Major Drug Trafficking Organization Busted Up, RivCo Man Arrested

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA — A Riverside man was among several arrested as part of a takedown of "a major narcotic trafficking organization" by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and members of the Ventura County Combined Agency Team, the federal agency reported Tuesday.

Antonio DeJesus Santana, 31, of Riverside was taken into custody March 16 in Camarillo following multiple month-long investigations into the criminal organization, according to the DEA.

Santana was nabbed after DEA special agents and VCAT investigators began looking into 24-year-old Homero Diaz of Bakersfield. Diaz was trafficking drugs into Venture County, including methamphetamine and fraudulent prescription pills containing deadly fentanyl; the pills were pressed to look like prescription oxycodone pills, the DEA said.

On the same day as Santana's arrest, Diaz and five other defendants were also taken into federal custody in Camarillo, where Diaz was coordinating a delivery of fentanyl and methamphetamine, according to the DEA.

In addition to Santana and Diaz, the five other arrestees were Manuel Martinez, 24, of Ventura; Apolinar Mena, 30 of Compton; Francisco Placencia, 28, of Compton; Jesus Varela, 28, of Torrance; and Jaime Gomez Lopez, 27, of Compton.

As part of the law enforcement operation, approximately 50,000 fentanyl pills and 45 pounds of methamphetamine were seized from three cars the suspects had arrived in, according to the DEA.

Both drugs are inexpensive and the DEA said the street value was estimated at $230,000.

Fentanyl is mainly manufactured in foreign labs and primarily smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the DEA. The drug is known to be 80-100 times more potent than morphine and is a popular additive, mixed into any number of narcotics and pharmaceuticals, according to public safety officials.

In 2021, there were 391 fentanyl poisoning deaths in Riverside County, according to sheriff's Sgt. Edward Soto.

As of the first week of March, Riverside County District Attorney's Office spokesperson John Hall said murder charges had been filed against 13 defendants in 12 fentanyl poisoning cases.

All seven suspects were booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles and they made their initial court appearances on March 17.