Raid at Vallejo daycare part of multi-agency crackdown on Solano County crime
A Vallejo daycare center was in the middle of a multi-agency operation Thursday to crack down on crime in Solano County, including drug and weapons trafficking and gang activity, authorities said.
The raids were announced at a Thursday afternoon press conference, part of a series of investigations over the past two weeks involving Vallejo police, the California Highway Patrol, and federal authorities, including the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Warrants were executed at four separate locations in Solano County on Thursday, including an apartment on Avian Drive in Vallejo that officials say operated as an in-home daycare center. A woman who operated the daycare was arrested on child endangerment charges while her adult son was arrested on gun charges, authorities said.
"I think someone was dropping a child off, it's my understanding, right this morning when the operation was happening and it was [the daycare owner's] son who was one of the targets of the investigation," said Michele Beckwith, the Acting U.S Attorney for the Eastern District of California.
The FBI said 11 pistols, one rifle and 11,000 fentanyl pills were found inside that daycare apartment.
"The state authorities were notified, the licensing bureau for daycares, so I think the appropriate state action is underway," said Beckwith.
A second operation Thursday headed by the FBI targeted members of a Vallejo gang trafficking illegal guns and drugs. According to federal authorities, the Brown Brotherhood gang is a subset of the Sureño gang that is involved in murder, robbery, extortion, drug trafficking, firearms trafficking, burglary, and stolen vehicles.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said an investigation that began in February 2024 resulted in the arrest of four people on Thursday on federal drug trafficking and firearms charges.
Warrants were served Thursday in Vallejo, Fairfield, Dixon and Suisun City, said Sid Patel, the FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Sacramento Field Office.
"The drugs that we captured, a portion of it was 16 pounds of methamphetamine, a half-pound of cocaine, and 100,000 fentanyl pills," said Patel.
On Feb. 20, an operation headed by the ATF targeted a Super 8 Motel that law enforcement officers said was being used by multiple people as a base to sell illegal guns. Agents arrested four Vallejo residents on federal charges of trafficking firearms, including machine guns and untraceable ghost guns, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
"ATF seized 24 firearms including four machine gun conversion devices," said Jennifer Cicolani, the ATF Special Agent in Charge of the San Francisco Field Division.
"I want to send a message to the criminal element, that the days where you think you can come to Vallejo and do your business with impunity are over. This is the beginning. We're committed to increasing our resources and building on these efforts," said Vallejo Mayor Andrea Sorce.
The Vallejo Police Department credited its latest crackdown on a partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice focused on "strategic and surgical crime suppression and enforcement."
"I believe that when we have success, we need to celebrate those successes, and this one is a huge success today," said Vallejo Police Chief Jason Ta.
Many community partners were on hand Thursday as law enforcement detailed the latest two operations. Several told CBS News Bay Area they were happy to see such significant action to combat crime in the city.
"I've been here over 17 years, so I'm happy to see the collaboration, community, the agencies working together to make Vallejo a safer place," said Katie Burns, a member of the Vallejo PD's Integrated Health and Resource Team, a mobile crisis response unit
Vallejo police say these operations part of a federal partnership program the department was accepted into last year. That program will continue for another two years.
