drugs

Metolius man faces charges

A Metolius man was arrested after police allegedly found him to be in possession of one ounce of methamphetamine, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said.

Juan Miranda-Medina, 32, was arrested in the parking lot of Erickson’s Thriftway in Madras on July 27 on suspicion of possession and delivery of meth. Miranda-Medina was taken to the Jefferson County jail, where he is also being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for illegal re-entry into the United States.

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'Icebreaker 2' suspect sentenced

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.

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Man faces new charge in heroin death

The case against a Salem man accused of delivering heroin to a 21-year-old Keizer woman that resulted in her death has moved from county court to federal court.

Christopher Wood, 19, is alleged to have given heroin to Laurin Ann Putnam on April 16, according to court records.

Wood faces the new charge of distribution of heroin resulting in a death, which carries a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and up to a $10 million fine. The law, known as the Len Bias law, was passed in 1988 after the cocaine overdose and death of basketball player Len Bias.

Wood joins six others who face federal charges in connection with the case.

Court documents detail how investigators with the Drug Enforcement Administration, as well as other agencies around the state, learned of each level in the drug trade and eventually arrested what appears to be the highest level of dealer in the drug organization, Sergio Quezada-Lopez.

Lopez, 33, was distributing heroin and cocaine to customers in Oregon and Washington on a regular basis in an operation that “likely yielded a yearly gross profit of over one hundred thousand dollars,” according to court records.

In the 96 hours after Putnam’s death, investigators made arrests and conducted searches in Washington, Multnomah and Marion counties as well as Vancouver, Wash., and seized more than four pounds of heroin, an undisclosed amount of methamphetamine and cocaine, two guns and more that $20,000 in cash, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Law enforcement also arrested Braulio Acosta Mendoza, 34, Jose Romo Gonzalez, 22, Jose Aldan Soto, 30, and Julian Hernandez Castillo, 31, for conspiracy that resulted in death. All five men are residents of Mexico, the attorney’s office said, and are being held with Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers.

Similar to Wood, Joseph Rubino, 20, of Salem was charged in Marion County court before that case was dismissed and he was indicted on federal charges.

In 2011, there were 143 heroin-related deaths, a 59 percent increase from the previous year, according to the Oregon State Medical Examiner's Office.

U.S. attorney Amanda Marshall said in a release that “heroin has saturated our state,” and that “this has to stop.”
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Republicans decry 'deadly' policy as report shows illegal immigrants committing new crimes

Roughly one in six illegal immigrants is re-arrested on criminal charges within three years of release, according to new government data being released Tuesday.

Those charges range from murder to drunken-driving and, according to House Republicans pushing out the report, are symptoms of what they describe as a "dangerous and deadly" immigration policy.

The findings, obtained by Fox News, are contained in reports by the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee and nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. They are the result of the committee’s subpoena request for Department of Homeland Security records from October 2008 to July 2011.

The information was analyzed by the CRS, which also broke down the information for criminal immigrants -- legal immigrants who committed crimes and were arrested again over the three-year period. Together, the two groups also had a roughly one-in-six recidivism rate.

The records show 276,412 reported charges against illegal and criminal immigrants over that three-year period as identified by Secure Communities, a federal program that essentially attempts to make best use of resources by identifying and prioritizing which illegal immigrants pose the biggest threat to public safety and should be arrested or deported.

Of the 160,000 people in the database, more than 26,000 were re-arrested -- accounting for nearly 58,000 crimes and violations.

They allegedly committed nearly 8,500 drunken-driving offenses and more than 6,000 drug-related violations. The records also show major criminal offenses, which included murder, battery, rape, kidnapping and nearly 3,000 thefts. Roughly 2 percent of the crimes included carjacking, child molestation, lynching and torture, according to the 13-page Congressional Research Service report.

“The Obama administration could have prevented these senseless crimes by enforcing our immigration laws,” the committee chairman, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said. “But President Obama continues to further his anti-enforcement agenda while innocent Americans suffer the consequences.”

The report showed that more than 7,000 of those re-arrested were illegal immigrants. Among their charges were 19 murders, three attempted murders and 142 sex crimes.

The records were subpoenaed last year in large part over concerns that Obama administration changes to Secure Communities was allowing “potentially millions of illegal and criminal immigrants to avoid current immigration law,” according to the GOP-led House committee.

The Department of Homeland Security could not be reached for comment.

Committee members cited one case in which an illegal immigrant was flagged by Secure Communities for a June 2010 vehicle theft and then arrested five months later for attempted grand theft.

He was then arrested roughly six months later in connection with murder. He and two other men allegedly attempted to rob a 68-year-old man. When the victim’s grandson intervened, the illegal immigrant allegedly shot and killed the grandson, according to the committee.

“While this illegal immigrant should have been detained and deported, he was not considered a priority under the Obama administration’s reckless immigration policy and was released onto our streets,” the committee concluded.

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Police identify man arrested after cocaine is found in car

The driver of a car that Oregon State Police said held 55 pounds of "high-grade" cocaine that was found during a traffic stop Tuesday on Interstate 5 near Ashland has been identified as Hipolito Carrillo, 41, of Ontario, Calif.

The man initially gave troopers a false name and birth date.

At about 7:40 a.m. Tuesday, an OSP trooper stopped a 2011 Nissan Altima with California license plates near Milepost 12 for a traffic violation.

A drug dog used during the stop indicated drugs were present and officers said they found 25 individual sealed packages of cocaine hidden inside the car.

Two passengers, an elderly woman and a boy, were released and not arrested, police said.

Carillo remained lodged in the Jackson County Jail Thursday on charges of possession, delivery and manufacture of cocaine, first-degree child neglect and suspicion of being in the country illegally. He was being held without bail.
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Mexican drug cartels infiltrate U.S. cities

Alert date: 
July 20, 2012
Alert body: 

OFIR could send out a report nearly every week about the arrest of another illegal alien bringing illicit drugs into Oregon. Most often the arrest is of a Mexican national driving up I-5 into Oregon from California with illegal drugs, likely for one of the Mexican drug cartels.
 

If you click onto the link to the map in the story here  you will find that Portland, Salem, Eugene, Medford and Klamath Falls are Oregon cities that have been infiltrated by the Mexican drug cartels.
 

The most important document a drug distributor can possess is a valid U.S. driver license. It is their “passport” that enables them to drive up and down I-5 and sell meth, cocaine and heroin. The fact that our Governor, John Kitzhaber, is on record advocating giving Oregon driver licenses to illegal aliens should send chills up everyone’s back.

Has Your City Been Infiltrated by Mexican Drug Cartels? Find Out Here

Forget drug cartels being a Mexican problem, they have infiltrated thousands of U.S. cities and are running complex and lucrative drug operations right under our noses. After all, we are their biggest and most relied upon customer.  Using information from a report released by the U.S. Department of Justice, the National Post was able to identify the trafficking routes and bases of various Mexican drug cartels. And it may shock you just how deeply embedded they are in America.

Unsuspecting cities like Portland, Denver, Indianapolis, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Chicago, Seattle, Louisville, Memphis, Boston, Minneapolis, Dallas and so many more have a reported drug cartel presence. The gangs move heroin, marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamines to feed America’s massive drug habit, and they do so gleefully as they rake in billions of dollars in profit.

So which cartels have actually been “confirmed’ to be in America? To name a few, the Tijuana Cartel, Juarez Cartel, Gulf Cartel, Federation Cartel and numerous gangs with “unknown affiliation.”  Curiously, two of Mexico’s most powerful and ruthless cartels, the Los Zetas and the Sinaloa Cartel, are not included in the report. But make no mistake, their tentacles reach the U.S. as well.

Texas is particularly affected by the drug cartel invasion. The Gulf Cartel appears to control much of east Texas while the Juarez Cartel divides up the west. Further, the drug routes moving out of the Lone Star State and into other states are many.  “Cocaine is the most lucrative of illegal drugs. The United Nations estimates that sales of the drug net $88 billion a year on the street. While the largest federations were once Columbian, now it appears they are Mexican.          The UN estimates two-thirds of cocaine that left the Andean region of South America for the United States in 2008 passed through the hands of Mexican cartels,” the National Post reports.

This graphic from the National Post breaks down the routes visually and shows where the drug cartels are operating. It also shows the number of drug related deaths in various categories, which now totals more than 50,000 since 2006. Has your city been infiltrated?

[Link to the National Post’s illustrated maps: http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/13/mexican-drug-cartels-spreading-influence-graphic/]
 

 

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55 pounds of cocaine seized near Ashland

Oregon State Police seized 55 pounds of "high-grade" cocaine Tuesday morning during a traffic stop on Interstate 5 near Ashland.

According to OSP Sgt. Dave Beck, a trooper stopped a 2011 Nissan Altima Tuesday morning near milepost 12 for a traffic violation.

The driver was identified as Israel Mendez-Gonzalez [also known as Hipolito Carrillo], 57 [41], of San Bernardino, Calif.

A search of the Altima revealed 25 individually sealed bags of cocaine hidden in the car. The cocaine was sniffed out by a drug dog, Beck said in a news release.

In all, the bags contained 55 pounds of cocaine, with an estimated street value of $875,000, OSP said.

Mendez-Gonzalez [aka Hipolito Carrillo] was arrested and lodged in the Jackson County Jail for possession and manufacture of cocaine. His bail is set at $60,000.

Two passengers, an elderly female and juvenile male, were released later and not arrested.

Felony arrests

Drugs — Hipolito Carrillo, 41, of Ontario, Calif. Oregon State Police Tuesday arrested Carrillo on charges of possession, delivery and manufacture of cocaine. In addition, Immigration and Customs Enforcement charged him with suspicion of being in the country illegally. He was lodged in jail without bail.

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Bus bust uncovers $300,000 in meth

A California man traveling through Medford on a bus is now sitting in a jail cell after police found more than 6 pounds of methamphetamine in his travel bag.

Medford Area Drug and Gang Enforcement officers were alerted by federal agencies that the suspect was in the area on July 13. Officers arrested Miguel Rebolledo-Aviles, 23, when he stopped in Medford on his way from Southern California to Salem.

They linked Rebolledo-Aviles to an unclaimed bag containing 6.6 pounds of methamphetamine, Medford police Sgt. Kevin Walruff said.

"This is 3 kilos of meth," Walruff said. "It's a good grab for us."

The meth has an estimated street value of $300,000, police said.

Rebolledo-Aviles was lodged Tuesday in the Jackson County Jail on charges of delivery and possession of methamphetamine. He had been in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials for several days while authorities worked to confirm his identity, Medford police said.

ICE has detained him on suspicion of being in the country illegally and is being held without bail.

Local law enforcement has been busy in recent months seizing large amounts of drugs moving through Southern Oregon via bus, Walruff said.

"That seems to be the popular mode of transport now," Walruff said. "It is cyclical, though. When we start making arrests on buses, then they switch to driving it up and down the interstate in cars."

Walruff said the department works several cases a year in which drugs are sent through the mail.

"Most of the stuff that is mailed is marijuana," Walruff said. "It is not worth very much around here, but has high value on the East Coast."

Walruff said he has heard stories of drugs moved across the country in horse trailers and on tractor trailers hauling used cars.

In February, MADGE arrested two California residents and seized two large bags packed with 47 pounds of heroin on a commercial bus in Medford. The heroin was valued at $1 million.

It was the largest heroin bust in the area's history, Walruff said.

A month earlier, $1 million worth of meth was found on a bus in Weed, Calif. The meth was wrapped in 12 packages and stored on bags inside a bus terminal.

In March, MADGE seized 5 pounds of meth and more than 2 pounds of heroin from a California man traveling north on a bus.

The suspect was traveling with a small suitcase that contained meth and heroin. A drug-sniffing dog was used in the investigation, police said. They said the drugs were destined for an unknown location north of Jackson County.
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Men crash car, arrested after foot chase in southeast Salem

Police say two men in a possibly stolen BMW eluded officers, crashed the car, then sent police on a foot chase Saturday evening.

Salem police attempted to pull over the vehicle about 5:30 p.m. near 14th Street SE and Hines Street SE. The vehicle then took off at a highrate of speed, circled the block and crashed into a guard rail and fire hydrant, eventually stopping at 14th Street SE and Oxford Street SE, police said.

Police set up a perimeter in the area when the two occupants of the car then ran from the car. A police dog tracked the two men, who were reportedly hiding in some bushes.

After they did not respond to police orders to come out, the police dog apprehended the suspects.

The men, Jaime Carrasco, 35, of Salem and Jose Morales, 25, of Salem were arrested. They were both taken to Salem Hospital for injuries sustained from the accident and police dog, police said.

Carrasco was cited for two charges of eluding police, failing to perform the duties of a driver, failing to carry a driver’s license and reckless driving.

Morales was arrested for possession of methamphetamine, a parole violation and two bench warrants.

Police say they believe the vehicle was stolen but are still investigating the incident to confirm.
 

NOTE:  There is currently an ICE hold on Jose Morales Read more about Men crash car, arrested after foot chase in southeast Salem

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