North County

A 14-year federal prison term was handed down Monday to a leader of a North County cocaine-smuggling ring.

Many of the 20 supporters of Michael Jay Sullivan, 28, of Del Mar who were in the courtroom cried after the sentence was pronounced by U.S. District Judge J. Lawrence Irving.

Sullivan had pleaded guilty to operating a continuing criminal enterprise, which carries a mandatory 10-year sentence, and to using a telephone during a narcotics transaction.

Sullivan was one of 98 defendants indicted in March, 1985, in the drug ring that smuggled cocaine from Peru and Colombia into the United States.

According to Assistant U.S. Atty. Maria Tabin-Arroyo, Sullivan forfeited about $1.5 million in assets as part of his plea-bargain agreement.

Those assets included a 1982 Mercedes-Benz equipped with a telephone, two Peugeot cars, a Porsche, 10 bank accounts, stocks and bonds, and Sullivan’s business, Conceptual Artists of San Diego.

Another ringleader, Augustin Fernando Maurtua, 26, of Carlsbad, was sentenced to 12 years in prison two weeks ago.

Irving denied a motion by Sullivan’s attorney, Jan Ronis, for him to surrender in several weeks and Sullivan was immediately placed in custody.