Drug Raid, Reverse Sting Net 68 Arrests

After seizing five alleged rock cocaine houses, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies posed as drug dealers and within hours arrested 68 people Friday on suspicion of trying to buy drugs or for being connected to the drug-selling operations.

The so-called reverse sting operation began Friday afternoon, when deputies, working with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, served search warrants at five residences in the 300 block of East Avenue. Sixteen people were arrested at the houses on suspicion of possessing narcotics for sale or being in a place where known narcotics were being used or sold.

After those arrests, said a sheriff’s deputy who worked the raid, “we then put our own guys in there.”

The undercover officers arrested more than 50 people between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. on suspicion of attempting to buy narcotics. Those who arrived by car were followed by officers and arrested nearby after leaving the house. Customers on foot were arrested on the spot.

The officers used a substance that resembles rock cocaine to sell to customers.

Residents of the neighborhood, one of the city’s older areas, have previously complained about the “rock houses,” Sheriff’s Department officials said.

Similar reverse stings have been conducted in the area in the past, deputies said.

All of those arrested were being held at the sheriff’s Lancaster station, with bail amounts ranging from $15,000 to $20,000, sheriff’s deputies said.