Air Chase Followed by Drug Seizure : Oxnard: Authorities find 1,000 pounds of marijuana in alleged smuggler’s plane. Four suspects to face charges.

A pilot who led U.S. Customs agents on an air pursuit from the Mexican border to Oxnard Airport was in Ventura County Jail on Sunday awaiting arraignment on suspicion of smuggling more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana into the country.

Donald G. Parker, 45, whose residence was not known Sunday, was being held in Ventura without bail. Oxnard police chased Parker down and arrested him late Saturday just outside the airport shortly after his twin-engine Piper landed at 9:25 p.m.

Two of Parker’s alleged accomplices were under arrest in a Kern County hospital and a third was being held in jail in Fresno.

The drama began at about 6:25 p.m. Saturday when tracking radar at Customs’ Domestic Air Interdiction Coordination Center in Riverside picked up an aircraft entering U.S. airspace from Mexico, Customs spokesman Vincent Bond said.

Because the aircraft had not filed a flight plan or issued a “notice of border penetration” with the Federal Aviation Administration, Customs sent up a Cessna jet interceptor from San Diego to track the plane, he said. The jet’s infrared camera detected that there were no identifying numbers on the aircraft’s tail section.

“That raised our suspicions,” Bond said. “It turned out the plane had been stolen from Sacramento sometime in June.”

The Customs jet covertly followed the Piper to a small airport in the San Joaquin Valley town of Buttonwillow, about 30 miles west of Bakersfield. Customs dispatched a helicopter loaded with armed agents to meet the aircraft when it touched down in Buttonwillow at about 8:30 p.m. Waiting on the ground were officers from Kern County police and sheriff’s departments.

Just as the pilot was landing, the Customs helicopter descended, Bond said. The pilot then aborted his landing and sped up to take off, heading toward the helicopter. Customs agents fired at the aircraft, Bond said, but he was unsure whether they had hit it.

Meanwhile, three people in two trucks--who Customs agents believe were waiting for Parker--sped away from the Buttonwillow airport. Two were injured when their vehicle crashed, and a third, whose vehicle was damaged, was uninjured.

Sharon Ann Johns, 49, and Jerry Mancini, 49, both of Fresno, were arrested and taken to Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield. They were reported in stable condition Sunday. The third suspected accomplice, Michael John Houlahan, 45, of Encinitas, was arrested and taken to a county jail facility at Lerdo. He was transferred Sunday to the Fresno County Jail.

After leaving Buttonwillow, Parker headed north to the Oxnard Airport, with the Customs jet still following out of sight, authorities said.

As the plane neared Oxnard Airport, Customs agents requested assistance from Oxnard police, who cordoned off the airport. When Parker landed, a tire on his landing gear blew out, Bond said, though he was not sure whether it had been shot out by agents in Buttonwillow or whether it blew out on impact during landing.

Immediately after he landed, the pilot leaped from the plane and started running, witnesses said.

“All of a sudden, you see him get out, and he starts running,” said Bill Landof, who was eating at the bar. Within minutes, Landof said, at least a dozen police cars converged on the scene.

Oxnard police searched the area with the aid of trained dogs and a Ventura County Sheriff’s Department helicopter. Oxnard Police Officer Christopher Orsini arrested Parker at an apartment complex near the airport.

Customs agents found the plane loaded with more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana, Bond said. He said he did not know the origin, destination or street value of the cargo.

Early reports said shots were fired at Oxnard Airport, but Bond said none were fired by Customs agents. Oxnard police said no shots were fired at the scene.

Customs agents impounded the Piper, which was being held Sunday in a locked hangar at Oxnard Airport, Bond said. The marijuana had been moved to a seizure vault, but Bond declined to say where.

The U.S. attorney’s office was expected to file charges today against the three, Bond said. Although Bond said the charges would involve smuggling and possession of marijuana, the U.S. attorney in charge of the case would not specify the charges, he said.

Staff writers Tracy Wilson and Joanna M. Miller contributed to this story.