Police arrest 3 men in drug raid

Deepa Bharath

COSTA MESA -- Police arrested three men after a narcotics raid

involving several officers, a SWAT team and a sniffing dog at a Westside

home that officials and neighbors said has been a problem house in the

area for a long time.

Officers arrested Ron Roberson, 39, and Joel Koningisor, 45, both of

Costa Mesa, on suspicion of possessing methamphetamine, police said. As

of press time, officials did not have the name of the third person who

was arrested.

Costa Mesa police narcotics investigators issued a search warrant on

the house in the 2000 block of President Place shortly after 4 p.m.

Tuesday, said Costa Mesa Police Lt. Dale Birney.

He said the SWAT team was used to gain entry into the house because

narcotics investigators had received information that explosives were

found in the house on a different occasion.

Birney said Tuesday evening that investigators and officers would

spend several hours looking for drugs in the house.

“They’re presently using a Newport Beach canine to sniff out the

drugs,” he said. “They haven’t found anything yet because the house is

such a mess.”

Neighbors said they have found the house, its occupants and their

activities “tremendously upsetting.”

“A lot of people here are frightened of that house,” said a next-door

neighbor who identified herself as Ms. Wilson.

She said Roberson has lived there for 15 years.

“And it’s constantly been this way with police coming all the time,”

she said. “Other times, strangers come and go in the middle of the night.

It’s noisy, and I have trouble sleeping at night. It’s scary.”

Cliff Rogers, a resident on the street for 30 years, said the house

has been a menace to the neighborhood.

“There’s constant fighting and screaming going on,” he said. “And a

lot of parties. We’ve complained several times to the police, but it’s

never helped.”

No further information on the raid was available Tuesday.