10 Plead Not Guilty in Huge Cocaine Bust : Bail Remains $4 Million Each for S. Americans

Ten South Americans, arrested last weekend in connection with the largest cocaine seizure in California history, pleaded not guilty Tuesday before a Municipal Court judge in Fullerton to charges of possession of cocaine and conspiracy to distribute the drug.

Judge Daniel T. Brice also refused to lower the $4-million bail imposed on each suspect after they were arrested last Friday night at three residences in Fullerton, Placentia and Anaheim. The suspects remain in the Orange County Jail.

A preliminary hearing was set for April 17. On Friday, Brice will hear motions from three defense attorneys to have certain records and evidence turned over to them by Assistant Dist. Atty. James M. Brooks, who is prosecuting the case.

Defense Attorneys Named

Newport Beach attorney Mike McDonald represented Ecuadorean Juan Perez Sanchez, 29, and Colombian Blas Sanchez Rodriquez, 43. Santa Ana attorney James D. Riddet represented Venezuelan Clara Rubia Perez, 22, and Colombian Onelia Rita Arboleda, 24.

The other attorney, J.T. Prada of San Jose, is defending Colombian Uldarico Cabuya, 34.

The other five Colombian defendants--Fabio Ardila Dimate, 41; Florinda Suarez Prada, 25; Elkin Guarin, 28; Gonzalo Ruiz, 29 and Maria Sanchez Pinzon, 24--were provided court-appointed attorneys. Ruiz and Guarin told Brice through an interpreter that they had been in the United States less than a month.

The three private attorneys refused to comment about the case or to answer questions as to who hired them to represent the five suspects.

“I don’t know anything about this case yet,” McDonald said as he hurried out of the courtroom.

The 10 defendants, none of whom speak English, were arrested by Los Angeles police officers and federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents during three consecutive raids Friday night. The agents seized 1,784 pounds of high-grade cocaine with a street value of $500 million. Authorities also confiscated $730,000 in cash from a residence in Placentia.

If convicted, the South Americans could face up to 15 years in prison, Brooks said. Under a state statute that went into effect this year, suspects convicted of possessing more than 25 pounds of cocaine can have an additional 10-year sentence added to the normal five-year sentence.

Brooks told reporters after the hourlong court session that the Los Angeles Police Department had conducted a very brief investigation before Friday night’s raids. He said an informant tipped off Los Angeles agents that Perez Sanchez allegedly was dealing cocaine in Orange County.

Brooks said that the Ecuadorean was placed under surveillance for two days and that he led investigators to the other suspects and the three residences that were raided.

The prosecutor characterized the suspects as “role players” not high up in the drug-smuggling hierarchy.

“These people are moved around, and they basically perform functions like taking care of the cocaine or taking care of the money,” he said.

Link to Colombia

Brooks added that Los Angeles police investigators still are examining records and other evidence confiscated during the raids to try to connect the operation to higher sources. However, he said the enormity of the seizures pointed to a direct link to Colombia, the world’s major source of cocaine.

“It appears that it goes all the way back to Colombia,” he said. “The size (of the seizures) points to a pretty direct route.”

The prosecutor also said that another huge cocaine seizure in Tijuana last week could indicate that this area has become a major center for drug smuggling.

“This looks like a dropping-off point. It is a major distribution point, but we don’t know if this is the major distribution point,” he said.

Brooks said the large number of suspects and their inability to speak English could drag the trial on “for months and months.”