13 people were arrested during the early morning operation... nine of them on federal charges including drug trafficking.. specifically the distribution of methamphetamine.
Most of the federal defendants are from Santa Maria and range in age from 23 to 51:
Freddie Sutton, 51, Oceano
Mike Shepherd, 50, Santa Maria
Christopher DeLong, 50, Arroyo Grande
Keshon Cole, 34, Santa Maria
Randy Fuston, 29, Santa Maria
Melvin Braddock, 40, Santa Maria
Eduardo Sanchez, 27, Santa Maria
Jesus Buenrostro, 23, Santa Maria
Sergio Godinez, 30, Santa Maria
Four other men face state charges including distributing an assault weapon with a gang enhancement.
The four men facing state charges are:
Petri Duval Gordon, Lompoc, Troy Hemony Grant, Lompoc, Alberto Diaz Jr., Guadalupe Ralph Epiphano Castillo, Guadalupe.
"The biggest message here is to the criminal element out there that continues to prey on our innocent people here, we're tired of it", says Santa Maria Police Chief Dan Macagni.
The operation is the culmination of a year long investigation into drug trafficking networks by members and associates of a Lompoc-based subset of the Six Deuce Brims Bloods gang and the Northwest street gang in Santa Maria, described by law enforcement as the largest Hispanic gang on the Central Coast that is affiliated with the Mexican Mafia prison gang.
"We're seeing the local gangs involved in a lot of our street robberies, a lot of stabbings, shootings", adds Chief Macagni, "bad guys are going to go jail, its going to be a safe place to live, the streets are going to be, we're going to take control of them, we are not going to tolerate the criminal element keeping people in fear."
The nine federal defendants will be arraigned in federal court in Los Angeles, the four others facing state charges will appear in Santa Barbara County Superior Court.
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