Fired Deputy Ordered Held Without Bail : Drugs: Macario Duran is suspected of trying to set up a cocaine deal to raise money to flee the country. He has been convicted in money-skimming scandal.

A federal judge Tuesday revoked the bail of former Los Angeles County sheriff’s narcotics officer Macario M. Duran after prosecutors claimed that the fired deputy had attempted to arrange a cocaine deal while on trial in a drug money-skimming case.

U.S. District Judge Laughlin E. Waters ordered Duran, 44, who was arrested Feb. 8, detained without bond after government attorneys presented transcripts of secretly recorded telephone conversations that purportedly show Duran setting up a drug buy late last year.

The taped conversations between Duran and a federal Drug Enforcement Administration informant in San Diego allegedly took place in November and December while Duran was on trial with six other deputies accused of stealing $1.4 million during drug raids.

The other six deputies were convicted Dec. 10 of various charges, including conspiracy and theft, while Duran was convicted on one count of structuring cash transactions to hide thousands of dollars in his bank accounts.

The officers, once members of elite narcotics investigative teams, were all fired.

Duran’s attorney, Terrence A. Roden, who had questioned the drug-trafficking allegations, said Tuesday that he had not had an opportunity to listen to the tape recordings and could not produce a witness he had planned to call to dispute the government’s claims.

“I really can’t expand on this today,” the lawyer said.

In ordering Duran to remain in jail, Waters revoked the $25,000 bail the former deputy had posted while awaiting the start of a second trial on charges that include tax evasion, money-laundering and perjury. That trial had been scheduled to begin this month until the drug trafficking allegations surfaced against Duran.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Thomas H. Bienert Jr. said prosecutors will seek new charges today against the former deputy.

“We will be going to the grand jury and there will be a chance of another superseding indictment,” Bienert said.

According to prosecutors, Duran contacted the DEA informant, with whom he had previously worked on drug cases--seeking dealers who could handle the sale of more than 20 kilograms of cocaine.

Using code names such as “animals” or “cattle” to describe the cocaine, Duran offered the informant $100,000 to help him set up the drug transactions in an apparent effort to raise money to flee the country, prosecutors said.

In addition to taping the telephone calls, Bienert said a Spanish-speaking DEA agent also monitored the conversation between Duran and the informant. A second informant also allegedly told investigators that he was asked by Duran in January to provide couriers for another drug deal.