Raid finds drugs in former Bell mayor's rental house

Police found about a pound of methamphetamine last week inside a rental house owned by former Bell Mayor Oscar Hernandez, one of eight former officials charged with corruption, according to authorities.

The seizure of the drugs in the house in the 3700 block of Bell Avenue in Bell is part of a larger investigation by Long Beach police, Sgt. Lee Debrabander said.

There was no connection between Hernandez and the drugs, Debrander said.

He said that on Aug. 8, Bell police pulled over a driver who lived at the house and when officers went to the house, they found the drugs. Debrander would not say why no one has been arrested.

There are three houses on the property and this marks the second time in recent years that a drug investigation has touched one of the houses.

In June 2009, more than a dozen investigators, led by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, stormed into another of the houses and seized equipment for what they said was a methamphetamine lab.

“I’d say they aren’t screening their renters very well,” Debrander said.

Stanley L. Friedman, Hernandez’s attorney, said his client told him that a family member takes care of the property and that he didn’t know who the tenants were or know anything about the drugs.

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-- Jeff Gottlieb

Photo: Oscar Hernandez before he was arrested in corruption probe in Bell. Credit: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times