HOMES SEARCHED FOR DRUGS

ONTARIO -- They called it Operation Sleigh Ride, but the people visiting
houses early Friday weren't carrying bags of toys or wearing Santa suits.

Parole officers, agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms, Ontario police, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department and
the FBI worked in teams to check the homes of parolees in Ontario and
Fontana.

Thirty-three people were arrested on suspicion of violating parole and
various drug and stolen property charges during the 4 1/2-hour sweep, police
said.

''We're very happy with the outcome,'' said Michael Aros, parole
administrator in Ontario. ''We don't just measure our success with the
amount of people we arrested. We also found a lot of parolees in
compliance.''

Out of about 120 parolees visited throughout the morning, about two-thirds
of them were not violating their parole, Aros said.

In addition to drugs and stolen property, police also seized half a dozen
knives or illegal stabbing weapons and one revolver during the sweep, Aros
said.

Law enforcement officers are allowed to check the homes of people who have
served time in state prison or county jail because it is a term of their
release, said Ontario police Detective Mike Macias.

Officers pulled up to the home of parolee Gerardo Gonzalez, 26, at 9:25 a.m.
and found him sitting in the living room, showing symptoms of being under
the influence of
methamphetamine, Macias said. ''He was sweating profusely,'' Macias said.
''He had steam coming off of his head.''

Officers used a police dog to search the home and garage and found about
five grams of methamphetamine stashed in the man's bedroom and under a desk.

Officer Jeff Wentz, who is the handler for Rocky, a Dutch police dog, walked
out of the house with the dog after the drugs were found. The dog was
wagging his tail, just happy to have his toy, a rolled up piece of thick
rough material similar to burlap.

''He just got his reward because he found some dope,'' Wentz said.

Police also found drug packaging material, scales and several makeshift drug
stash containers made out of empty soup cans with twist tops.

Ontario police Cpl. Rick Carroll said police don't run across those types of
containers very often.

''It's something you would see six to eight years ago, but it looks like
it's coming back,'' he said.

Further searching led officers to a manila file folder with a Social
Security card, pre-approved credit card applications and numerous Xerox
copies of drivers' licenses.

Gonzalez was arrested on suspicion of violating parole, possessing
methamphetamine for sale and possessing stolen property, Macias said. His
girlfriend, Melody Centeno, 23, had two $20,000 warrants for her arrest and
was also arrested on suspicion of possessing methamphetamine for sale and
possessing stolen property, police said.

They were both booked into West Valley Detention Center.

Aros said officers targeted what they call ''high risk'' offenders during
the sweep. These included gang members, sex offenders and parolees who were
involved in property crimes such as burglary. They chose to conduct the
sweep just days before Christmas because many of the offenders would be more
likely to come home to their families at that time, Aros said.

He also said that the holidays are a good time to check on sex offenders
since children are out of school and more likely to become victims. It also
gave officers a chance to gather criminal intelligence to pass along to
local law enforcement agencies, he said.