Pubdate: Wed,14 July,1999 Source: Orange County Register (CA) Copyright: 1999 The Orange County Register Contact: http://www.ocregister.com/ Section: Local News, page 4 Author: Stuart Pfeifer, Orange County Register staff writer BAIL DENIED FOR EX-PROSECUTOR CHARGED WITH TIES TO DRUG RING Courts: The Former Orange County Deputy District Attorney Is Declared A Flight Risk. A federal judge has declined to grant bail for a former Orange County deputy district attorney charged with using his position to supply a drug-dealing friend with details of police investigations. U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Nakazato concluded in a 30-page decision that Bryan Kazarian is too big a flight risk to be released on bail. The former prosecutor could face between 24 and 30 years in federal prison if convicted. Kazarian's parents and other relatives had offered to post $1.6 million in real estate equity to secure his release pending trial. The prosecutor was fired last month from his job of more than six years after he was arrested in connection with a nationwide methamphetamine ring allegedly run by his friend, John David Ward. Federal prosecutors have alleged in court documents that Kazarian, 35, told Ward in a secretly recorded telephone conversation that an informant helped police arrest one of the members of his drug ring. He also allegedly disclosed the name of an undercover officer to Ward. Nakzato said he considered Kazarian's behavior so bizarre that he could not be trusted if released on bail. He criticized Kazarian for maintaining a friendship with Ward long after he knew Ward had been convicted of drug trafficking in Idaho. The judge also noted a federal wiretap conversation in which Kazarian told Ward he would "go to Cuba" if he ever found himself in trouble. "If he is released, there is no reasonable assurance that he will respond in a normal, rational fashion," the judge wrote. Defense attorney Brian O'Neill could not be reached for comment. The decision marked the second time Nakazato had declined to set bail for Kazarian, who was previously denied bail one day after his June 6 arrest. - --- MAP posted-by: Thunder