team of about 18 deputies recovered two electronic weighing scales, packaging material and other drug paraphernalia. Deputies also seized six handguns, a .223-caliber assault rifle, a loaded shotgun propped beside a bed and an incendiary device later removed by the bomb squad.

The device included a blasting cap and connected fuse, a jar with black powder and some chemicals. Twenty-six grams of methamphetamine--worth about $1,000 on the street--were also found.

“I don’t recall (a case like this) in my career in this agency,” said Assistant Chief Dave Festerling of the Ventura County Fire Department.

At Station 28 in Piru, where Handy has been assigned for about a year, a fire captain said neither he nor his crew could comment.

Pentis said deputies served a warrant at the Piru station Wednesday night, but found no methamphetamine in Handy’s locker.

The narcotic, also known as speed or crank, is a stimulant that can cause users to become paranoid, Pentis said.

Handy, released on $20,000 bail Thursday, had been booked on suspicion of possession of methamphetamine for sale and being under the influence of the drug, Sgt. Mike Johnson said. He is to be arraigned next Thursday.

Wood, who remained in custody Thursday, had been booked on similar charges and was to be arraigned today. His bail was also $20,000.

Handy’s arrest marked the second time in a week that the County Fire Department has dealt with scandal involving an employee or former employee. On Monday, a former supply clerk pleaded guilty to burglarizing four fire stations after luring firefighters away with false 911 reports.

“We’re not happy about either one of those cases,” Festerling said. “It’s been one of those when-it-rains-it-pours type things.”