Couple Forfeit Claim to Seized $2.5 Million

In the largest seizure of suspected drug money in Ventura County history, a judge Monday decided that a Colombian couple had forfeited their claim to $2.5 million in cash seized in 1989.

Ventura County Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen J. McLaughlin, who handled the case, said the money, which has grown to about $2.9 million with interest, will be split among law enforcement agencies.

He said it is the largest amount ever forfeited in Ventura County under a 1988 state law, and that it dwarfs the previous record of about $500,000. The Simi Valley seizure also tops any federal seizure in Ventura County, said Gary Auer, head of the county’s FBI office.

Ending more than a year of legal maneuverings, acting Superior Court Judge Herbert Curtiss III declared the forfeiture Monday, after the couple who had claimed the money failed to return from Colombia to state their case.

“I’m not sure I would want to return if I was them,” McLaughlin said. No charges were filed against the couple, but McLaughlin said the investigation is still open.

The seizure occurred on May 27, 1989, two weeks after an informant told Simi Valley police to keep an eye on Floriberto and Martha Urrego, Sgt. Robert Gardner said. Officers watching the Urrego home on North Sweetwood Street saw three suitcases of cash being loaded into a car, Gardner said. They followed the car to a Chatsworth house, where they seized $1.5 million.

At the Sweetwood Street house, the investigators found another $1 million in a broom closet, according to court records. The Urregos were detained for a few days in Ventura County Jail but were released when no charges were filed.

Then they disappeared.

In court papers, Los Angeles attorney Nina Marino stated that she had been hired in April, 1990, to represent the Urregos, whom she understood to be in Colombia. She said that she had never talked to the couple and that all contact with them was through the Miami attorney who hired her.

The forfeiture action is much like a lawsuit. When the couple filed a claim disputing the action, McLaughlin asserted his legal right under civil procedures to question them about their interest in the money.

Through their attorney, the Urregos offered to fly McLaughlin to Colombia or any other Third World country to answer his questions. Alternatively, they were willing to give testimony from Colombia by a video hookup, according to court papers.

But last March, Superior Court Judge Richard D. Aldrich ruled that they would have to return to Ventura County by April 19 for questioning if they wanted to prevent the forfeiture. They missed the deadline.

Marino said in court papers that she has tried in vain to speak directly to the couple and even paid a newspaper in Baranquilla, Colombia, to try to run them down.

Under the state law allowing drug-money seizures, more than three-fourths of the money will be given to the Simi Valley Police Department because it initiated the investigation. With interest, the department’s share will be about $2.2 million.

Simi Valley Police Chief Paul Miller said the department plans to spend $190,000 for a gang program. Some of the money also will be used to pay for narcotics officers and the department’s anti-drug youth program.

The district attorney’s office will get 13.5%, or about $390,000. It will be used for existing programs, Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Vincent J. O’Neill Jr. said.

The remainder of the money will go to the state.

Although investigators lacked sufficient evidence to prove the Urregos guilty of drug trafficking in a criminal proceeding, McLaughlin noted that the standard of proof in a civil case is lower.

In a civil proceeding, the winner must only demonstrate a preponderance of evidence to prove its case. If the Urregos had shown up to claim their money, McLaughlin said he had ample evidence to show that it had come from drug trafficking. He declined to elaborate.

McLaughlin said he was not surprised that the couple gave up a fortune rather than risk their freedom.