Police Arrest 6, Seize Drugs, Cash

Police in Orange said Thursday that they have arrested six men and seized $588,000 worth of marijuana after an eight-month investigation of an international drug ring.

Officers confiscated 140 pounds of high-grade marijuana, seven vehicles, jewelry, three luxury boats and $85,000 in cash Wednesday afternoon in raids on a dozen homes and warehouses in Orange, Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, San Juan Capistrano and Long Beach.

The marijuana was “the cream of the crop” and had a street value of more than eight times that of common marijuana, said Orange Police Lt. Art Romo.

“It was very good marijuana, grown under a controlled climate that makes marijuana more potent,” he said.

The drugs were grown in British Columbia, then smuggled into the country and brought to Orange County, Romo said.

Those arrested were Robert Peter Richard, 23, John Huntington Spink II, 31, and Scott Rene Theriault, 36, all of Newport Beach; John Allen Myers, 56, and Fred Eli Khammar, 52, both of Long Beach; and Larry Stevens Badgwell, 31, of San Juan Capistrano.

They are being held in Orange County Jail on $100,000 bail and are scheduled to be charged Monday at their arraignment with conspiracy, possession for sale and transportation of marijuana, Romo said.

Romo identified Richard, a Canadian citizen in the U.S. illegally, as the suspected ringleader.

The investigation is ongoing, and more arrests are possible, Romo said.