Local News in Brief : 4 Dropped From Drug Case
Prosecutors have decided not to charge four of the seven people arrested last week in what police called a major San Fernando Valley cocaine ring.
A three-month Burbank police investigation ended last week with the arrests of six men and a woman and the seizure of $1.7 million, several luxury cars, jewelry and weapons--but no drugs. One other suspect is still being sought.
Police believe the arrests came after the drug ring had recently sold a 332-pound shipment of cocaine. But because the drugs were not seized and detectives made no undercover drug buys during the investigation, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office is faced with prosecuting a cocaine conspiracy case without any cocaine seen or seized.
“The evidence is all circumstantial,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Carolyn McNary said Wednesday.
Mukhtiar S. Sagoo, 55, and Igbal S. Sagoo, 26, a father and son from Granada Hills, along with Nelly P. Villegas, 36, of Tarzana, and Edward F. Pena, 19, of Granada Hills, were released from the Burbank jail and will not be charged because evidence obtained by police does not tie them directly to the alleged cocaine distribution system, McNary said.
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