16 Seized in Sweep to Rid Neighborhood of Drugs

Santa Monica police officers, in a sweep aimed at ridding a crime-plagued neighborhood of narcotics dealers, stormed three alleged drug houses last week and arrested 16 people on suspicion of selling rock cocaine.

Dozens of officers armed with shotguns and submachine guns rushed two apartments and an adjacent house in the 1800 block of 17th Street on Friday in the dramatic ending of a three-month narcotics investigation. One officer later called the sweep a “perfect operation.”

Police arrested six suspected rock cocaine dealers in the 1 p.m. raid, and later captured 10 others named in arrest warrants. In all, 42 people have been arrested on various drug charges since the operation began in January, police said.

Several of the men arrested Friday already have been convicted of two felonies and face prison terms of 25 years to life if they are found to have committed a third under the state’s new “three strikes and you’re out” law, Sgt. Gary Gallinot said.

Residents of the Pico neighborhood have been complaining about drug sales and gang violence for months. The neighborhood is defined as being bordered by Olympic and Pico boulevards between 14th Street and Cloverfield Boulevard.

Within two blocks of the 17th Street house and apartments raided Friday, there have been four gang and drug-related shootings since January, including one homicide.

“We’ve been getting complaints about these places for months,” said Sgt. Erick Marroquin, who heads the community’s police bicycle patrol unit.

But police could only listen to the complaints, unable to tell residents about the ongoing undercover operation.

“It’s been so frustrating; we were wishing we could have said things were being done, but obviously, we couldn’t,” said Marroquin.

Police said a female officer from the UCLA Police Department posed as a Santa Monica College student to buy rock cocaine. All the people arrested Friday were seen making multiple drug buys, Gallinot said.

As part of the investigation, police arrested three men for drug-dealing in a raid at the El Tepa bar in the 1400 of block of Olympic Boulevard on March 24. The bar, located across from a city park, was permanently closed.

Although nearby residents applauded the sweep, they held out little hope the problem was solved.

“We’ll get a week or two of peace, but they’ll be back,” said one man, echoing the comments of several others. All asked not to be identified, saying they feared reprisals from the drug dealers.