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Undercover operation said to bring down drug network
By: SCOTT MARSHALL - Staff Writer
DA says San Diego was ground zero for traffickers | ∞
SAN DIEGO ---- A three-year, undercover investigation has brought down a nationwide drug trafficking network that funneled illegal narcotics through San Diego County to cities across the country, officials said Thursday.
Dubbed "Operation Funk 49," the investigation has resulted in a total of more than 200 arrests, including almost 40 people arrested in Atlanta on Thursday, and the seizure of $25 million, 1,500 kilograms of cocaine and more than 600 pounds of methamphetamine, officials said.
District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said at a Thursday morning news conference that the drug trafficking ring moved "large quantities" of cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin from Mexico, through San Diego County, and into other cities, including Riverside, San Francisco, New York, Detroit and Atlanta.
"This operation has dismantled a nationwide drug trafficking operation, and San Diego was ground zero," Dumanis said.
The drugs seized during the investigation included 150 pounds of cocaine from a vehicle stopped Nov. 2, 2006, on Interstate 5 near Las Pulgas Road as a Tijuana couple attempted to transport it from Chula Vista to San Jose, prosecutors said.
Also seized were more than 190 pounds of cocaine in a vehicle stopped Sept. 3, 2005, in Perris as suspects were driving it from a stash house in Mission Valley to the Riverside County area, prosecutors said.
The Tijuana couple already have been prosecuted, with the wife, Julia Fuentes, being sentenced to two years in state prison, said Deputy District Attorney Chris Lindberg of the district attorney's office's narcotics unit.
Lindberg said Fuentes' husband, Francisco Javier Fuentes, was prosecuted in federal court, where court records say he pleaded guilty in June, subject to the approval of a U.S. District Court judge at a hearing next week.
The suspects who were driving the drugs seized in Perris have not yet been arrested.
Lindberg said prosecutors would have been required to provide to defense attorneys information about the investigation if the suspects had been charged at the time the drugs were seized, but authorities were not ready to disclose that information then.
As a result, the suspects were questioned and released at that time, but they now face arrest and prosecution.
Lindberg declined to identify those suspects.
Ralph Partridge, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's San Diego office, said "Operation Funk 49" began in 2004 with one phone call to his agency and grew into a large investigation involving federal and local law enforcement agencies.
The local agencies that assisted in the investigation included the Escondido, National City and Chula Vista police departments and the district attorney's office, Partridge said.
A "low-level" drug dealer in San Diego reported a rival drug dealer to federal agents, starting the investigation that became "Operation Funk 49," said Deputy District Attorney Damon Mosler, chief of the district attorney's narcotics unit.
The operation was named for a James Gang song that includes the lyrics "Out all night, sleep all day, I know what you're doin'," Lindberg said; agents put in long hours and knew what the alleged drug traffickers were doing during the investigation, he added.
The determination of law enforcement officers in San Diego County and across the country "broke a pipeline of drug smuggling here in San Diego and across the United States," Partridge said.
Mosler said authorities are seeing the prices of drugs increase, indicating that fewer drugs are available. Operation Funk 49 will have a "lasting impact," Mosler said.
Contact staff writer Scott Marshall at (760) 631-6623 or smarshall@nctimes.com.
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FTM wrote on Dec 7, 2007 6:45 AM:That Bonnie Dumanis does NOT mess around. She is tough, way better than the guy that was in there who spent most his time going after Dale Akiki just because he was a midget. I like Bonnie because she goes after the real criminals instead of the district attornys in other cities that just go after freaks and geeks because they want to get famous in some show trial.
Shut the wrote on Dec 7, 2007 6:47 AM:border down completely! No more NAFTA, shut it down all the way! Mexico is an enemy country.
Greg in Oceanside wrote on Dec 7, 2007 8:40 AM:If you watched the local news last night, you would have seen that the source of these drugs came from within Mexico. This is all too common and Mexico should be seen as a lawless neighbor who doesn't seem to be of any help. Crime, corruption, graft, and greed is the norm in Mexico, and has a profound impact on the crime being committed here. Who needs neighbors like this? It's time to clamp down on our borders and control the flow of goods and services, and people coming here from Mexico.
AResident wrote on Dec 7, 2007 8:42 AM:Hey NTC's. Can you provide more info on what took place in Escondido? Very vauge reporting..................
Punisher wrote on Dec 7, 2007 9:05 AM:She got 2 years for major drug trafficing?? She's probably out already and continuing on with her crimes...With all the time, effort, and dedication these criminals should be put away alot longer ..guess crime does pay.
Outstanding wrote on Dec 7, 2007 9:42 AM:Great job!! Lock them up for life. Only wish this was ongoing, not once evry 3 or 4 years. We shouldn't have to depend on someone calling a tip in. We do pay investigators to investigate. Go on any street corner and you can see it going on. Bonnie is better then Paul was. The only problem is the only time you hear from her is when she is patting herself on the back. She must have learned from Sheriff Kolander.
John wrote on Dec 7, 2007 10:01 AM:Too bad law enforcement doesn't solve the problem of demand. Take the DA's pay raise and all the DEA budget and spend it on treatment and education.
Ugene wrote on Dec 7, 2007 10:21 AM:Great job and great teamwork! Much unlike our City Attorney's operation.
RG wrote on Dec 7, 2007 11:02 AM:More reason to SECURE THE BORDER WITH MEXICO! How much more of this are our "leaders" going to allow before they CLOSE THE BORDER!
John wrote on Dec 7, 2007 11:41 AM:Good job but this is a small fraction compared to what comes illigely over the border each day , we need to shut the border down for the sake of national security and to slwo down the drug traffic , good job though but just a bandaid.
Concerned-1 wrote on Dec 7, 2007 2:34 PM:I do agree that the demand side of the equation needs more attention. The situation in Mexico is heading out of control. They call the gangsters there Narcos, and the narco gangs are literally doing what ever they want through shear force and corruption. Do you recall the story last week about the tunnel being discovered in Tecate? A couple of days later the Mayor of Tecate was killed in his home. And the blatant taking of body from the Ensenada Morgue by 14 heavily gunned SUVs was worse. Mexico is on the verge of anarchy and the ruling class and government only have themselves to blame.
jamie wrote on Dec 8, 2007 9:58 AM:thanks law enforcement kept it up from a grandmother with grandkids who are drug free
92530 wrote on Dec 8, 2007 1:50 PM:As long as political party ties are stronger than a desire to regulate passage across the border, elected leaders will continue to cow-tow to special (corporate and ethnic) interests to keep the pipeline of slave-wage labor the most lucrative products on earth (drugs) open.
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