SANTA ANA : Man Caught in Drug Sting Is Sentenced

One of more than 400 suspects arrested by Santa Ana police during a controversial undercover sting operation last year in which officers manufactured their own rock cocaine was sentenced to 32 months in prison Friday for drug possession.

Robert Ramos, 32, was arrested during the 18-month operation in which the Sheriff’s Department Crime Lab manufactured the illicit drug, which was used by Santa Ana police to snare small-time drug buyers. Prosecutors eventually convicted or got plea agreements from all but two of those arrested.

The operation came to an end in January after Orange County Superior Court Judge David O. Carter criticized the program in a letter to the district attorney’s office. That month, he also refused to grant police a court order enabling them to continue manufacturing the drug, which they contend was essential to an operation that they say was cleaning up stubbornly drug-plagued neighborhoods.

Ramos, 32, bought $15 worth of rock cocaine from an undercover police officer last June, according to his court probation report. He was found guilty of drug possession last November after a jury trial.

During the sentencing hearing Friday, Carter told Ramos that he believed from his probation report that he is not a heavy drug user and could therefore easily decide never to use drugs again.

“You and I know you can get off it,” Carter said. “It’s a matter of choice.”

“Yeah,” Ramos responded. “It was a poor judgment in my life.”

Almost all of the cases that resulted from the sting operation ended in plea agreements in Municipal Court, but a handful of cases besides Ramos’ have made it to Superior Court. One other defendant was acquitted and one case is still pending in Municipal Court in Santa Ana.

Ramos, a self-employed carpenter, was also convicted of burglary in 1982, according to his probation report. Because of the prior felony conviction, under state law Ramos was ineligible for probation and was sentenced to double the normal prison term for the drug offense.