miércoles, 12 de diciembre de 2012

TEMECULA: 22 students arrested in undercover drug sting | Breaking News | PE ... - Press-Enterprise

Nearly two dozen students were arrested Tuesday morning, Dec. 11, at three Temecula high schools as part of an undercover investigation into drug sales on campus in which deputies posed as students, authorities said.

About 8:30 a.m., investigators bearing arrest warrants detained 15 students at Temecula Valley High School, five at Chaparral High School and two at Rancho Vista Continuation High School, according to news releases from the Temecula Valley Unified School District and the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. The students were escorted out of class without incident, district officials said.

Sgt. Steve De La Vara said the investigation spanned a few months. Since it began, deputies have seized marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy, heroin, LSD and "illegal prescription drugs," a sheriff's news release said. The amounts of drugs seized were not disclosed.

The two adult students arrested were identified as Eduardo Rubio and Luke Sergey Waltrip, both 18, sheriff's officials said. Rubio was arrested at Temecula Valley and Waltrip at Chaparral. They were booked into the Southwest Detention Center in French Valley on suspicion of possession of drugs for sale, jail records show.

The other students arrested were booked at Juvenile Hall, sheriff's officials said.

Two others were arrested after a search warrant was served at their home in the 39000 block of Diego Drive in Temecula, sheriff's officials said.

Denise Robertson, 43, and Laverne Rolland Robertson, 44, were arrested on suspicion of child endangerment, the release said. Details about their connection to the investigation were not available Tuesday.

According to court records, a female deputy began attending Temecula Valley High School on Aug. 15 with the goal of identifying people selling drugs on campus. The deputy bought marijuana from Rubio on three occasions in November, according to arrest warrant documents.

A male deputy began posing as a student at Chaparral High School on Aug. 15, court records show. The deputy bought marijuana from Waltrip during their third-period Tech Core class Oct. 18 and again later that month. Around Oct. 23, he bought two ecstasy pills from Waltrip, court records say.

District officials said investigators informed them early Tuesday that they planned to make arrests at the schools. Email messages were sent to parents later notifying them.

"Our district adheres to a zero tolerance policy in regards to drug use," district officials said in a written statement. "The education and safety of all students on our campus is our top priority. Anything that may prohibit this from happening on our campus will always be dealt with in a swift and efficient manner."

It was unclear whether district officials were notified of the undercover operation in advance. Superintendent Tim Ritter was not immediately available for comment.

In 2011, undercover deputies posing as students spent four months at two Inland high schools as they gathered evidence that led to the arrest of 24 teenagers on drug-dealing charges at Vista del Lago High School in Moreno Valley and Elsinore High School in Wildomar. Riverside County sheriff's deputies began attending classes on the first day of school pretending to be students while trying to ferret out drug dealing on campus.

In 2010, there was a similar undercover 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.

Also contributing to this report: Staff Writer Michelle L. Klampe

Follow Sarah Burge on Twitter and online at blog.pe.com/crime-blotter

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