The Sinaloas have been linked to 90 percent of the drugs that move through Southern California, said Dave Stinnett, an intelligence analystwith the DEAs Los Angeles division. Online Volunteer Info Session- Learn How to Advocate for Youth in Foster Care! Had they not been seized, the drugs would have infiltrated Los Angeles within a day, according to Bill Bodner, special agent in charge of the DEAs Los Angeles Division. Between the two homes, detectives seized 25 duffle bags of drugs containing 2,200 pounds of meth, 460 kilograms of cocaine and six kilograms of heroin. It is not uncommon for a case that was initiated across the country say in Chicago, Atlanta or Little Rock to ultimately lead back to this area.. Roughly 1,600 pounds of meth were also located at a narcotics stash house in Perris, officials said. "That's what's scary.". Reyes surrendered. RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KABC) -- Downtown Riverside is known throughout Southern California for its iconic festival of lights during the holidays. 5, 2020 at 11:29 AM PDT. Published: Jun. 9/21/2022 8:33 PM. Our free newsletter is delivered at 8 a.m. daily. They didnt see it, they didnt think about it and it probably didnt have any effect on their lives at all, until it exploded., Our dope pipeline is kind of like that.. . Authorities say the suspects were attempting to sell hard drugs to the undercover officers, not marijuana. Whoops! This is enough dope to prove a dose of meth for every man, women and child in the United States and Mexico, , DEA Acting Administrator Timothy Shea said. The team, led by Detective Christopher MacAuley with the Sheriff's Office, included more than two dozen deputies accompanied by FBI and Homeland Security agents. The seizures by the two agencies are more than enough to provide a dose of meth for every man, woman and child in the United States and Mexico, Timothy Shea, acting administrator of the DEA, said Wednesday at a warehouse in Montebello. Agents seized more than 4,800 pounds of meth nationwide and are still working on more arrests, according to the DEA. "Synthetic drugs like methamphetamine are highly addictive, dangerous and killing people at alarming rates," DEA Los Angeles Special Agent in Charge Bill Bodner said. Later that day, Reyes husband returned to the house, driving a pickup truck. San Diegos houseless residents deal with heavy rains, flooding, San Diego Unified launches new engagement website for students, Eagle delivers 2 eggs in California nest watched by web cam, Chula Vista Elementary District converts two campuses to community schools. The investigation led to search warrants at multiple narcotic stash houses in Moreno Valley and Perris in Riverside County, officials said. REDDING, Calif., For the second time in less than two weeks a Redding felon, who was already on probation for drug sales, was busted again for fentanyl possession and sales yesterday after a citizen's tip led officers to an apartment the man . At the end of the month, a stakeout of the property led to federal agents and police officers arresting a man who was carrying heavy boxes out of the house and placing them in a vehicle, according to the DEA. The drugs are alleged to have been stored in hidden compartments in their vehicles. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. For two months, Rohn and his partners at the DEA had been using wiretaps to chase a drug ring. Jawara, Earlington lead San Diego to OT win over Riverside December 20, 2022 He previously was a reporter and assistant city editor for the Daily Pilot, a Times Community News publication in Orange County, and before that wrote for the Santa Clarita Valley Signal. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced a record-breaking bust Wednesday: roughly 2,224 pounds of methamphetamine recovered in Riverside County. Thats nearly one fourth as much meth, and one tenth as much heroin, as was seized by the entire DEA nationwide from 2012 to 2014. Agents from Southwest Border Group 2 began investigating a large scale drug trafficking organization with ties to the Sinaloa Cartel in SD Otay-Mesa area, allegedly involved in the transportation and delivery of large quantities of drugs. First published on October 14, 2020 / 10:20 PM. Authorities said the Oct. 2 take, which involved two locations, in Moreno Valley and Perris, represents the largest domestic seizure of the narcotic in the agencys history. Troopers championed the case as the biggest meth bust in the history of Arkansas, but the truck had come from Riverside County. Banning Double Homicide: Arraignment Scheduled Wednesday, Major League Soccer Preseason Kicks Off In Coachella Valley, Banning Child Porn Arrest: Desert Hot Springs Man Pleads Not Guilty, 5 People Killed In Desert Crash Identified By Coroner, 2 Candlelight Vigils Honor Slain RivCo Deputy Darnell Calhoun, Are You Registered For Alert RivCo In Banning? The DEA said the Los Angeles area is the preferred transportation hub for drug traffickers because it is north of the border and it is easier to blend into big cities. "That's a bad combination.". We won't use your email for any other purpose, and you can opt out at any time via an unsubscribe link. All rights reserved. YREKA, Calif., For the fourth time in just over five weeks, members of Siskiyou County's new Domestic Highway Enforcement (DHE) Team made a significant drug bust while patrolling the I-5 corridor through Siskiyou County last Thursday, March 10. Then Reyes rattled off a list of chores. On Jan. 10, 2006, a DEA wiretap intercepted a call to the house, which seemed mundane. Absent from these totals are countless seizures made by Border Patrol, local police and DEA agents from Los Angeles, San Diego and the East Coast, which routinely tracethe source of their drugs back to Riverside County. The biggest haul was in Perris, where DEA agents and investigators from several municipal police departments last week confiscated 2,224 pounds of meth, 893 pounds of cocaine and 13 pounds of heroin, according to Shea. Meth seizures rose from 1,567pounds in fiscal year 2013 to 2,546 pounds in fiscal year 2015, and heroin rose from 150 poundsto 395pounds in the same timeframe. (Credit: DEA), another seizure earlier this month in San Diego. All rights reserved. "The cartels are aware of law enforcement efforts at the border, so what they'll do is they'll flood the border with multiple vehicles coming through," said FBI agent Andrew Sharp. The DEA decided this was the moment to strike. Justice officials fear nation's biggest wiretap operation may not be legal. Over a three-year period that ended in September, the Riverside DEA Office, which also covers San Bernardino County, has seized about 6,500 pounds of meth and 770 pounds of heroin. Updated: 10:31 PM PDT October 14, 2020 CALIFORNIA, USA Federal agents announced what they called the largest methamphetamine bust in U.S. history Wednesday, displaying a 10-foot high pile of. PublishedOctober 14, 2020 at 10:51 AM PDT. Wiretaps are requiredto be last resorts for law enforcement, used only when surveillance, informants and other investigatory tools have failed. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Two years before that, Riverside resident Hiram Granados Alvarez was sentenced to 27 years in prison for attempting to ship 220 pounds of cocaine to a drug ring in Baltimore. Please reload the page and try again. You can review our Community Guidelines by clicking here. The investigation led to search warrants being served at narcotics stash houses in the Riverside County cities of Moreno Valley and Perris, east of Los Angeles. More than 70 investigators worked the two California cases, which included extensive fieldwork and surveillance. Brett Kelman, The Desert Sun, and Brad Heath, USA TODAY. Carfentanil . But danger still brews below the surface. "Someone who's responsible for this quantity of drugs is someone who is very, very trusted by the cartel," Bill Bodner, the special agent in charge of the Los Angeles DEA, said. Tuesday, the Riverside police department announced the results of a three-month narcotics operation, in which undercover officers would buy illegal drugs from drug dealers. Smugglers will try every way possible to try and get their product across the border; and because of the partnership between CBP, Homeland Security investigations and DEA, this significant seizure occurred and we stopped them, said Anne Maricich, acting CBP director of field operations in San Diego. We will continue to work together to disrupt drug trafficking organizations at every opportunity we are given.. And these figures still don't account for all the drugs and cash seized in Riverside County. LA man receives 3 years in prison for $619,000 skimming scheme. In the pickup, agents found the visitors. Twenty-nine pounds of heroin were hidden in a secret compartment. On Oct. 9, U.S. Customs and Border Protection stopped a truck crossing from Mexico into the United States at San Diego's Otay Mesa and found 3,014 pounds (1,367.1 kilograms) of methamphetamine, the agency said Sunday. The US Customers and Border Protection on Oct. 9 recovered 3,014 pounds of the drug from a truck. Agents seized more than 4,800 pounds of meth nationwide and are still working on more arrests, according to the DEA. DEA officials say the smuggled narcotics flow from Mexicos Sinaloa Cartel through Riverside County stash houses en route to sellers markets in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Canada. Kathy Vara reports for the NBC4 News at 4 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 7, 2020. Get up to speed with our Essential California newsletter, sent six days a week. DEA agents make historic $33M drug bust in Riverside County DEA Los Angeles A nearly two-ton seizure of methamphetamine in Norco was the largest meth seizure documented by the U.S. Drug. "The chemicals involved, you hear of places blowing up," Rivas said. After the encounter at the Sam's Club parking lot, the officers got search warrants for two suspected stash houses one in Moreno Valley and the other in Perris. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts. Luke Money is a Metro reporter covering breaking news at the Los Angeles Times. Authorities specifically mentioned two incidents of alleged drug smuggling along the southern border. The driver was Javier Leon-Garcia, 53, a Moreno Valley resident who police say drove the drugs cross-country before being snagged. Gone is the risk of meth lab explosions and violence between rival cooks and dealers. NBC Universal, Inc. A record meth bust part of a national operation was announced Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. More than 40,000 plants are spread out. Bill Bodner, special agent in charge of the DEA's Los Angeles Field Division, said Los Angeles is a major transshipment hub for Mexican cartels trafficking illegal drugs across the southwest border. Officials say the change was spurred by lawmakers, in Sacramento and Washington D.C., who created aggressive laws restricting access to the chemicals used to make meth, commonly called precursors. Withoutingredients, small-scale meth labs became unfeasible. Im proud of the CBP officers dedication to our mission; they continue to stop dangerous drugs from entering our communities.". Agents from Southwest Border Group 2 began investigating a large-scale drug trafficking organization with ties to the Sinaloa Cartel in San Diego's Otay Mesa area, allegedly involved in the transportation and delivery of large quantities of drugs. . A team of agents cut the fence and stormed the home, guns drawn. There's more guns on the street than I've ever seen in my career, and there's thousands of people who should be incarcerated who aren't incarcerated right now," said Gonzalez. Although this stash house was busted, no one knows how many remain undetected, small cogs in Riverside Countys gigantic drug smuggling machine. In total, CBP officers found approximately 3,014 pounds of methamphetamine, 64 pounds of heroin, 29 pounds of fentanyl powder and almost 37 pounds of fentanyl pills, worth an estimated $7.2 million. LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) A pyramid of methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin standing 10 feet tall with an estimated street value of $18.5 million was confiscated during two recent drug trafficking investigations in the Inland Empire representing the largest Drug Enforcement Agency meth bust in U.S. history. INDIO, Calif. The black plastic pipe lay under the overpass, resting against the center median of Interstate 10, one of the nations busiest highways. Anexample of one such house was uncovered in 2006, when the DEA raided a home in a far-flung corner of the Coachella Valley. Read more. Another suspect allegedly sold drugs to undercover officers, just two hours after being released from jail on other charges. Two duffel bags replete with narcotics allegedly changed hands. The agency did not disclose whether any arrests had been made or were pending, saying only that the investigation is ongoing. "Meth is pouring into the U.S. through our southern border, and it's destroying too many communities," Shea said. Agents from Southwest Border Group 2 began investigating a large scale drug trafficking organization with ties to the Sinaloa Cartel in San Diego's Otay-Mesa area, allegedly involved in the transportation and delivery of large quantities of drugs. Help us grow with a monthly contribution. #DEA Acting Administrator Timothy J. Shea, Special Agent in Charge Bill Bodner & local law enforcement discussing the largest domestic methamphetamine seizure in #DEA history. Posted Wed, Jan 29, 2020 at 2:22 pm PT. Representatives of the Riverside Police Department, Riverside County Sheriff's Department, FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration attended the news conference. Authorities said it was the second-largest meth bust ever for Customs and Border Protection. The biggest haul was in Perris, where DEA agents and investigators from several . NWS releases preliminary reports on 13 Alabama tornadoes from Jan. 12. "The more dope we can take off the street, the safer a community it is for us.". Click Here to Download the News Channel 3 app. In all, more than 150 pounds of meth were seized, in addition to more than $31,000 in cash. City News Service contributed to this report. The investigation led to search warrants at multiple narcotic stash houses in Moreno Valley and Perris in Riverside County, officials said. "The Justice Department is committed to making our neighborhoods safer by aggressively disrupting drug cartel operations in the United States.". 11/22/2022 12:00 AM. (Video), Easter, Passover Services In Banning, Beaumont, Riverside County: 2022. The officer referred the driver, truck and shipment for a more intensive inspection, which is when the illicit contraband was discovered, according to the DEA. Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Community Guidelines, EEO Report | FCC Applications | Do Not Sell My Personal Information, Daily News Headlines He pulled into the garage, then closed the door behind him. If they push an investigation far enough, there is an excellent chance its going to make it back here, said Tim Massino, a DEA spokesman. He says to hurry up and clean there because I think hes going to take visitors.. Just last month, authorities arrested another Moreno Valley truck driver, Ricardo Benitez-Serrano, a fugitive who had been caught hauling $2.9 million in suspected drug profits in 2013 and 305 pounds of cocaine in 2014. In the 80s and 90s, Riverside County was a hotbed for meth manufacturing, and meth labs flourished here, taking advantage of the countys empty spaces to hide the foul smell of urine and smoke produced by mixing chemicals. RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KABC) -- An early morning raid by federal and local authorities netted 12 arrests in the Riverside area on Wednesday, with authorities confiscating large amounts of weapons, cash and methamphetamine. Behind him was a 10-foot pyramid comprised of contraband. A 20-year-old La Crosse man faces multiple criminal charges after a Dec. 17 traffic stop in La Crosse. March 17, 2022 Trevor Montgomery. 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