SCHOOL DRUG STING NETTED 3 MAJOR DEALERS, AGENT SAYS

An undercover drug sting that resulted in the arrests of 25 students
at San Benito High School and others in Hollister shut down three of
that city's major drug dealers, a state narcotics agent said Friday.

The busts were pulled off with the help of a teenage police officer
who posed for four months as a student. It was her rookie assignment
for the Hollister Police Department.

In addition to the 25 students, two of them adults, arrested in the
surprise campus sweep Wednesday, authorities arrested seven other
adults who were not students. They were charged with selling drugs.

Three suspects were identified Friday as major drug dealers in
Hollister by Cmdr. Bob Cooke of the state Bureau of Narcotics
Enforcement, who coordinated the multi-jurisdictional undercover
operation leading to the arrests.

He said the three are Reynaldo Dommert, 27; Jesus Alejandro ``Alex''
Cordova, 19; and Felipe Vallejo, 26, all of Hollister.

Cooke alleged that Dommert was ``a major source of LSD for this
community'' and that Cordova and Vallejo were ``two very busy
upper-level methamphetamine dealers.''

When Vallejo was arrested at his home, officers found a revolver
alleged to have been stolen in a Hollister residential burglary, Cooke
said. It was one of five weapons seized when officers served search
warrants on several homes in Hollister and one in Oakland, authorities
said. No weapons were found on the campus of the 2,700-student high
school.

The other non-student adults arrested in the sting are all from
Hollister. Their names and the charges against them are:

Dario Duarte, 18; two counts of selling methamphetamines.

Samantha Quesada, 24; two counts of selling marijuana.

Robert Fosdick, 18; one count of selling methamphetamines.

Josh Hagins, 20; one count of possessing marijuana for
sale.

The adult students arrested Wednesday were identified as Miguel
Garcia, 18, charged with two counts of selling marijuana, and Daniel
Perez, who was arrested on his 19th birthday and charged with one
count of selling marijuana.

All the student arrests were made on campus during school
hours.

The undercover operation was conducted at the request of school
authorities concerned about an alleged drug house across from the
school and a rise in the number of drug-related incidents on campus.

Rookie Hollister police officer Alisse Hinton, who at the time was 19,
enrolled in September and posed as a student to get evidence on campus
drug dealing and off-campus drug suppliers.

While on campus, she made 65 buys, which included marijuana, LSD,
cocaine and methamphetamines, authorities said.

Cooke said more arrests are expected, including some in Gilroy and
Oakland.