L.A. deputies break up massive illegal underground party with 158 people, including 35 children and rescue a human trafficking victim, a night before the county went into lockdown
Los Angeles County deputies arrested nearly 160 people - many of whom were not wearing masks - who attended an illegal 'super-spreader' party on Saturday, just a night before new coronavirus restrictions went into effect, authorities said Tuesday.
The Saturday night raid on a location in the high desert city of Palmdale came after Sheriff Alex Villanueva vowed to crack down on 'super-spreader events' even as he instructs his deputies to avoid enforcement of the county and state health orders for restaurants and other small businesses.
The party, however, resulted in the arrests of 158 people, 35 of whom were juveniles. Authorities found six weapons at the home and were able to rescue a 17-year-old human trafficking victim.
'Even without the health order, these actions were criminal in nature,' Villanueva said Tuesday during a news conference.
Los Angeles County deputies arrested nearly 160 people (pictured) who attended an illegal 'super-spreader' party on Saturday, just a night before new coronavirus lockdown restrictions went into effect
Police also found six weapons (pictured) at the home and were able to rescue a 17-year-old human trafficking victim
Images from inside the party showed several people not wearing masks before they were arrested
People were seen sitting in lines on the sidewalk during the arrests on Saturday night
The 'massive underground party' occurred at a vacant home in a residential neighborhood without the owners' knowledge.
The sheriff said the organizers, one who is just 17 years old, were also arrested and had reportedly also promoted previous parties in Pomona and Ontario, broke in and used a moving truck to bring in their equipment.
The sheriff's department said it's working on what charges could be filed against the 17-year-old organizer.
Villanueva said his department is tracking other underground parties, which typically happen weekly and could also be super-spreader events.
The Palmdale party and arrests were first reported by KTTV. 'It was what we call a super-spreader for COVID,' Sheriff's Lt Paul Zarris said.
Zarris said deputies received intelligence about the party, and the people inside were not wearing masks.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villaneuva (pictured) said his department is tracking other underground parties, which typically happen weekly and could also be super-spreader events
Villanueva told the press that the department obtained information about the party in advance, and according to the Los Angeles Times, the office chose not to stop it.
He defended the department's decision not to stop the event in advance, noting that if they had done so, they would not have found the 17-year-old girl.
'Had we done the normal approach, break up the party before, the same victim would have been taken to the next location, so this actually rescued her from that,' Villanueva said on Tuesday. 'She would have been passed down to the next party.'
LASD's Elizabeth Espinosa confirmed the LA Times report that said sheriff's officials were 'unaware' the girl would be at the party and that she was found by 'chance.'
According to the Sheriff, at least half a dozen similar parties are taking place every week in the county.
Speaking last week with a second stay-at-home order on the horizon in Southern California, Villanueva said his deputies would seek voluntary compliance of coronavirus rules - as they have since the start of the pandemic.
But they would, however, target additional 'enforcement on super-spreader events' he added, a strategy that he reiterated on Tuesday.
Deputites would issue individual citations 'in rare cases and as an extreme, last resort,' he said. 'Otherwise, our focus and plan is to target superspreader underground events for enforcement such as the one we're talking about today.'
Sheriff's officials said they want to send a message to other potential party promoters and attendees. 'We just want to make sure that this doesn't happen, especially in our area. We'll let them know that this is not acceptable,' Zarris said.
Villanueva has said his deputies would focus on education and voluntary compliance for county and state health orders.
The sheriff said his department would not enforce the orders at struggling businesses 'where they're deciding between complying with the orders and putting food on the table'.
The party occurred just a night before the county went into lockdown as coronavirus cases continue to surge in a state that has surpassed 1 million infections.
Last week, Gov Gavin Newsom divided the state into five regions to use intensive care unit capacity in each region as a trigger for widespread closures, setting a 15 per cent threshold that occurred during the weekend.
The 11-county Southern California region includes Los Angeles County, where public health officials say the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 has surpassed all-time highs every day since December 1.
California officials paint a dire picture of overwhelmed hospitals and exhausted health workers as the state records an average of 22,000 new cases a day. The St Mary Medical Center is using triage tents to handle the overflow at its 200-bed hospital amid a surge in COVID cases
At the current rate, that means 2,640 hospitalizations from each day's new case total. Triage tents are set up to help with overflow at St Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley, California, on Tuesday
Last week, Gov Gavin Newsom divided the California into five regions to use intensive care unit capacity in each region as a trigger for widespread closures, setting a 15 per cent threshold that occurred during the weekend
California officials paint a dire picture of overwhelmed hospitals and exhausted health workers as the state records an average of 22,000 new cases a day.
After nine months of the pandemic, they recognize about 12 per cent of people who test positive will end up in the hospital two to three weeks later.
At the current rate, that means 2,640 hospitalizations from each day's new case total.
'As we see the distressing surge in cases, we know that we can expect in the upcoming weeks alarming increases in hospitalizations and deaths,' said Barbara Ferrer, health director for Los Angeles County, the state's largest with 10 million residents.
California's hospitalizations already are at record levels, and the state has seen a roughly 70 per cent increase in ICU admissions in just two weeks, leaving just 1,700 of the state's 7,800 ICU beds available.
Southern California's Riverside University Health System Medical Center went so far as to open an ICU in a storage room.
Several hospitals in Los Angeles County and others in San Diego, Imperial and Fresno counties are close to running out of intensive care beds that are needed for the sickest patients.
That has the state scrambling to create more space and staffing to take care of COVID patients and others seeking emergency treatment for things like broken arms.
California has requested nearly 600 health care workers to help in ICUs through a contracting agency and the federal government. It´s starting a two-day program to train registered nurses to care for ICU patients and setting up links for doctors to consult remotely on ICU patients.
Meanwhile, the state is activating the first two of 11 alternative care sites that have a total capacity of 1,862 beds.
A site in hard-hit Imperial County, on the border with Mexico, already has 19 of its 25 available beds in use, though it can expand to handle 115 patients.
The second site is at the former home of the Sacramento Kings professional basketball team.
The goal is to have the first 20 beds ready by Wednesday in a practice gymnasium, then prepare another 224 beds in the main arena - some in luxury suites where well-heeled fans once watched games.
It's still unclear what patients will be placed there, Office of Emergency Services spokesman Brian Ferguson said.
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