Six Sonoma County homes raided in massive drug bust

Santa Rosa police, backed by numerous other law enforcement agencies, on Thursday arrested 12 people in six cities targeting what they called a major family-run drug-trafficking ring connected to Sonoma County’s largest heroin seizure.

The synchronized 6 a.m. raids were conducted at five houses in Santa Rosa, one in Rohnert Park and others throughout the state by about 150 officers from 10 agencies. The suspects are tied to the Reyna-Ceron family organization - a local network of heroin and methamphetamine suppliers who have been operating in the area since the 1990s, said Santa Rosa narcotics Sgt. Rich Celli, who helped run the investigation.

“These are sophisticated, cartel-like drug traffickers,” Celli said. Since at least the 1990s, “they’ve been a constant source of supply” of heroin and meth in the county.

Included in the arrests were brothers Eutimio and Marcelino Reyna-Ceron, considered among the top suspects, Celli said.

Thursday’s sweep followed a two-year investigation into the group that included an Aug. 12 search of a Rohnert Park property connected to the drug ring. That search turned up about 78 pounds of heroin and meth hidden in secret compartments built into the tire rims of a car parked on the property, Celli said. The arrests are expected to cause a significant disruption in the regional heroin trade.

The value of the seizure, including about 50 pounds of heroin, is most likely in the millions of dollars, but the money would vary if sold in bulk as opposed to on the street, he said.

At the time, police did not announce the massive seizure or three arrests, as they were working toward Thursday’s arrest effort, the narcotics sergeant said.

The 11 men and one woman arrested Thursday will appear Friday in a San Francisco federal court to be arraigned. Police have warrants ready for four more people who they have yet to arrest.

The bulk of the charges involve drug distribution and possession. Some charges will be enhanced because of the quantity of drugs sold, Celli said.

Two of the suspects were arrested in connection with a heroin overdose death in August of a Sonoma County woman, he said.

All those arrested Thursday were suspected of being moderate- to high-level distributors and some occupy roles at the top of the Reyna-Ceron organization, Celli said. About half of those arrested were related.

All suspects were taken into custody without incident, although a few tried to run, Celli said. By late Thursday afternoon, items taken from the property searches included more than $50,000 in cash, three guns - including one stolen handgun - and about 10 pounds of meth, plus evidence of drug distribution, he said.

Celli said attempts by Santa Rosa police to investigate the organization go back years. This time, when the case grew beyond Sonoma County into areas including Modesto, San Jose and Merced, the city turned to federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents for additional help.

Federal agents and city detectives put in thousands of hours of surveillance and undercover work on the network. Celli said it was a difficult case, in part because the group used countersurveillance techniques and was extremely cautious.

Santa Rosa Police Chief Hank Schreeder praised the work of his narcotics detectives and the cooperation between agencies in both the investigation and Thursday’s operation.

“It’s really impressive, the work that’s been done,” Schreeder said. “When you’re talking about a case like this, everything has to come together within a couple of hours.”

Before dawn Thursday, about 100 officers gathered at a Santa Rosa location for a final briefing before they fanned out in teams to the Sonoma County locations. Officers in the other cities also worked in teams and coordinated their response to the targeted 6 a.m. time.

One of the Santa Rosa homes raided was in one-half of a duplex on Julie Court, a small cul-de-sac in northwest Santa Rosa, off Northcoast Street and West Steele Lane.

Celli said that as the raid at the duplex began, someone inside called 911 to report intruders were trying to get in. A dispatcher told them to open the door, as it was the police who were there.

In the hours after the raid, officers continued to process evidence from the home, including trying to match keys discovered in the residence to nearby cars.

Neighbor Fidel Gutierrez, 40, said all was quiet when he left for work at 6 a.m., but when he returned at 8:30 because rain had canceled his construction job, he found his street packed with marked and unmarked police vehicles.

Gutierrez said his nephew reported seeing police jump the rear fence as they took up positions behind the home that was raided.

He said he did not know the neighbor whose home was raided, but that the man was in his mid-20s. He said he hadn’t noticed any unusual comings and goings at the home.

Another neighbor, a woman with a young daughter, said there were often vehicles parked on Julie Court that didn’t appear to belong to local residents, and that some neighbors were frustrated by the activity.

“It just seemed suspicious,” she said.

Another raid took place on Schlee Way off West Barham Avenue. A longtime resident of Roseland said a family member spotted several police vehicles at the home around 8 a.m.

The man said at least three families including small children lived in the home and the residents “liked to party all the time.”

The single-family home has a stroller in the driveway, two small plastic trees on the front lawn, and was decorated with Christmas lights in the shape of the yellow characters from the film “Minions.”

A white security door appeared to recently have been pried open, and a man who answered the door declined to comment.

In addition to the homes in Sonoma County, Thursday’s law enforcement effort involved one home each in San Jose, Merced and rural Stanislaus County, plus two more in Modesto.

Heroin use has exploded throughout the country in the past several years - fallout from an epidemic of addictions to prescription narcotics. When those drugs became less potent and less available, users in droves switched to cheaper, easier-to-get heroin.

Celli suspected the arrests and seizures would likely upend the regional heroin trade.

“Based upon the current epidemic throughout the county, we’re excited about the possibility of disrupting heroin traffic in the Sonoma County area,” he said.

The sergeant said he contacted at least one Sonoma County drug abuse treatment center Thursday. He wanted to alert officials to the possibility of a new strain on their services from the disruption in the availability of heroin in the area due to the arrests and the potential impact on many people who use the drug. With the heroin use has come a spike in overdose deaths in Sonoma County, and Celli said that also became part of the investigation.

“We looked at every heroin death and tried to identify the trafficker and prosecute them,” he said.

That’s a tough angle to prove and rarely results in a prosecution, he said.

Detectives suspect they’ve found two people involved with selling heroin to the local woman on the day she died in August. They’ll be charged with distributing heroin that resulted in death. Celli decline to release additional details on the fatal overdose.

DEA agents from San Francisco and Santa Rosa worked with Santa Rosa detectives on the investigation.

For Thursday’s raids, police in Rohnert Park, Petaluma, Merced and Modesto, plus Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputies and Sacramento DEA agents, participated.

As well as the two brothers, officers Thursday arrested Raymundo Duran, Rodolfo Rivera-Herrera, Cornelio Reyna-Ceron, Elizabeth Reyna-Rodriguez, Leo Bardo Mondragon, Ramon Medina Aguilar, Santiago Rubio Chavez, Remingo Madrigal Solario and Jose Chavez Yanez. Their ages and towns of residence, as well as the name of a suspect arrested in San Jose, weren’t available.

Most were taken into custody from the five Santa Rosa homes. Celli declined to give the locations, saying they were part of the sealed federal warrants. Marcelino Reyna-Ceron was arrested in Merced. Officers arrested Mondragon and Yanez at a Rohnert Park home.

Staff Writers Kevin McCallum and Paul Payne contributed to this report.

Editor’s note: Police officials said that 12 people have been arrested in the drug case so far on Thursday. An additional four people are wanted but have not yet been arrested. An earlier version of this story reported that 16 people had been arrested.