North County
Seven North County residents and one man from Anaheim were indicted Friday by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiring to manufacture and distribute about $5 million worth of methamphetamine.
The charges cap a two-month, joint investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI that began when one of the defendants attempted to buy hydriodic acid, an essential element in producing meth, from a federal agent posing as a drug salesman.
“It’s very toxic and it’s very dangerous,” Assistant U.S. Atty. John P. Pierce said of the acid. “About the only legitimate use that I know of for hydriodic acid is to strip autos.”
He said the defendants wanted to buy six, 55-gallon barrels of the acid to complete a large batch of meth.
Pierce said the defendants dismantled an illegal meth lab in Valley Center on March 21, and that two days later federal agents found some of the equipment from that lab in two of the defendants’ homes in San Marcos and Vista.
Named in the indictment were James N. Weaver, 58, and Jaime Verdin Zazueta, 31, both of Escondido; Daniel Orozco, 27; Maria Orozco, 25, and Felipe Martinez, 28, all of San Marcos; Carlos Moreno, 22, of Vista; Gilberto Preciado, 21, of Oceanside, and Donald Johnson, 57, of Anaheim.
Pierce said that only Johnson and Moreno have been released on bond.
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