OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — Authorities said four alleged gang members are off the streets after being arrested in a bust that was designed to get drugs out of a local neighborhood.
Deputies served a search warrant on Applewood Court in Buenaventura Lakes Thursday morning, arresting multiple suspects and confiscating drugs, guns and dogs.
A neighbor of one of the suspects alerted Osceola County Drug and Gang Law Enforcement after neighbors said they believed the house was a front for illegal activity.
For months, people along the street said they have lived in fear of the suspects. They said they were afraid to call police, telling deputies that alleged gang members threatened them all the time.
"They were going to blow up my house up," one witness said. "They were going to come and kill me, kill my family."
One woman said her 18-year-old daughter never did drugs until the suspects moved in. She told Channel 9 the gang members in the house ruined her life.
"I basically want them to disappear," she said. "They harming too many people, and one of them was my child."
Deputies arrested Hector Luis Figueroa Zayas, Juan Benjamin Rivera and Giovanny Maldanado at the house.
AA fourth suspect, Rodolpho Johnathan Perez, was picked up by Drug Enforcement Administration agents at the Phoenix Airport as he attempted to flee.
Rivera has been wanted since 2013. Osceola County deputies said he cut off his ankle bracelet and has been on the run ever since.
Two others were arrested after they drove by the house during the bust, authorities said. Those two alleged gang members were stopped by deputies and arrested for not having a license, officials said.