Ventura County – The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Pharmaceutical Crimes Unit—comprised of detectives from VCSD, Simi Valley Police Department, the District Attorney’s Office Bureauof Investigation, and the CHP—has had a busy year, as indicated by the recent arrest of three Oxnard residents on charges of trafficking in prescription medications and firearms.
According to VCSD Public Information Officer Sgt. Victor Fazio, it was early in 2015 when law enforcement authorities received “an anonymous tip regarding Alfredo Leon selling medication in the County of Ventura.” Pursuant to that information, detectives soon identified the 29-year old Leon and his associates, Martin Ipatzi and Erica Barboza, both 22, as actively involved in a conspiracy to sell Alprazolam and Hydrocodone, as well as assorted firearms.
Police photo of seized drugs and guns
On March 20th, Ipatzi was contacted and found to be in possession of “approximately 700 pills of hydrocodone and clonazepam” along with three handguns, which earned him an arrest and the issuance of a search warrant of his Oxnard residence and two nearby storage lockers he occupied under rental contract. The warrant search of those premises provided the discovery of an additional 12,300 pills “along with 7 handguns and a rifle,” and prompted the arrest of Barboza, as the storage unit was rented in her name and it was determined that she was actively destroying evidence in the period immediately following Ipatzi’s arrest.
With those two in custody, detectives subsequently served another search warrant on Leon’s Oxnard residence where two additional handguns were located. “In total, over 13,000 pills and 13 guns were seized,” Fazio reported.
Ipatzi, Barboza, and Leon were all booked into Ventura County Jail on a plethora of drug and firearms violations, with their bail amounts currently unspecified.
Photos: courtesy Ventura County Jail booking
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