The State - News from Jan. 30, 1987

Police arrested 18 La Jolla High School students on drug charges in the second raid at a San Diego area high school this week. Police Lt. Skip DiCerchio said the arrests came after a five-month investigation. DiCerchio said the arrests were based on undercover work by a female officer who enrolled in the school in September. He said she saw drug transactions taking place at the school and at nearby hangouts. Small amounts of methamphetamines, marijuana, cocaine and LSD were confiscated in the one-hour operation that began about 8 a.m. Students were arrested after a counselor got them out of class and took them to the auditorium. La Jolla High Principal J.M. Tarvin, who said he wasn’t notified by police until the day before the arrests about the undercover officer’s activities, announced the raid to the student body after police left the school. DiCerchio said the undercover officer, who withdrew from the school last week, had done a good job of blending in at the relatively close-knit school that does not see a lot of new students.