THREE MORE ACCUSED IN DRUG CASE

Defendants are named in an alleged smuggling and money-laundering scheme
based in O.C. A deputy D.A. also once faced charges.

Federal prosecutors have named three additional defendants in a
drug-smuggling case that at one point included an Orange County deputy
district attorney accused of providing sensitive law enforcement information
to the leader of the alleged crime ring.

Donovan J. Pantastico, Louis T. Ferreira Jr. and Troy Eugene Lopp are the
latest defendants in a case that prosecutors described as an elaborate drug
and money-laundering scheme based in Orange County.

In June, a federal grand jury indicted 12 alleged members of the drug ring,
including Bryan Ray Kazarian, 35, a six-year veteran of the district
attorney's office, and John David Ward, 28, who authorities say led the
group.

But since the charges were filed, the U.S. attorney's office has disposed of
cases against seven defendants, including Kazarian, in secret proceedings.
Prosecutors and attorneys have declined to discuss the details. Related
court documents will not be made public until the time of the trial, now
scheduled for Oct. 3, said Assistant U.S. Atty. James Spertus.

According to authorities, the group produced methamphetamine and cocaine and
smuggled the drugs to Hawaii hidden in Harley-Davidson motorcycles. One of
the defendants is Howard Irvine Coones, 44, the founder of the local chapter
of the Hells Angels motorcycle club.

Coones, Ward, James Mitchell Flanagan, 38, and Ward's parents, Steven
Donald, 52, and Frances Dianne, 51, still face prosecution.

Pantastico and Ferreira are accused of receiving the drugs in Hawaii and
distributing them in that state, according to court documents filed last
week.

Lopp is charged with receiving shipments of ephedrine in Orange County that
the ring allegedly used to make methamphetamine.