METH OPERATION CALLED `A BROKERAGE'.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LAKE LOS ANGELES - A Lake Los Angeles businesswoman accused of being the leader of a $30 million methamphetamine trafficking operation faces more than 20 years in prison if she is convicted of drug and other charges.

Paula Martinez, 44, who authorities said owns a number of businesses and properties, has pleaded not guilty to charges connected with what investigators described as ``a brokerage'' for setting up methamphetamine labs.

``The operation was in excess of millions of dollars,'' said Deputy District Attorney John Allen Ramseyer of the major narcotics unit of the District Attorney's Office. ``It was an ongoing conspiracy that took place over a period of time that involved numerous labs and groups of individuals. Their duty was to manufacture methamphetamine.''

Martinez has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy, manufacturing methamphetamine, possessing chemicals with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine, possession for sale of methamphetamine, child endangerment and perjury.

The perjury charge relates to information contained on Martinez's driver's license application.

Martinez remained in custody on $2.7 million bail. Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for Los Angeles Superior Court next month.

Martinez was arrested Dec. 15 along with two men, capping a yearlong investigation by authorities. The two men have been released pending further investigation, Ramseyer said.

``She was alleged to be one of the individuals that's responsible for brokering large amounts of the chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamine as well as furnishing locations that were ultimately used to manufacture methamphetamine,'' Ramseyer said.

Sixty law enforcement officers from three multijurisdictional task forces made the arrests and located three dumps for methamphetamine manufacturing waste during a morning raid on five locations in and around Lake Los Angeles.

The investigation, dubbed Paula's Kitchen, identified at least 10 methamphetamine labs seized in Los Angeles and Kern counties that are linked to Martinez.

In November, a laboratory, still in operation when law enforcement swooped in, was seized in Lamont, a Kern County community. That lab was located adjacent to a business owned by Martinez, officials said.

The operation led indirectly to the death of a state Department of Justice pilot. Gregory Joseph Fullam, 54, of Fresno was flying in to help with communications and surveillance when his plane crashed Dec. 12 near Fox airfield in Lancaster. No cause for the crash has been determined.

No narcotics were seized in raids conducted on the day of Martinez's arrest. In previous lab seizures, law enforcement officials said, they found 28 pounds of finished methamphetamine and about 500 pounds of liquid methamphetamine that had not crystalized.

Martinez was arrested at a home in the 44500 block of 200th Street East, a site where law enforcement officials said they found buried equipment and waste used in methamphetamine manufacturing.

A Los Angeles County hazardous materials team was sent to clean it up.

Two other dumps were located in the 19500 block of East Avenue Q. Materials believed used in manufacturing the drug were found in a shed and at an outdoor location, officials said.