2 in Pot Case Face Federal Drug Charges : Crime: A U.S. grand jury indicts the Antelope Valley men in connection with a marijuana farm. Prosecution under state law had lesser penalties.

A federal grand jury in Los Angeles has indicted two Antelope Valley men on federal drug charges for allegedly building and operating a sophisticated underground marijuana farm in Llano, one of four such operations uncovered by investigators last fall, authorities said Friday.

The two-count indictment, handed down late Thursday, charges Richard E. Yerger, 61, the owner of the site, and Frank Bell, 29, who allegedly worked there, with conspiracy to possess marijuana and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute it.

If convicted of the federal charges, each man faces 10 years to life in prison, as well as a fine of up to $4 million, Assistant U.S. Atty. Manuel Medrano said. Both are scheduled to be arraigned next week in federal court.

Los Angeles County prosecutors Friday dropped two similar felony charges they had previously filed against Yerger, a Palmdale resident and general contractor. Yerger could have been sentenced to a maximum of four years in prison if convicted of those charges under state law, prosecutors said.

“The nature of that operation was such that it truly merits the extra penalties available under federal law,” said Steve Cooley, head of the district attorney’s Lancaster office. Officials said they found about 4,000 marijuana plants at the Llano location.

In addition to the stiffer federal penalties, officials said, it makes sense for federal prosecutors to handle the case against Yerger and Bell because a federal grand jury in Phoenix already has indicted 14 people in connection with the three other pot farms, one in Lancaster and two in Bullhead City, Ariz.

Investigators have alleged that the three sites were part of a coast-to-coast marijuana ring headed by Lancaster contractor Frank Gegax, one of those indicted in Phoenix. Also indicted in Arizona was Richard F. Yerger, 29, owner of the Lancaster farm and son of Richard E. Yerger.

But investigators believe the underground farm in Llano, a tiny desert community about 15 miles east of Palmdale, was a separate operation established by the elder Yerger, along with Bell and Lawrence Daggy, 29, of Palmdale. Daggy was named by federal prosecutors in Los Angeles as an unindicted co-conspirator in their case.

Authorities said the Lancaster and Arizona farms produced several hundred million dollars worth of marijuana before they were raided. But Cooley said investigators raided the Llano farm before its first harvest.

According to the indictment, the elder Yerger purchased the five-acre Llano property in October, 1989, and in February, 1990, financed construction of the ranch house where the marijuana was grown. In October, 1990, “supplies, equipment and other paraphernalia” were delivered to the site at 31440 Largo Vista Road and later that same month Bell and Daggy were planting and cultivating marijuana plants, the indictment alleges.

Sheriff’s investigators raided the house Nov. 16, just a day after discovering the farm in Lancaster.

The charges in the Los Angeles indictment were the first filed against Bell, a Lancaster area resident. A spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Los Angeles said Bell worked for Daggy as a carpenter.

Daggy also is among 14 people indicted in Phoenix in connection with the other three farms. He faces three drug counts there and is free on $10,000 bond, officials said. The DEA spokesman said Daggy also worked as a construction superintendent for the elder Yerger.

The elder Yerger remained in Los Angeles County Jail in lieu of $2-million bail, but Bell was still at large.

Daggy could not be reached for comment Friday. But Richard Beada, the defense attorney for the elder Yerger, accused county prosecutors of mishandling the case.