Department of Justice

United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello
Northern District of California
WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/CAN

SIXTEEN INDICTED IN ECSTASY DISTRIBUTION CONSPIRACY

SAN FRANCISCO - United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced this afternoon that a federal grand jury in San Francisco indicted the following individuals with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute ecstasy (MDMA – 3, 4-methylenedioxy methamphetamine):

SANTISOUK TEA CHAIYASITH
JEFFREY CHAN
RAYMOND ZI CHEN
ERIC CHONG
LOUNG CHONG
SONGFA GONG
KHANH HUA
LEON KWAN
LONG LAM
WINGS LAM
PENG XIANG LI
MINH TRUNG NGO
DANIEL SANG JUN PARK
ALVIN NORMAN SIU
QUANG TRUONG
MARCO VILLA

These defendants were arrested this morning and made their initial appearance in federal court in San Francisco today at 1:30 p.m. this afternoon in front of Federal Magistrate Maria-Elena James. All arrested individuals were remanded into custody.

These arrests were made coordination with, and in an effort to assist on-going law enforcement efforts and prosecutions in Denver, Los Angeles and Sacramento. Locally, this investigation was coordinated and conducted by the FBI, DEA, IRS-CID, San Francisco Police Department, Oakland Police Department, Antioch Police Department, Alameda Police Department, West Contra Costa County Enforcement Team, San Mateo County Narcotics Task Force, Mill Valley Police Department, Marin City Major Crimes Task Force, California Highway Patrol, and the San Leandro Police Department.

The defendants individually face a variety of different charges, including but not limited to possession and distribution of ecstasy and/or marijuana. If convicted, depending on the charges, defendants face anywhere from not less than 5 years, and up to 40 years in federal prison, as well as a $2,000,000 fine. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

Please note, an indictment contains only allegations against an individual and, as with all defendant , the individuals indicted by the Grand Jury must be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Further Information:             

Case #: CR 08 0461 PJH

A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.

Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

Judges’ calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court’s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.

All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Joshua Eaton at (415) 436-6958 or by email at Josh.Eaton@usdoj.gov.

###