Federal Jury Acquits 4 on Drug Charges

Four former employees of a Los Angeles auto parts firm have been acquitted on a charge of conspiracy to possess and distribute drugs, while a Los Angeles Federal Court jury deadlocked over a verdict on a fifth defendant.

The five were among 10 suspects indicted last July on charges of laundering $4 million in drug profits by converting the cash to cashier’s checks.

Those found not guilty were Francisco Saenz Castillo, 31, of West Covina; Rene Francisco Galvez, 31, of Los Angeles; Fred Henry Coca, 53, of Los Angeles, and Oscar Edmund Murcia Jr., 35, of Alexandria, Va., brother of a defendant who pleaded guilty.

Jurors deadlocked over a verdict on Arturo Santiago Arocha, 35, of Diamond Bar.

May Retry Arocha

Assistant U.S. Atty. Brian Sun said a decision will be made April 24 on whether Arocha will be tried again.

U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall dismissed 19 money-laundering counts against the five in January under a recent U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that bank customers are not required to report cash transactions under $10,000, even if their purpose is to evade the law and get money out of the country.

The government charged that a ring operating out of two North Broadway firms transferred the drug-generated money to bank accounts in Connecticut, New York and Miami between early 1984 and July, 1985.

Prosecutor Sun said William Murcia, 33, of Alhambra, owner of G&W; Auto Parts, and two others pleaded guilty to charges in the indictment. Charges against two others were dropped.