'Icebreaker 2' suspect sentenced

Article author: 
Kyle Odegard
Article publisher: 
Albany Democrat-Herald
Article date: 
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Article category: 
Crime
Medium
Article Body: 

The 13th defendant in the sprawling “Icebreaker 2” investigation was sentenced Wednesday morning in Linn County Circuit Court.

Gilberto Garcia-Camacho [also known as Marco Hernandez-Vargas], 25, of Linn County pleaded guilty to racketeering and faces nearly three years in prison, with credit for time served and the possibility of earning time off for good behavior.

Authorities have said that in Icebreaker 2, a drug trafficking network distributed as much as 4 pounds of methamphetamine and 2 pounds of heroin throughout the Willamette Valley in any given week.

Police raids happened in the case on March 13 after a nine-month investigation.

Garcia-Camacho [aka Hernandez-Vargas] came in at the tail end of the criminal enterprise, and purchased large quantities of drugs, said defense attorney Paul Ferder of Salem.

Ferder added that Garcia-Camacho [aka Hernandez-Vargas] knew very few people involved in the larger criminal organization.

“He’s aware that at the conclusion of his sentence, he will be deported,” Ferder said.

Garcia-Camacho [aka Hernandez-Vargas], a Mexican citizen, was polite but declined much comment at Wednesday’s hearing.

“Whatever you decide,” he told Judge Daniel Murphy through a Spanish interpreter.

According to the charge, Garcia-Camacho [aka Hernandez-Vargas] conspired and endeavored to associate with an enterprise that distributed methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin.

Daniel Wendel, assistant attorney general, represented the prosecution. The case is being handled by the Oregon Department of Justice and the Benton County District Attorney’s Office. Most of the suspects were from Benton County.

Christian Stringer, Benton County chief deputy district attorney, said eight people in Benton County and four in Marion County already had been sentenced in the investigation.

Six court cases remain in Benton County, and five of those suspects remain in custody. A sixth, James Knox, was released after posting $100,000 on $1 million bail.

The investigation is continuing, and more people could be arrested, Stringer said.