ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Alpharetta police say detectives and federal agents seized an estimated $500,000 worth of meth and other drugs from an apartment.
Police told
[ Channel 2’s Mike Petchenik ]
that Drug Enforcement Administration agents had been conducting surveillance on the Ivywood Lane apartment for some time. %
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Officer George Gordon said undercover officers executed a search on the apartment recently and found drugs, guns and cash.
“We recovered approximately 10 pounds of meth, three large bags had large bundles of that narcotic,” Gordon said. “We recovered 3 pounds of marijuana, two handguns without serial numbers and ammo. This was a large operation.”
Gordon said when officers showed up at the apartment, the three people who live there were gone, but police were able to pull them over and arrest them not far from the apartment off Mansell Road.
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Vendi Rivera, 31, Alonso Penaloza, 25, and Alejandro Garcia Leon, 20, were arrested. Gordon said all three have ties to a Mexican gang.
“With the help of the DEA, we removed a large amount of product that can simply be causing havoc throughout North Fulton, in fact into Forsyth, Cherokee and surrounding areas,” he said.
Gordon also told Petchenik a man showed up at the apartment to buy meth while agents were conducting their search.
“Lo and behold, he shows up on scene to buy his narcotic and walks into a nest of DEA agents and undercover detectives,” he said.
Neighbor Tre Robinson told Petchenik he saw the bust.
“We see guys with full vests on, and I guess they was watching them for a while,” he said. “I figured it was something different, like a child got kidnapped or someone got murdered. When I seen DEA, I was like, ‘Oh, it’s a drug bust.’”
Neighbor Ericka Robinson told Petchenik she was shocked to hear about the large bust.
“It’s crazy and it’s next door,” she said.