LOCAL : 3 Held in $3.3-Million Coke Arrests

Three people were arrested and almost 150 pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of $3.3 million were seized by the Orange County Regional Narcotics Suppression task force, officials said today.

The arrests came late Thursday afternoon at two homes in Fullerton and Rancho Cucamonga, where the cocaine was found packaged in cardboard boxes.

Sgt. John Beteag, whose task force unit conducted the surveillance and raids that led to the arrests, said the men arrested are Manuel Sandoval Lozano, a 53-year-old Mexican national; Ernest Sota, 42, a native of Puerto Rico, and Orlanda Scarpetta, 33, a Colombian citizen.

Sandoval, who listed his home address as Deming, N.M., was arrested at a condominium on Gingerwood Drive in Fullerton, where 101.2 pounds of cocaine were found hidden in an organ, Beteag said. Soto and Scarpetta were arrested in an apartment in Rancho Cucamonga where 46 pounds of cocaine were found in the back of a truck.

All three suspects were booked at the Orange County Jail on suspicion of conspiracy to possess cocaine for sale. Bail was set at $1 million each.