15 arrested in drug trafficking investigation

Fifteen people in the mid-Willamette Valley were arrested Tuesday in connection with a major drug trafficking investigation led by the state Department of Justice. Eleven of the 15 are being held in the Benton County Jail on charges that include racketeering, money laundering and other related drug charges.

Authorities said that the organization distributed as much as four pounds of meth and two pounds of heroin throughout the mid-valley on any given week.

“This is an organization that lived and survived and profited from these dangerous drugs,” Corvallis police Capt. Jon Sassaman said Tuesday. “These are drugs that frankly, they ruin peoples lives. It ruins individual’s lives, it ruins families and ruins futures.”

About 180 law enforcement personnel from the Willamette Valley and other parts of Oregon assisted with serving the warrants in what the Oregon Department of Justice referred to as “Operation Icebreaker 2.” Ice is one of the street words for meth.

Although he would not provide more details regarding the scope and operation, Sassaman confirmed that one of the locations raided Tuesday was La Azteca Video Y Musica, 1411 N.W. Ninth St. The location, previously holding a store called La Poderosa, also was at the epicenter of a similar drug trafficking operation in 2007, dubbed “Icebreaker.” It resulted in the arrest of 17 people for racketeering and money laundering in what police said was the largest drug raid in this area.

One of the owners of Azteca, Rafael Ayala Lucio, 35, was among those arrested Tuesday. He was jailed on $10 million bail. Lucio also originally owned La Poderosa, which opened it in 2003. He sold the store to Ricardo Linares in 2005, then bought the store back in 2007. Linares was among those arrested in the 2007 “Icebreaker” sweep.

None of those arrested in 2007 was arrested in Tuesday’s arrest sweep, which involved serving 15 search warrants Tuesday morning in Benton, Linn and Marion counties. Preliminary information shows that law enforcement seized 3.7 pounds of methamphetamine, 7 pounds of heroin, 2½ pounds of cocaine, firearms and about $95,000 in cash.

The search warrants are the culmination of a nine-month investigation into a highly organized, structured and sophisticated illegal drug trafficking and racketeering distribution enterprise, according to the Oregon Department of Justice.

The defendants, the agency alleges, operated out of their residences and, through a network of associates, distributed methamphetamine and heroin throughout the mid-valley.

Sassaman said he would not comment on the investigation, which he said came to police attention because people talk: “When you have a very organized organization that’s bringing in a significant amount of narcotics to the area, sooner or later someone’s going to talk about it,” he said.

He said that the organization of the tri-county operation is similar to a pyramid and those in the jail with the highest bails held the top positions within the organizations. The drugs — which included methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin — came from outside the area, Sassaman said.

“When a case like this occurs, and you look and we have 19 different law enforcement agencies involved, serving simultaneous search warrants, that speaks volumes,” Sassaman said.

Those arrested were:

Rogelio Gonzalez-Martinez, 37, who lives in Linn County
Charged with racketeering
$10 million bail (Unknown location).

Abel Gonzalez-Martinez, 31, of Corvallis
Charged with two counts of racketeering, conspiracy to delivery meth, cocaine and heroin, three counts of delivery of meth, conspiracy to deliver cocaine and conspiracy to deliver heroin
$10 million bail (Benton County Jail).

Juventino Santibanez-Castro, 24, of Corvallis
Charged with two counts of racketeering, nine counts of delivery of meth, conspiracy to deliver meth, heroin and cocaine, and four counts of delivery of heroin
$10 million bail (Benton County Jail).

Juana Bautista-Zuniga, 34, of Corvallis
Charged with two counts of racketeering, 10 counts of delivery of meth, conspiracy to deliver meth, heroin and cocaine, and four counts of delivery of heroin
$1 million bail (Benton County Jail).

Joachim Felgentraeger, 63, of Albany
Charged with racketeering, delivery of meth
$1 million bail (Benton County Jail).

Jessica Marie Mendez, 32, of Albany
Charged with racketeering
$1 million bail (Benton County Jail).

Adrian Corona-Cornejo, 25, of Corvallis
Charged with racketeering
$1 million bail (Benton County Jail).

James Kenji Knox, 52, address unknown
Charged with racketeering
$1 million bail (Benton County Jail).

Ricardo Viramontes, 36, of Albany
Charged with racketeering
$1 million bail (Benton County Jail).

Jose Diego Flores-Juarez, 20, of Albany
Charged with racketeering
$1 million bail (Benton County Jail).

Jaime Rincon-Herrera, 27, of Corvallis
Charged with racketeering
$1 million bail (Benton County Jail).

Lorena Gonzalas Pulido, 33, lives in Linn County
Charged with unlawful delivery of cocaine and heroin
$70,000 bail (Linn County Jail, INS Hold)

Rafael Lucio Ayala, 35, lives in Linn County
Charged with money laundering and racketeering
$70,000 bail (Benton County Jail, ICE Hold).

Gilberto Garcia Camacho, 25, lives in Linn County
Charged with racketeering
Bail unknown (Unknown location).

Camilo Garcia Sanchez, 25, lives in Marion County
Charged with unlawful delivery of heroin and cocaine
Bail unknown (Marion County Correctional Facility, INS Hold).