Informant Played Key Role in Santa Ana Gang Sweep

The pivotal figure in the massive law-enforcement undertaking that culminated in a dawn raid Wednesday in Santa Ana is a former gang member who himself was picked up in a similar sweep six years ago.

“If you want to get the type of criminals that we wanted to go after, you have to get someone who looks like them and acts like them,” said Santa Ana Police Lt. Bill Tegeler.

But using an informant also proved a sometimes daunting task for police, who found themselves providing drug treatment for the man and trying to keep patrol officers from questioning him without tipping them off about the secret operation.

A Santa Ana Police Department-led task force worked with the informant for seven months to build cases against 139 people suspected of dealing drugs and weapons in a crime-plagued neighborhood in the western part of town. As of Thursday, 99 were in custody. Most will be arraigned today in Superior Court.

Because of concerns for his safety, the informant’s identity and personal background are closely guarded. Officials on Thursday released details about the extraordinary measures they took to keep the operation a secret, even from other officers in the department.

“In the whole department only about 10 people--the chief, a captain and members of the team--knew about the informant,” Tegeler said.

He said detectives first contacted the man a year ago while he was serving time in prison.

He had been arrested during Operation Roundup, a sweep that netted 117 suspects over a two-day period in 1994 in another part of Santa Ana.

Tegeler declined to detail what he was convicted of but said the man fit the profile for the undercover work.

“When you look at him and listen to him, he’s obviously a hardened Santa Ana gang member,” Tegeler said. “This guy was one of them.”

When his sentence was over, he agreed to participate in the new sting operation, dubbed Operation Orion. In exchange for his cooperation, the informant was paid and promised help with his immigration problems.

“He wanted to get out of the gangs, and he wanted to help the neighborhood,” Tegeler said.

For seven months, the undercover informant drove through the streets of the Santa Nita neighborhood, buying drugs, stolen cars and weapons from more than 100 unsuspecting dealers.

300 Hours of Videotape ‘Very Strong Evidence’

Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeff Ferguson, who secured 125 grand jury indictments during the operation, said that every aspect of the investigation was captured on nearly 300 hours of videotape, including the detectives’ handling of the informant.

Another informant, the one used in 1994’s Operation Roundup, stole money from investigators, potentially jeopardizing the prosecutions. Ferguson said that is unlikely this time around.

“The grand jury saw all the clips with all the defendants on videotape,” he said. “It’s very strong evidence.”

Nonetheless, the large-scale operation resting so delicately on the shoulders of a convicted felon and former gang member was not without its bumps.

During the seven-month operation that ended last week, the informant’s appearance attracted unwanted attention from patrol officers that threatened to blow his cover, and he tested positive for drug use, Ferguson said.

A quick call to dispatch by detectives saying the informant was a subject of surveillance easily took care of the probing officers, Ferguson said.

As for the drugs, “as soon as it happened, we immediately took measures to help him with his drug problems,” Ferguson said, adding that the incidents will not jeopardize the cases against the suspects.

“He is an informant, not a police officer,” Ferguson said. “He comes from a criminal background, and small problems were expected.”

Keeping his anonymity also meant keeping a very low profile. The grand jury proceedings were carried out at the Ronald Reagan Federal Building in Santa Ana because of its tighter security and because gang-related crimes are seldom prosecuted in federal courts.

That meant there was less chance that the informant would inadvertently run into an affiliate of the gangs targeted in the operation.

The informant was escorted via a secret elevator to the grand jury hearing room where he testified against the suspects.

Since Wednesday’s raid, his life is in greater danger, police officials said.

“His life would be worth nothing in that neighborhood right now,” Ferguson said. “He’d be murdered in five minutes, and I’m not being melodramatic.”