Police conduct drug raid at apartments

Eric Leake

Friday, July 22, 2005 | 11:11 a.m.

Conditions at Monterey Villas, as described by police and residents, have gone from very bad to worse.

The deteriorating state of the apartment complex on Tam Drive near the Stratosphere Tower led to a Metro Police raid Thursday evening on an apartment that police said was used for drug dealing.

Police said they retrieved crack cocaine and marijuana -- packaged and ready for sale -- as well as $766 and a loaded .357 caliber handgun that had been stolen.

Metro Sgt. Greg Chandler, who coordinated the raid, said police obtained a warrant to search the apartment after witnessing drug dealing at the residence.

"This whole area is known for narcotic activity," he said, of Meadows Village, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Las Vegas.

"The most important thing here is that we took that .357 out of here," Chandler said. "It's a loaded handgun. There are kids around here."

Six people were arrested in the raid on charges ranging from trespassing to felony gun possession.

Jose Gonzalez, 9, kicked a ball in the courtyard while suspects in the raid sat handcuffed a few yards away.

"It's problems and bad," he said of conditions at the complex.

Jose said he has seen drug dealers move into the vacant apartments at night. He said he has heard gunshots and been told by his father to sit on the floor.

"I'm afraid at times," he said.

When told that the apartment he shared with his mother, father, and baby sister was better than most, Jose said, "It's not nice. Look at," and pointed to a damaged air conditioner and leaking sink.

Sgt. Eric Fricker said less than 40 families remain at the blighted 81-unit apartment complex. Twenty-four of the units were sealed after a police and city visit June 2 found unfit conditions.

As Fricker walked through the property Thursday, he said police do not know what to do with the place. He said they patrol it regularly, often twice a day.

"Do we continue to act as private property security guards ... or leave these people at risk?" Fricker said. "That's our dilemma."

The complex is owned by a Los Angeles company, Monterey Villas LLC, but neither police nor city officials know who the operators of the company are. The management office was vacant Thursday. Representatives for the company have said things were getting better at the complex.

Fricker said seven letters to the owners have gone unanswered. He said it is hard at times to determine residents from squatters.

"We don't know who anybody is," he said.

The Las Vegas City Council has authorized the city attorney to attempt to close down the complex, which has been operating without a license. City officials said they would help remaining residents find homes.

Representatives for the apartment owners have told the city that conditions at the complex are improving, but City Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian said she thinks the conditions are actually getting worse.

Tarkanian, whose ward includes the apartment complex, said the raid highlights the dangerous and criminal activity there.

"It's been a focul point for activity that is unsafe and illegal," she said. "It's a festering, unsafe situation."

The councilwoman said she wishes the city could shut down the complex now, but understands that the owners are entitled to their due process through the courts.

Resident Juan Galicia, 25, said he hopes to be moved from the complex soon.

"It's been a lot of problems," he said.

Galicia spoke of no management at the complex, apartments going without repairs, and no security. He said there was nobody even to collect rent, just a mailing address posted on residents' doors.

Galicia said conditions at the complex improved after police raided it in June, but they then got worse.

"We're glad that we're moving now because it's pretty dangerous. We'll move far away," he said.

Fricker conducted one of his regular walk-throughs of the complex Thursday, checking vacant apartments and greeting residents.

"There's a lot of really good people down here who have the right to live in a crime-free environment," he said.

Fricker said he has also noticed that conditions have gotten worse. He noticed such in the debris, the smell, and evidence of people breaking into vacant apartments through windows and air-conditioning vents.

Walking into one unlocked apartment, Fricker noticed pots, pans, pornography and a bag of chips.

"None of this was here yesterday," he said. "Either somebody's stealing or they're moving in."

Other vacant apartments, their doors unlocked, contained a collection of alcohol bottles and trash. In one was a used mattress and a tire. Many apartments smelled of stagnant water or sewage.

Fricker said the vacant apartments are gaining a reputation and attracting drug dealers and others from the surrounding area.

Monterey Villas was once considered a fine and hopeful redevelopment in the area.

Fricker, surveying the state of the apartments, said, "It didn't look like this before. It's amazing."

Sun reporter

Dan Kulin contributed to this story.