Thread: Feds bust drug ring they say had infiltrated three Indiana prisons

Posted in this forum because this drug "ring" is a drug gang that gets a lot of its "product" from California, the supply chain of the Mexican Cartels.

Feds bust drug ring they say had infiltrated three Indiana prisons


Aug. 22, 2012

Federal authorities Wednesday busted a drug ring they say had infiltrated three Indiana prisons.

Two inmates and one corrections officer were among 40 people arrested on federal drug charges.

The corrections officer, Jon Dobbins, was arrested last month on state charges, including drug trafficking. He appeared in federal court in Indianapolis on Wednesday along with other defendants who had been arrested during a statewide FBI raid earlier in the day.

The 40 defendants face drug-related charges, including distributing heroin, methamphetamine and other drugs. Some of the charges can carry a penalty of life in prison.

Dobbins, who worked at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility, is accused of delivering a package containing drugs and a cellphone to an inmate at the prison in July, according to a federal indictment.

In a prepared statement, Indiana Department of Correction Commissioner Bruce Lemmon said investigators uncovered evidence that led to the state charges against Dobbins.

DOC spokesman Doug Garrison said Wednesday that the DOC helped the FBI with the federal investigation, but he referred questions about that investigation to the FBI.

FBI spokeswoman Wendy Osborne couldn’t be reached for comment after the federal indictment was unsealed late Wednesday afternoon.

The agency issued a news release seeking the public’s help in finding four people wanted on drug charges: Jermaine Coleman, 35; Audra Echman, 23; John Smith, 39; and Kyle Whitlow, 30. No hometowns were provided.

Tim Horty, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Indianapolis, which is prosecuting the case, declined to comment.

Oscar Perez and Justin Addler, two inmates named in the indictment, are accused of using cellphones to arrange drug sales — Perez from the Westville Correctional Facility, and Addler from the Pendleton Correctional Facility.

According to the indictment, Perez and Addler made repeated calls to drug dealers in California to arrange for illegal drug deliveries to a network of distributors in Indiana. Some of the deliveries were made in person, others through the U.S. Postal Service or UPS.

Perez is serving time for murder and gang charges out of Elkhart County, and Addler is in prison for drug and gun charges from Tippecanoe County, according to an online database of inmates.

The indictment alleges that others who are facing charges received the drugs and helped distribute them throughout the state.

At least 17 of the defendants appeared in federal court for initial hearings Wednesday afternoon.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Kennard Foster, who presided over the hearings, set trials for Oct. 1.

Lemmon, in his statement, expressed disappointment about the raid and said Dobbins’ involvement hurts the reputation of the prison system.

“The actions of the small number of any IDOC correctional employees who may have facilitated these illegal activities,” Lemmon said, “brings dishonor to them and tarnishes the good name and professionalism of the vast majority of IDOC employees who are dedicated to making our prisons safe and upholding the rule of law.”
Feds bust drug ring they say had infiltrated three Indiana prisons | Indianapolis Star | indystar.com

FBI: Inmates and guards part of massive drug dealing ring in Indiana prisons

Some alleged members of drug ring from Elkhart County


By Tony Spehar - tspehar@abc57.com

Story Created: Aug 22, 2012 at 3:44 PM EDT

ELKHART, Ind. - An early morning raid by 300 FBI agents across the state of Indiana revealed what is being called a massive drug dealing conspiracy that operated largely within the Indiana State Department of Corrections and included members in the Elkhart area.

On Wednesday morning FBI agents rounded up nearly 40 suspects across Indiana and took them to the Federal Courthouse in Indianapolis. Later in the day an indictment was released detailing a huge, multi-state drug dealing operation that was aided, in part, by guards at Indiana prisons. The FBI investigation began in 2011.

According to the FBI, two inmates used cell phones that had been smuggled into prisons to coordinate delivery of meth from California that would then be distributed within the prisons. One of the ringleaders, Oscar Perez, was convicted of murder and attempted murder in Elkhart County and was serving time in Westville.

"Man. We got a good price on 'ice'...this is not mother (expletive) powder,” Perez is said to have told an undercover agent in June 2011. “This is (expletive) glass."

The drug ring boldly used the United States Postal Service and UPS to ship drugs from California to Indiana, with part of the distribution operating out of Elkhart. Prison guards allegedly assisted in smuggling cell phones and drugs into the prisons to be sold to inmates.

Guillermo Belmares, arrested in July 2012 after police say he shot an investigator from the Elkhart County Prosecutor’s Office, is one of those accused of being a part of the drug ring. Court documents detail numerous trips to Elkhart by members of the ring to pick up large amounts of meth to take to Indianapolis and Southern Indiana.

In addition to meth, PCP and LSD the ring also brought in large amounts of heroin from the Chicago area by simply driving it to Indiana on I-96 and I-94. In July, members of the group became suspicious that law enforcement was following them and actually dumped $6,000 dollars out of a car on I-65, returning later to retrieve it.

The drug ring is said to have made thousands of dollars off of the sale of drugs in prisons and on the street.

"I’m pushing about two (pounds of meth a week)," Oscar Perez is believed to have said in April 2012. “Couldn't produce enough."

Four alleged members of the drug ring are still on the run from the FBI; their names are Audra Echman, Jermaine Coleman, John Smith and Kyle Whitlow.
http://www.abc57.com/news/local/FBI-conducts-statewide-raid-in-Indiana-involving-300-SWAT-agents-167078855.html

Inmate from Elkhart purported ringleader in prison drug case

Suspect already serving 85-year sentence.


Oscar Perez, in an undated booking photo (AP Photo/Elkhart County Sheriff's Department)

By TOM MOOR South Bend Tribune

August 23, 2012

An FBI investigation into a sophisticated Indiana prison drug ring reportedly has strong ties to Elkhart County.

The purported ringleader in the drug ring is an Elkhart man who was sentenced to 85 years in prison in 2006 for murder and attempted murder in Goshen.

Oscar Perez, 26, was one of 40 people indicted Wednesday on accusations he and another inmate used cellphones smuggled in by guards to run the drug ring distributing methamphetamine and heroin.

Hundreds of FBI agents made arrests across the state on Wednesday.

The indictment details a series of alleged phone calls Perez and Justin Addler made to people outside the prisons to arrange the purchase of heroin and instruct people where to sell the drugs, prosecutors allege.

The indictment also accuses Guillermo Belmares, 18, of Elkhart, of driving meth from Elkhart to Indianapolis. Belmares faces a separate charge of attempted murder for allegedly shooting an investigator with the Elkhart County prosecutor's office in July.

Perez, meanwhile, was the triggerman in a Feb. 19, 2006, shooting that killed 14-year-old Rogelio Reyes and injured Saul Rodriguez. Perez, and was found guilty of murder, attempted murder and criminal gang activity.

The shooting occurred along U.S. 33 in Goshen when Perez shot an assault rifle from the car in which he was riding, into another car carrying Rogelio and Rodriguez.

Several other people were also charged in relation to the case.
Perez is at Westville Correctional Facility in northern Indiana, while Addler is housed at Pendleton Correctional Facility on convictions including drug dealing.

Elkhart man purported ringleader in prison drug bust - southbendtribune.com

UPDATE: Local men indicted as part of large Ind. drug ring

WATCH VIDEO AT LINK
Hundreds of FBI agents have scoured the state of Indiana as part of a large-scale drug investigation.

[IMG]http://media.graytvinc.com/images/300*204/drug+bust29.jpg[/IMG]

Guillermo Belmares, 18
On Wednesday, a federal indictment was unsealed that charges 40 people with involvement in a methamphetamine ring that was run out of the Westville Correctional Facility in Northwest Indiana.

Charging documents allege both inmates and corrections officers played a role in the elaborate scheme – and some of them have local connections.

26-year-old Oscar Perez is named as the supposed leader of the ring.

He’s serving time at Westville after being convicted of murder, attempted murder and gang activity in Elkhart County in 2006.
When Perez was only 19 years old, he got into a fight at a Goshen nightclub that led to a car chase and shooting. An 18-year-old, Saul Rodriquez, was injured. His passenger, 14-year-old Rogelio Reyes was shot to death.

Now, six years later, it’s not clear how much growing up Perez has done.

A federal indictment claims he used a cell phone to run the drug scheme from behind bars.

Perez had the help of corrections officers, who allegedly smuggled cell phones and controlled substances into prisons.

He also worked with other inmates and people on the streets to distribute meth throughout Indiana.

Among his accomplices, the indictment names 18-year-old Guillermo Belmares of Elkhart – who’s barely old enough to smoke.

“Our kids are supposed to be learning, going to school and they're going to drugs, selling drugs,” said David Rick, who lives across the street from Belmares’ family in Elkhart. “It sickens me.”
The indictment alleges Belmares helped push large amounts of meth from Elkhart to Indianapolis – charges that were news to his mother.

She didn’t want to speak on camera, but told NewsCenter 16 she believes her son was victimized by people who are older.
But Wednesday’s charges aren’t the first Belmares is facing.

In July, he was booked into the Elkhart County Jail on an attempted murder charge – a story strikingly similar to that of Perez. The FBI hasn’t indicated whether the drug ring has any gang connections.

FBI agents are still looking for four people named in the indictment: Jermaine Coleman, Audra Echman, John Smith and Kyle Whitlow.

UPDATE: Local men indicted as part of large Ind. drug ring

Nortenos and Suranos in Indiana...

Case Summary

Antelmo Juarez appeals his conviction and sentence for murder. We affirm.
Issues

Juarez raises two issues, which we restate as:

I. whether the evidence is sufficient to sustain his conviction for murder; and
II. whether his sentence is inappropriate in light of the nature of the offense and the character of the offender.

Facts

On February 18, 2006, fifteen-year-old Juarez and his nineteen-year-old brother, Oscar Perez, were members of the Nortenos gang. That evening, as they were leaving their residence with some of their friends, Perez told Juarez to go back inside and get the gun, which was a SKS rifle. Juarez put the rifle into the back of a friend‟s Dodge Durango. At some point during the evening, Perez moved the rifle to another vehicle, which was an Acura.

The group later went to La Bamba, a club in Goshen. While they were in the club, the group of Nortenos got into a fight with a group of rival gang members, the Surenos. Security officers threw the Nortenos out of the club, and the Surenos followed them to the parking lot. The Surenos left the parking lot in a Chevrolet Malibu, while the Nortenos followed in the Durango and the Acura. The Durango pulled up beside the Malibu, and some Nortenos gang members shot paintballs at the Malibu. Juarez and Perez were passengers in the Acura, which was following the Malibu and the Durango.

Case file at
http://www.ai.org/judiciary/opinions...2131002mpb.pdf