Ex-Drug Lord’s O.C. Ranch Sold to Girl Scouts

After a spirited session of bidding that drove up the price to $2.38 million, Orange County’s Girl Scouts on Wednesday became the new owners of a 213-acre ranch that was once home to an international marijuana smuggler.

Within a few months, the remote Rancho del Rio, which the Girl Scout Council of Orange County hopes to convert into a year-round camp, could be bustling with hundreds of Scouts. It would be the first such camp built in Orange County and would serve the area’s 22,800 Girl Scouts, officials said.

“We’re delighted,” said Bernice K. Hird, president of the Girl Scout Council. “We have been looking for 20 years for a campsite in Orange County and this will be perfect.”

The Girl Scouts came away with the rugged ranch, situated in the southeastern corner of Orange County, but only after nearly an hour of bidding that boosted the price from a minimum offer of $1.54 million.

Just two bidders entered the county-sponsored auction but they went 167 rounds before the Girl Scouts’ rival, Hanu Reddy Realty of Irvine, threw in the towel.

“That’s all,” the real estate company representative said after the Girl Scouts announced their $2.38-million bid.

The audience of about 35 people then burst into applause, and Girl Scout leaders hugged as they were officially announced the winners of the auction.

“We’ve been planning and hoping and dreaming,” said Mona Ware, executive director of the Girl Scout Council of Orange County.

Jacque Schaar, first vice president of the council, also smiled happily. “This just seemed a blessing,” she said.

The Girl Scouts presented the county with a $25,000 cashier’s check to secure their bid, and Hird said later that the group expects to borrow the money to pay for the property.

Proceeds of the sale will be used to enhance county law enforcement, though 10% of the purchase price will go to the federal government.

Although the ranch property lacks many amenities--it has no running water, no electricity and no sewer hookups--Girl Scout leaders said they hope to use it as a “primitive camp.” They plan to make some improvements, but believe the new camp could be up and running for some Scouts within two to three months.

The purchase must still be approved by the U.S. attorney’s office, but Girl Scout leaders and county officials were confident that the federal government would not object to the sale. The details of the bid will be forwarded to the U.S. attorney this week.

“This couldn’t be better. It’s a fair and equitable deal for everybody,” said county Budget Director Ronald S. Rubino. “I would have a real hard time imagining that at this price, and with the Girl Scouts, that the federal government would block this sale.”

Wednesday’s auction came only after years of heated debate in Orange County about the proper use for the ranch, which was seized by drug enforcement agents in 1985.

Daniel James Fowlie, the ranch’s former owner, was convicted of 15 counts related to his drug-smuggling operation. He was sentenced June 10 to 30 years in prison and fined $1 million.

After Sheriff Brad Gates proposed turning the ranch into a regional drug-enforcement training center, the federal government in 1987 turned the property over to the county. President Bush endorsed the training center idea when he visited the ranch in 1989.

But county supervisors balked at Gates’ proposal, saying they feared the training center would end up costing the county millions of dollars to operate. Instead, they authorized the sale of the land on the condition that proceeds go toward enhancing county law enforcement services.

The U.S. attorney’s office, which has strongly favored the training center idea, objected. In May, U.S. Atty. Lourdes G. Baird warned the county that her office might fight to block the sale of the ranch, and she threatened to seek an injunction to halt Wednesday’s auction.

The supervisors passed a resolution last week to answer Baird’s concerns. In it, they repeated an earlier pledge to give the federal government final approval of the ranch sale.

Although the county had hoped to receive a response from the federal government before putting the property on the block, so far it has not heard back. Baird was unavailable for comment Wednesday, but Leon Weidman, chief of the office’s civil division, said officials would review the terms of the sale as soon as they receive them.

“We need to see the official bids and determine whether it went for fair-market value,” Weidman said. “The county has to get that information to us.”

Weidman would not predict how long the federal government’s review might take.

Although Gates expressed disappointment that the ranch will not become the drug-training center he had envisioned, he said he was pleased the Girl Scouts won out in the bidding.

“If anybody had to have it, I’m glad that the Girl Scouts got it,” he said. “They do a great job, and they’re a great group.”

And though Girl Scout leaders acknowledge the oddity of their taking possession of Orange County’s best-known drug den, they said the ranch’s history will not be forgotten.

“We’ve joked about that part of it,” Hird said. “We intend to teach about drugs and this ranch’s history.”

James Heim, whose father bought the ranch in 1926, said the new buyers will help revive the property’s prouder past, tarnished in recent years by its association with drug dealers. Heim’s family owned the ranch until 1973, when he and his brothers sold it to a group of investors for $110,000.

“It’s a very nice ending,” Heim said. “If my father could have seen what had happened to the ranch, he would have turned over in his grave. To find out it’s going to the Girl Scouts is a wonderful thing. It has redeemed itself.”

Times correspondent Len Hall contributed to this report.

Rancho del Rio Sold

Seized in 1985 by drug enforcement agents, Rancho del Rio is a rugged, rustic collection of buildings located in southeastern Orange County. The Girl Scout Council of Orange County bought the property Wednesday for $2.38 million. Below is a partial list of the amenities.

What the Girl Scouts got: 213 acres of chaparral. 24 buildings, some only partially complete, including: --Three log cabins. --Casa de Maria Elena, small residence in poor condition. --Guest house with enclosed patio and garden area. --Recreation building with fireplace, bar, breezeway, enclosed patio. --Caretaker residence. --Barn, stables. Four wells, currently dry because of the drought. Rock barbecue, planters. Dog kennel.

What the ranch lacks: Electricity, except by portable generator. Water. Sewer hookups. Storm drains. Phone service. Source: Orange County General Services Agency