Purported Gang Chief Is Held on Meth Count

An Anaheim man imprisoned after two police officers and a civilian were killed in a 1987 helicopter crash while pursuing him has been charged with selling methamphetamine.

Vincent William Acosta, 38, who authorities say is a north Orange County leader of the Mexican Mafia, is also charged with possessing a gun and drugs. He appeared in court Wednesday where a $1-million bond was set.

He could receive a 136-year prison sentence if convicted on all counts.

Acosta was arrested in 1987 after police helicopters from Newport Beach and Costa Mesa collided while chasing him. He was driving a stolen car.

Killed were Costa Mesa Officers James D. Ketchum, 39, and John W. Libolt, 39, and Jeffrey A. Pollard, 27, a civilian observer from Tustin who was riding with them.

Acosta led officers from five agencies on a 45-minute nighttime chase during which he drove as fast as 90 mph, without lights and on the wrong side of the road, before he fled on foot and was captured.

He spent about 10 years in prison for vehicular manslaughter after an appellate court overturned his conviction on three counts of murder.

Since his 1994 parole, Orange County prosecutors say, Acosta has served time in prison for felony child abuse, negligent discharge of a firearm, possession of a firearm by a felon, robberies, a residential burglary and assault with a firearm.

Acosta, who is only now eligible to be prosecuted under the three-strikes law, was arrested March 1 in the drug case.

Lt. Robert Oakley was piloting the Newport helicopter in 1987 and survived the crash. Oakley, who now oversees the joint helicopter division for the Costa Mesa and Newport Beach police departments, said there was “no question” that Acosta served too little prison time.

But he added that if Acosta was sent to prison for life, it would bring him and the victims’ families little relief.

“How do you pay back the loss of three lives?” he asked.