Ring Smuggled Tons of Asian Pot, U.S. Alleges

Several Orange County residents, including a Tustin attorney, are among 12 people indicted in the alleged smuggling of at least 26 tons of marijuana to the West Coast from Southeast Asia, U.S. Atty. Robert C. Bonner announced Thursday.

Federal agents said the ring transported the drug in several shiploads between 1984 and 1987, usually transferring their illicit cargo to smaller vessels before landing in San Francisco.

The 30-count indictment, which also alleges several conspiracies to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and violate federal tax laws, was unsealed late Wednesday after the arrests of five of the defendants.

A sixth, Tustin attorney Neil C. Pearson, 50, surrendered to federal authorities Thursday morning. All were arraigned Thursday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Venetta Tassopulos in Los Angeles.

At the request of Assistant U.S. Attys. Steven D. Clymer and Russell Hayman, Tassopulos set bail for Pearson at $1 million. Pearson’s attorney, James Riddet, called the amount an “absolute outrage” and said his client had made himself available to federal prosecutors almost from the beginning of the 18-month investigation.

According to the indictment, former Maui resident William Uhler, 39, who in 1986 reportedly gave a Cypress address, and Eugene LaForce, 53, of Cave Junction, Ore., organized and directed at least four major marijuana shipments.

Uhler, LaForce, longtime Maui resident Walter M. Hillinger, 56, and others allegedly brought eight tons from Thailand aboard a ship named the Lloyd B. George in September, 1984, transferring it off the coast of Mendocino County to two smaller vessels that carried it to San Francisco.

Another seven tons of marijuana allegedly was brought to California in 1985 aboard the Lady Fame, an 80-foot oil supply vessel whose ownership reportedly was traced to a partnership that included several names from the obituary columns of the Orange County Register. Federal authorities said the ring went to great lengths to cover up ownership of the vessels.

In 1987, the prosecutors said, Uhler, LaForce and the others smuggled 11 more tons of marijuana from Thailand to a point between Hawaii and Tahiti, where it was put aboard another vessel, the Natalie Rose, and carried to the West Coast.

In addition to the drug charges, Uhler, Pearson, Dovie M. Briggs, 56, a Cypress income tax preparer who is Uhler’s mother-in-law, and Terry P. Dee, 47, of Seal Beach, former owner of Faber Laboratories, a Fullerton business that tested crankcase oil, were indicted on federal income tax charges.

Others indicted were Larry A. Doyle, 49, of Newport Beach; Charles E. Larsen, 45, of Costa Mesa; Martin E. Levine, 49, of New York City and San Francisco; Michael A. Tzouanakis, 35, of Costa Mesa; Walter M. Ulrich, 39, of Sunset Beach, and Dennis Tobin, 33, of Morro Bay.

Times staff writer George Smith contributed to this article.