Three arrested on drug charges amid LBPD crackdown

Locals busted in separate undercover operations for allegedly selling cocaine, heroin

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Undercover Long Beach police officers arrested two local residents on felony drug charges over the weekend for allegedly dealing cocaine — including one sale that took place in front of the Long Beach Public Library — and another man for selling heroin in town, following two separate narcotics investigations.

On Friday, police arrested 29-year-old Mayra Gomez, of Illinois Avenue, and Matthew Gress, also 29, of West Hudson Street, on drug charges following an investigation led by the Long Beach Police Department’s Detective Division Narcotics Task Force that spanned several months, Police Commissioner Mike Tangney said.

And in a separate investigation, police arrested 43-year-old Gary Hankins, of East Fulton Street, on Saturday for allegedly selling heroin around town.

“They were all part of our ongoing narcotics investigations,” Tangney said.

According to Tangney, Gomez sold cocaine to an undercover police officer five times in the West End, and said she mainly sold the drug from her home.

“Our information was mainly that she sold from her house,” Tangney said. “So, once we had information about the female, we started working the case and it culminated with a very serious arrest on Friday afternoon where she tried to sell over a half an ounce of cocaine to an undercover officer.”

“She was a retailer, if you will,” Tangney added. “She had access to certain quantities but she was only doing more of a retail order and pickup, rather than having a large supply that was readily available. But she was going to graduate to that — she was moving to the next level, which was supplying larger quantities, and fortunately, we were able to get her before she went down that road.”

Tangney said Gomez attempted to sell the drug to the undercover officers, which had a street value of $1,000, in front of the library.

“After school, on a Friday, and in a place that does house children,” he said.

Police also arrested Gress at the scene, and Tangney described him as the “wheel man.”

“He transported her to the scene, he was taking her around,” he said. “He was a bit of a wild card for us; he was not on our radar, but due to the fact that it was a large quantity [of cocaine] she wanted someone who could drive her. I’d find it hard to believe that he didn’t know what was going on.”

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