U.S. Attorney, Santa Ana Drug Fighters Join Forces : Law enforcement: Unusual federal indictments in local sales cases show support for communitywide efforts to clean up Willard neighborhood.

In an unusual show of support for local anti-drug efforts, the U.S. attorney’s office has indicted two men for alleged drug sales in a neighborhood where residents have banded together to fight crime.

The indictments mark the first time that the U.S. attorney’s central district--a seven-county region from Orange County to Santa Barbara--has accepted cases involving amounts of drugs that fall below federal guidelines, Assistant U.S. Atty. Paul Seave said at a news conference at Willard Elementary School.

Seave and Councilman Robert L. Richardson said the U.S. attorney’s office took the unusual step of getting involved in these two drug cases after being told of the anti-crime effort in Santa Ana’s Willard neighborhood just north of the Civic Center.

“It was evident to us that this city is not just lying back and doing nothing and crying for help from the federal government,” Seave said. “Rather, they are doing everything that they can with all the means they have to fight the drug problems here.”

Those efforts, officials said, include stepped-up police surveillance, building code enforcement, additional street lighting and support from officials at Willard Elementary School to organize a neighborhood association.

“We did not wake up one day and say, ‘We really have a problem in the community. Let’s call the U.S. attorney’s (office) to help us,’ ” Richardson said. “Basically, other communities that would be looking at this as some potential, need to very carefully take stock of what they can do first on their own before contacting the U.S. attorney.”

The two men indicted Feb. 21 by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles were identified as Enrique Cruz Moreno, 26, and Carlos Lares Gomez, 20, both of Santa Ana. Neither man is in custody, and officials admitted that their whereabouts are unknown.

Moreno was charged with four counts of possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute and one count of carrying a firearm. Gomez was charged with one count of cocaine possession with the intent to distribute.

Officials allege that both men were involved in four transactions involving a total of about 170 grams of cocaine. Under federal guidelines, the U.S. attorney’s office does not usually get involved in cases involving less than 500 grams of cocaine.

However, city and school officials said at the news conference that the indictments should serve as a warning that drug dealers will not be tolerated in the Willard neighborhood.

“We think this will send a strong message and a strong deterrent to those that come into this community and engage in their illicit criminal activities,” Richardson said. “They are not welcome here, and this city and this school district and all the resources that we can bring to bear, including the federal government, are going to be there to put them out of this community.”

Santa Ana Unified School District Supt. Rudy M. Castruita said he would like to see the new program expanded citywide.

“We are really appreciative of the federal government coming in and making a stand because this message is going to get out to our community,” Castruita said. “I think it’s a real important statement that the city of Santa Ana is making in collaboration with the school district that we are not going to tolerate drugs around our schools.”

Seave said other similar cases were being reviewed, but no decision has been made on whether to seek indictments.

Both Moreno and Gomez were arrested by Santa Ana police last summer when the alleged incidents occurred, but they were released pending the filing of charges, Lt. Robert Helton, the Police Department spokesman, said. Neither has been rearrested since the indictments were handed down, he said.

Seave said that after months of review, federal prosecutors agreed to handle the cases against Moreno and Gomez because they involved alleged drug sales near a school and because a weapon allegedly was involved.

Seave admitted that law enforcement officials do not know their whereabouts. However, he said: “One way or the other, I am very confident they will be apprehended. This indictment is not an empty gesture. They will be prosecuted.”

If convicted, Seave added, Moreno faces seven years in federal prison and Gomez a two-year sentence. Both would face only about 180 days in state prison if they were to be convicted in Superior Court, he said.

Helton said two large signs would be posted at the elementary school by Friday, warning that the sale of cocaine, heroin or methamphetamine is punishable under federal law by up to 40 years in prison and a fine of up to $2 million.