Truancy sweep nets 25 Antelope Valley students

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More than two dozen students from Antelope Valley schools were netted in a truancy sweep Tuesday and issued citations before being returned to school, authorities said.

Officials said the operation, conducted by teams from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Lancaster and Palmdale stations and the sheriff’s COPS and Safe Streets bureaus, was part of a continuing effort to stem crime in the Antelope Valley.

According to a statement from sheriff’s officials, when questioned, many of the 25 detained students admitted “they were just not interested in school for the day, while others claimed to be on their way there after oversleeping.”

But Lt. Dave Oliva of the Lancaster sheriff’s station debunked that claim, noting in the statement that several of the students were “found several miles from their assigned school, walking in the opposite direction.” Oliva said additional arrests made during the sweep included a juvenile cited for cigarettes, three misdemeanor warrant arrests, one felony warrant arrest, two arrests for marijuana, two arrests for possession of methamphetamines and two burglary arrests.

The operation was one of several sweeps planned for the Antelope Valley in the coming weeks, authorities said. Other recent stings have included probation and parole compliance checks and gang sweeps.

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