FORMER ORANGE COUNTY PROSECUTOR PLEADS GUILTY IN FEDERAL DRUG CASE

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) -- A former Orange County prosecutor has pleaded
guilty to a federal charge of drug-trafficking conspiracy, according to
court documents.

Bryan Ray Kazarian, a former deputy district attorney, and eight
co-defendants pleaded guilty to charges related to their roles in a drug
ring that produced and distributed methamphetamine and cocaine, according
to documents released Monday.

When authorities arrested Kazarian in June 1999, prosecutors alleged he
gave information about cases to a friend, John David Ward, who allegedly
ran a $1 million-a-week methamphetamine ring.

Prosecutors claim the ring smuggled methamphetamine in shipments of
Harley-Davidson motorcycles and laundered an estimated $580,000-a-week for
the operation.

Kazarian, a former gang prosecutor, has been moved to an undisclosed
location since he was taken into federal custody.

The release of the court documents comes two months before the trial is
scheduled to start for six remaining defendants. Those defendants include
the alleged ringleader, Ward, and Howard Irvine Coones, founder of the
local chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club.

The newly released documents do no list the sentences that Kazarian and his
co-defendants received. The plea bargains were reached late last year in
closed door meetings with prosecutors.

Some of the remaining defendants could face sentences of up to life in
prison, if convicted.