Drug Suspects ‘Comfortable’ in Nice Areas

When Jose Guillermo Yepes went to work each day, police say, he generally loaded his three children into a van and, along with his wife, made his appointed rounds to cocaine “stash houses” in upscale neighborhoods scattered from Valencia to Irvine.

In some of his “business” dealings, the 43-year-old man used his teen-age son as an interpreter in meetings where only English was spoken, Anaheim police investigator Rich Smith said Thursday.

“We followed him all over the place,” said Smith, referring to Yepes, whom authorities believe to be one of the leaders of a drug operation that had its roots in Colombia and tentacles stretching through Orange County to Las Vegas and Chicago.

The mustachioed Yepes, bare-chested in a police photograph displayed before reporters Thursday, is one of 24 people arrested in the past six weeks, during which 8,600 pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of $150 million were seized.

Joined by agents of the U.S. Customs Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. attorney’s office and the Fullerton Police Department, Anaheim investigators also recovered about $400,000 in cash, along with 20 automobiles and other assets valued at $100,000.

The drug operation was a “major” one, both federal and local officials said, that tended to function in broad daylight, mostly in quiet, well-to-do areas of Anaheim Hills, Brea, Yorba Linda, Fullerton and Irvine.

“They went where they felt good,” said Anaheim Police Chief Joseph T. Molloy, whose department was credited by federal agents with initiating a number of nearly yearlong investigations. “They tended to look for nice, quiet areas. They needed to feel comfortable in their environment. . . . Normally, the (neighbors) didn’t have a clue about what was going on.”

So comfortable had some of the suspects become in their neighborhood “distribution centers” that in police raids, officers said, they found boxes full of $20,000 blocks of cocaine being used as tables and chairs in homes generally devoid of furnishings.

In other houses, Smith said, the boxes were found stored in closets or bathrooms.

“Some tried to be discreet about it. You never know who could stop by,” Smith said. “But some (houses) contained very large quantities that you really couldn’t hide.”

Police displayed about 1,300 pounds of the seized cocaine during a news conference at Anaheim police headquarters. Many of the blocks had been packaged by the suspects to look like clothing carrying the Polo label, or packages of jewelry from Cartier.

One of the largest distribution points, Assistant U.S. Atty. Melinda Haag said, was an Irvine condominium on Chardonnay Street.

Beginning Feb. 1, the prosecutor said, investigators watched as a U-Haul truck arrived at the residence at different times during a six-week period, allegedly bringing a total of almost 2 tons of cocaine.

Portions of those deliveries were later transferred to the other houses, Chief Molloy said. From those locations packages of the drug were allocated in varying portions for sale on the streets of Las Vegas and Chicago, he said.

One resident in the well-kept Chardonnay neighborhood said Thursday that she hadn’t noticed anything unusual on the streets.

“I moved in a year ago because of the security,” the resident, LouCynda Hartman, said.

Smith said that throughout the investigation, which began last August, investigators watched the suspects’ movements from cars parked near the various houses.

During the news conference, police officers and federal agents displayed photographs from their stakeout work, allegedly showing drug deliveries at some locations.

Customs Agent Allan Doody said that much of the cocaine was transported by automobile across the U.S.-Mexico border from sources in Colombia, possibly connected to the notorious Medellin drug cartel.

Some of the largest seizures were made May 20, Smith said, when police and federal agents, armed with search warrants, simultaneously moved in on eight suspected locations.

Molloy said none of the police actions resulted in violent confrontations.

“When you get up to the level where these guys are, you generally don’t run into much violence or many weapons,” Smith said.

Of the 25 arrested, none listed addresses in Orange County, and five in the group were identified as South Americans. All face charges ranging from possession and distribution of cocaine to conspiracy.

In addition to those arrested, authorities said they have issued federal warrants for seven other suspects in the case.

Molloy declined to elaborate on how his department initiated the investigations, but Haag said the investigators initially traced movement of the drug from a motel in Los Angeles.

“We worked on this thing for almost a year trying to put all the pieces together,” Molloy said. “In this kind of investigation, one thing leads to another and pretty soon things start to surface.”

Times correspondent Anna Cekola contributed to this report.