LOS ANGELES –California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) agents have shut down a location in a Reseda neighborhood where alcoholic beverages were being sold without a license, and where illegal drug sales and use was taking place, as well as illegal gambling.
ABC agents opened an investigation in July 2019 after receiving information from the Los Angeles Police Department - West Valley Station VICE unit regarding a residence in the 7000 block of Lindley Avenue. The complaint alleged there were alcohol sales without a license, gambling and drunk activity taking place.
“Can you imagine living on a street where that illegal activity was taking place?” said California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA) President Alan Barcelona. “Who want to go home to that, go to sleep to that and wake up to that? Thankfully, ABC agents are beyond equipped to go into these situations undercover, get search warrants, and go in and shut the place down.”
From July 2019 to September 2019, ABC agents investigated this location and determined the residence was operating as an illicit bar selling beer, allowing gambling and permitting rampant drug use and sales inside the location. On multiple occasions, agents from the Van Nuys, Ventura and Lakewood District Offices entered the location in an undercover capacity and purchased narcotics. They were also allowed to gamble and purchase and consume alcoholic beverages at the illicit operation.
On September 6, 2019, ABC agents along with Los Angeles Police Department officers, served a search warrant at the premises and located illegal narcotics and several cases of beer that were ready for sale. Citations were issued for sales of beer without an ABC license, possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. In addition, a variety of narcotics, including cannabis, methamphetamine and cocaine were seized at the location.
The Los Angeles Police Department is looking into the possibility of pursuing an abatement action to help improve the situation in the neighborhood.
