San Diego
An unusual 911 call for help Dec. 17 from the 9-year-old son of Gloria Arana led police to more than $4 million worth of heroin and cocaine, a loaded submachine gun and nearly $60,000, as well as three frightened children at a Southeast San Diego home.
On Monday, Arana was placed on five years’ probation with credit for 4 1/2 months in jail. Arana pleaded guilty to removing drug money that was subject to government seizure from her house, a felony which could have brought her a five-year prison sentence, Assistant U.S. Atty. Edward Wiener said. The drug seizure was one of the biggest in the city’s history.
Arana heard the sentence through a Spanish interpreter and asked that her children be returned to her as soon as possible. However, U.S. District Judge Earl Gilliam told her the matter of whether her children would be returned was in the hands of the juvenile courts.
A co-defendant, Jose Alvaro Gomez, 32, who lived at the same Iris Avenue house, will be sentenced July 14. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute.
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