Federal agents and Los Angeles police officers conducted a large-scale operation this week targeting drug trafficking in and around Skid Row, arresting dozens of people accused of selling fentanyl, methamphetamine, PCP and cocaine to homeless residents.
The multi-agency effort, called Operation Save Skid Row, involved the FBI, DEA, IRS, ATF, U.S. Marshals Service and the LAPD. Agents executed 28 arrest warrants and 44 search warrants for federal drug trafficking offenses. Guns, drugs and paraphernalia were seized, and notices were placed on tents in the area stating they were “subject to seizure and forfeiture for violations of the Federal Controlled Substances Act.”
Before moving into Skid Row, authorities carried out raids on homes of alleged distributors, including the Pasadena residence of Manuel Vaughns, who is accused of dealing cocaine.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said officials are also seizing vehicles connected to the alleged dealers, including some described as luxury cars that dealers allegedly drove to Skid Row on days when residents receive public assistance payments.
“Not only are we arresting the Skid Row drug dealers, but we are also taking their cars. Anything purchased with drug money is subject to forfeiture,” Essayli said.
Essayli described the alleged operations as highly organized. “Individuals that we targeted in today’s operations are selling drugs to homeless people. They’re keeping the homeless addicted to hard drugs — we’re talking fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, and PCP,” he said. “The drug dealers are very sophisticated. They know when the homeless get their public assistance benefits payments; they get them on the 1st and the 15th, and they’re there like clockwork. They’re there in their fancy cars, selling the drugs and collecting the cash. Some of it we saw in today’s operation.”
Investigators said some dealers posed as social workers or homeless services providers, using low-income housing and single-room occupancy units as stash houses.
Patrick Grandy, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, thanked the agencies involved, which operate as part of the Homeland Security Task Force and the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Initiative, for efforts targeting crime affecting what he called some of the most vulnerable members of the community.
Because the charges are federal rather than state, those arrested face potentially lengthy prison sentences.
The operation follows comments Essayli made in late September when asked by Fox News host Katie Pavlich whether the federal government should intervene on Skid Row. “I’m not going to preview anything, but we are definitely working with our partners, federal and local, and it’s something we’re looking at,” he said at the time. “I’m not gonna preview anything today, but if the locals don’t act, we will.”
The raids come amid continued reporting on conditions in Skid Row from Joey Tuccio, who runs an animal rescue nonprofit and has documented numerous cases of dogs being abused or killed in the area, which he attributes to drug activity among encampment residents. Tuccio said he went to Skid Row to assist with animal rescue efforts after learning of the operation.
Federal agents have previously conducted raids in MacArthur Park targeting narcotics activity.
