THOUSAND OAKS –  On October 4, 2017, detectives from the Ventura County Interagency Pharmaceutical Crimes Unit arrested suspected drug dealer Ryan Tallmadge, 31, of Santa Monica following a two-month investigation into the sales of ecstasy and Xanax in Ventura and Los Angeles Counties.

When detectives detained Tallmadge in Thousand Oaks, they found 1,700 Alprazolam (Xanex) pills and about half an ounce of MDMA (ectasy) inside his vehicle.  They then searched Tallmadge’s home where they seized  approximately five ounces of MDMA, 10,264 Alprazolam pills and a large sum of money, deemed to be proceeds of narcotic sales.

The Ventura County Interagency Pharmaceutical Crimes Unit is a task force made up of members from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, Thousand Oaks Police Department, the California Highway Patrol, the Ventura Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of Consumer Affairs Division of Investigation Health Quality Investigation Unit, and the California Department of Health Care Services.

“This is an excellent example of law enforcement officers from local, state and federal departments, working together to combat a troublesome criminal trend in our country, the use of illegal drugs and illegal prescription drugs,” said Alan Barcelona, president of the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA).

The primary mission of the task force is combatting the transfer of legal prescription medication to the illegal market. In addition, the task force works to identify and stop new trends of abuse among the younger population and investigates overdoses due to both prescription medication and illicit drug use.