Gang Members Caught With Drugs Near Reagan HS: Police

NORTH AUSTIN-PFLUGERVILLE, TX -- A suspected gang member was arrested Wednesday after allegedly trying to sell drugs near campus at Reagan High School, school district officials said.

In a telephone interview with Patch, Austin Independent School District Police Chief Eric Mendez said an officer was dispatched to the campus to investigate an incident involving two men trying to pick a fight with other individuals.

Although the pair left before police arrived, a district officer had a description of their vehicle and a partial license plate. Armed with that information, the officer pulled over a truck matching the description some 1,000 feet from campus.

But the men in the vehicle ended up being two other people, Mendez said.

“We had a report at Reagan High School of two Hispanic males on campus with tattoos allegedly trying to start a fight or assault someone,” Mendez said. “We didn’t find anybody, but knew they got into a truck and had a partial license plate, and the officer observed a truck matching the description.”

Although they weren’t the same men from the earlier report, the officer questioned the pair and later found one to be in possession of drugs, Mendez said.

An earlier report by KXAN-TV inaccurately reported the two men had tried to sell their drugs on campus, Mendez said. Still, the television station’s report shed light on the successful police stop netting driver Fernando Vences, 28, and his passenger as Jose Luis Wenses, 32.

Wenses was forthright about his intentions, according to police accounts. When asked if he had drugs on him, he acknowledged the presence of a baggie of marijuana in his front pocket.

The officer questioning the pair also found a cigarette box containing crystal meth and 14 small, individually wrapped bags of suspected methamphetamine.

“Yes, that is mine,” Wenses reportedly told the officer. “I was going to try selling it.”

Wenses subsequently was arrested for possessing and manufacturing a controlled substance. No drugs were found on the driver.

While the men weren’t trying to sell drugs on campus, Mendez said district officers continually educate their students on range of societal dangers: Drugs, alcohol, cyber-bullying and gangs among other issues. Last year alone, district officers staged 320 such presentations to more than 14,000 students, Mendez said.

In the wake of the Reagan HS incident, KXAN-TV will air an interview with AISD police on the threat of drugs and gangs on campus. The report is scheduled at 6 p.m. Wednesday.