Employee of needle-distributing nonprofit allegedly caught selling fentanyl near LA park

A California antheral who works for a taxpayer-funded nonprofit that distributes needles to cause users successful Los Angeles' notorious MacArthur Park was busted for allegedly attempting to merchantability fentanyl, authorities said.

Christopher Johnson was arrested connected May 5 aft helium was recovered with methamphetamine, fentanyl, bare baggies, a ample magnitude of cash, and a standard successful his BMW during a postulation halt conducted by the Los Angeles Police Department adjacent the park.

When questioned astir the drugs, Johnson said they belonged to a pistillate named "Red" and that helium takes attraction of the drugs for her. He besides told officers that helium works for People Assisting the Homeless (PATH), a California-based nonprofit focused connected ending homelessness.

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Homeless radical sleeping successful Los Angeles' MacArthur Park. Christopher Johnson, an worker with a stateless nonprofit that distributes needles astatine the poverty-stricken park, was arrested aft helium was recovered with drugs successful his car, authorities said. (Getty Images; Justice Department)

Johnson present faces a national complaint of possession with intent to administer fentanyl.

The radical was founded successful 1983 and has expanded its operations to much than 150 cities, tribunal documents state. The services it offers see thoroughfare outreach, lodging navigation, interim housing, accelerated re-housing, and imperishable supportive lodging to assistance radical modulation from the streets to unchangeable homes, national prosecutors said.

Federal authorities made arrests connected charges related to selling illicit drugs astatine MacArthur Park successful Los Angeles connected May 6, 2026. (Jae C. Hong/AP)

PATH besides participates successful "harm reduction" work programs and serves arsenic a vendor successful distributing syringes, including successful the MacArthur Park area, according to a national complaint.

The park, which sits successful Los Angeles' Westlake neighborhood, has been plagued by precocious rates of poverty, cause usage and pack enactment for decades.

"Many of the residents and visitors successful the country are cause users, and MacArthur Park is simply a known determination to acquisition user-quantities of drugs, including methamphetamine and fentanyl, successful open-air markets," tribunal documents state.

Federal agents stitchery astatine MacArthur Park successful Los Angeles during a large-scale cause enforcement cognition targeting fentanyl and methamphetamine organisation connected May 6, 2026. (Fox News)

Earlier this month, national agents swarmed the parkland arsenic portion of a sweeping cognition targeting an infamous open-air cause marketplace notorious for peddling fentanyl and methamphetamine. 

The sting, dubbed "Operation Free MacArthur Park," led to astatine slightest 18 arrests and much than $10 cardinal worthy of fentanyl seized successful a monolithic associated effort betwixt section and national authorities, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

The 18th Street pack traffics drugs crossed Los Angeles, operating successful MacArthur Park, Skid Row, Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley. (@USAttyEssayli)

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PATH’s 2025 fiscal study connected its website states that it receives 94% of its backing from national and section governments.

In 2025, it identified $63 cardinal successful salaries and had $10.4 cardinal successful cash. Fox News Digital has reached retired to PATH and the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors for comment.