By F. Scott Faulkner
October 11, 2025 – Ventura County, CA
What began as a routine investigation into a local drug trafficking ring ended in a major narcotics
seizure and the arrest of three Los Angeles County residents earlier this month.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Jonathan James, detectives
with the Thousand Oaks Directed Enforcement Unit (DEU) had been “tracking a suspected drug
trafficking organization since August 2025.”
Working in concert with the East County Special
Enforcement Unit and the Ventura County Combined Agency Team, investigators “linked
multiple suspects, vehicles, and a residence” to large-scale narcotics sales across the area.
On October 9, the operation came to a head.
VCSD deputies executed search warrants on
several vehicles and a residence, uncovering an “unserialized handgun with ammunition, roughly
$8,000 in cash, and an arsenal of illegal substances packaged for sale.”
The haul included nearly three pounds of cocaine, over two pounds each of marijuana and psilocybin
mushrooms, smaller amounts of methamphetamine, ketamine and MDMA
Also about 9,000 alprazolam pills, 547 THC vape cartridges, and a large cache of drug-laced candy and
nitrous oxide were located.
Investigators also seized scales, heat sealers, packaging materials, and money-
counting machines, all presumed to be the tools of an organized trafficking network.
Alejandro Duarte, 24, Brian Lopez-Reyes, 25, and Anthony Garcia, 18, all residents of
Northridge, were taken into custody.
They were charged with possessing controlled substances for sale, possessing marijuana for sale, and conspiracy, and unlawful transfer of a
firearm with their bail set at $500,000 each.
Photo: Courtesy Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Directed Enforcement Unit
