Three men arrested in drug bust An...

Three men arrested in drug bust

An investigation that started out in Laguna Beach resulted in a

cocaine bust in Westminster.

Police arrested three men: Juan Francisco Rodriguez, 31, of Santa

Ana resident; Michael Arthur Kemsley, 19, of Laguna Niguel; and Ryan

Paul Frolich, 20, of Laguna Niguel. All three were charged with

conspiracy and with possession with intent to sell a controlled

substance.

“This was an undercover operation that we had been working on for

weeks,” Sgt. Darin Lenyi said.

On the afternoon of March 4, police on surveillance observed

Kemsley and Frolich, along with a third person, at a coffee shop in

the 100 block of North Coast Highway.

Police would not identify the third person seen at the cafe.

Detectives followed Kemsley and Frolich to a Westminster flower

shop owned by Rodriguez in the 9000 block of McFadden Avenue.

Police continued their surveillance at the shop and saw the three

men make a drug deal in the store’s parking lot, Lenyi said.

“They agreed to sell 2 kilograms of cocaine,” Lenyi said.

Police arrested the men immediately after the sale at about 3:30

p.m. The suspected buyer was released. Investigators closed down the

shop and found about $2,000 in cash and about five “eightballs” of

cocaine, Lenyi said.

One eightball is equivalent to one-eighth of an ounce of cocaine.

Laguna police officers were assisted by Tustin detectives in the

arrests.

Man sentenced for hit and run accident

A driver who pleaded guilty to critically injuring a Laguna Beach

man in November after a hit and run crash was sentenced to jail on

Wednesday.

George Jacobs, 77, a retired lawyer living in Newport Beach,

pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges that he hit 42-year-old David

Gibbs on North Coast Highway and fled the accident. Gibbs was

crossing the roadway near Viejo Street when he was hit by Jacobs’

1996 Ford Thunderbird.

Gibbs recovered from his injuries, and Jacobs was ordered to pay

his medical bills in full, said Mark Macaulay, a spokesman for the

district attorney’s office.

Jacobs’ driver’s license was revoked, and he is scheduled to begin

a 150-day sentence at Orange County jail on April 24.

Police arrested Jacobs after a tip from employees at a Costa Mesa

body shop, where Jacobs admitted to hitting a pedestrian. A worker in

the body shop also reported finding hair in the car’s broken

windshield.

When Jacobs returned to the shop after his car was repaired to

thank the body shop employees for fixing his car, he was taken into

custody by a detective who was already at the shop.