62 Arrested in 6-Month Drug, Gang Crackdown in Pasadena

Pasadena police and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration announced Thursday that a six-month joint operation--much of it undercover--had netted 62 arrests, many of them of gang members involved in drug dealing.

During a news conference at police headquarters, Police Chief Bernard K. Melekian said agents from the DEA’s Mobile Enforcement Unit had worked alongside his officers, targeting drug dealers in the Rose Parade city.

“I am not so naive as to believe we’ve solved the problem of narcotics trafficking [in Pasadena],” Melekian said. “But at least we put those individuals who are inclined to traffic in narcotics on notice that this is not a good place to do it.”

The arrests were made periodically throughout the joint operation, he said. Of the 62 arrested, 38 were known gang members, Melekian said. Most of the people apprehended are in jail awaiting trial. Ten who were already on parole or probation have been sent back to prison, he added.

Melekian said the sting hits gangs hard because drugs are the means to financing their lifestyle and arsenals. The majority of the suspects were found in the city’s impoverished Northwest side, he said.

Pasadena police Lt. Keith Jones, who helped supervise the operation, said it has cut further into the ranks of hard-core gang members, whose numbers have dwindled considerably in recent years because of other law enforcement crackdowns.

Police now put the number of hard-core gang members in the city at between 400 and 500.

Melekian and Michele Leonhart, a DEA special agent in charge, displayed 19 weapons and 17 pounds of drugs that were confiscated during the raids.

Contraband included an M-16 assault rifle, a few shotguns, a selection of military-style rifles, several handguns and a 12-gauge pistol seemingly made from a shotgun.