3 Men Arrested in Drug Seizure

Ventura County authorities have arrested three Los Angeles County residents and seized nearly nine pounds of methamphetamine with an estimated street value of $318,000, the Sheriff’s Department announced Tuesday.

The three are suspected of being part of a ring believed to be distributing a significant amount of the drug in Ventura County, officials said.

The investigation began last week after the arrest of two street dealers in Oxnard, officials said. Authorities were told that Antonio Sanchez Torres, 27, of Huntington Park was to transport the drug by car to a dealer’s house in the Oxnard area.

Torres was stopped Monday afternoon at Squires Drive and Pleasant Valley Road in Oxnard and two pounds of methamphetamine were found hidden under the car’s dashboard behind the glove compartment, deputies said. Torres was arrested without incident.

While officers searched his Los Angeles-area home, deputies said, two other men arrived with about five pounds of methamphetamine in their jackets. Martin Zepeda Guillen, 22, of Long Beach and Montezuma Rodriguez, 22, of South Gate were arrested. Another 1 3/4 pounds of the drug were found in a hidden, magnetically activated compartment in their car, deputies said.

The three men were jailed on suspicion of methamphetamine for sale and conspiracy. Bail was set at $500,000 apiece.

Narcotics detectives from the Sheriff’s Department, FBI, Oxnard and Los Angeles were involved in the operation.