Undercover Sting At Music Fest Nets Nearly 80 Arrests
Posted: 10:08 pm PDT May 24, 2009
Updated: 11:14 pm PDT May 24, 2009
DALY CITY, Calif. -- Dozens of alleged drug dealers sat behind bars Sunday after a large undercover sting operation at an electronic music festival held at the Cow Palace in Daly City netted almost 80 arrests.
The pulsating beat and flashing lights played just a part in what attracted as many as 12,000 people to Saturday night's music festival, called "Etd. POP 2009."
But mixed in among the teenagers and young adults were drug dealers, many trying to sell ecstasy and other illegal substances.
"People will approach you and offer the drugs or of the officer can ask if they knew where they could get it and it's readily supplied," explained San Mateo County sheriff's Commander Marc Alcantara.
For the third year in a row, undercover officers converged on the Cow Palace to try to put an end to the drug dealing at the annual event.
The San Mateo County Narcotics Task Force coordinated the sting with dozens of other local agencies including the FBI, CHP and police from San Francisco, Santa Clara and Alameda counties.
Undercover teams hit the dance floor at 6:30 p.m. Saturday night. Within ten minutes, officers had their first arrest.
By the time the party ended at about 2 a.m., 79 people were in custody including three juveniles.
Authorities also seized 901 Ecstasy tablets with a street value of $18,000, as well as 41 doses of LSD, a quarter ounce of cocaine and a small amount of marijuana and methamphetamine, according to Alcantara.
They also confiscated $3,500 in cash.
Police said drug dealers from as far away as Alaska come to Bay Area raves to sell ecstasy and other drugs.
The task force leader said many of the young party goers have no idea what they're buying from the dealers and the drugs have led to overdoses at previous raves, and even death.
"They truly don't know what they're ingesting. Ecstasy is a clandestine drug. It's made in unsterile and less than professional laboratories, if you will," said Alcantra.
Police said the promoter of the annual event is cooperating with authorities to try to discourage drug dealing.
Last year police had similar results, arresting 58 people including three juveniles while seizing 1,000 ecstasy tablets.
Narcotics officers said they want to put the drug dealers on notice. They said that they will continue to use these tactics at raves until the drug dealing comes to an end.
"While the operation is covert, we want the word to get out we're going to be here for as long as is needed to keep our children safe," said Alcantra. "If we can prevent one young person from an overdose, or worse, death, then we have accomplished our objective."
Authorities said all of those arrested face felony charges that could lead to prison terms.
As of Sunday night, just ten of the 76 adults taken to the San Mateo County jail had posted bond to be released from custody.
LoSkI
When I got to the party there were a ton of people wearing free bailbonds shirts someone gave out in line...I chuckled because I knew a bunch of people would need that number later on...Genius marketing move, haha.
Gjorgji
Ferry is GOD! He dominated Etd.Pop by far! Out Of Blue was the surprise of the night!
SvD was great, but playing before deadmau5 was not a good thing. Paul Van Dyk set was not that special.. except the last 30 mins, when he started dropping anthem after anthem.
The venue was amazing! The Sensation-like setup was definately a big +. The best party for me this year!
I will post some pics and vids later on.
Waterproofpaper
quote:
Originally posted by DaveT
I give this a thumbs up. Would never want anyone buying crap from the crooked dealers that attend these things just to make a buck.
Know some people hate this crap...but these are kids/super-young-adults we are talking about in the end...
Yeah it sucks.. cops pretending to do the right thing when a lot of those people they arrested were just kids or young adults having a good time. Its funny how they talk about how E is laced with random stuff and was not made professionally. In the end, the government is the cause of that too.
Sadface
I really enjoyed the mau5's set. I don't know what you guys are talking about when you say that he killed the energy. I was out on the floor and I thought he got it going better than anyone else on the lineup. The crowd was ridiculously into it. He wasn't perfect "flow" wise, but I still liked him much better than ferry or PVD, both of whom really didn't do it for me. Especially PVD, though my GF really liked his set for some reason.
Derrick Carter though... he ing rocked it. I wish I had stayed in the house room for his whole set because he was awesome. SVD was really good too as expected. He should have closed out the main room I think. PVD just did not deliver.
DaveT
quote:
Originally posted by Gjorgji
Ferry is GOD! He dominated Etd.Pop by far! Out Of Blue was the surprise of the night!
SvD was great, but playing before deadmau5 was not a good thing. Paul Van Dyk set was not that special.. except the last 30 mins, when he started dropping anthem after anthem.
The venue was amazing! The Sensation-like setup was definately a big +. The best party for me this year!
I will post some pics and vids later on.
Ferry plays Out of the Blue at tons of gigs. If there's one classic he usually brings out, it's that one. :)
R!CH
quote:
Originally posted by Waterproofpaper
Yeah it sucks.. cops pretending to do the right thing when a lot of those people they arrested were just kids or young adults having a good time. Its funny how they talk about how E is laced with random stuff and was not made professionally. In the end, the government is the cause of that too.
at the end of the day you're an idiot if you go to a rave with a pocket full of drugs and cash trying to make money off strangers at a state-owned property with a historic record of inter-agency drug raids in a city with a known zero-tolerance drug policy. you can't blame the law, the promoter, the cops, or anyone but yourself for the series of stupid mistakes that led to your arrest, and quite frankly if you're peddling drugs of any kind to 16 year olds, you deserve jail.
JohnnyMonsoon
Some video I took of Deadmau5's opening track from the stage
Watch it in HQ mode, it looks better
JohnnyMonsoon
And of course, Ferry droppin "Out of the Blue"
Watch it in HQ mode, it looks better
Rukes
quote:
Originally posted by JohnnyMonsoon
Some video I took of Deadmau5's opening track from the stage
Watch it in HQ mode, it looks better
Isn't that more a video of me than Deadmau5? :)
Waterproofpaper
quote:
Originally posted by R!CH
at the end of the day you're an idiot if you go to a rave with a pocket full of drugs and cash trying to make money off strangers at a state-owned property with a historic record of inter-agency drug raids in a city with a known zero-tolerance drug policy. you can't blame the law, the promoter, the cops, or anyone but yourself for the series of stupid mistakes that led to your arrest, and quite frankly if you're peddling drugs of any kind to 16 year olds, you deserve jail.
Pretty much.
inferno999
etd. POP was off the hook! Not quite as good as last year, but still amazing.
Anyone have a tracklist from PVD's set? I took some video footage and put it up on Youtube...
Maybe someone out there can help identify some of the unknown tracks?
And here's my clip of Ferry Corsten's Out of the Blue, Full on Ferry Violin edit:
