“Socalj” for Borderland Beat
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16 suspects have been indicted on 116 felony charges, most of which are drug-related, following a 9-month-long investigation by the West Metro Drug Task Force. In its infancy, this investigation began as a drug distribution case involving methamphetamine and counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl.
“Once we started to get a better idea of the size and quantities we were seizing and our ability to ‘buy’ (drugs) to make an arrest, that was a good indicator that this was a very important case.” Marc Snowden of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said at a news conference.
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Drugs Seized
- 400 pounds of methamphetamine
- 325,000 pills containing fentanyl
- 3 kilograms of cocaine
- 1 pound of heroin
- 1.5 pounds of fentanyl powder (350,000 lethal fentanyl doses)
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10 Arrests
- Thiago Escalante-Torres (11/03/00)
- Angelo Gonzalez-Hernandez (04/24/02)
- Johnathan Kincaid (08/12/81)
- Stephanie Larson (09/03/97)
- Francisco Romero Portella (07/02/88)
- Jonathan Ortega-Carias (06/23/98)
- Pablo Ramirez-Martinez aka Alexander Ramirez-Martinez (03/15/97)
- Felicia Redearth (05/13/81)
- Daniel Emilio Torres-Torres (10/11/99)
- Kristy Wilson (08/30/83)
Officials are not naming the six individuals who have yet to be arrested.
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Charges
The case was presented to a grand jury by the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office, and the grand jury returned indictments against all 16 individuals.
- Unlawful distribution or sale of a controlled substance
- Unlawful possession with intent to sell or distribute a controlled substance
- Possession of a weapon by a previous offender
- Special offender
- Criminal attempt second-degree kidnapping
- Criminal attempt aggravated motor vehicle theft
- Vehicular eluding
- Leaving the scene of an accident
- First-degree criminal trespass
- Obstructing a peace officer