Undercover Buy Nets $5M in Meth, Some Stored in Frosted Flakes Box

Three members of a suspected drug trafficking ring based in Hemet were jailed in lieu of $1 million bail after they allegedly delivered 50 pounds of methamphetamine - some of it in a Kellogg's Frosted Flakes box - to an undercover task force officer in Murrieta, police announced Thursday.

The arrests on Jan. 10 in the 41300 block of Kalmia Street and the 24600 block of Madison in Murrieta were the result of an infiltration of the Hemet-based group, according to inmate records and Murrieta police Lt. Tony Conrad.

Conrad did not specify where in Hemet the group was based and he was not immediately available to comment for this report.

After a day-long operation that took place in a commercial area of Murrieta, the three suspects arrested were identified as Donaciano Ramirez-Guerra, 36, Jovanny Aguirre, 22, and Jorge Hugo Guzman, 26, Conrad said in a statement.

The seized meth had an estimated street value of $5 million, Conrad said.

A photo taken by Murrieta police showed the packages of drugs were hidden inside cardboard boxes, including a blue Frosted Flakes box.

As of Thursday, Ramirez-Guerra was locked up at Smith Corrrectional in Banning, and Aguirre and Guzman were behind bars at Southwest Detention Center, where they were held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a felony, transportation of methamphetamine and possession of methamphetamine for sales purposes, according to inmate records and police.

They have court dates scheduled Feb. 19, inmate records showed.

Conrad said the take-down was a collaboration between Murrieta officers and the California Department of Justice Inland Allied Task Force - INCA - to which one Murrieta detective is assigned full-time.

The Inland Crackdown Allied Task Force was described as a multi-agency task force with participation by federal, state and local agencies targeting major Colombian and Mexican drug cartels within the Inland Empire region of the Los Angeles High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.

"Our detectives did assist with this operation," Conrad said. "This seizure represents the significant achievements that can be obtained when local, state and federal law enforcement partners work together to keep our communities drug free."

Reported by Patch editors Maggie Avants and Guy McCarthy