Yorba Linda Finance Chief Jailed in Drug Transaction : Undercover: Charles Vessey is arrested on suspicion of trying to sell methamphetamine to a Buena Park police informant. City manager says the incident is a shock to those who know him.

The city’s top finance administrator has been arrested on suspicion of selling methamphetamine to a police informant during an undercover operation by Buena Park officers.

Finance Director Charles Gordon Vessey, a 20-year city employee, was arrested Wednesday night after the sale in a restaurant parking lot, authorities said Friday.

Buena Park Police Sgt. Richard Saak of the narcotics division said Vessey, 42, of Chino Hills, allegedly sold two ounces of methamphetamine worth about $1,500 to an informant in a parking lot at Orangethorpe Avenue and Beach Boulevard. Saak said Vessey was arrested at 10:20 p.m. and taken to Buena Park Jail. Bail was set at $50,000. He was arraigned Friday, and was being processed into Orange County Jail in Santa Ana that evening. He had not yet posted bail, a jail spokesman said.

Joseph Michael Garner, 23, of Chino Hills was also arrested, Saak said.

Saak said the informant told police that his connection would be bringing a quarter pound of methamphetamine.

“The connection turned out to be the finance director, and he only brought two ounces,” Saak said.

Saak said Garner arrived first in his car and told the informant--the buyer--that his connection wanted the money up front. But the buyer told him there was no deal unless the drugs were exchanged at the same time. Saak said Vessey then drove over and met the buyer.

“Vessey had it on him and handed it to the informant,” Saak said.

Saak said police also searched a storage locker Vessey reportedly rented in Fullerton, but they did not find drugs.

City Manager Arthur C. Simonian said the arrest has “come as a shock to those who know him. He’s a very quiet and reserved individual. For him to be arrested for this kind of behavior is a shock to anybody who knows him.”

Simonian said the city in the last two weeks had an independent audit conducted of the city’s investments. He declined to say what had triggered the audit.

“We certainly wanted to make sure the taxpayers’ money is soundly invested and in no way connected with (Vessey’s) arrest,” Simonian said.

“It’s appropriate for us to state that our obligation as a public agency is to ascertain and validate the safety of the securities within our charge, and we have done that.”

Simonian said the audit confirmed that the city’s finances have not been mishandled.

Vessey’s wife, Lynda, said Friday night from her Chino Hills home that she was not aware of her husband’s arrest nor of any involvement in drugs.

“I had no idea (about any) of this,” Lynda Vessey said, adding that she had not spoken to her husband since Wednesday.

She declined further comment saying, “I don’t want to talk.”

The Vesseys have been married 21 years and have two children, a 19-year-old daughter and an 8-year-old son.

Simonian also said the city is conducting an independent investigation to determine whether Vessey will remain on staff.

City officials said Vessey’s salary is $83,000 a year, not including benefits.

Times correspondent Danielle Fouquette contributed to this story.