2 Plead No Contest to Illegal Drug Sales

The manager and janitor of an Arleta party store pleaded no contest Monday to charges that they illegally sold prescription drugs at the store.

Store manager Celia Sandoval, 42, of North Hollywood, pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge of attempting to deal in dangerous pharmaceuticals at El Arco Iris Party Supplies.

Erik Mendoza-Garcia, 24, of Sylmar, the store’s janitor and stock boy, pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge of offering for sale an improperly packaged and labeled drug. He is scheduled to be sentenced April 20.

Superior Court Judge Mark C. Kim ordered Sandoval to serve two months in jail or a month on a Caltrans work crew, as well as two years’ probation.

Deputy City Atty. Don Kass said parole officers, acting on a tip from neighbors, staked out the store and saw Sandoval and Mendoza-Garcia peddling pharmaceuticals from the trunk of a 1973 Dodge Charger parked at the back.

The officers thought they were observing a parolee selling illicit drugs, he said, but they learned the two were filling orders made inside the store for medicines such as antibiotics imported from Mexico, contraceptives and hypodermic needles.

Kass said the illegal pharmacy convictions are the latest in a string of 30 resulting from a crackdown by police and a year-old county task force.

“We typically see the sale of illegal pharmaceuticals in areas where people don’t have medical insurance or they are underinsured,” Cass said. “There’s no doctor in the process, but the drugs are not cheaper. These people are actually exploiting the needs of their community.”