Toddler’s Death Got Authorities, Suspects Moving

When an 18-month-old girl died in a Tustin gift shop after receiving an illegal injection a year ago, local, state and federal investigators focused their attention on members of the King family, fourth-generation Korean Mexicans from Tijuana.

The results have been mixed.

While the only person charged in connection with the baby’s death still has not been brought to justice, law enforcement’s pursuit of several members of the King family has forced some of them out of the United States and shut down all of their illicit businesses.

It was the death of Selene Segura Rios in February 1999 at the King-owned Los Hermanos gift shop in Tustin that prompted local, state and federal investigators to focus fresh attention on the family, six of whom had been arrested or detained more than a dozen times for practicing medicine illegally, selling illegal Mexican prescription drugs or smuggling pharmaceuticals from Mexico.

The Kings did not respond to numerous requests for comment but attorneys for two family members charged with the illegal sale of pharmaceuticals said the cases against their clients were weak. Both pleaded guilty to minor charges and received probation and a fine.

Despite some of the earlier arrests and authorities closing down businesses, some members of the King family continued to operate clinics at swap meets and in home garages. That all changed with Selene’s death.

It was in a back room of Los Hermanos that the girl was injected with what authorities believe was a mixture of penicillin and eucalyptus. One law enforcement source said the girl was administered dipyrone, a toxic painkiller outlawed in the United States that can cause a deadly blood disease. An autopsy showed the child died from dehydration.

“This baby’s death was a wake-up call to law enforcement,” said Tustin Police Lt. Mike Shanahan. “In the past, when the cops stumbled across [the Kings], we took action against their stores. This case focused attention on what they do.”

In connection with Selene’s death, Laura Escalante, 37, a King family member, was charged with involuntary manslaughter after police said she posed as a doctor at the gift shop and supervised Selene’s treatment. She fled to Mexico before she was due to enter a plea.

Her brother, Oscar Eduardo King, 36, was convicted in December for being part owner of Los Hermanos, a business where illegal drugs were sold. He was fined $300 and placed on three years’ probation.

Initially, Oscar King was charged with a more serious criminal count, and attorney Ron Brower said he advised him to stand trial because he thought prosecutors had a weak case. Instead, King struck a deal and pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor count that kept him out of jail.

Oscar King has moved to Mexico, as have his parents, Manuel Javier King and Rosa Maria King, who is a fugitive from justice. Manuel King, 70, was arrested three times in the 1990s--once for running a clinic inside a rented garage, once with Oscar at the Orange Drive-In Swap Meet for the illegal sale of prescription drugs and once for running a pharmaceutical business out of his home. He was convicted twice on misdemeanors, resulting in fines and probation.

His wife, Rosa King, 68, was charged with owning Adriana’s gift store in Santa Ana, where she knowingly sold dangerous drugs such as Synalar, an antibiotic salve, without prescriptions. Her daughter, Silvia King Fernandez, 44, who ran Adriana’s, is the only King family member ever to serve jail time, having recently completed a 90-day jail sentence for selling prescription drugs without a license.

Another King sibling--Rosa Alexandra King, 41--was convicted in December of violating her probation from a 1998 conviction for owning two Santa Ana stores, Nashelie and 99 Cents y Mas, where illegal drugs were sold. According to state records, agents seized Isoprinosine, an experimental AIDS drug.

Attorney Mark Fredrick, who represented Rosa Alexandra King, said her latest conviction “was for a technical violation of her probation.” He said his client “has tried to comply with all terms of her probation.”

After Selene’s death, police agencies in Orange County joined investigators from the California Department of Health Services in probing the Kings, while a federal grand jury was impaneled in San Diego to also investigate the family.

The Kings first came to the attention of local law enforcement authorities in 1990, when patriarch Manuel Javier King was arrested in Santa Ana for operating a clinic in a rented garage.

Since then, King, his wife and their four children have been arrested a total of 10 times and used at least nine aliases among them, law enforcement records show. Also, in the last 10 years, three family members were detained at the border by U.S. Customs inspectors for smuggling Mexican prescription drugs but never charged, according to court records.

Until Escalante was charged with involuntary manslaughter in 1999, all of the family’s previous arrests and convictions were on misdemeanor charges.

A relative not involved in the Kings’ activities said the family moved to Orange County to help immigrants who cannot afford medical care.

“They believed they were doing a service to the community, especially those who are here illegally. These people cannot afford to visit a doctor,” said the relative who lives in Southern California and requested anonymity. “Also, people from Mexico are accustomed to prescribing medication for themselves and have more confidence in the medicines they are familiar with.”

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Law enforcement officials said the Kings sold illegal Mexican drugs for another reason.

“If there wasn’t a lot of money to be made, they wouldn’t be in the business,” Shanahan said.

According to a search warrant affidavit issued last July for Adriana’s gift shop, the Kings made “as much as $1,000 a day by operating these back room clinics without paying any taxes.”

A law enforcement official familiar with the King family’s operations said Oscar Eduardo King alone made up to $20,000 each month. He said the family frequently marked up the price of some Mexican medicines substantially, charging $60 for a drug that cost $2 in Mexico.

The family’s income from illegal drug sales has allowed them to diversify, law enforcement sources said. When state and local authorities raided a family-owned store in Santa Ana last year, they found evidence of other family holdings throughout Southern California.

Records reviewed by The Times show the Kings owned a real estate business in Fullerton, a food company in Rolling Hills Estates, a marketing company in El Segundo and specialty shops throughout Orange County.

A federal grand jury in San Diego spent most of 1999 looking at the Kings’ business dealings, including their net worth. Investigators also want to uncover their distribution network and learn how they brought large quantities of Mexican medicines into the country.

Orange County law enforcement officials are hoping for federal indictments, because federal drug laws carry stiffer sentences.

The problem faced by local authorities in stopping the Kings is that most of the laws they violated are misdemeanors, said Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Byron Nelson. Convictions seldom include more than a fine and probation, he said.

“We know the punishment meted out is not much incentive for them to stop. But we have to work with the laws available to us,” Nelson said.

But perhaps federal investigators will succeed in doing what local police have been unable to do: put the Kings permanently out of business, Shanahan said.

“The [local] charges we’ve brought against them are as good as they’re going to get,” he said. “We hope the federal investigation will have more reaching impact.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The King Family

Manuel Javier King, 70--Arrested three times and detained once for crimes involving illegal pharmaceuticals. Prosecuted twice, paid fines and served probation. Living in Tijuana.

Rosa Maria King, 68--Wife of Manuel. Arrest warrant issued in August for owning an illegal pharmacy in Santa Ana. Living in Tijuana as a fugitive.

Oscar Eduardo King, 36--Son of Manuel and Rosa. Two arrests and two convictions stemming from the illegal sale of pharmaceuticals resulted in fines and probation. Living in Tijuana.

Laura Escalante, 37--Daughter of Manuel and Rosa. Arrest warrant issued in July for involuntary manslaughter in the death of Selene Segura Rios. Living in Mexico as a fugitive.

Silvia King Fernandez, 44--Daughter of Manuel and Rosa. Served 90-day term in 1999 for selling prescription drugs and is only King family member ever incarcerated. Living in Orange County.

Rosa Alexandra King, 41--Daughter of Manuel and Rosa. Convicted in 1998 for illegal sale of Mexican pharmaceuticals and again in 1999 for probation violation, resulting in fines and probation. Believed living in Mexico.

Source: Times research