MORNING RAIDS NET 45; STING RACKS UP TOTAL OF 88 ARRESTS.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Daily News Staff Writer

More than 200 law enforcement officers fanned out in the Antelope Valley before dawn Wednesday, arresting suspected thieves, drug dealers and fences in the culmination of a 4-1/2-month undercover sting operation.

Concluding Project Men in Black II, 45 suspects were arrested Wednesday and 43 in the preceding 10 days on warrants obtained after undercover sheriff's deputies said they had sold drugs or stolen property - including cellular phones, firearms, car stereos, bicycles and computers.

``The common denominator for most of these crooks is narcotics and narcotics trafficking,'' said sheriff's Lt. Ron Shreves, who headed the operation.

The operation was a follow-up to last year's Men in Black sting, in which undercover deputies set up a fake pawnshop within sight of the Lancaster sheriff's station. There, they bought stolen property and identified 77 suspects.

Sheriff's officials credit the first Men in Black operation with helping reduce the city's serious crime rate more than 20 percent last year. Burglaries decreased nearly 24 percent, auto thefts 27 percent and robberies nearly 26 percent, officials said.

More than 80 percent of the people arrested in the first sting received state prison sentences. The only ones back on the street are juveniles who were sent to youth camps, officials said.

At a Lancaster sheriff's station news conference to announce the latest operation, officials played video footage taken by hidden cameras showing undercover deputies - sporting beards and long hair or shaved heads - meeting with suspects in parking lots, beside a desert road or on a street corner.

As the suspects handed over a laptop computer or a shopping bag containing electronic gear, the deputies counted out cash and handed it to them.

In one video clip, a young man wearing a backward baseball cap walked up to deputies sitting in a car parked in a Sierra Highway parking lot to sell them a cell phone and marijuana. When officers told him they wanted to buy more marijuana, he led them to his parents' home to get it, Shreves said.

The operation started with undercover vice detectives buying drugs from suspects, and asking to buy cellular phones or other property.

Lancaster station deputies, working undercover temporarily, then took over the deals as word-of-mouth spread about their willingness to buy.

`Petty street thugs'

In all, deputies spent about $5,900 for some $70,000 worth of stolen property, identifying 104 suspects in the process.

Sixteen suspects are still being sought, including a man who deputies said has figured out to sell stolen cell phone service along with stolen cell phones. They identified him as Dakota Yarbourough, and said he is believed to be in Santa Monica. They asked for the public's help in finding him.

Of the 104 suspects, 93 had prior criminal records and 52 were already on parole or probation for previous crimes. Ten were juveniles and 15 were associated with street gangs.

``These are petty street thugs,'' Shreves said.

Deputies said they purchased dozens of cell phones, high-quality handguns, a half-dozen bicycles, along with car stereos, television sets and other property. Most of it has been traced to its rightful owners, they said.

Pre-dawn roundup

Wednesday's roundup started before dawn, when sheriff's deputies from as far away as the Carson station, state parole agents and county probation officers assembled in a parking lot across the railroad tracks from the Lancaster Metrolink station.

Armed with warrants obtained through the undercover sales, uniformed officers went out in groups of five or six to arrest suspects around the Antelope Valley as the sun rose.

At one house in Lake Los Angeles, two deputies opened a side gate to watch the back door while three officers went around to the front. A sheriff's sergeant knocked for several minutes before the door opened.

Children present

As seven children milled around inside the house, the deputies handcuffed a relative who they said became agitated and shouted at them, then took the woman they were looking for into custody. They took off the relative's handcuffs before leaving. The woman was charged with selling a stolen cell phone.

At another house, on Third Street East in Lancaster, deputies arrived after their quarry had left for work. His sister told them he was at work in the cafeteria at the Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control center in Palmdale.

The officers drove with reporters and photographers trailing them to the FAA center. A guard let them onto the FAA grounds, and the cars drove around the building just as the suspect was walking out a back door. Deputies quickly handcuffed him and loaded him into a patrol car. He was wanted on a warrant for possession of stolen property, deputies said.

Community policing

The operation was part of Lancaster's version of community policing, called Target Oriented Policing, which aims at cracking down on crime hotspots.

``Lancaster is probably one of the best examples in the state in how a community can identify its priorities to its law enforcement agencies and get all the resources necessary,'' said Sheriff Lee Baca, one of the officials at the news conference.

CAPTION(S):

5 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) Dozens of stolen cell phones were recovered in the sting.

Charles F. Bostwick/Daily News

(2--Color) A squad of Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies converge early Wednesday on a suspect's home on Third Street East in Lancaster.

(3--Color) Suspect Jose Martinez, wanted on a receiving stolen property warrant, is taken into custody Wednesday at his workplace in Lancaster during the culmination of the undercover Project Men in Black II sting operation.

(4) A sheriff's deputy knocks on a suspect's front door Wednesday while his department colleagues stand ready should things get ugly.

(5) Lisa Ann Lee is led away from her home in handcuffs during Project Men In Black II.

Jeff Goldwater/Daily News