17 Arrested in Raids on Drug Operations

Seventeen people were arrested in a series of early morning raids Friday that police described as a crackdown on a major methamphetamine network that extended throughout northern Orange County and into Riverside County.

Along with the arrests, police confiscated an undisclosed number of weapons, potentially deadly chemicals and laboratory equipment used in the manufacture of methamphetamine, or speed, said Corinne Loomis, a spokeswoman for the Placentia Police Department, one of six police agencies including the FBI that took part in the raids.

Starting at 7 a.m., police raided nine residential locations and found and dismantled four working methamphetamine labs, Loomis said.

“The arrests we made [Friday] are going to put a major dent in the manufacture of methamphetamine in the north Orange County area,” Loomis said. “This was one clan, working together to manufacture and distribute the drug.”

Fifty police officers took part in the raids at homes and residential garages in Anaheim, Yorba Linda, Chino Hills and Riverside, Loomis said. The raids were the culmination of a four-month investigation.

“These people came to our attention through anonymous tips and from citizens who noticed either high traffic coming in and out of residences or chemical odors coming out of a house,” Loomis said, adding that an 18-month-old baby was being raised at one of the residences that was raided.

Loomis said that methamphetamine is a growing problem in Orange County because it can be manufactured so easily at clandestine labs. But such makeshift labs are also a serious fire hazard, she said.

Included among those Orange County residents arrested were: Brian McVee, Joseph Olinger, Christy Honick, Scott Blanfuss and Jeff Kimberly of Placentia; and Marlin Haag, Julie Hess, Brett Vandekappelle, Kenneth Heimlich, Margaret Weaver, Claudia Lee, Scott Kruse, Cheryl Ludden, Steve Brown and Richard Tompkins of Yorba Linda.

The suspects were arrested on suspicion of a variety of charges ranging from the manufacture of methamphetamine, the possession and distribution of methamphetamine and conspiracy, Loomis said.