An accused drug dealer who eluded the long arm of the law for almost six years faces a stiff prison sentence after pleading guilty last week in Blaine County 5th District Court to trafficking in cocaine.
Thirty-two-year-old Arbi Ochoa-Ramos, a former Ketchum resident who escaped from a major Blaine County drug bust in 2001, admitted to the crime as part of a plea agreement with the Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, which will recommend a 16-year prison sentence, eight of them to be served before Ochoa-Ramos is eligible for parole.
Ochoa-Ramos was indicted by a Blaine County grand jury in February 2001 on 12 felony drug charges. He was one of numerous suspects in a 2001 drug investigation by the county's Narcotics Enforcement Team. Fourteen other people were arrested in drug raids, but Ochoa-Ramos managed to get away, said Blaine County Sheriff's Detective Steve Harkins.
"We arrested a lot of people, and he was the only one we missed," Harkins said Monday.
Ochoa-Ramos was located last August in northern California after he was arrested on a domestic disturbance charge and incarcerated in the state's Glenn County Jail, said Harkins, who received an anonymous tip about the fugitive's whereabouts following the arrest.
Harkins said Ochoa-Ramos was using a different name in California, but he was identified through a photograph that was sent by the Glenn County Sheriff's Office.
"It was just a matter of time before we got him," Harkins said.
Ochoa-Ramos was transported to the Blaine County Jail last November. He has been held there since on $500,000 bond.
The defendant entered his guilty plea on Jan. 30 before presiding Judge Barry Wood.
Ochoa-Ramos wore orange jail-issue garb and was bound from hands to feet in cuffs and chains. He was represented by public defender Cheri Hicks. A Spanish-speaking court interpreter translated for Ochoa-Ramos in his communications with Hicks and the court.
Wood was meticulous throughout the hearing in making sure that the defendant understood his rights, the consequences of his guilty plea and the court proceedings in general.
"Why do you say you're guilty of trafficking in cocaine?" Wood asked the defendant. "What did you do?"
Speaking through the court interpreter, Ochoa-Ramos admitted he had sold cocaine.
Wood explained to the defendant that the court is not bound by the prosecutor's recommendation and he could impose the maximum penalty of life in prison. He further told Ochoa-Ramos that under the terms of the plea agreement that the defense can argue for a lesser sentence than the 16 years recommended by the prosecution.
"As for the sentencing, the defendant is free to argue for whatever," Wood said.
The prosecutor's office will also recommend that Ochoa-Ramos pay a $45,000 fine, of which $20,000 will be suspended. Sentencing was scheduled for April 10 at 1:30 p.m.
Ochoa-Ramos was originally charged with 12 crimes, including three counts of drug trafficking in methamphetamine, one count of trafficking in cocaine and one count of trafficking in heroin. The other seven charges included four counts of drug stamp tax violations and three counts of manufacture or delivery of illegal drugs in the presence of children.
In exchange for a guilty plea for trafficking in cocaine, the prosecuting attorney's office has agreed to drop the other 11 charges.
Wood, the 5th District Court administrative judge, normally presides in Gooding and Shoshone counties. He is hearing the case in the absence of Judge Robert J. Elgee, who normally presides in Blaine County. Elgee disqualified himself from the case at the request of Prosecuting Attorney Jim Thomas, who filed a disqualification motion on Nov. 22, 2006.
Arbi Ochoa-Ramos
