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Multiple Drug Arrests In Anderson Valley [2008]

Mendocino County's Major Crimes Task Force roared into Anderson Valley in a fleet of unmarked vehicles, headed for the old Bachman Hill School in Philo and an Anderson Valley Way, Boonville, address.

It was Tuesday morning, the 14th of October, 2008, a perfect fall day at the end of which a half-dozen people had fallen to law enforcement, and two very young children, ages 1 and 3, were in the custody of Mendocino County social workers.

Near the Philo Grange, a dozen athletic men in jump suits had leaped from their vehicles to run through the rambling Philo property, guns drawn, a hand-held battering ram at the ready, one of them waving a warrant for the occupants of two of the many rental units on the place.

Jose Luis Anguiano, 29, was soon arrested on suspicion of charges that include possession of marijuana and a controlled substance for sale and child endangerment.

Martin Anguiano-Soto, 18, was arrested at Anderson Valley High School on suspicion of possession of marijuana and a controlled substance, methamphetamine, for sale.

Norma Alisia Anguiano-Soto, 19, was also arrested on suspicion of possession of marijuana and a controlled substance for sale and child endangerment.

Antonio Lopez Cuevas, 23, was arrested and charged with suspicion of possession of marijuana and a controlled substance for sale.

And Jaime Damian-Aparicio, 26, was arrested on suspicion of possession of marijuana and a controlled substance for sale.

Bob Nishiyama, then-head of the Ukiah-based office of the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, said 104 pounds of marijuana, 746 grams (roughly a pound and a half) of methamphetamine, and more than $10,000 in cash were confiscated.

Nishiyama speculated that the persons arrested had begun to sell crank to make up the income they'd lost from earlier raids on nearby marijuana gardens. Another officer said he thought the crank, imported from Mexico, had been traded for marijuana.

While arrests were made on the east side of 128 at what is now called Villa de Guadalupe, formerly Bachman Hill School, owned by the Ashiku family of Ukiah, several members of the raid team sprinted across the street where the battering ram was used to crush the front door of Pam Balson's rental. Ms. Balson and her children were not home at the time but, a week later, Ms. Balson remains highly indignant.

“I got home and my front door was smashed in. They left this so-called warrant, and now I'm wondering who's going to pay to fix my door. I'm probably the only person in this whole area who doesn't have marijuana!”

The door was soon fixed by the property manager. Ms. Balson, however, remained unmollified.

At 12449 Anderson Valley Way, where three small houses occupy a crowded half acre next to Evergreen Cemetery, the strike force served a warrant for Gustavo Perez Sanchez, 39.

“Everybody and their uncle ran in six different directions when we got there,” Nishiyama commented, although no one was arrested until the next day.

Mr. Sanchez, the man named on the warrant for 12449 Anderson Valley Way, is employed by Frank Vane Firewood. He was not at home when the Strike Force sent his large family scurrying from the premises, but was arrested the next day by Anderson Valley resident deputy Keith Squires when Squires spotted Sanchez driving a log truck to Ukiah.

At the Sanchez home, police seized twelve 1-pound bags of processed marijuana, marijuana seeds, $1,700 cash, a 12-gauge shotgun, two 9mm pistols and two illegal assault rifles – an MAK 90 and an AR 15.

The Sanchez family was invaded last winter by a gang of armed men who robbed them of marijuana, cash of an unknown amount, and household goods. The home invaders also cleaned out the home of Sanchez's brother next door. They arrived at the Sanchez homes after midnight and loaded their vehicles with as much of the Sanchez family's portable goods as they could carry.

The Strike Force, according to sources close to law enforcement, “is not through in Anderson Valley. The people we got this time were snitched off by friends and relatives. Old scores are being settled. This isn't the end of it.”

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