Countywide : 15 People Arrested in Drug Distribution Investigation

Capping a yearlong investigation that began in Orange, authorities have seized $6.9 million in assets and arrested 15 people from Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties for alleged sales of chemicals used to make methamphetamine.

More than 250 law enforcement agents from Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties fanned out to five retailers in Fontana and Monrovia on Tuesday to serve search, seizure and arrest warrants that resulted from their joint investigation, said Gary Hudson, special agent supervisor for the Orange County Lab Enforcement Team.

Fifteen men and women, ages 24 to 59, were arrested on suspicion of illegally distributing more than 80,000 pounds of pseudoephedrine pills, which are used to make methamphetamine, Hudson said. (Pseudoephedrine is commonly used as a medication to treat sinus or nasal congestion caused by colds and allergies.)

Authorities said they also froze more than 70 bank accounts and seized $6.9 million in assets and 16.8 million tablets of pseudoephedrine, which could be used to make 20,000 pounds of methamphetamine worth $200 million.

“The tablets from these locations have been seen in at least six of our labs that we’ve gotten here in Orange County,” Hudson said. “They’ve been seen as far away as Indio, Barstow, and as far north as Fresno.”

The investigation began in November, 1994, and sprouted from a bust of a methamphetamine lab at the Doubletree Hotel in Orange, Hudson said.

Undercover agents from the Orange County Lab Enforcement Team later posed as illegal drug manufacturers and were able to purchase between 60 tablets and 184,000 tablets at a time from the various retailers. The five retail distributors targeted in the investigation were: Valley Varieties II, OTC, Joint Venture, That Place, and Valley Music I. They are located in Fontana and Monrovia.

Other Orange County agencies involved in the raid include the Sheriff’s Department and the Anaheim, Cypress, Fountain Valley and Orange police departments.