Sylmar Drug Haul Is 3rd Largest in U.S. History

More than $15 million in drug-related cash taken from a Sylmar house by police officers this week represents the third-largest such seizure in the nation’s history and the largest on the West Coast, federal officials said Thursday.

At a packed Terminal Island news conference, U.S. Customs officials said they have asked for help from the Federal Reserve bank in counting the thousands of $1, $20 and $100 bills, but they believe the total will come to about $15.5 million. They initially placed the figure at $20 million.

The money was confiscated from the four-bedroom Sylmar home late Tuesday and early Wednesday during a raid that stemmed from a joint three-month investigation by the U.S. Customs Service and a consortium of South Bay police agencies. Four Colombian nationals were arrested Tuesday and Wednesday in connection with the alleged money-laundering scheme.

Officials said documents found during the raid indicated the cash had been gathered during drug deals in Los Angeles and Orange counties and that the money was being packed for shipment to drug cartel leaders in Colombia.

“This indicates that we are being ever more successful in our fight to deny drug traffickers the proceeds of their illegal activities,” said Roger Urbanski, special agent in charge of U.S. Customs investigations in Los Angeles.

Officials, who said they were continuing their investigation, would not describe any details of how the alleged money-laundering scheme worked. They said further searches and arrests could take place soon.

The officials said they have not found a connection between this latest find of $15 million and the record seizure last September of more than 21 tons of cocaine and $12.2 million in cash at a Sylmar warehouse only two miles from where this week’s raid took place.

But investigators have not ruled out the possibility of a connection, Urbanski said.

Armed officers of the Westside Narcotic Enforcement Team and the U.S. Customs Service, which collaborated in the three-month investigation that led to the raid, stood watch at the news conference as officials displayed the hundreds of pounds of cash, packed in the 38 cardboard U-Haul boxes and large suitcase in which it was seized.

Officers also showed reporters two AK-47 assault rifles, outfitted with multiple-round clips, that were found hanging on a wall in a bedroom of the house.

Urbanski identified two men arrested Wednesday morning after the raid as Jose Prieto, 31, and Gabriel Gavivia, 37. The pair had told neighbors on their quiet Sylmar street that they were brothers.

Also arrested in the alleged money-laundering scheme was Gilberto Saavedra, 41. Investigators said Saavedra had been under surveillance for several days and was stopped for a traffic violation shortly before the raid as he drove through Pasadena.

A fourth suspect who also had been under surveillance, Jesus David Salazar, 26, was stopped on Tuesday while driving through Diamond Bar.

Officers found more than $500,000 cash, numerous pagers and documents in Saavedra’s car, that led them to the Sylmar house, Urbanski said. Saavedra had bought the house about two months ago, authorities said.

Salazar’s car contained more than $100,000 cash, El Segundo Police Lt. Ron Green said.

All four suspects were booked on charges of money laundering and were being held in lieu of $5-million bail each at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, Green said.

The El Segundo department serves as headquarters for WESTNET, the investigations team responsible for the raid. The team is composed of officers from seven South Bay police departments, county sheriff’s deputies and Santa Monica, UCLA and Signal Hill police departments.

A woman and a 2-year-old child found in the Sylmar house during the raid were not taken into custody, El Segundo Police Chief Frank Meehan said.

Times staff writers Amy Louise Kazmin and Douglas Jehl contributed to this story.