Man’s Jail Release Echoes That of Arson Case : Arrest: Handyman indicted in drug sweep was in Texas jail at time, attorney says. He was let out on same day charges were dropped against Laguna fire suspect, who was in Mexican prison when blaze was set.

SANTA ANA — On the same day prosecutors admitted charging the wrong man in the Laguna Beach fire, the district attorney’s office agreed to release another man indicted in a massive gang sweep after an attorney said his client already was in a Texas jail at the time, officials confirmed Thursday.

Luis Fernando Lopez, a Santa Ana handyman, was arrested Sept. 8 as part of Operation Roundup after authorities said they videotaped him selling cocaine to a police informant on a Santa Ana street.

But Deputy Public Defender Hector Chaparro contends that Lopez has a perfect alibi.

“We are very fortunate in this case, because, fortunately, he was locked up at the time,” Chaparro said. “He always maintained his innocence.”

Chaparro blamed the mix-up on poor-quality videotape, a look-alike drug dealer and an unreliable informant. But he said prosecutors acted “quickly and professionally” when he presented them with his client’s fingerprints and jail records on Tuesday.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Mel Jensen said prosecutors agreed to release Lopez from jail while they investigate further.

“At this point, we are still checking into it and we have some information coming from Texas, Federal Express,” Jensen said, declining to discuss the case in detail. “We had some information that sounded pretty good so we decided that while we were checking on it, (Lopez) should be released on his own recognizance.”

Jensen said he may decide as early as today whether charges should be dismissed against Lopez.

Lopez’s sister-in-law said Thursday that he had been telling his family since the day of his arrest that the police had the wrong man.

“He called us and he said it wasn’t him,” said Amelia Lopez, 20, who lives with her husband and Lopez in a Bristol Street apartment. “He said he saw the video and it did look like him, but they were confusing him with someone else.

“He said, ‘I want to get out. This ain’t me.’ He was mad because they had him in there.”

Amelia Lopez said the family didn’t do anything to prove Lopez’s innocence until his court date on Sept. 27, because “at first, he didn’t have a lawyer.”

On that day, she said, she went to court with documents from the Texas jail that included her brother-in-law’s fingerprints, and two small pictures of him.

“I think that they do good,” Amelia Lopez said of the police, “but they shouldn’t put people in jail before they know who they are.”

Law enforcement officials say it is not unusual for defendants with common names and similar birth dates to be mixed up within the legal system, or briefly taken into custody.

But Jensen said Thursday it’s rare for defendants to spend several weeks in jail before such a mix-up is unraveled. Lopez served nearly a month in the Orange County Jail. “This does not happen often, it’s very rare,” Jensen said. “We are committed to moving on this type of information as quickly as possible.”

Lopez’ release came Wednesday, the same day prosecutors made the stunning announcement that they had been duped by a false confession and filed felony charges against the wrong man in the devastating Laguna Beach arson fires that destroyed or damaged more than 400 homes. The suspect, Jose Soto Martinez, 26, was in a Mexican prison when the fire was set last Oct. 27.

Lopez was arrested along with scores of other men and women in September when local authorities joined the FBI in a months-long undercover investigation that involved impaneling a second grand jury--a county first--and hundreds of secretly videotaped drug buys.

If Lopez was indeed in a Texas jail on April 23 and May 14--the days authorities have alleged he was seen on videotape selling cocaine to an undercover informant--it remains unclear why it took nearly a month before Lopez was released.

According to grand jury transcripts, a police informant testified that he twice purchased powder cocaine from a man later identified as Luis Lopez during transactions captured on videotape.

The informant, Henry Gomez--recruited by the FBI to be part of the sting operation--has a history of criminal convictions and admitted stealing $115 from law enforcement officials during the transactions, according to court records.

Lopez’s attorney called Gomez’s testimony “wholly unreliable” and said he is concerned such a mix-up could happen again.

“The risk of confusion and misidentification is rampant in these (Operation Roundup) cases,” he said.

Prosecutor John Anderson, who is handling gang members arrested during Operation Roundup, said Gomez’s criminal history is “not an issue that’s important. You can make an issue out of anything.”

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Santa Ana Police Chief Paul M. Walters and a department spokeswoman did not return phone calls Thursday seeking comment about how Lopez was identified for arrest.

He was among the more than 100 people arrested in Operation Roundup, a sweep of Santa Ana’s gang-troubled 3rd Street. The busts have been hailed as a tough crime-fighting tool used to crack down on Santa Ana’s worst gangs and drug dealers.

Lopez could have been imprisoned for up to six years if convicted.

Amelia Lopez said her brother-in-law has been living with her and her husband in Santa Ana for two years, since leaving his native Guatemala.

She described him as a hard-working man who was trying to stay out of trouble. Earlier this year--Amelia couldn’t remember when--Lopez decided to move back to Guatemala to be with his parents.

“My husband wanted him to go back too, because there’s too many gangs and everything here,” she said.

On his way through Texas, she said, Lopez was arrested for possessing a stolen VCR. But before that arrest, she said Lopez had never done time and worked steadily doing construction work, lifting weights and working out in the family’s cramped living room on his free time.

Court records, however, list several aliases and birth dates for Luis Fernando Lopez and show a conviction for robbery in Los Angeles County last year.

Amelia Lopez said her brother-in-law only uses one name and that he is 20--not 22 as identified in court papers.

Wednesday night, Lopez came home from jail tired and relieved, and sat down to a 10:30 p.m. meal with Amelia, his brother, and their 2-year-old toddler.

“He seemed happy. Everything was different to him. The place, the baby,” Amelia Lopez said.

She said he went to work early Thursday with her husband, and that the brothers spent the day painting houses.

Jensen said his office is not interested in pinning crimes on innocent people. He said prosecutors agreed Wednesday to release Lopez on his own recognizance from the County Jail, where he was held in lieu of $50,000 bail on two felony counts of drug sales.

“If it’s true, I assume there may have been a misidentification, but that’s what we are trying to figure out,” Jensen said.

“We are not in the business of just convicting people,” Jensen said. “We have to protect the rights of all.”

Times staff writer Susan Marquez Owen contributed to this report.

* INTERNAL ‘BREAKDOWN’

Police admit ignoring policy in handling arson suspect. A1