NEWPORT MAN'S ARREST JARS NEIGHBORS

A Balboa Bay Club governor is tied to the smuggling of 9 tons of pot.

NEWPORT BEACH-Ronald Newman owns part of a vintage car dealership and has
sold Ferraris, Mercedes Benzes and Porsches to many Newport Beach
residents. He is a doting father to his three sons. He is a Balboa Bay Club
governor.

He also is accused of smuggling drugs.

Newman has been indicted with a group of men and women who allegedly
shipped more than 18,000 pounds of marijuana into the country from Thailand
in 1995, officials said Thursday. The drugs have a street value of about
$45 million.

News of the indictment has shocked his neighbors in the gated, beachfront
community of Bayshores, where Newman and his family have lived for 13
years.

"I really hope that the truth comes out in the wash and Ron is innocent,"
said John Hertrick.

Hertrick said his neighbor often volunteered to plan community fund-raisers
for children. He described Newman as a friendly family man whose wife, Kim,
a flight attendant, brought over homemade candy for Christmas. He never
appeared to be involved in drugs, he said.

"We can't believe this is true," he said. "They are such a lovely family."

Other neighbors said they couldn't understand the allegations. Newman
didn't appear to need the money, they said.

"This make me really sad," said neighbor Ann Sullivan. "He's a really neat
guy. I remember he used to have this antique fire engine. He used to drive
the kids around in it."

Newman, 48, and 19 others were indicted last month on charges of conspiracy
to import and distribute marijuana. If convicted they could face life in
prison and a $4 miilion fine.

Newman was among eight people arrested April 8. But he has since posted
bail and been released from jail. The other are fugitives.

Newman on Thursday denied the allegations through his attorney, James Riddet.

"He is totally shocked that he has been accuse," Riddet said. "Ron is
completely innocent of these charges."

The marijuana was brought into the United States in September 1995 in a
62-foot sailboat that docked at Boat Harbor, near Anacortes, Wash., court
papers show.

The marijuana then was loaded onto three different boats to be stored in
"stash houses" and storage facilities throughout the country, including one
in Aliso Viejo, where authorities later recovered 150 pounds of marijuana,
court papers state.

In 1995, Alan Blake Eliel, a Laguna Beach resident, paid one of the
scheme's masterminds, Phillip Edward Hastings, $50,000 to secure a stake in
the ring, the court records say.

It is unclear how Newman got involved, but he rented a room at the Marriot
in Washington at Hastings' direction about the time the marijuana arrived
in the country. He stayed with Eliel, who has not been indicted.

Newman also allegedly took $30,000 from Eliel for a white cargo van used to
move the drugs, the court records show.

"In no way are we trying to link Ron Newman to a lifelong pursuit of drug
smuggling," Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Coughlin said. "But if you look at
the indictment, his name comes up several times."