3 Plead Not Guilty to Drug Charges After Hangar Raid
A woman and two men pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of manufacturing methamphetamine inside an aircraft hangar at Brackett Field.
Michelle Norman, 29, of Chino, John Petersen, 46, of La Verne and David Sarratt, 33, of Alta Loma were arraigned in Pomona Municipal Court and remained in custody on $500,000 bail each, authorities said.
They were arrested Tuesday morning at Brackett Field after a city officer saw a car with a broken window outside a hangar and a man darting inside, police said. At the officer’s request, the man came outside, along with two other people. Investigators found a methamphetamine laboratory and sleeping quarters inside the hangar.
The arrests came after police stepped up patrols at the county-owned airport after the thefts of four aircraft and a large quantity of expensive avionics. The hangar is near one used by LA IMPACT, a regional anti-drug task force, to house its helicopter.
The trio’s next court appearance is a bail reduction hearing Aug. 17.
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