SIMI VALLEY : Retrial Scheduled in Drug Money Case
A Sept. 27 date was set Friday for the retrial of a Florida man charged in the biggest drug money-laundering case in Ventura County history.
Appearing in court in a wheelchair, as he did throughout his first trial, Otoniel Urrego, 64, agreed to postpone his second trial until the fall to allow his new attorney time to prepare the case.
Deputy Dist. Atty. James Grunert objected to a lengthy delay in the case, but Superior Court Judge Charles W. Campbell said the wait was justified.
Urrego’s first trial ended with a mistrial last month when jurors deadlocked 10 to 2 and 8 to 4 for conviction on conspiracy and money-laundering charges. When his attorney, Terrence A. Roden of Los Angeles, said he could not remain on the case because he had not been paid, the Ventura County public defender’s office was appointed to represent Urrego.
Urrego is accused of monitoring the shipment of millions of dollars in drug money from Simi Valley to Colombia. His arrest came after the seizure of $2.5 million in cash in May, 1989, when Urrego’s brother and two sisters-in-law were arrested in Simi Valley and Chatsworth.
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