An Alhambra police operation on social networks ended with the arrest of two Whittier residents, as they would have in their possession the dangerous amount of two tons of illegal fireworks.
Neighbors of the place say they are very surprised because they say it is a quiet neighborhood. In addition, they had said that it seemed like a very festive family.
“They always had fancy decorations and party stuff,” said Mellow de la Loza, one of the neighbors of Rogelio Lozano and Rosa Zúñiga, who are now arrested.
The arrests were made on June 20 after the Alhambra police conducted an investigation and seized more than two tons of fireworks.
“I didn’t know who was family or who wasn’t, because there were always a lot of people in the residence,” Mellow said of the residents of the house, located at 6300 Southwind Drive.
The couple now faces charges for possession and sale of fireworks and child endangerment.
“Accidentally a child or adult who handles them incorrectly can cause them to burst and cause fatal injuries or loss of fingers, hands, or arms,” said Miguel Meza, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
The authorities assure that these rockets are acquired in other states, and transport them to southern California to resell them or detonate them on July 4.
However, they can cause “expensive structural damage, lose homes, or inside vehicles in the trunk of the car, it can cause a car to burst and catch fire,” added Meza.
The weeks leading up to July 4 can explode with sales, so police investigated criminal activity online.
“We use social networks because many people who want to sell these products advertise on platforms and that is how we monitor and we see who and where,” added Meza.
The authorities ask the community to be careful with the rockets they buy, in fact those that explode in the sky are illegal and the fines exceed 500 dollars.
