2 Must Return to U.S. to Block Fund Seizure : Simi Valley: The $2.5 million was seized in 1989. Most of it is expected to go to police if the Colombians don’t appear.

Two Colombians will have to return to Ventura County if they want to prevent the seizure of $2.5 million in suspected drug money, a Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday.

If they do not show up, officials say, most of the money probably will go to the Simi Valley Police Department.

Simi Valley drug investigators seized the cash in May, 1989, and arrested Marta Urrego, who was living in Chatsworth, and Marina and Floriberto Urrego, then of Simi Valley. They were held for a few days in the Ventura County Jail on suspicion of money laundering and conspiring to distribute cocaine.

No charges were filed, and the Urregos returned to their native Colombia without the money. Investigators say the cash, which had been stashed in three suitcases, several safety deposit boxes and a bedroom closet, came from drug sales and have filed suit to keep it.

Marta and Floriberto Urrego have contested the action but did not want to return to Ventura County, Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen J. McLaughlin said. Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Richard D. Aldrich said the pair would have to make themselves available for questioning, as would any party in a civil case.

McLaughlin declined to say whether the Urregos would be arrested if they returned. “Why they want to stay in Colombia, you can speculate,” he said. But he said he doubts that $2.5 million is enough incentive for them to return.

“This is peanuts to these people,” McLaughlin said.

Even if no one contests the seizure, McLaughlin said, he will have to prove to the judge that the money came from drug dealing. But the standard of proof is different than in a criminal case. Instead of having to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the prosecutor will only have to show that the money came from drug sales.

“We can and will establish a connection between these people and drug dealers,” McLaughlin said.

If granted, the $2.5-million cash seizure would be the second-largest by state or local authorities in California, McLaughlin said. Los Angeles County authorities have seized $6.2 million, and federal agents have made even larger confiscations.

Under a state formula, 10% of the money would go to the state, 13.5% to the district attorney’s office and 76.5% to local departments, primarily the Simi Valley police, McLaughlin said. The money must be used for law enforcement.

McLaughlin said the Simi Valley department has a strong drug-enforcement program and deserves the lion’s share if the seizure is approved. “The people there are getting their money’s worth,” he said.