Lancaster honors sheriff deputies after operation that recovered weapons and large quantities of narcotics

At the start of the meeting the Lancaster City Council and sheriff’s representatives recognized the Lancaster Sheriff Station Landcap team for a multi‑incident investigation into armed carjackings that began in June.

Sheriff's remarks included a summary of the investigation: deputies identified five juvenile suspects linked to four incidents in which firearms were used to carjack victims of minibikes and dirt bikes. The service of four search warrants in August in Lancaster led to the recovery of a stolen minibike; five illegally possessed firearms; components used to produce unregistered firearms; approximately 17 pounds of methamphetamine; about 2 pounds of fentanyl; roughly 2 kilograms of cocaine; roughly 2 kilograms of heroin; additional illegal narcotics including ecstasy, mushrooms and marijuana; illegal gambling machines; and about $23,000 in U.S. currency. The sheriff reported two offenders were in custody at the time of the presentation and said deputies continued efforts to locate additional suspects.

The council called forward and recognized multiple deputies by name, including Deputy Armando Lopez, Deputy Michael Figueroa, Deputy Abraham Ledesma, Deputy Oscar Dominguez (noted for a pending promotion to sergeant), Deputy Anthony Parisi, Deputy Renee Valencia, Deputy Miguel Gonzalez, Deputy Andrew Arcega and Deputy Daniel Carlin. Council members and the vice mayor thanked the team for their investigative work and presented recognition to the deputies.