Fired LAPD Officer Seized in Drug Ring Case
A man identified as a former Los Angeles police officer was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of running a $100,000-a-week cocaine ring in Orange County.
Federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents identified the former officer as Modesto Benigno Perales, 38, of Anaheim Hills.
Los Angeles police said Perales, a 12-year veteran, was suspended in January, 1987, and fired last January after an administrative hearing. Perales, who had been assigned to the Central Division, was under investigation for allegedly running names through the Police Department’s computerized crime files as part of an outside business, Cmdr. William Booth said.
“Our narcotics people have been interested in him for some time now,” Booth said of Perales.
But he added that Perales’ alleged use of police computer files had nothing to do with drug trafficking.
Three others were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of being part of the operation: Maurice Hernando, 28, of Santa Ana; Luis Tejeda, 57, Santa Ana, and Hugo Oscar Hernandez, 43, Anaheim.
An informant led narcotics investigators to the drug operation, which was wholesaling between 7 and 10 kilograms of cocaine each week in Orange County and adjoining areas of Los Angeles County, DEA spokesman Ralph Lochridge said. The sales reportedly brought the ring $70,000 to $100,000 a week, Lochridge said.
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