Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Four arrested on drug charges

Police hope bust stems rise in valley heroin use


By MATT FURBER
Express Staff Writer

After a month-long investigation, a Wood River Valley narcotics enforcement team apprehended four men on drug possession and trafficking charges, including heroin, cocaine and marijuana.

A warrant served at 3:30 p.m. Monday resulted in the arrest of one man in a house on Buttercup Road near the Wood River Middle School. Simultaneously, three men traveling in a Jeep Cherokee at Spruce and Silver streets in Hailey were arrested on drug-related charges, Blaine County Sheriff Walt Femling said.

One of the passengers of the Jeep, Andrew H. Hill, 24, was rushed to St. Luke?s Wood River Medical Clinic because he had swallowed 14 balloons filled with heroin and one with cocaine. At the hospital Hill regurgitated the balloons and was arrested on four felony drug charges and two misdemeanor charges, Femling said. He said another five balloons with heroin were found in the Jeep.

The driver of the Jeep, Brody A. Kossler, 22, is also charged with heroin and paraphernalia possession. The third occupant of the vehicle was arrested on three misdemeanor charges: possession of marijuana, possession of paraphernalia, and providing false information to a police officer.

Meanwhile at the Buttercup Road house, police arrested Saul Hernandez-Jimenez, 28. He is being charged on three felony counts: delivery of heroin, delivery of cocaine and the drug tax stamp penalty.

Hernandez-Jimenez was also charged with a fourth felony: delivery of heroin within a 1000 feet of a public school. Police did not report that any drugs were found on the premises, but cash was seized. However, Tuesday morning police executed a second warrant on the Buttercup house and found an additional 251 balloons containing quantities of cocaine and heroin hidden in the garage, Femling said.

The exact quantity of drugs involved in the case is yet to be determined, Femling said. Femling alleged that Hernandez-Jimenez and the men in the Jeep were associated with the same drug pipeline. He added that the investigation is ongoing and more arrests may be made. The men were arraigned in magistrate court Tuesday afternoon.

?(The Jeep) left that house,? Femling said. He added that police had warrants to serve on the house and the car last week and that the case came together for the bust on Monday.

Femling said officers from Sun Valley, Ketchum, Hailey, Blaine County, the Idaho State Police and U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service participated in the bust.

?I want to commend investigators on the narcotics team,? Femling said. ?These investigators got on it, identified who was involved, worked and built a case ... We got these dealers off the street.?

Femling said police determined that heroin trafficking and use has been on the rise in the Wood River Valley in the last month, and that finding the source has been a priority for the past month. Femling said police were getting calls from the schools and that there was public dismay that heroin was becoming a growing problem for teenage and young adult drug users.

?We have not been know for (heroin.) (The narcotics team) was given 30 days to get a case,? Femling said.




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