Officials Say Arrests Broke Up Drug Ring

Capping a four-month investigation, federal authorities announced Friday the arrest of a ring of suspected drug dealers who allegedly imported hundreds of pounds of cocaine through Santa Ana and promised to bring in thousands more.

The arrests were made two months after 90 kilograms of high-grade Colombian cocaine was passed to undercover agents in Santa Ana, which is considered one of the country’s most active distribution points for illegal drugs, officials said.

“There’s so much of it here,” said sheriff’s Capt. Tim Simon, a spokesman for the Orange County Regional Narcotics Suppression Program. “It’s a sad commentary on our community, but we are so close to the source (of the drugs).”

Drug Enforcement Administration officials said that five Mexican nationals, arrested Wednesday night, were being held Friday in Elizabeth, N.J., on federal drug trafficking and conspiracy charges.

The three men and two women were ordered held without bail in Union County Jail, said federal public defender Patricia Codey, who is representing one of the suspects.

“We wanted them kept in custody,” said Maurice L. Hill, head of the DEA’s office in Newark, N.J. “We don’t want them to get away.”

Hill said the case opened in September when undercover agents in Newark were approached by two Mexican citizens, later identified as suspects Ramon Pelayo-Ruiz, 48, and his sister, Magdalena Pelayo-Ruiz, 39.

The two said they wanted to establish an ongoing drug trafficking network between Southern California and Newark, Hill said.

In November, Ramon Pelayo-Ruiz traveled to San Diego, where he passed 90 kilos of cocaine to a contact he did not know was a DEA informant, documents show. The informant then transported the drug to Santa Ana and turned the shipment over to undercover agents.

A $1.5-million payment for the cocaine was then arranged to be dropped off in a car in Santa Ana, according to a written statement by Alex Koumanelis, a DEA agent. But the suspects “were not able to pick up the car and the money,” Koumanelis wrote in his statement submitted in court.

Agents later made arrangements to meet the man alleged to be the head of the drug ring, Carlos Enrique Cervantes DeGortari, 55, of Mexico City.

On Wednesday night, agents went to the Vista Hotel in Elizabeth, N.J., where they met DeGortari, Ramon Pelayo Ruiz, Magdelena Pelayo-Ruiz, their sister, Martha Leticia Ruiz-Charbono, 44, and Jesus Jimenez-Esparza, 68, Hill said.

During the meeting, DeGortari claimed to control a profitable Mexican drug syndicate and told agents he would arrange immediate delivery of another 200 kilos of cocaine in Santa Ana, Hill said.

The suspects at that time were taken into custody without incident.

Hill said it was unusual for drug traffickers to hand over large quantities without up-front payment. “It doesn’t often happen like that,” he said.

More arrests are expected, Hill said. He declined to say how members of the alleged drug ring had arranged shipments of cocaine from Colombia or if it was believed they had ties to a drug cartel in the South American country.

Simon of the Orange County Regional Narcotics Suppression Program said Southern California has long been established as a prime drug center. Last year alone, his agency seized more than 12,000 pounds of the drug, a small percentage of what is believed to be coming through the county.

“It’s significant,” Simon said. “It’s a pretty good indicator of the amount of stuff that is still being produced and exported.”