Maximum Term Sought for Admitted Cocaine Dealer

Federal prosecutors are seeking the maximum 20-year sentence for a Laguna Niguel man who pleaded guilty to being involved in a 100-kilogram cocaine deal.

Daniel Serrano, described in court records as “obviously a high-echelon member of a major Colombian cocaine distribution organization,” was arrested Dec. 6, 1985. Two months before his arrest, he was an executive at Xerox Corp.

Serrano, who previously pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, is scheduled to be sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson.

Federal investigators who searched Serrano’s house after his arrest found a ledger with about 70 names. The ledger documented sales of “seven hundred kilograms of cocaine and $10 million for a period of less than one year,” according to the memo filed by Assistant U.S. Atty. John Gordon.

Serrano, who could not be reached for comment Friday, “admitted preparing the ledger but claimed that it did not document his personal sales,” said the sentencing memo filed in federal court in Los Angeles.

“Defendant may drive a new BMW and own several nice houses in nice neighborhoods, but he is no better than a street pusher,” Gordon wrote. “In face, he is worse precisely because he is an educated and trained professional who does not need to sell cocaine to live comfortably, and he is more dangerous because he is harder to catch.”

The government has already moved to seize three pieces of Orange County property allegedly purchased by Serrano with his drug profits. Federal law permits the seizure of property or goods purchased with proceeds from criminal activities.

Federal agents traced a list of recent real estate, jewelry and automobile purchases made by Serrano.

According to court records, he purchased a $179,000 house on Mammoth Circle in El Toro and a $172,500 lot on Nellie Gale Road in Laguna Niguel. He made a $107,500 down payment by using 17 checks.

Serrano also bought a $390,000 house on Nellie Gale Road and a house on Springfield Drive in South Laguna. The South Laguna home, recently appraised at $313,000, has “no outstanding mortgage,” the government said.

Serrano paid $37,000, “largely in cash,” for a 1985 BMW, $14,000 for a Toyota van and ordered “a swimming pool and brick work on the Nellie Gale house costing approximately $66,000,” according to court records.

Serrano reported $47,286 in gross income on a 1984 income tax return, according to the memo.