2 Arrested in Alleged Drug, Gun Sales, Cellular Theft : Thousand Oaks: Raids cap four-month probe. Suspects’ operation included sophisticated phone ‘chipping.’

Police have arrested a pair of accused Thousand Oaks methamphetamine dealers who also dabble in gun sales to gangs and cellular phone-service theft--a cutting-edge crime known as “chipping,” sheriff’s detectives said Wednesday.

“They can get the ID or code number from a cellular phone and reprogram or ‘chip’ the phone,” said Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Gary Pentis after twin raids on the men’s homes that netted drugs, guns, cash and sophisticated electronics.

“It’s a multimillion-dollar-a-year fraud,” Pentis said. “The person’s number that they steal gets billed for all their calls, and they can use that number for up to a month without being detected, until the (victim) gets a bill with thousands of dollars of calls on it.”

Detectives arrested Craig Martin, 21, of Thousand Oaks and Gary Hazher, 32, of Newbury Park on suspicion of drug dealing, theft of phone services, credit-card fraud, check forgery and other crimes after searching their homes Tuesday night.

They also arrested Julie Mizzel, 25, of Newbury Park, Hazher’s girlfriend, on suspicion of drug dealing and possession and credit-card fraud, he said. All three were ordered held in Ventura County Jail in lieu of $20,000 bond.

The arrests capped a four-month investigation that began when tipsters told detectives that Martin and Hazher were selling methamphetamine, Pentis said.

An undercover officer bought the drug several times from Martin and Hazher, Pentis said.

Detectives also learned the men had been “chipping” cellular phones and using stolen credit-card numbers to order thousands of dollars worth of stereo and electronics gear by mail--some of which the pair resold, Pentis said.

Search warrant in hand, detectives raided Hazher’s home in the 100 block of Ventu Park Road in Newbury Park at about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Pentis said.

As they crashed through the front door, Hazher bolted toward a closet where a 9-millimeter pistol was hidden in a safe, Pentis said. “But we tackled him before he could get near it,” he added.

Simultaneously, other deputies who had been tailing Martin arrested him at the Buenaventura Mall in Ventura and confiscated the case he was carrying, which held a loaded .38-caliber revolver, Pentis said.

A the same time, detectives were raiding Martin’s home in the 1300 block of Calle Avellano, Pentis said. There they found Mizzel, whom they had seen earlier participating in methamphetamine sales, Pentis said.

Detectives seized two ounces of methamphetamine, $3,000 cash, scales, sales records, a police scanner and weapons caches in the raids. The guns included two assault weapons--one with a 100-round magazine--two 12-gauge pistol-grip shotguns, three semiautomatic pistols, two revolvers and a .308-caliber scope-equipped sniper rifle that alone is worth $2,000 to $3,000, Pentis said.

They also seized equipment used for reprogramming cellular-phone chips and evidence of check forgery and mail-order credit-card fraud, he said.

“Most of their crimes are pretty sophisticated,” Pentis said.

The investigation is continuing and detectives expect to file further charges.