Authorities arrest 10 L.A. gang members and cohorts on narcotics, weapons charges
Ten members and associates of one of the largest Los Angeles street gangs were arrested Thursday in a two-day operation targeting the distribution and sale of narcotics and the unlawful sale of weapons.
The cooperative effort by the Department of Homeland Security, LAPD and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department began Tuesday and progressed into Wednesday with the arrests of eight suspects. The remaining two will be extradited from Honolulu and Indianapolis.
Three others who are facing similar charges were already in local custody, and there is an ongoing search for five additional suspects, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Federal prosecutors said the indictments covering federal narcotics and weapons offenses followed a more than two-year investigation.
Authorities said nearly 9 pounds of methamphetamine and 14 firearms, including five assault rifles, were seized during the operation.
Among the local arrests were Giovanny Ochoa, 26, of Hawthorne and Aveline Villalba, 36, of South Los Angeles. Both were charged in a February indictment with selling about a quarter-pound of meth to undercover authorities. Ochoa is also suspected in another narcotics transaction.
According to the indictment, in one incident Ochoa met an undercover official in front of a grocery store where he offered to sell a quarter-pound of meth for $1,500.
Ochoa and Villalba each face a 10-year mandatory minimum prison term with the possibility of life if convicted of the narcotics and weapons charges.
All eight of those arrested locally have been arraigned and pleaded not guilty; their trials are pending. The two suspects taken into custody outside the state are being held without bond and should be extradited to L.A. in the next few weeks, authorities said.
Twitter: @JeffLanda
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