Ramona Drug Lab Suspect Arrested in Mexico

Mexican police have arrested the “prime suspect” of a U.S. grand jury investigation into a Ramona drug lab that was the largest producer of methamphetamines found in California until it exploded last year, authorities said.

Dominic Esposito, 43, was among nine men arrested by Mexican police Wednesday after police discovered 21 pounds of methamphetamine, commonly known as “speed,” in Rosarito Beach. Mexican police also found a laboratory to produce the drug at a ranch in Tecate, authorities said.

Esposito is thought to have “organized everything” in the Ramona lab, said Agent Ronald D’Ulisse of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Police discovered the Ramona lab when an explosion occurred there in May, 1984, he said. Esposito fled to Rosarito after the explosion, D’Ulisse said.

Authorities seized 23 pounds of finished methamphetamine at the Ramona lab, and found 200 pounds in the process of being manufactured, D’Ulisse said. The lab had the capacity to produce about 600 pounds of the drug a month, he said.

A grand jury is expected to hand down an indictment against Esposito concerning the Ramona case within three months, he said.

Esposito, who was born in New York City, may have become a Mexican citizen, D’Ulisse said. If so, the Drug Enforcement Administration has no authority to extradite him.

Mexican police also arrested five U.S. citizens: John Peter Arman, 32; Gary Edward Arman, 22; Richard Anthony Doren, 26; Bruce Allen Ross, 32, and Randal Wynn, said Victoriano Medina Molina, a supervisor for the State Judicial Police in Mexico. He said Wynn and Ross live in El Cajon. D’Ulisse said Doren is from Jersey City, N.J., and the Armans are from Nebraska.

D’Ulisse said the five may also be suspects in the grand jury investigation.

“Our investigation into Esposito in the United States indicates he distributed most of the methamphetamine in San Diego, but also as far away as Nebraska,” D’Ulisse said.

D’Ulisse said the Ramona lab apparently operated for a month, every three or four months. Still, the lab, which contained six 72-liter reaction vessels, was capable of producing 1,800 to 2,400 pounds of methamphetamine in a year, he said.

“Nowhere, but in San Diego, have 72-liter vessels been seen. Usually they’re 22 liters,” he said.

Also arrested were: Guillermo Niebla Bueno, 47, who owned the ranch in Tecate; his son, Guillermo Niebla Romero, 21, and Alfredo Hernadez Lugo, 24, Medina said.