Pubdate: Fri, 13 Dec 2013
Source: Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA)
Copyright: 2013 The Press-Enterprise Company
Contact: http://www.pe.com/localnews/opinion/letters_form.html
Website: http://www.pe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/830
Author: Sarah Burge

Drug Arrests

PERRIS AND MENIFEE STUDENTS SNARED BY UNDERCOVER DEPUTIES

About two dozen students were arrested Thursday morning, Dec. 12, at 
high schools in Menifee and Perris as part of a semester-long 
undercover drug investigation in which deputies posed as students, 
authorities said.

Deputies descended on the campuses of Paloma Valley High School and 
Perris High School during second period to make the arrests, 
Riverside County sheriff's officials said.

Lt. Paul Bennett said deputies identified a total of 25 students, two 
of whom are adults, suspected of selling drugs. Officers served 22 
drug-related arrest warrants on campus Thursday. Three suspects 
weren't in school Thursday and are still at large, he said.

The adult students  Serina Ramirez, 18, and Erick De La Cruz, 
19  were arrested at Perris High School. They were booked into the 
Southwest Detention Center in French Valley.

The minors were booked into Juvenile Hall.

Two deputies - a woman at Perris and a man at Paloma - had been 
posing as students since the beginning of the school year in an 
attempt to ferret out drug dealing on campus. Over the course of the 
investigation, deputies seized drugs including marijuana, cocaine, 
crack cocaine, methamphetamine, hashish and various prescription 
pills, the release said. Bennett said most of the drug buys were for 
small amounts of marijuana.

Officers also served search warrants at the Menifee and Perris homes 
of two of the students arrested, Bennett said.

After school at Paloma Valley, the drug bust was the talk of campus 
and rumors were flying. Some students were convinced they knew which 
classmate was the undercover deputy. Other students feared there were 
other undercover deputies and even wondered aloud about a substitute 
teacher who struck them as suspicious.

The students said officers came into classrooms with photos of the 
teen suspects and handcuffed them in front of everyone.

Anthony Rodriguez, 16, said the officers weren't on campus for long.

"They knew who they were looking for and exactly how to get there," he said.

Trevor Steinrichter, 16, said police showed up in his history class.

"Scary. I saw my friend get arrested," he said.

Bruce Hollen, 16, said it was disturbing to think a deputy was posing 
as a student.

"You think you can trust people  you just never know," he said.

Jonathan Greenberg, superintendent of the Perris Union High School 
District, said the Sheriff's Department approached the district 
earlier this year proposing an undercover operation.

Greenberg said he had no reservations.

"It was a question of what we could do to assist them," he said.

"This is a very well-researched program," he added. "The people in it 
are all professionals."

Greenberg said there were only three district officials who knew 
about the investigation. No one on the two campuses was told. He said 
he informed school board members Wednesday night.

The Sheriff's Department has been conducting undercover drug 
investigations on high school campuses for the past few years.

Last year, the investigation focused on Chaparral and Temecula Valley 
high schools in Temecula. About two dozen students were arrested. One 
of those arrests, of a special education student with autism, has 
prompted a lawsuit against the Temecula Valley Unified School District.

In 2011, undercover deputies posed as students at Vista del Lago High 
School in Moreno Valley and Elsinore High School in Wildomar. And in 
2010, there was a similar sting at Palm Desert High School.

The Los Angeles Police Department pioneered undercover drug busts in 
high schools decades ago. But the department discontinued its program 
in 2005 after Los Angeles Unified School District officials noticed 
an increasing number of students arrested were in special education 
and that police typically found very small amounts of marijuana. 
District officials feared the program was failing to catch the 
serious drug dealers.

Bennett said the deputies selected to go undercover this year 
received additional training about special needs students, in 
addition to training about avoiding entrapment.

He said all of those arrested this year are "mainstream students" in 
general education classes.

Greenberg said undercover operations are helpful but are just one 
part of an "overall strategy" to keep drugs off campus. For example, 
the district also brings drug-sniffing dogs to campus, he said.

He said he was aware of the controversy in Temecula, but believes 
most parents support these kinds of operations.

Outside Paloma Thursday afternoon Thuy Olbert, a parent, said she 
didn't object to an undercover drug investigation, but questioned how 
effective it would be at eliminating drug activity at school.

"I highly doubt it's going to stop it," she said.

"I'm just glad my kid wasn't one of the ones who got arrested," she 
said with a laugh, "because he'd be dead!"
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom