Police Seek Man Arrested in Drug Bust, Later Freed

Federal agents, who last month arrested a group of San Fernando Valley men accused of operating a multimillion-dollar drug ring specializing in cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines, are seeking a sixth man who was arrested, but later released.

Jose Jesus Gonzalez, 29, of San Fernando, was arrested along with five other men during an undercover drug bust in the parking lot of a Burbank restaurant, said Ralph Lochridge, a spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Gonzalez was released on his own recognizance, but later disappeared.

Gonzalez, who remains at large, was indicted April 12 along with the other suspects on federal drug violations. Lochridge declined to say why Gonzalez was released.

“We haven’t seen him in a while,” Lochridge said. “We believe he’s still in the area and we are offering an reward.”

The arrests resulted from a six-month undercover investigation that began when DEA agents received a tip about an organized drug ring in the Valley.

“They were operating in the eastern part of the San Fernando Valley and were distributing and picking up drugs and negotiating and meeting in pool halls, bars and Latin clubs,” Lochridge said.

The ring was notable for the variety and quantity of drugs it distributed, Lochridge said.

“They had the capability of providing us with 40 to 100 pounds of methamphetamines,” he said.

The six men were arrested the evening of March 28 in the parking lot of the Bombay Bicycle Club where two undercover DEA agents had arranged to buy about 20 pounds of methamphetamines from the suspects for $4,500 a pound, Lochridge said.

While several of the suspects negotiated with the undercover agents inside the restaurant, the drugs, which would have sold for nearly $1 million on the street, were delivered in a pickup truck with a secret compartment, he said.

“They came to the deal armed,” Lochridge said. “They brought an enforcer and counter surveillance people who they had paid $1,000 each to be lookouts.”

The drugs seized in the bust were later determined to be 98% pure, Lochridge said.

“That kind of purity indicates it’s fresh and it’s from a clandestine laboratory, which we have information is operating in the Sylmar area,” he said.

Those arrested included Gonzalez, Noel Quintero, 21, of Panorama City; Jose Sigala, 41, of Sylmar; Juan Carlos Ceron, 30, of Van Nuys; Sergio Valencia, 29, of Pacoima, and Humberto Bombela Estrada, 32, of Van Nuys.

A grand jury indicted all of the men on charges of possession and distribution of methamphetamines and Quintero, Valencia and Estrada were also each charged with possessing a firearm during a drug transaction.

If convicted of the drug charges, each of the men faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison. Quintero, Valencia and Estrada also face five years in prison if they are convicted of the weapons violation.