Teams’ Narcotics Probe Leads to Seizure of Heroin, 3 Arrests

A three-week narcotics investigation by county, state and federal officials culminated in the arrests of three men and the seizure of more than a pound of heroin, police said Saturday.

The total street value of the narcotics was $65,000, said Oxnard Police Sgt. Steven Blanchard.

The investigation broke open Friday in Bakersfield when two 34-year-old men, Hector Torrez of Oxnard and Iban Hernandez of El Monte, were arrested on suspicion of possessing a pound of tar heroin, Blanchard said.

As result of that arrest, detectives obtained search warrants for three Oxnard-area residences. At a home in the 100 block of Eliza Court in Oxnard, investigators found a reported stolen gun and arrested 27-year-old Roque Pinon of Oxnard on suspicion of two counts of drug possession for sale and one count of grand theft.

During searches at homes in the 1600 block of West 5th Street in Oxnard and the 1100 block of Walnut Drive in El Rio, detectives confiscated more heroin, along with some methamphetamine, Blanchard said.

Torrez and Hernandez were being held in Kern County, and Pinon was in booked into Ventura County Jail in lieu of $20,000 bail, a spokeswoman said.

Agents from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, the state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement and the Ventura/Oxnard Narcotics Task Force participated in the investigation and arrests.