Drug sweep leads to two arrests

Members of two specialty law enforcement teams carried out a “narcotic suppression operation” Wednesday, which led to the arrest of two people.

On Wednesday morning, two Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station units—the Juvenile Intervention Team and its Crime Impact Team—patrolled the parking lots of businesses and a shopping center looking for “individuals using narcotics and/or involved in narcotics sales,” Shirley Miller, spokeswoman for the SCV Sheriff’s Station, wrote in a post on Facebook.

“Deputies made contact with a woman in her 40s, from the Antelope Valley, in a parking lot near Bouquet Canyon Road and Newhall Ranch Road,” Miller wrote. “She was found to have three warrants in the system for narcotics.

“Coincidentally, her boyfriend who was also in the vehicle, had just returned from court where he was taking care of his narcotics warrants,” Miller said.

As deputies continued their patrol, they spotted a young man walking along Valencia Boulevard, just past Cinema Drive.

“He was stumbling as he walked, and could barely keep his balance,” Miller said. “Deputies pulled over to check on him and determined he was under the influence of an opiate.

“His symptoms were so severe,” Miller reported, “that one of the deputies commented it was ‘One of the worse cases he had seen.’”

Deputies allegedly found the 21-year-old SCV man in possession of heroin. He was transported to the local hospital for emergency medical assistance.

Once medically cleared, the booking process was initiated.

The Juvenile Intervention Team, primarily focuses on minors and young adults with drug offenses, using a three-pronged approach of education, enforcement and rehabilitation to stop the cycle of drug abuse.

Members of the team conduct follow-up care after offenders are released from jail.

They make contact with the individuals, offering assistance and support to help them get into a treatment center.