DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Federal law enforcement officials, along with the Los Angeles Police Department, are targeting drug dealing in Downtown Los Angeles with “Operation Save Skid Row.”
Authorities announced that 28 people in total will be charged with drug-related offenses as part of the takedown.
Local law enforcement, in collaboration with the FBI, DEA and even the IRS, executed 44 search warrants across L.A. County on Thursday, taking 21 people into custody for alleged drug distribution so far.
According to LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell, 15 search warrants were served in the city, including nine on Skid Row, plus others in Pasadena, West Covina, Simi Valley and more.
ABC7 On Your Side Investigates was at the scene of one of the search warrants, where federal agents went into a Pasadena home around 5 a.m. After the FBI ordered those inside the house to come outside, they flew a drone inside before agents busted in and started their search. The suspect wasn’t home, but that didn’t stop their search.
About 100 law enforcement vehicles were part of the countywide operation, authorities said.
Thursday’s drug sweep was centered on the intersection of Crocker Street and 5th Street in DTLA’s Skid Row area, which officials describe as being notorious for “poverty, homelessness and drug use.”
Law enforcement says there are multiple tents set up in the area just for drug sales. Multiple gang members are allegedly among those facing charges, including members of the “Main Street Crips,” “Grape Street/Raymond Avenue Crips” and the “Pueblo Bishop Bloods.”
ABC7 On Your Side Investigates watched as federal agents with search warrants pulled drugs, wads of cash and even a gun out of tents along Skid Row. McDonnell said drugs including methamphetamine and fentanyl were seized, plus crack cocaine, PCP and heroin.
“Many of those arrested today do not live in the city of Los Angeles. They come here from outside our city, not to contribute to the community, but to exploit it,” McDonnell said. “They saw vulnerable people as a currency, addiction as a business opportunity and our streets as a storefront.”
Many of the suspects are accused of disguising themselves as homeless people or social workers to blend into the environment and evade law enforcement.
Authorities noted that homeless people were not targeted in the operation, only drug dealers, specifically those with “sizable assets.”
Federal agents say the operation is part of an effort to crack down on the sale of fentanyl and PCP.
“We are no longer going to have open-air drug markets in the United States, let alone on Skid Row. And that is the reason you see so many homeless people who are experiencing psychotic episodes, who are unwell, they aren’t seeking help, it’s because you have people, like the drug dealers we are arresting today, keeping them addicted and taking their public assistance money to pay for their drugs,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli.
“We’re out here to try and stop and eliminate the narcotics flow in and around Skid Row, right? There are individuals who are preying on the vulnerable population here in Skid Row, and we’re targeting those individuals to take them into custody so we can help the individuals, the citizens out here, who live on the streets of Skid Row,” said Patrick Grandy, the FBI Los Angeles assistant director in charge.
McDonnell said Operation Save Skid Row is the culmination of over six months of shared investigative work, intelligence gathering and planning.
Thursday’s operation is much like a sting that happened earlier this year at MacArthur Park. Federal law enforcement officials said 24 people were arrested in connection with that operation.
Operation Save Skid Row was described as a “next step” after the MacArthur Park arrests.
SEE ALSO: 18 arrested, 40 pounds of fentanyl seized in drug raid at MacArthur Park, Calabasas, San Gabriel
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