58 Drug Arrests At Lake Skinner Concert Spark Outrage, Debate

This article was originally published July 20, 2013.

A group of people who recently gathered at Temecula's Lake Skinner to take part in the 2013 Lightning in a Bottle event are mostly laid back, forward-thinking music and art lovers focused on sustainability-- and not a drug-plagued group as they've been portrayed, festival organizers tell Patch.

“We’re a music and arts festival that seeks to limit waste and provide equality and to show a better version of what a society can be through education, the arts, and complete responsibility,"  festival organizer The Do LaB's Russell Ward told Patch in a telephone interview Friday.

When the large music and arts festival wrapped up this week, having attracted an estimated 15,000 people to the lake each day between Thursday and Sunday, police announced a total of 58 arrests-- most of them related to drugs. 

Now, some of those arrested-- as well as those who say they witnessed the arrests-- are coming forward with the hopes of clearing their names.  Claiming undercover officers did more than just ask to buy drugs from attendees, these people feel they were wronged by ambush tactics, according to Ward.

“Unilaterally what we’re hearing from the people that were arrested and who witnessed the arrests… was there were some ‘grey area’ tactics,” he said.

Ward-- who stressed that in no way does the organization condone drug use-- said the organization has heard directly from 40 of the 58 arrested, along with "hundreds more" who allegedly witnessed police set up arrests by doing things like aggressively "pushing their act, and offer money for drugs." 

 “We don’t want people to take drugs,” Ward said.  “Illegal is illegal; we aren't here to break any laws of government or physics.”

Accounts like this one are being received daily, he said:

“[Police] were practicing Entrapment and I hope they are investigated,” said Landry Major in the Patch comments to the original article on arrests.  “The guy who had the joint taken out of his mouth and money stuffed in his pocket by the undercover cop did in fact have a medical license and was still arrested.”

According to the sheriff's department, they conducted the arrests with the help of members from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and the state Alcohol and Beverage Control office.

"Teams from the Sheriff's Department along with DEA, and ABC were able to solicit the sales of illegal drugs and immediately took those responsible into custody, seizing the illegal drugs involved," Sheriff's Lt. Jason B. Horton reported.  "Several different categories and significant quantities of illegal drugs were seized as a result of the arrests made."

The task force element of the operation is something Ward said bothered their group-- especially since they paid the county $80,000 for the sheriff's department to handle security and met with them in advance to make sure everything ran smoothly.

“We see that in Riverside County that different actions taken then we were told about," he said, adding that organizers met with law enforcement several times before Lightning in a Bottle took place, and each day at the camp grounds.  

This was the tenth Lightning in a Bottle event, but the first time it was hosted in Riverside County.

Ward argued that though there were nearly 60 arrests, that was a small portion of the group, and something that you'll find anytime you gather thousands of people together in one place.

“I challenge that same task force to go out to [any campground]…round up 15,000 people, use those same tactics and see what they get," he said.  “We feel singled out; [the arrests are] not relative to other places that have similar numbers.”

Though Ward spoke a lot about the arrests and said the organization isn't happy with the reports they're getting from festival-goers about that part-- everything else with the law enforcement agency, the fire department and other authorities on scene went smoothly.

“We were honored that we got to use the grounds, we would love to have [the event there] again," he said.  "But on behalf of our community we need to address some of the ways the arrests were handled."

One particular arrest Ward mentioned was that of a woman who was booked on charges of car theft; something, he claims, was a misunderstanding.

“The stolen vehicle was actually a girl who sat down was in someone’s golf cart from one of our vendors,” he said.  "Nobody’s going to be pressing charges against her."

“She was released yesterday and had to come to the grounds and get her tent; she missed the whole festival, she missed her whole week,” he said.   

Jail records support his claim that she was held for three days, but Patch couldn't immediately confirm if charges were being dropped.

As for the police perspective, despite the arrests, they said there were not many problems with the large, mostly peaceful crowd.

"We made a number of arrests for drug-related offenses, but we've had hardly any fights at all between the patrons," Sgt. Dean Spivacke of the Temecula Police Department is quoted as saying to LA Weekly. "They seem to really respect the law enforcement and appreciate that we're here. Overall it's been pretty good, given the number of people here."

Ward also spoke to Patch about some of the positive things he feels may have been overshadowed by these arrests.

According to the spokesman, the group was vigilant to cart everything out of the Lake Skinner park that was brought in. Not only did they take out the trash, but they sorted through each and every piece and created an estimated 6.5 tons of compost to give to local farming communities. 

Organizers remained at the campgrounds through Thursday evening cleaning up, he said.

“There’s no other festival that we’re aware of that you’ll find the founders picking up cigarette butts three days after," he said. 

Lightning in a Bottle attendees tend to be focused on learning how they can give back to the environment, and educational lectures are a big part of the weekend, according to Ward.

Ward said a typical day is a mix of "education and fun" and could look like this: Wake up from the campground, head to yoga, walk by some art installations and then attend a lecture on sustainability. 

“In the evening you can go dance," he said. "You've had your workout, you've had your education, now you can go dance."

And though the attendees stayed on site at Lake Skinner for the most part, Ward said the group poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the local community.

“It’s easy to not see a line at McDonald's bigger than the one last Sunday, but that’s not the only indicator," he said of criticisms that the event did not benefit locals.

The spokesperson said Lightning in a Bottle paid $80,000 to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, $20,000 for extra fire coverage and donated $30,000 to local non-profits-- $8,000 of which went to Murrieta's Santa Rosa Plateau Foundation.

He said people made their food purchases at local grocery stores, and bought other essentials in town, like gas.

When it was all said and done, Ward said the group had an overall great experience with hosting in southwest Riverside County.

“We loved the park itself, it was a beautiful environment," he said. “We’re so gracious to the community...we hope to come back to Lake Skinner."