Drug Arrests

A Yorba Linda man was arrested at his home after police found more than 1,600 marijuana plants growing there, authorities said Saturday. Kurtis Daniel Helm, 29, was taken to the Brea Police Department jail on suspicion of cultivating $2 million worth of marijuana for sale. He is also accused of stealing about $25,000 worth of electricity from Edison by bypassing a meter, allegedly to hide the power needed to operate a matrix of grow lights and other equipment.

Federal officials said Friday that they dismantled one of the most prolific drug rings in the Coachella Valley on Thursday in an operation that resulted in the arrests of 16 people, including one "shot caller" for the Mexican Mafia, and the seizure of 50 guns, methamphetamine and a pipe bomb. A joint gang task force of state, local and federal officials tracked members of the network for 10 months by recording cellphone conversations and posing as drug buyers, officials said.

A 24-year-old man was arrested Monday for running a sophisticated marijuana-growing operation in a private house near a Christian high school, according to a Riverside Police Department spokesman. Justin Weatherwax, 24, was arrested for suspicion of cultivation of marijuana and theft of electricity, according to police spokesman Steven Frasher.

A Broward County judge apologized in court Monday for smoking marijuana in a park. He cut a deal on his misdemeanor drug case, but his judicial career is in jeopardy. Circuit Judge Lawrence Korda soon could face tough questions -- such as where he got the marijuana or how often he has used the illegal drug -- from the state's judicial watchdog. The Judicial Qualifications Commission could recommend that the Florida Supreme Court remove the veteran judge from the bench.

Federal authorities say they have dismantled three major drug trafficking networks that smuggled Colombian heroin into the U.S. by sewing the powdery drug into clothing and suitcases. Forty-four people have been indicted in five countries, including Colombia and the Dominican Republic, as part of the four-year probe Operation Jacket Racket, which tracked the heroin pipeline from Colombia to East Coast cities. Much of the heroin, authorities said, was smuggled into the U.S.

A former Mexican governor accused by U.S. federal prosecutors of helping smuggle 200 tons of Colombian cocaine while in office was arrested here early Thursday for possible extradition to the United States. If the extradition is successful, Mario Villanueva would be the highest-ranking former Mexican official to stand trial in a U.S. court. He's accused in a 2001 federal indictment of conspiring with drug gang leaders to transport tons of cocaine bound for sale north of the border.

Actor Tom Sizemore, who pleaded no contest to a drug possession charge last year, was sentenced Monday to 16 months in prison for violating his probation stemming from a separate drug case. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Cynthia Rayvis ordered the sentence after authorities said they found methamphetamine in the actor's car May 8 in Bakersfield, a violation of his probation.

A principal dancer with the New York City Ballet faces a drug charge in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where the troupe is staging summer performances. Nilas Martins, the 40-year-old son of the company's master-in-chief, Peter Martins, has been charged with fifth-degree criminal possession of cocaine, a felony, police said. A spokesman from the troupe declined to comment.

A massive marijuana garden -- 61,000 plants worth nearly $200 million -- was discovered in a remote area along the border of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. Three illegal immigrants were arrested and plants up to 8 feet tall were uprooted after discovery of the farm east of Twitchell Reservoir near California Highway 166, said Sgt. Erik Raney of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department.

A sales clerk has been arrested on suspicion of peddling marijuana from a kiosk at the Promenade mall, police said. Jeffery Lee Cook Jr., 22, was booked Friday on suspicion of the possession and sale of marijuana. He worked at a kiosk that sells belts, buckles and other clothing and accessories. "It takes a bold -- and foolish -- individual to think he can get away with running an illegal business in the middle of a busy mall," said Riverside County Sheriff's Det. Tim Brause.