One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Alleged Cocaine and Marijuana Operation Shut Down in the Valley
LAPD has conducted a drug bust worthy of a Hollywood movie.
After discovering what they believed to be a medical marijuana dispensary in the San Fernando Valley operating as a front for an interstate drug trafficking operation between Los Angeles and Cleveland, officers have seized a large amount of marijuana and cocaine, and arrested six men, according to a statement issued by the LAPD.
In the statement, officers say they learned that Raymond George, the owner of White Oak Healing Center near Northridge in the San Fernando Valley, was involved in transporting and selling cocaine and marijuana between L.A. and Cleveland during an investigation into the attempted murder of his son, Elias George. The younger George was shot multiple times last year in what LAPD says looked like an "organized crime style hit."
Working together, a joint federal and state narcotics task force in Ohio and an LAPD narcotics detail got a search warrant for George and his shop.
On August 3rd, as they prepared to serve the warrant, officers learned last-minute that George was inside with an AK 47 and an automatic pistol.
The SWAT team was called in and they prepared to serve the warrant. But! Just as they did, they say, George and several associates showed up, and negotiated the sale and delivery of six kilos of cocaine.
Oops.
Sponsored message
George's associates were detained after they left the scene, and SWAT team members then surrounded the Center and told George to come out, which he did. Inside, officers claim to have found growing machines and plants, hashish and edibles, as well as a bottle of oxycodone, several guns and over $6,000 in cash. In a car that left the scene, they recovered nine kilos of cocaine.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
