The Region : Cocaine Charges Dropped

Superior Court Judge John J. Ryan dismissed charges against three of seven South Americans arrested in California’s largest cocaine seizure case and ordered four others to return to court Oct. 3. He said there was not sufficient evidence to warrant a trial for Florinda Suarez Prada, 25, and Onelia Rita Arboleda, 24, both of whom are from Colombia. He also approved a prosecutor’s motion to dismiss charges against Fabio Ardila Dimate, 41, of Ecuador. But Juan Perez Sanchez, 29, of Ecuador; Clara Rubia Perez, 22, of Venezuela; Uldarico Cabuya, 34, of Colombia and Gonzalo Ruiz, 29, also of Colombia, remained in the Orange County Jail in lieu of $4 million bail each. All were arrested April 4 in raids at locations in Anaheim, Placentia and Fullerton, where Los Angeles police narcotics agents found $730,000 in cash and 1,784 pounds of cocaine with a street value estimated at $500 million.