Mojave hanger made history three times - Figured in John DeLorean drug bust

Mojave Desert News - 05/05/2008

By Bill Deaver

MOJAVE - One of the original hangers at Mojave Airport/Spaceport is coming down, being demolished to make way for a much larger structure for the National Test Pilot School. The historic hangar, which was used to maintain aircraft used to train Marine fighter pilots who were among the most proficient in the war in shooting-down Japanese aircraft in World War II, once figured in an international drug dealing story involving a famous auto maker. 

Hangar 161 was built by the Navy for the Mojave Marine Corps Auxiliary Air Station in 1942. In recent years it has housed aircraft used by Mojave's National Test Pilot School, training test pilots and flight test engineers from all over the globe. 

But the building's most notorious fame came in October, 1982, when newspapers around the world announced that an American auto industry golden boy called John DeLorean had been arrested on a charge of "conspiring to acquire 2,220 lbs. of cocaine with the expectation of making a $50 million profit." 

'Golden boy'

DeLorean, who had headed the Pontiac and Chevrolet divisions of General Motors, went on to develop a car bearing his name that was noted for its weird doors. The DeLoreans, one of which appeared in the film "Back to the Future," and were produced in Scotland, weren't big sellers and DeLorean had a cash flow problem. According to the FBI, the drug deal was an effort to save his company. 

Following a convoluted FBI sting operation, DeLorean  met a man called William Morgan Hetrick, who had blown into Mojave a couple years before, leased Hangar 161, and claimed to be in the aircraft maintenance business. 

After he arrived, we interviewed Hetrick, who spent a lot of money upgrading the hangar and installing a state-of-the-art milling machine which he made available to other businesses on the airport. 

Tehachapi horse ranch

Hetrick, who moved to a horse ranch in Tehachapi and went by his middle name, took then-East Kern Airport District General Manager Dan Sabovich and his wife fishing on his 43-foot trawler, the Highland Fling, in the Bahamas and, according to Sabovich, seemed to have a whole lot of money. Hetrick also owned five airplanes and a 53-foot yacht. 

Sabovich told a reporter that "Everything he (Hetrick) bought was first class. I used to take friends there to show it off." 

Hetrick had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the milling machine, computer, and upgrading the old hangar with paint, walls, and carpet. 

Personal computers were just becoming popular in those days and Hetrick installed one that he said was state-of-the-art. He offered to connect it to the airport district's system in an effort, he claimed, to save the district money. 

Somehow, Sabovich never got around to accomplishing that goal and later told me, after Hetrick was arrested, "That's one time that not getting something done paid off!"

While Hetrick was frequently away from Mojave, he left the business in the hands of Steve Arrington, his top assistant.  

On a morning in mid-October of 1982, FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and other federal agents descended on the airport after arresting Hetrick, 50, whom they described as "one of the largest drug smugglers in Southern California," as he left an L.A. restaurant popular with transvestites. 

DeLoraen was subsequently arrested. The arrests of DeLorean and Hetrick were described as an "example of a new spirit of cooperation between federal law enforcement agencies," which had a reputation of competing rather than cooperating. 

Spokesmen for the Feds said that the arrests followed a call by then-President Ronald Reagan to crack down on drugs. 

The federal agents, who had been tipped-off by an informant in Ventura who claimed to have overheard Hetrick talking about transporting large sums of money across state lines, learned that Hetrick was planning to use the Mojave hangar to unload drugs from incoming aircraft. Agents also learned that Hetrick was looking for a bank that would launder money. 

An FBI agent posing as "James Benedict" went undercover, posing as a banker.  A confidential informant (CI) connected Hetrick to Benedict. 

DeLorean got into the deal by coincidence when he approached the CI and said he needed money for his car business and was interested in financing a drug smuggling deal that would net him $50 million.

Hetrick and DeLorean eventually met in an L.A. hotel where, with recording tapes rolling, Hetrick bragged of his ability to bring in the coke. 

Following more meetings, the pair were eventually arrested and the Feds came to Mojave to check-out Hangar 161. 

When the story broke, this reporter, then working on Capitol Hill, read about it on the front page of the Washington Post and New York Times and called Sabovich. 

"You've worked for years to get Mojave Airport in the national news," I quipped to Sabovich, who laughed and said, "This is not really what I had in mind!" 

Postscript

Following a trial, De Lorean was acquitted of the charges. The jury foreman, a retired California Highway Patrol Sgt., told members of the Kern Press Club at a dinner meeting that while he and some other jurors thought DeLorean was guilty, the prosecution didn't do a very good job of presenting their case. 

Hetrick was not so lucky. After "cooperating handsomely" with the prosecution, he was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in Federal prison. 

He died following an airplane crash in 2004.