DRUG PROBES FIND SMUGGLERS IN THE MILITARY

SAN DIEGO--The American military has encountered an unexpected enemy in its
war on drugs: U.S. servicemen smuggling marijuana and cocaine into
California for Mexican drug rings.

At least 50 Marines and sailors have been investigated "in recent years"
for drug running, according to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Eight military probes involving 20 Marine and Navy suspects were launched
in the past year alone, officials said in response to a Times inquiry. And
investigators said five of the cases involved Marines suspected of driving
narcotics through Camp Pendleton to apparently help traffickers avoid the
Border Patrol checkpoint on nearby Interstate 5. Officials refused to
provide names of the suspects or other details about the smuggling cases,
including how many were prosecuted or convicted. The number of service
members implicated in smuggling is relatively small compared to the more
than 100,000 sailors and Marines stationed in the San Diego area.

But the development represents an insidious twist in the corrupting
influence of the drug trade, which previously has spawned bribery
investigations and convictions of several federal border agents. Records
show that some servicemen who were arrested by federal drug agents worked
for major Mexican drug rings. Authorities say most, if not all, of these
rings have ties to the violent Arellano-Felix cartel of Tijuana that
funnels tons of cocaine and marijuana into the United States. Officials
were reluctant to discuss the investigations because a number are ongoing.
However, some acknowledged privately that they are surprised and dismayed
that any servicemen were involved in smuggling at a time that the military
has been used to help stem the flow of drugs across the border.

"Overall, we don't consider [military drug smugglers] a [big] problem,"
said a senior federal law enforcement official who spoke on condition of
anonymity.

"But it's one that interests us because you don't expect military personnel
to be involved in drug smuggling."

A few servicemen allegedly used their military training or positions to
assist the traffickers, records show.

In one case, an active duty Marine sneaked marijuana shipments into the
United States by using a rubber speedboat to elude Coast Guard and Navy
radar. Under cover of night, the drugs were delivered to waiting vehicles
at San Diego County beaches.

Military authorities said some servicemen were recruited at Tijuana
nightspots and allegedly were paid to transport drugs across the border in
private vehicles. Marines and sailors, they said, evidently were chosen
because their clean-cut looks made them less likely to raise suspicion
among border inspectors and to be searched.

Cases Called 'Isolated Incidents' Debbie Hartman, spokeswoman for the U.S.
attorney here, said her office does not track convictions by occupation and
does not know how many servicemen have been convicted of smuggling.

Pentagon officials said they do not know how many servicemen have been
court-martialed and convicted for drug smuggling--nor how many from each
branch are now under investigation.

"The number of smuggling cases is so rare that we don't track them," said
Department of Defense spokesman Lt. Col. Tom Begines in Washington. "This
is something that rarely happens because the military has a deserved
reputation for being hard on drug usage."

Begines said that out of an active duty force of 1.4 million, 4,888
servicemen and women were discharged for drug-related misconduct--mostly
marijuana and cocaine use--in fiscal 1998.

In a written response to questions from The Times, NCIS Special Agent Wayne
Clookie said that at least 50 Marines and sailors have been investigated or
currently are under investigation for narcotics trafficking in the San
Diego area.

"To the best of our knowledge, these are isolated incidents," he said. "We
have no information which would indicate [drug smuggling] is a widespread
problem."

He said the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which handles
investigations for the Navy and Marine Corps, is examining cases developed
by its investigators and is looking into alleged smuggling by servicemen
who have been apprehended by civilian law enforcement agencies. Capt. Gregg
Hartung, Navy spokesman in San Diego, said only one sailor was
court-martialed for drug smuggling in fiscal 1998. Seaman Jeffrey T. Baca
was arrested March 20, 1998, at the border trying to import "in excess of
122 pounds of marijuana," he said.

Baca was reduced in rank, sentenced to 12 months in the brig and will be
discharged upon completing his sentence, Hartung said. "The Navy has
mandated training for every sailor, making everyone aware of the dangers in
visiting Mexico," he said.

"When [drug smuggling] does happen, we consider it a serious infraction
that warrants vigorous prosecution."

Two Marines Are Indicted In the last two years, U.S. Customs Service agents
have investigated 10 to 15 such cases of active-duty military men and
reservists involved in narcotics trafficking, according to a federal
official familiar with the probes. Investigations by U.S. Customs and Drug
Enforcement Administration agents have resulted in the indictment of at
least two Marines here during the past year, and one National Guard soldier
is a fugitive, records show. Smuggling cases targeting dozens of military
personnel have arisen while U.S. Army, California National Guard and Marine
units were conducting drug interdiction patrols along the border.

Ground patrols were ended in the summer of 1997, after a shooting incident
in Redford, Texas, where a team of Camp Pendleton Marines killed a U.S.
citizen who allegedly fired at them.

As some Marines were patrolling the border, Marine Lance Cpl. Jason Allen
Miller and a Mexican national were arrested at 2 a.m. on Feb. 9, 1997, by
customs agents for transporting 1,000 pounds of marijuana in a 14-foot
Quicksilver rubber speedboat off the San Diego coast. Miller pleaded guilty
and was sentenced to five years in prison.

Miller, 22, had been trained in military beach landing techniques, said one
investigator.

Court records alleged that Miller and his accomplice dumped seven U.S. Army
duffel bags of marijuana into the sea when they were apprehended.
Investigators said Miller acknowledged that he previously smuggled eight
similar loads but declined to say who hired him or how much money he was
paid. A state Department of Motor Vehicles spokesman said Miller had been
listed as owner or co-owner of 27 vehicles, including two watercraft.
Miller did not respond to an interview request submitted to his attorney,
Steve Hubachek, who declined to comment.

Court records show that Miller was working for a drug ring run by some
members of a San Diego-area family that had confederates on both sides of
the border. The patriarch, Claude Wayne Nicholas, was convicted in a
separate marijuana smuggling case and he died of cancer in federal prison
in July. One of his sons, Martin Ricardo Nicholas, 28, was convicted along
with Miller. According to military records, Martin Nicholas was an
ex-Marine who was honorably discharged in 1993.

Marine Reservist Becomes a Fugitive In a separate case, another son, Juan
Cruz Nicholas, 23, was arrested in 1997 with Marine reservist Jerry Sandy
Makepeace, 28. Makepeace had ties to both Nicholas brothers. Records show
that he worked at the same Tijuana junkyard with Juan Nicholas and served
in the same Marine units with Martin Nicholas between 1989 and 1991. When
Makepeace was arrested last year, he was out on bail from a 1996 marijuana
smuggling indictment. It alleged that Makepeace, a Guatemalan citizen,
"used his status in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve to circumvent the U.S.
Border Patrol checkpoint at San Clemente [on Interstate 5] by using the
roads at . . . Camp Pendleton when Makepeace was transporting marijuana."
The indictment identified Makepeace as a member of a Mexicali-based ring
that smuggled marijuana through the Imperial Valley. Court records said he
was "operating a marijuana distribution point" out of his Chula Vista
apartment. In June 1997, after he was freed on bail, Makepeace was arrested
in a DEA sting and indicted with Juan Cruz Nicholas for possession of
methamphetamine and assaulting a DEA agent. Nicholas received a sentence of
15 years and 8 months for aiding and abetting the distribution of
methamphetamine.

Sources said the 1996 indictment was dismissed partly because authorities
believed that the 1997 case was stronger. After the dismissal, Makepeace
was mistakenly released from federal custody in August 1997. Officials say
he is a fugitive.

Camp Pendleton Used by Traffickers Earlier this year, a customs
intelligence memo suggested that traffickers still were using Camp
Pendleton--a 125,000-acre installation about 60 miles from Tijuana.

The Feb. 25 memo obtained by The Times said an informant told investigators
that the Arellano-Felix cartel transports small loads of marijuana through
the base to avoid the Border Patrol checkpoint on I-5 at San Onofre.

"The drug runners have a route through or around a barricade at Camp
Pendleton" by entering the base through Las Pulgas Road, five miles south
of the Border Patrol checkpoint, the memo stated.

Attempts to Avoid Checkpoint NCIS agent Clookie said two civilians were
arrested on the base in November 1997 for transporting 52 pounds of
marijuana. "They attempted to cross the base to avoid the I-5 checkpoint,"
Clookie said. "While the I-5 checkpoint may be avoided by crossing Camp
Pendleton, there is a greater chance of getting caught on base."

Camp Pendleton spokesman Lt. Eric Dent said Marine officials are aware of
the temptations young Marines face while visiting Tijuana. The base uses a
Department of Defense counselor to train Marines how to respond when
"targeted by drug peddlers, prostitutes and gangs."

"We expect our Marines to understand that if they're in Tijuana and are
asked to bring something across the border, they should fall back on our
core values," Dent said. "We don't want any part of this. But we realize
that our people are human and some mistakes will be made." One of the first
reported smuggling cases involving an active-duty Marine occurred in 1995.
The Times reported that Cpl. Yiluarde "Jerry" Pacheco belonged to a Mexican
drug ring based in Yorba Linda that was dismantled by the DEA. When he was
arrested, Pacheco was a staff member of the commanding general at Camp
Pendleton.

Links to Colombia Cartel Pacheco's ring had direct ties to the Cali cartel
in Colombia, and records show that the ring shipped up to 14 tons of
cocaine between 1993 and 1994 from Southern California to other U.S. cities.

An affidavit filed by a DEA agent said Pacheco rented dwellings for storing
cocaine and transported the drug. However, federal prosecutors said there
is no evidence that Pacheco shipped cocaine through Camp Pendleton. Pacheco
was convicted on smuggling charges and is serving a seven-year prison
sentence. He did not respond to an interview request. Authorities said
Marines and sailors are not the only servicemen suspected of smuggling.

California National Guard soldier David A. Garzon, 27, was assigned to the
Calexico port of entry to assist customs inspectors in checking commercial
trucks entering the United States from Mexico. Garzon, 27, was removed from
his position this year after National Guard officials learned he was the
subject of a federal investigation into corruption at the border.

Spokesman Maj. Stanley Zezotarski said, "The federal authorities told us
Garzon was under investigation for drug smuggling and we took him off the
line. Later on, Garzon found out he was being investigated and dropped out
of sight." He is now a fugitive, and customs agents say they want to
question him about a cocaine shipment of more than 1,000 pounds.

Checked-by: Pat Dolan