SAN DIEGO

The Sheriff’s Department received $625,205 Friday from federal authorities for help in cracking an illegal methamphetamine ring.

The money represents the proceeds seized under federal law from the North County drug manufacturing activities of Richard and Ronald Mason and Jodie Jester, said U.S. Atty. William Braniff.

Braniff joined FBI special agent-in-charge Thomas Hughes in presenting the check to Sheriff John Duffy at a news conference Friday. More than $3 million in assets were seized, including $1.6 million in cash, two businesses and about 50 cars.

Sheriff John Duffy said his department’s allotment will be used for drug-awareness programs in the schools. The department is awaiting from federal authorities an additional $19.6 million in seized assets, Duffy said.

Friday’s share represents the largest single allocation the department has yet to receive, Duffy said. Under the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, the Justice Department shares drug profits seized from traffickers with assisting local police agencies.

“I’m delighted to have this $650,000 to put into the pot,” Duffy said.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Donald Clausen said the seizure law is “one of the finest weapons we can use.”

“We completely destroy the capital of the organization,” Clausen said.

The ring’s undoing began in April, 1987, when two members were arrested by sheriff’s deputies in Valley Center. That incident led to the arrest and indictment of 13 people, and also involved agents with the San Diego County Integrated Narcotics Task Force, FBI and the Internal Revenue Service.