Drug Enforcement Administration

Orange County-Denver Ecstasy Pill Dealer Wins Prison Trip

A federal judge has punished an Orange County man who illegally supplied Ecstasy tablets and cocaine for party-goers in Southern California and Colorado. Special Agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) used court-approved wiretaps in 2008 to catch Thinh Cao Do arranging for Ecstasy an ... More >>

Potpocalypse Now in Long Beach!

What happens when I take a few days off blogging about medical marijuana to write a 4500-word cover story? Why Uncle Sam comes along and starts harassing himself some cannabis collectives! Thank god that our war on drugs is so efficient that the feds have the time and resources to track down those ... More >>

The S.S. Sinaloa Sets Sail for OC's Ongoing Potpocalypse

Did Lawrence Anthony Witsoe Receive the Dumbest Bribery Conviction in California History?

[Moxley Confidential] Mission Viejo lawyer faces 35 years for helping a client get charges dropped—and didn't earn a dime

Federal Prosecutors Win DEA Bribery Case Involving Orange County Defense Lawyer

Veteran Orange County criminal defense lawyer Lawrence Anthony Witsoe closed his eyes and remained motionless late this afternoon as a court clerk read a series of guilty verdicts against him in what could go down as one of the dumbest bribery convictions in California history. FBI bribery probes u ... More >>

DEA Bribery Trial Evidence Befuddles Orange County Jurors

Federal prosecutor Rob Keenan possesses unquestionable evidence that a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) task force agent in Riverside repeatedly lied to Orange County prosecutors in hopes of tricking them into giving unwarranted, special treatment to an accused John Wayne Airport assault defend ... More >>

Were DEA Task Force Agent's Lies To California Prosecutors Part of Bribery Deal or Brilliant Undercover Policing?

According to the FBI, Aaron Scott Vigil--an accomplished Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) task force officer in Southern California--and his wife lived luxuriously by spending a whopping $1,600 more each month than their income. By 2009, the couple landed in Chapter 13 bankruptcy, lost their ... More >>

Lawrence Witsoe, Tustin Attorney, in Federal Court for Trying Fix Client's Misdemeanor Case

Trial is scheduled to begin right now in federal court in Santa Ana for a Tustin criminal defense attorney accused of conspiring with a Rialto police officer to fix a misdemeanor assault and battery case at John Wayne Airport. Lawrence Witsoe is charged with conspiracy to solicit and receive a bribe ... More >>

Institute For Justice Aids Anaheim Landlord Threatened By DEA In Case First Exposed By The Weekly

Last August, Anaheim worked with the DEA to threaten dozens of landlords who had rented office space to cannabis collectives that were obeying state law, which allows such clubs to distribute medicine to members who have a doctor's note. As the Weekly first reported on Feb. 7, one of the landlords ... More >>

A Question of Identity

Which accused LA crime figure is a friend of a friend of ex-Los Angeles DA Steve Cooley?

DEA-Busted OC Drug Trafficker Wins Lengthy Prison Trip

An Anaheim man involved in a Mexico-Orange County criminal conspiracy annually distributing more than 75 kilograms of cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin will pay dearly for his crimes.In late March, U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter handed Adrian Ibarra a whopping prison term of nearly 22 y ... More >>

John Melvin Walker Pleads Guilty to Secretly Owning Pot Clinic Chain and Avoiding Taxes

A San Clemente man pleaded guilty in federal court this morning to secretly owning a chain of nine medical marijuana clinics in Orange and Los Angeles counties. Because John Melvin "Pops" Walker has drug-related priors and was caught with firearms, the 56-year-old was looking at the possibility of l ... More >>

Little Saigon Ecstasy Pill Ring Busted By Drug Task Force Agents

The Southern California Drug Task Force assigned to a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) designated "High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area" has busted a large scale drug distribution ring selling the party drug Ecstasy out of a Little Saigon apartment complex.According to a federal grand jury indi ... More >>

Obama Administration Will Soon Announce New Pot Policy; Meanwhile Arrests Continue

Ever since voters in Washington State and Colorado approved legalizing the recreational smoking of marijuana last November, the public has been waiting to see how the Obama administration would react. So far, officials have only said that they are monitoring the situation to see how those states imp ... More >>

The DEA Wants to Use a $37 Pot Sale to Seize a $1.5 Million Anaheim Building

Will law-abiding citizens lose their investment property in the city that hosts the Kush Expo?

DEA Scores in Massive Laguna Beach-LA-Las Vegas Marijuana Case

An incredibly profitable Laguna Beach marijuana operation underway while Hollywood director Oliver Stone ironically filmed Savages in the heavenly coastal Orange County village has cost a man his freedom. Following a 2012 arrest, Richard Ashley Parker eventually took a plea bargain for his ... More >>

Marijuana To Remain A Schedule One Narcotic, Court Rules

To the great dismay of stoners and medical marijuana activists everywhere, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Washington D.C. Circuit ruled yesterday that marijuana will remain illegal for doctors to prescribe as medicine. Specifically, the court agreed with lawyers for the U.S. Drug Enforcement ... More >>

[UPDATED with Cross Dressing, Sex Shop:] Chad McCluskey and Kristen Laschober, Typical OC Couple, Tied with Priest to Meth Ring: Feds

See the update at the end of this post about new revelations about the Orange County couple and apparently kinky Connecticut priest.ORIGINAL POST, JAN. 18, 8:08 A.M.: It's not difficult to find San Clemente's Chad McCluskey online. His Facebook, Twitter and online photo sharing pages--open to all, j ... More >>

Blowing Smoke: OC Weekly's Top Ten Marijuana Stories of 2012

2012 was a busy year for marijuana. It began with what looked like the beginning of the end of the medical marijuana industry in California and ended with the legalization of recreational weed in both Colorado and Washington State. Looking back through the posts in Navel Gazing's Cannabis Chron ... More >>

Patient Med-Aid: For Those Sick Enough to Smoke

A peek inside Orange County's most exclusive medical-marijuana club, one no one wants to join

Forget Medical: Colorado Legalizes Recreational Weed

If there's anything that Californians have learned in the 16 years since voters passed Proposition 215, it's this: medical marijuana is a mess. On the one hand, marijuana has gotten a lot easier to come by over the years. What used to be only available on the street or in a few scattered dispensarie ... More >>

Hispanic Prison Gang "Taxed" Street Thugs and Drug Dealers, Reads Indictment of 11

Read my lips: no new taxes . . . imposed by Hispanic prison gangs on street thugs and drug dealers. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Anaheim Police Department and the Orange County District Attorney's office (OCDA) endorse that message, as their joint investigation netted seven men and ... More >>

Four Pot Legalization Proposals That Won't Help Orange County

Unlike Colorado and Washington State, where voters have a chance this November to legalize the recreational use of marijuana for consenting adults, California has no such proposal on the statewide election ballot this year. We had our chance two years ago with Proposition 19, but the folks backing i ... More >>

[UPDATED W/NEW INFO] DEA Raids Seven Pot Clubs In LBC!

*See bottom of post for update: ORIGINAL POST, Oct. 10, 2:44 p.m.: As we reported last month, an Ace Hardware store in Long Beach drew the ire of Long Beach pot activists when it began protesting against the nearby Fourth & Olive marijuana dispensary. Folks protested the store and threatene ... More >>

Disabled Patients Sue Anaheim For Closing Dispensaries

A group of medical marijuana patients has filed a lawsuit against the city of Anaheim alleging that the city's cooperation with the federal government's crackdown on dispensaries violates state law. According to the lawsuit, the law in question, the California Disabled Person's Act, (CDPA), "prohibi ... More >>

[UPDATE: Council Repeals Ban Today] LA To Keep Cracking Down on Pot Clubs, City Attorney Says

*See bottom of post for updateOriginal Post, Sept. 18, 2012, 1 p.m.: The City of Angels will continue its crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries, the city attorney says, despite yesterday's news that pot backers have gathered enough signatures to force a vote on LA's ban on cannabis clubs. The ... More >>

SportPharm, Prescription Drug Tracker for NFL, Claims to be Cleared in DEA Probe of Chargers

A Huntington Beach company that tracks medications used by NFL players reportedly claims its been cleared in a federal investigation that followed the May 2010 arrest of former San Diego Chargers safety Kevin Ellison, who had 100 painkillers illegally in his possession when his car was stopped in R ... More >>

What's The Price For Cocaine, Women, Guns and Expensive Cars?

Little Saigon construction worker Khoa Dang Pham enjoyed hanging around his drug dealing buddies and he didn't think about the potential consequences because the cocaine, women, guns and expensive vehicles proved too tantalizing. Pham's legitimate employer, girlfriend, little sister and cousin all s ... More >>

DEA Gets Raid-Happy In So Cal

According to both the LA Times and our sister paper LA Weekly, the DEA raided three pot shops and ordered several dozen other marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles to close yesterday. The three raids took place downtown, and in Silverlake and Boyle Heights, but landlords and club operators of 6 ... More >>

237 lbs. of Pot Seized at Border Stop

So a 19-year-old guy drives solo in a 2001 Chevrolet Suburban through the 5 freeway border checkpoint south of San Clemente where, according to the agents, his demeanor raised suspicions.I'd say welcome to the world of parenting 19-year-olds, but the Border Patrol pulled the Chevy over for inspectio ... More >>

Another Forming Kaos Gangster Pleads Guilty to Mexican Mafia-Related Operations in Orange County

Another Mexican Mafia-related hoodlum is facing a lengthy prison sentence after admitting his role in the Costa Mesa criminal street gang Forming Kaos.Arrested in a massive, 2011 law enforcement sweep designed to wreck the gang's operations, Kirk Ray Butterfas had originally pleaded not guilty to a ... More >>

Osiel Ruvalocaba-Azpeitia, Subject of Utah's Biggest Meth Bust, Wins Ugly Police Mugshot of the Week (But It Was Damn Close!)

Before Anaheim's Osiel Ruvalcaba-Azpeitia was indicted in what's reportedly Utah's biggest-ever methamphetamine bust--and considering the tweakers in desolate trailers out there, that's saying something--he is said to have told investigators a Mexican man named "Juan" paid him $500 for every pound o ... More >>

Cool Films to Watch When It's Hot Outside

[Summer Guide 2012] Your guide to the good stuff

James Robert Anderson, Phony DEA Agent Who Stole From Tustin Family, Gets 2 Years

​A South Dakota man who posed as a DEA agent in December to rob a Tustin man and his family pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree burglary and impersonating an officer. James Robert Anderson was then sentenced to two years in state prison, catching a break because the original arrest had the 36 ... More >>

Little Saigon Cocaine Dealer Seeks Leniency After DEA Sting

A 30-year-old Vietnamese American woman seeking leniency for her involvement in an international cocaine distribution network and operating in Little Saigon, Beverly Hills and Santa Ana didn't get her way.U.S. District Court Judge Gary A. Feess in Los Angeles this month sentenced Linda Pham to a ter ... More >>

Sobering Times for Pill Poppers: "Generation Rx," National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day

Prescription drug abuse by South County teens has been a hot topic lately thanks to the documentary Behind the Orange Curtain making its world premiere May 2 at the Newport Beach Film Festival and, due to a sell out, getting a second showing May 3 in the huge Big Newport theater.That makes a couple ... More >>

IE Cop (Who Allegedly Took Bribe From OC Lawyer) Charged With Threatening IE Cops

Aaron Scott Vigil, the Rialto police officer who last year was named in a three-count indictment by a federal grand jury for allegedly taking a $2,500 bribe--while serving on a Drug Enforcement Administration task force--from Mission Viejo attorney Lawrence Anthony Witsoe to tell Orange County Distr ... More >>

Feds Raid Yet Another Costa Mesa Pot Dispensary

​The Obama administration racked up another big victory in the war on drugs yesterday when U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents, backed by Costa Mesa police and fire units, raided the Bayside Patients Association. That's right, everyone: the Mexican cartels have been disarmed, the las ... More >>

What We Learned, Feb. 4-10

​It's a week worth of bite-size Orange County news and what it all taught us.FEB. 4: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange reveals on its website that it is accepting from parishoners new names for Crystal Cathedral through Feb. 20. Bishop Tod Brown's only requirement is that the new moniker be "C ... More >>

[UPDATED: City Invited Feds to Raid Clubs Last October] Bizarre Costa Mesa Pot Shenanigans Behind Tonight's City Council Protest

​Update, Feb. 8 11:45 a.m: According to the Orange County Register, the city of Costa Mesa invited the DEA to raid medical marijuana dispensaries operating in the city as early as last October. In a story published yesterday and updated this morning, the Register says it has obtained an Oct. 26 le ... More >>

What We Learned, 1/13-1/20/2012

R.I.P., John​Here is the week that was and what we learned from it . . . JAN. 13: John Berry is stabbed to death behind a Carl's Jr. in Anaheim and, thanks to a passersby, police quickly capture not only the alleged murderer of the 64-year-old homeless man but the accused serial killer of three ot ... More >>

All About the Queen In 'Miss Bala'

A beauty pageant swallowed up by the drug war in Mexico's Best Foreign Language Oscar candidate

DEA Raids Several Costa Mesa Marijuana Dispensaries

​Early yesterday morning, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents conducted a sweep of Costa Mesa marijuana dispensaries, raiding several storefronts as well as homes of collective members. The raids appear to confirm that, as spelled out in an Obama administration memo first reported by ... More >>

James Robert Anderson Accused of Posing as DEA Agent to Rip Off Man and His Family

​A South Dakota man who allegedly posed as a DEA agent, robbed a Tustin man and then stole from the victim's family earlier this month was traced by police to an Anaheim Motel 6, where he was busted.James Robert Anderson, 35, was held on suspicion of robbery, kidnapping and burglary, according to ... More >>

[UPDATED With Official Explanation] Rancho Santa Margarita Extends Ban On Marijuana Dispensaries

​UPDATED, Nov. 10, 1:30 P.M.: There's an interesting story on the Rancho Santa Patch website about the city's recent moratorium. In it, city attorney Greg Simonian, who came up with the idea along with city manager Steve Hayman, basically tells reporter Martin Henderson that the city is just using ... More >>

Obama's War On Weed

In a strange about-face, the president tries to hack medical marijuana off at the knees

Pepper (the Band) Talks Favorite Strains, Skunk Baxter and Being the Old Guys on the Warped Tour and

​Perpetually touring party-bros Pepper celebrated a decade on the road this year. The rock-reggae trio has carved a nice niche for itself on the traveling summer festival scene, amassing a healthy following of Sublime/311-aligned concertgoers since leaving Hawaii's big island in 2001. A meld of fr ... More >>

Crystal-Meth Block Did Not Come Standard With Jetta Searched Near Border Checkpoint

​Border Patrol agents boast they intercepted a "bumper crop" of crystal methamphetamine near the San Clemente checkpoint last week.Wednesday morning's encounter with a "nervous" 24-year-old woman resulted in the discovery of 12 pounds of crystal meth hidden in the rear bumper of ... More >>

Obama Says Marijuana Is Not Medicine, Will Remain As Illegal As Heroin

​Any hope that President Obama, a legendary pot smoker back at Occidental College in the late 1970s, might reclassify marijuana as a drug that has medicinal value just went up in smoke. Nine years ago, for the third time since marijuana was prohibited more than a half-century ago, medical marijuan ... More >>

Lawrence Anthony Witsoe, Mission Viejo Lawyer, Accused of Bribing Rialto Cop to Get Client Off

​Can you imagine a $2,500 bribe being worth 20 years of your life in a federal prison?Or, in the case of Mission Viejo attorney Lawrence Anthony Witsoe, who is accused of paying that bribe to the Rialto cop now looking at 20, the relatively small change could fetch a 35-year stretch in the pen.