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Uploaded: Thursday, November 8, 2012, 1:00 PM
Updated: Friday, November 9, 2012, 3:54 PM
UPDATE: Two more arrested after SWAT raid on apartment drug lab
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by Nick Veronin
Mountain View Voice Staff
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| Four people have been arrested after Mountain View police, in cooperation with county and state law enforcement, sent a SWAT team into an apartment complex, breaking up a ring of suspected drug manufacturers.
Around noon on Nov. 8, the MVPD's Special Weapons and Tactics team descended upon four units in two apartment buildings in 200 block of Bush Street, near the corner of Bush and Villa streets, according to Sgt. Sean Thompson, public information officer for the Mountain View police. The local police received help from the California Department of Justice, the Santa Clara County Specialized Enforcement Team, as well as officers from the Los Altos and Sunnyvale police departments.
Two were arrested on the spot, and three were detained that day. Currently, a total of four have been arrested: David Strang, Jerrod Kensil, Guadalupe Villador and Richard Rosen. All of them lived in the apartment complex. It is not clear who will be charged with what at this point.
During the raid police found a DMT manufacturing laboratory, and a number of other illegal drugs, including marijuana, methamphetamine, ecstasy, LSD and heroin, police said.
Investigators also found a small cache of weapons, including two shotguns, several semi-automatic firearms and a fully automatic AR-15 assault rifle. Sgt. Dan Vicencio said it was not immediately clear if the weapons had been obtained legally or not. He said it was possible that even the AR-15 could have been owned legally. Although it is now illegal to buy or obtain fully automatic weapons in California, those who owned such weapons prior to the institution of that ban may still legally possess them.
The DMT lab was the focus of the raid, Thompson said, and in the end the total number of doses of DMT discovered greatly outnumbered that of the other drugs found during the raid. Police discovered the lab over the course of a lengthy investigation, which involved the use of undercover officers and other intelligence-gathering methods.
DMT, short for Dimethyltryptamine, is a hallucinogen -- the same class of drug as LSD or "magic mushrooms" -- according to the Drug Enforcement Agency.
DMT produces "intense effects" in the user but does not last as long as other hallucinogens, such as LSD, according to the DMT page on the DEA's website.
"A very small amount is very powerful," Vicencio said. "Even a gram of DMT can be used many times over and effect a lot of people." Both Vicencio and Thompson said the drug is not commonly encountered by law enforcement officials and that DMT manufacturing operations are also rare.
Though the drug may not be popular among recreational drug users in the U.S., the DEA notes it has a long history of human use. "DMT probably goes back several hundred years, since DMT usage is associated with a number of religious practices and rituals. As a naturally occurring substance in many species of plants, DMT is present in a number of South American snuffs and brewed concoctions, like Ayahuasca." It can also be synthesized in a laboratory setting.
Vicencio said that DMT-containing plant materials were found in the apartment, along with other flammable fluids and hazardous materials investigators believe were being used to distil the chemical into a more pure form for distribution and use.
A man who lives near the apartment that was raided said he was "surprised" to learn of the drug lab. The man, who asked to remain anonymous, said he did see a lot of people come and go from the apartment and that the people living in the raided apartments would sometimes have loud parties, but he never smelled anything or saw any indication that drugs were being manufactured there.
He never felt like he was in danger, he said. "Everyone always thinks of, like, violent drug-related stuff, but we never had any instances like that here."
The one thing he said he was concerned about was that the people were working with volatile chemical mixtures so close to his home. However, unlike a methamphetamine laboratory, Thompson said, the risk of explosions is much lower with the manufacture of DMT. Nonetheless, some of the investigators wore full-body protective suits.
The man said he felt the police conducted themselves well during the investigation -- letting him know to leave the area shortly before they began the raid and allowing him back into his home when it was all finished.
"You don't want that kind of thing in your neighborhood," he said.Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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| Comments
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Posted by John, a resident of the Blossom Valley neighborhood, on Nov 8, 2012 at 2:44 pm Wow just wow. hope these drug dealers are busted and brought to justice. Thank you Obama for cleaning these mean streets of Mountain View!!
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Posted by Andy, a resident of the Shoreline West neighborhood, on Nov 8, 2012 at 3:06 pm Wow John, Get a clue! I am happier than anyone to see dealers off the streets but to credit Obama?! Are you really that dim? It was not Obama or Romney, it was the brave officers of MVPD, LAPD, Sunnyvale and SWAT. Give credit where it's due! Our officers are the heros here!
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Posted by John, a resident of the Blossom Valley neighborhood, on Nov 8, 2012 at 3:17 pm Andy: It's called federal funding from the government. The JAG grant. Do you recall now? It was part of the AARA.
and yes thank the police for not killing anyone. Let these scum rot in jail.
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Posted by Otto Maddox, a resident of the Monta Loma neighborhood, on Nov 8, 2012 at 3:24 pm Anyone who thinks the "war" on drugs actually prevents people from using drugs isn't paying attention.
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Posted by Ink, a resident of the Blossom Valley neighborhood, on Nov 8, 2012 at 3:25 pm Maybe we should ask John Inks and his buddies at Prometheus to rebuild that ugly apartment complex.
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Posted by Savage, a resident of the Castro City neighborhood, on Nov 8, 2012 at 3:29 pm I'd personally love to see these agents at work at that Monte Carlo joint. I checked out the place a couple of times and trust me a lot of dealing goes on in the restrooms. I'm sure the owner knows and turns a blind a eye. I'm sure he probably gets a cut too since he lets them operate easily.
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Posted by ObAmney, a resident of the Jackson Park neighborhood, on Nov 8, 2012 at 10:09 pm I think the mv-voice should only allow comments with a Facebook linked profile. That way we can see those faces of the day worker commenters. [Portion removed due to disrespectful comment or offensive language]
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Posted by Kakarot, a resident of the Shoreline West neighborhood, on Nov 8, 2012 at 10:15 pm Can we get their mugshot pictures. I'm curious to see if I might have run into them since I'm near the area everyday.
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Posted by Sean, a resident of the Sylvan Park neighborhood, on Nov 8, 2012 at 10:42 pm Nice bust. Thank Obama or fed funding or local police....who cares???at the end of the day criminals/dealers lose.....or end up dead. always!
And yes mr deportum, I'm sure it was day workers involved. You should get a clue and be racist p.o.s. all the time. Day workers work harder then YOU have ever worked in your life.....believe that!
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Posted by Andy, a resident of the Shoreline West neighborhood, on Nov 9, 2012 at 8:01 am John, [Portion removed buy Voice editors] It has nothing to do with federal funding, that is no different than what Chicago (for instance) police have. My point was to actually thank the guys and gals in riot gear risking their lives, while sip on our lattes enjoying ours. Give respect to those that make an actual sacrifice and deserve it!
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Posted by Old Ben, a resident of the Shoreline West neighborhood, on Nov 9, 2012 at 8:11 am Leave it to the DEA to make a bonehead statement like this: "DMT probably goes back several hundred years, since DMT usage is associated with a number of religious practices and rituals. As a naturally occurring substance in many species of plants, DMT is present in a number of South American snuffs and brewed concoctions, like Ayahuasca."
Ayahuasca has been used for THOUSANDS of years. But then again, the DEA classifies cannabis as a "Schedule 1" drug, with no medical uses, despite the fact that cannabis is NOT a "drug" anymore than oregano or ginseng are "drugs", and despite the US government (through the NIH) holding patent #6630507 on several medical applications for cannabis.
The War On (some) Drugs is a war on people. My body, my choice, as the feminists say.
End Prohibition Now
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Posted by USA, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Nov 9, 2012 at 9:48 am Obama, seriously? This guy => Web Link?
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Posted by dummydude, a resident of the Stierlin Estates neighborhood, on Nov 9, 2012 at 2:51 pm
dummydude is a member (registered user) of Mountain View Online To John and all other pro/anti John commenters:
John's comment is similar to someone saying 'Thank you Lord' or 'Thank heaven',etc... it has no meaning...Obama doesn't get the credit or blame for everything that happens in every nook and corner in this big country.
I think MV police need to be commended for busting these criminals. i Have a feeling that there is definitely more than 1 such lab in the bay area. I am sure everyone of them is now on the alert and trying to lie low. I hope the criminals confess the locations of the other labs. The downtown nightclubs, bars have certainly attracted lot of criminal enterprises into this town.
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Posted by PeaceLove, a resident of the Shoreline West neighborhood, on Nov 9, 2012 at 4:15 pm
PeaceLove is a member (registered user) of Mountain View Online Religious freedom takes another hit.
As Old Ben indicated above, DMT in one form or another has been used for thousands of years as a spiritual and sacred tool. Concerned MV residents may want to familiarize themselves with "DMT: The Spirit Molecule" by Rick Strassman, M.D. Doctor Strassman conducted government funded and approved research with DMT and found it quite extraordinary. Web Link
The full-length documentary, DMT: The Spirit Molecule, is also quite enlightening and can be watched for free online: Web Link
Along with the massive theft of public resources and destruction of uncountable lives, the War on Drugs is a war against human freedom and consciousness. I encourage everyone to call publicly for its immediate end.
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