O.C.-Based Heroin Ring Broken Up

Two Anaheim brothers were among six people arrested during the past week in what federal drug enforcement authorities called the break-up of a major Orange County-based heroin ring.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency spokesman Ralph B. Lochridge said the ring has been distributing about three kilos of high-grade “black tar” heroin a week using an Anaheim location as a major shipping and wholesaling point. The arrests were the culmination of about a one-year investigation, Lochridge said.

Jesus Martinez-Guttierrez, 32, and a Mexican national were arrested the night of Oct. 15 after they allegedly delivered 20 ounces of heroin to an undercover DEA agent in a parking lot on Lincoln Boulevard in Anaheim, Lochridge said. At the time of his arrest, Martinez-Guttierrez was reportedly armed with a loaded .38-caliber revolver, Lochridge added.

Francisco Martinez-Guttierrez, 34, was arrested later the same evening after another 20 ounces of heroin was found at his residence at 1017 E. Santa Ana St. in Anaheim, Lochridge said. Both men were booked for felony possession with intent to distribute heroin and conspiracy to distribute heroin, Lochridge said.

Lochridge said the heroin ring was orchestrated by Simon Castorena-Sotelo, 49, an inmate at Federal Correctional Institute in Phoenix, Ariz.