Federal agents served more than a dozen search warrants Tuesday morning across Southern California and Virginia in an operation that targeted a suspected Escondido-based drug network.
Federal prosecutors in San Diego said more than 150 law enforcement agents took part in the operation, which was the culmination of a 16-month investigation that had involved undercover drug buys, covert surveillance and wiretaps. Prosecutors said law enforcement personnel arrested 16 defendants who have been indicted on federal charges in U.S. District Court in San Diego and served 16 search warrants in Escondido, San Diego, Orange County and Roanoke, Va.
The alleged drug-trafficking ring is accused of distributing large amounts of methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine and Adderall, a prescription medication, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors allege that during the course of the investigation and during the raids on Tuesday, agents confiscated roughly 116 pounds of methamphetamine, more than 4 pounds of the ultra-potent drug fentanyl and “substantial quantities of cocaine and Adderall,” as well as nine guns, ammunition and body armor.
“This group was flooding our community with … drugs that tear families apart and put lives at risk,” Acting U.S. Attorney Andrew Haden said in a statement. “Thanks to this law enforcement effort, we’re taking a major step in making our streets safer and holding traffickers accountable.”
As roughly 100 federal agents and other law enforcement personnel gathered Tuesday morning in a parking lot near Escondido Police Department headquarters, fear spread among some community members that immigration raids were imminent, according to Pedro Ríos, director of the American Friends Service Committee’s U.S./Mexico Border Program.
Ríos said he began receiving messages expressing those concerns around 7:30 a.m., based in part on the presence of an armored vehicle with “HSI” painted on the side. Homeland Security Investigations is under Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of the Department of Homeland Security. HSI is often involved in investigations with an international nexus and investigates a broad category of crimes, including drug and human smuggling, child exploitation, weapons trafficking, cybercrime, financial crimes, terrorism and national security threats.
Prosecutors said the Fentanyl Abatement and Suppression Team, a federal task force led by HSI San Diego, led the long-term investigation of the alleged drug ring. In an Instagram post Tuesday morning, Escondido police sought to reassure community members that the operation was not immigration focused.
“This effort is aimed at disrupting illegal drug trafficking and distribution networks operating in our community,” the post read. “This operation is solely targeting drug traffickers and distributors.”
Prosecutors said Escondido residents Hector Armando Espinoza, 29, and Demetrius “Demo” Collins, 34, held leadership roles in the alleged drug-trafficking ring. Prosecutors said that on two occasions in early 2024, Collins sold an undercover agent a total of nearly 10 pounds of methamphetamine and nearly 2 pounds of fentanyl pills in exchange for more than $30,000. Prosecutors allege Espinoza provided Collins with the drugs.
Agents later installed a tracking device on Espinoza’s car, which he found, removed and placed on the vehicle of an unsuspecting stranger, prosecutors said. After that, Espinoza allegedly began relying heavily on others in the network to distribute drugs on his behalf, but prosecutors said wiretaps allowed agents to listen in on Espinoza setting up and directing drug sales.
Of the 16 defendants arrested Tuesday and charged in two indictments, 11 lived in Escondido, according to prosecutors. The others lived in San Diego, Oceanside, Encinitas, National City and Irvine.
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