Bail for Each in Drug Case Set at $30 Million

Bail for each of three men arrested during a drug raid in which authorities seized cocaine with an estimated street value of $30 million and more than $100,000 in cash was set at $30 million Tuesday by an Orange County judge.

“We asked for reasonable bail,” said Deputy Dist. Atty Thomas Avdeef after the suspects’ arraignment in South Orange County Municipal Court. “When you have $30 million worth of street dope, you obviously have some sort of capability.”

Judge Richard D. Hamilton set the bail for Michael Elliott, 35, of Miami Town, Ohio, and Colombians Jaime H. Berrio, 25, and Jose Perez, 27, who pleaded not guilty to charges of possession of cocaine and possession of cocaine for sale. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 30.

The three men were taken into custody Saturday by state agents and Orange County sheriff’s deputies, according to Special Agent Van Coleman of the state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement.

Under Surveillance

Coleman said state authorities had had an apartment at 29709 Niguel Road, Laguna Niguel, under surveillance for five days after being tipped by another law enforcement agency about a possible narcotics operation.

Although Elliott gave officers an Ohio hometown and the van he was driving had Ohio license plates, Coleman said, investigators discovered that the vehicle was actually from southern Florida.

According to Coleman, agents found 185 pounds of high-grade cocaine when they raided the Niguel Road apartment, where Berrio and Perez were arrested. Elliott was carrying $25,000 in cash when he was arrested at a Costa Mesa motel and another $110,000 was seized when authorities raided a third location, a house in San Juan Capistrano, Coleman said.

A fourth suspect is still being sought, Coleman said.