Oceanside Drug Deal Ends in Lab Raid

Authorities say a drug deal made outside an Oceanside doughnut shop led narcotics agents to break up a major methamphetamine operation and arrest four people.

The defendants all pleaded not guilty in federal court Thursday to drug and conspiracy charges. Each remains jailed at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown San Diego.

San Diego County Integrated Narcotics Task Force officials say 9 pounds of the illegal stimulant, valued at $305,000 on the street, and 31 guns were seized in a raid at the Vista home of one defendant, Walter Earl Frietas, 32.

Agents also confiscated enough chemicals and equipment there to produce more than 100 pounds of methamphetamine, which would be worth about $3 million on the street, said Lt. Pat Kerins, a task force member.

Two million tablets of ephedrine stored in 1,000 bottles, three 50-gallon drums of Freon 11 and two 10-gallon vats of hydriodic acid were found inside hidden compartments of a homemade trailer. All are used in manufacturing methamphetamine, Kerins said.

“This was a major methamphetamine manufacturing operation,” Kerins said at Carlsbad police headquarters, where some of the seized weapons, including a vintage Thompson .45-caliber round-drum submachine gun, were displayed.

Also found inside the house and confiscated were shotguns, rifles, an AK-47 assault rifle, derringers, a night-vision scope and 1,250 rounds of ammunition, Kerins said.

Undercover task force agents, acting on a tip about someone with 5 pounds of methamphetamine they wanted to sell, met three men Wednesday outside a doughnut shop near Oceanside Airport to strike the deal for $45,000, Kerins said.

Frietas was arrested with John Patrick Gallagher, 32, of Vista, and Mark Stephen Drake, 34, of Oceanside. Two of them drew handguns when authorities moved in to make arrests, but agents persuaded the trio to surrender peacefully, said Kerins.

From there, agents went to Frietas’ home, where they confiscated the drugs and weapons and arrested Pamela Sue Payne, 32, authorities said.

Each defendant is accused of methamphetamine possession with intent to sell. Payne and Frietas also face drug-manufacturing charges. Bail amounts for the four weren’t immediately available.

Agents also found an envelope in the house that was addressed to Las Vegas and contained a plastic bag filled with coffee grounds and 1 ounce of methamphetamine, Kerins said.

“We will attempt to find out who else is involved in this operation,” he said, adding that the investigation will try to find the source of the ephedrine tablets.

Ephedrine, which is used in antihistamines, is not an illegal substance by itself. But its distribution is regulated, and all sales must be reported to the federal government, Kerins said.