Agents Seize 500 Pounds of Cocaine and $650,000

Agents with an Orange County drug task force and the Los Angeles Police Department arrested three men and seized 500 pounds of cocaine, 2 pounds of heroin and $650,000 cash, authorities said Tuesday.

It was the fifth largest drug bust for the year-old Orange County Regional Narcotics Suppression Program, a task force of 16 federal and local agencies.

Orange County Sheriff-Coroner Brad Gates announced the arrests Tuesday at a noon press conference at Orange County Jail.

“Are we going to win the drug war?” Gates said, standing before a table piled high with cash and plastic-wrapped cocaine bundles. “We’re going to win it, and we guarantee it.”

Rigoberto Pellegalo, 30, Ignacio Lopez Ortiz, 38, and Juan Carlos Navarro, 27, were arrested Monday at a Norwalk residence on suspicion of possession of cocaine and conspiracy to distribute the narcotics. They were being held without bail Tuesday at Terminal Island federal prison, said Sheriff’s Capt. Tim Simon, head of the Orange County task force.

Acting on a tip that the three men were moving “large amounts of dope” through Orange and Los Angeles counties, agents with the task force began following the suspects in late January, Simon said.

The surveillance led into Los Angeles County, where agents saw two women placing large bags into the the trunk of a car Monday night, Gates said. Agents found $500,000 in the car.

The women denied any knowledge of the money and did not own the car. They were later released.

Los Angeles police and task force agents then searched homes in Norwalk and Downey where the three men were arrested and the drugs and additional cash were seized, Gates said. Agents also seized nine weapons, including an assault rifle and a sawed-off, double barrel shotgun, Gates said.