24 Students Arrested in Riverside County Drug Bust

Marijuana, cocaine, crack, meth, hashish, and various prescription pills were among the drugs recovered by deputies during the course of the investigation.

Two dozen high school students in Riverside County were arrested for allegedly selling illegal drugs on their school campuses, authorities said Friday.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department’s Special Investigation’s Bureau said they identified 23 juvenile students and two adult students between Perris High School in Perris and Paloma Valley High School in Meniffee who were involved in the drug sales during the four-month undercover investigation, in which officers posed as high school students.

Marijuana, cocaine, crack, meth, hashish, and various prescription pills were among the drugs recovered by deputies during the course of the investigation.

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Thursday, 22 of the students were arrested, and the arrests of two more was announced Friday. The underage students were taken to Juvenile Hall, and the adult students, 18-year-old Serina Ramirez and 19-year-old Erick De La Cruz of Perris High School, were taken to a detention center in Murietta.

"I want the students to know we have ways to deter them from this. It is our obligation to do our best to keep our campuses clean," Perris Union High School District Superintendent Jonathan Greenberg said in an email to parents.

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The sherriff's department was searching for one more student.

A male and female officer had been posing as 11th graders at both schools since August.

Greenberg said the operation was a well-guarded secret in order to protect the safety of the officers.

The sheriff's department reached out to school district officials to get permission to conduct undercover operations at the schools prior to the investigation.

Special Investigations Bureau collects information regarding drug sales and drug usage in Riverside County to determine local sources of drugs

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