14 arrested for drug trafficking
By PETER BOLTZ
and GREG MOORE
Express Staff Writers
A major narcotics bust conducted by local and federal law
enforcement agencies last week is expected to significantly reduce the
availability of illegal drugs in Blaine County.
A year’s worth of investigative work came to a head at 6
a.m. Wednesday when 60 officers executed four search warrants at four
different locations in Ketchum, Hailey and Blaine County, making 11
arrests and in addition rounding up 26 apparently illegal aliens. Three
more arrests were made Thursday outside the county.
Blaine County Sheriff Walt Femling said no one was injured
in Wednesday’s raids and no one resisted arrest. One firearm was found
and confiscated.
The bust netted over a pound of cocaine and of
methamphetamine, two and a half pounds of marijuana and more than $10,000
in cash. Femling estimated the street value of the drugs to be more than
$50,000.
The suspects were taken to Blaine County jail, where they
were detained on bonds ranging from $10,000 to $200,000.
Asked if this was the biggest drug bust in the valley’s
history, Femling said he wasn’t sure yet. It was, however, the largest
number of traffickers ever arrested at once.
"They were major players in the drugs being sold
here," Femling said.
Most of those arrested were charged with trafficking, but
one was charged with possession and two others with frequenting the drug
houses. He said there was no evidence of manufacture of drugs, including
methamphetamine.
The 26 aliens detained were taken immediately to Twin
Falls for processing by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.
INS holds were also put on nine of the eleven people arrested Wednesday,
meaning they will not be released from jail until their immigration status
is reviewed.
Agencies involved in the operation included the Blaine
County Sheriff’s Department, the Sun Valley, Ketchum and Hailey Police
Departments, the Bellevue Marshal’s Department, the Idaho State Police,
the FBI, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Border
Patrol.
"This investigation was focusing on meth,"
Femling said. "Our effort over the past couple of years has been the
meth craze. Rural areas all over the U.S. have been inundated. We are
seeing more and more meth coming into Blaine County."
Femling said much of the evidence for the arrests came
from undercover drug buys totaling tens of thousands of dollars. He said
he hoped to recoup some of that from the $10,000 cash that was seized.
"Whether we get to keep it is up to a judge," he
said. "You can’t always get your money back."
Arrested Wednesday were Daniel Mendoza, 20, Hailey;
Alfredo Tamayo, 27, Ketchum; Christopher Golliher, 28, Hailey; Vincente
Munoz, 47, Hailey; Topete Beliz, 27, Ketchum; Alan Contreras, 24, address
unknown; J. Romero-Garcia, 24, Hailey; Eduardo Guzman, 37, address
unknown; Marco Rios Lopez, 30, Ketchum; Ricardo Cabrera, 24, address
unknown; and Susan Nance, 42, Ketchum.
Three more arrests were made Thursday in connection with
illegal drug sales in Blaine County. The DEA arrested Adrian Rodriguez,
25, in Caldwell and the FBI arrested Louis Eugene Cunningham, 58, in
Laguna Beach, Calif., both on felony charges of selling marijuana. Gerald
Lopez, already in custody in the Owyhee County jail on an unrelated
charge, was charged with felony sale of methamphetamine.
Femling said an additional suspect, Arbi Ochoa, 26, fled
on foot from a Bavarian Village apartment when it was raided and is still
at large.
Femling acknowledged that officers probably have not
apprehended everyone involved in the distribution network. In addition, he
said, "there are certainly other people ready to step into their
place, but they’d better be looking over their shoulders because we’ll
be there, too."
