Neighbors awaken to drug raid by agencies

By Kristina Davis
San Diego Union Tribune
06/10/06

ESCONDIDO – Residents of a quiet, upscale canyon neighborhood were jarred awake to the sound of an armored SWAT vehicle crashing through a picket fence and police helicopters zooming overhead as dozens of federal agents served a search warrant on a home on Vintage Place early yesterday.

“It was like watching TV out your front window,” said Vickey Kittell, who said she has never seen anything like it in her “serene” neighborhood near Dixon Lake.

The Escondido police SWAT team helped the Narcotics Task Force and Drug Enforcement Administration agents serve the search warrant at 6 a.m., Lt. David Mankin said.

Two women, a man, two young boys and a baby finally emerged from the home in the 2000 block of Vintage Place, Kittell said.

The adults were handcuffed and taken away in police vehicles, and the children were taken into protective custody.

DEA officials would say only that the raid was narcotics-related and the investigation was ongoing.