The State - News from June 27, 1988

A fired Los Angeles police officer was indicted by a federal grand jury for cocaine sales and conspiracy for allegedly running a $100,000-a-week drug ring. Modesto Benigno Perales, 38, a 12-year veteran of the LAPD who was fired earlier this year for misuse of law enforcement computer files, was indicted with two others, the U.S. attorney’s office said. The indictment alleges that the three were involved in two separate deals in March, one made at the Countryside Inn in Costa Mesa and another at the Rodeway Inn in Newport Beach, for a total of 1,438 grams of cocaine. Federal authorities said Perales and Hernando had recently traveled to Colombia to arrange for the importation of 320 kilograms of cocaine into the United States. Perales, who had worked in Watts, was suspended in 1987 and then fired in January for insubordination over the computer issue. Also indicted were Maurice Hernando, 28, of Santa Ana and Oscar Hugo Hernandez, 43, of Anaheim.