Another Big Methamphetamine Bust in Buena Park

Police, working on an informant’s tip, raided a 22-year-old woman’s motel room and then her Encinitas home and seized about 20 pounds of methamphetamine and $80,000 in cash, police said Friday.

It was second methamphetamine bust in Buena Park in the past two days, police said.

The latest raid occurred about midnight Thursday when investigators stopped a driver on the Riverside Freeway who had a small amount of the drug. After interviewing the driver, investigators were led to a motel room in Buena Park rented by Julia Anna Clark.

When investigators searched Clark’s room, they found a small amount of drugs and $43,000 in cash, police said. Officers then obtained a warrant to search Clark’s Encinitas home where they found 20 pounds of methamphetamine and an additional $37,000, police said.

Clark was arrested on suspicion of possession of methamphetamines with the intent to sell and was being held in Orange County Jail on $500,000 bail.

In an unrelated investigation earlier Thursday, narcotics officers raided a methamphetamine laboratory set up in a Buena Park house, seizing between 5 and 10 pounds of the drug and arresting a Riverside man, police said Friday.

That raid capped a three-week investigation involving Brea police and the state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement.

Police said the laboratory was capable of making of 25 pounds of methamphetamine worth an estimated $250,000 on the street.

James Scigliano, 26, of Riverside was arrested on suspicion of manufacturing methamphetamines after investigators found him hiding in a closet, police said.

During the raid, investigators wore special suits and gas masks for their protection while handling potentially toxic chemicals.

Laboratory equipment was seized in addition to the drug and chemicals, police said.