County Man Accused of Heading Big Cocaine Ring

In the dark, early-morning hours Wednesday in Northern California, he was just a passenger in a car stopped by a sheriff’s deputy for a defective headlight.

But by nightfall Wednesday, the 38-year-old Santa Ana man man was under arrest by federal officers, accused of being the head of an alleged multimillion-dollar, international cocaine ring.

According to a federal grand jury indictment, Ted Frank LeBlanc, whose address was listed as 4621 W. Henderson Place, has been involved with racketeering and cocaine smuggling for almost 10 years. He was being held in San Francisco Wednesday night pending a bail hearing scheduled for Monday.

The 27-count indictment, unsealed Wednesday in San Francisco, accused LeBlanc of conspiracy, racketeering and bringing cocaine into the United States. The indictment accuses LeBlanc and three other California residents of importing cocaine from Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and the Netherlands Antilles, and smuggling the drug into Miami, New Orleans and San Francisco.

According to United Press International news service in San Francisco, LeBlanc is the “suspected head” of the international drug cartel.

But LeBlanc was arrested Wednesday only because of a routine traffic stop in the Northern California city of Castro Valley.

According to Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputy G. R. Berge, LeBlanc was a passenger in a car that was stopped in Castro Valley at 3:55 a.m. Wednesday. Berge said Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputy Terry Godchaux noticed that the car had a defective headlight.

Godchaux stopped the car and found that the driver, whose name was not released, had no current car registration, Berge said. Godchaux ran a routine check for police warrants against the driver and passenger, who was identified as LeBlanc.

Berge said the check found that the Internal Revenue Service had an outstanding warrant against LeBlanc. IRS agents subsequently picked up LeBlanc at the sheriff’s San Leandro substation, Berge said.

While in IRS custody, the federal indictment against him was unsealed on Wednesday.

In addition to LeBlanc, the indictment accused three others of being involved in the alleged drug ring. They were identified as Steven Paul Martinez, 36, Castro Valley; Christopher Nyhan, 33, San Diego, and Gerald Richard Groom, 41, San Leandro.

UPI said Martinez also was arrested on Wednesday but that Groom and Nyhan remained at large.

U.S. Magistrate Frederick Woelflen ordered LeBlanc and Martinez held pending the bail hearing.

The federal indictment said the U.S. government seeks seizure of up to $50 million in profits from the alleged drug smuggling, in addition to luxury cars, airplanes and a sailboat.

The indictment also accused LeBlanc and Martinez of federal tax evasion and filing false tax returns.