Blaine County 5th District Court Judge Robert J. Elgee has scheduled jury trials for next summer for four men indicted in February by a Blaine County grand jury on felony drug sales charges.
All four men, residents of Blaine County, pleaded not guilty to the charges against them at arraignment proceedings on Monday. The four were arrested on March 20 following issuance of the grand jury indictment on Feb. 26. According to court records, the indictment remained sealed until the arrests were made. Two of the men remain incarcerated in the Blaine County jail, while the other two are free on bond.
Carlos Moya-Diaz, 29, of Hailey, was the only one of the four arraigned on Monday that did not request the assistance of a Spanish-speaking court interpreter. Moya-Diaz is charged with trafficking in methamphetamine for allegedly selling 63 grams of the drug to a police confidential informant, who is identified in the indictment as CI-13-05, on Jan. 21.
Elgee advised Moya-Diaz that trafficking in methamphetamine is punishable in Idaho by up to life in prison and has a minimum required sentence of three years in prison. Moya-Diaz previously served a six-year prison sentence, with three years determinate and three years indeterminate, for a 2007 Blaine County conviction of delivery of a controlled substance.
A jury trial was scheduled to begin on Aug. 26. Moya-Diaz is currently free on $150,000 bond.
Roberto Martinez-Perez, 34, of Hailey, is charged with aiding and abetting trafficking in methamphetamine for allegedly participating in the drug sale that Moya-Diaz is accused of making to CI-13-05 on Jan. 21. Elgee advised Martinez-Perez that the crime is punishable by up to life in prison.
A jury trial was scheduled to begin on Aug. 20. Martinez-Perez remains incarcerated on $70,000 bond.
Gildardo Orozco, 37, of Hailey, who the indictment states is also known as “Lotero,” was arraigned on two counts of delivery of methamphetamine for allegedly selling an unspecified amount of methamphetamine to CI-13-05 on Dec. 4, 2013, and again on Dec. 5, 2013. Elgee advised the defendant that delivery of methamphetamine is punishable in Idaho by up to life in prison.
A jury trial was scheduled to begin on July 22. Orozco remains incarcerated on $50,000 bond.
Orozco is also charged in a separate case with possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver for allegedly having the drug in his possession when he was arrested on March 20. In that case, a preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 13 before Blaine County Magistrate Court Judge Daniel Dolan.
The final defendant, Ricardo Torres-Gomez, 23, of Bellevue, is charged with two counts of delivery of methamphetamine for allegedly selling an unspecified amount of the drug to CI-13-05 on Nov. 17, 2013, and again on Nov. 24, 2013.
A jury trial is scheduled to begin on July 29. Torres-Gomez is currently free on $75,000 bond.
Because of the new charges, Torres-Gomez is also charged with probation violation for a felony conviction in Blaine County in 2012 for possession of a controlled substance. In that case he was given a five-year suspended prison sentence and sentenced instead to 28 days in jail. He was also placed on probation for three years.
Torres-Gomez denied the probation violation allegation during Monday’s court proceedings. An evidentiary hearing on the allegation was scheduled for Aug. 28.
From top:
Carlos Moya-Diaz, Ricardo Torres-Gomez, Gildardo Orozco and Roberto Martinez-Perez.
