Federal agents raided a luxury downtown Los Angeles apartment this month and found more than 100 pounds of drugs and various weapons — along with a baby alligator.
On Sept. 10, agents executed a search warrant of the apartment, which the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) called a “stash house.” Law enforcement uncovered 93.9 pounds of fentanyl pills and powder, 2.2 pounds of heroin, 15.9 pounds of cocaine, and laboratory equipment. Agents also found an AR-15 rifle with ammunition stashed in a hallway closet, a gold-plated Desert Eagle .50-caliber pistol with ammunition on the kitchen counter, and a police radio, according to a DEA press release.
The alligator was being kept illegally as a pet and was seized by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents, according to the DEA. An affidavit filed with the complaint identified the apartment as a “known drug trafficking location,” the agency said.
The man and woman living in the apartment — Marvin Angelito, 27, and Susan Gonzalez, 26 — were arrested on the day of the search and are facing charges for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.
Angelito was detained after an initial court appearance, and Gonzalez was released on a $15,000 bond, the agency said. Angelito’s arraignment is set for Oct. 2, and Gonzalez’s is scheduled for Oct. 9.
If the pair are convicted, they could face a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison.
The case is being investigated by the FBI New Haven Homeland Security Task Force, FBI Los Angeles Regional Narcotics Suppression Program, and the Drug Enforcement Administration Los Angeles Field Division.
The case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) established by President Donald Trump’s executive order “Protecting the American People Against Invasion.”
“The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders,” the DEA said.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
