Thread: [b]2nd Major I-94 Drug Bust[/b]

2nd Major I-94 Drug Bust
November 28, 2007 - 11:54PM
Del.icio.us | Digg | Print Story | E-Mail Story | Font Size CALHOUN COUNTY(NEWSCHANNEL 3) - In all, it amounts to more than $1.5 million dollars.

For the second time in a week, officers have found large stashes of hidden drugs during traffic stops on I-94.

In the latest stop, police found 500 pounds of marijuana in a van Wednesday morning near Ann Arbor. The driver and a passenger were arrested. Police believe the drugs were coming from New Mexico.

The drugs in that bust have a street value of a half million dollars.

On Thanksgiving, police stopped a flatbed truck in Calhoun County and found about 900 pounds of marijuana in a secret compartment. Officers say that pot is worth well over a million dollars. The driver from New Mexico was arrested. He is also wanted on charges of smuggling illegal aliens.

http://www.wwmt.com/news/dollars_134513 ... olice.html

Drug ring out of business in region
By Jill King Greenwood

TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Pitts, PA -State prosecutors on Monday charged a Monroeville man with trafficking more than $8.7 million in cocaine and marijuana using a cell phone and a network of 20 suppliers that included five Hispanic illegal immigrants.

Acting on a grand jury indictment, Attorney General Tom Corbett said his office broke up the multimillion-dollar drug ring operating from a Sharpsburg house by arresting 13 of the suspects with the help of more than a dozen law enforcement agencies whose officers swept through Allegheny County.

The investigation dubbed "Operation Area Code" began in January and focused on the ringleader, Victor Allen Jr., 41, of Snowball Road in Monroeville. The drugs often were cut and packaged at his daughter's house in Sharpsburg, authorities said.

Allen, who testified before the grand jury, was indicted with 19 others and was among those arrested. Seven suspects remain at large, including a Hispanic man investigators know only by the nickname "Chilly."

"This operation was just like a business," Corbett said. "They had a product, demand, buyers, wholesalers, distributors and sellers. It's economics 101, supply and demand. And that had a big business going."

Corbett estimated the "medium-sized operation" under Allen's direction distributed 102 kilograms of cocaine with a street value of $7.6 million and more than 430 pounds of marijuana worth $1.1 million from September 2005 through September 2007.

Allen's exclusive suppliers brought drugs into Pennsylvania and fueled their own operations at the same time, Corbett said. Allen allegedly bought cocaine for $25,000 to $30,000 per kilogram, he said.

Deputy Attorney General Marnie Sheehan-Balchon said Allen relied on a group of Hispanic men in Columbus, Ohio, to funnel the drugs. She said grand jurors found that one of them, Luis Miguel Guzman-Tirado, frequently traveled between Ohio and Mexico to obtain the drugs.

The Hispanic men were illegal immigrants, Corbett said.

Authorities said Allen conducted most of his business on a cell phone, which was subscribed to a fictitious name and address. They called their investigation "Operation Area Code" because wiretaps of his phone recorded distributors calling to request shipments of "412" to be delivered, Sheehan-Balchon said.

The "412" referred to 4 1/2 ounces of cocaine, which Allen repackaged and sold for between $3,800 and $4,200, investigators said.

"It's particularly strange to hear people on wiretaps always talking in the same code," Sheehan-Balchon said. "We don't usually see that."

The Internal Revenue Service began investigating Allen last year for wire fraud, and that investigation led to the discovery of the drug trafficking ring, Corbett said.

Allen's stepfather, Johnny Mitchell, and stepson, Charles Gaston, were charged with helping to package and distribute the drugs at Allen's daughter's home in Sharpsburg, Corbett said. Authorities say they are investigating his daughter, Latoya Gaston, who has not been charged.

During the investigation, police stopped one of the suspects, Juventino Parra-Ramirez, leaving the Sharpsburg house. Inside the Volvo he was driving, investigators discovered $21,000 stored in a space beneath the rear seat that could be opened only by pushing the right combination of buttons to activate an electronic hydraulic lifting system, Corbett said.

Many of the bags of cocaine authorities seized were stamped with a crown that Sheehan-Balchon said was meant to represent the Rolex watch symbol.

Investigators said they expect to make more arrests.

"We take these people off the street, but until we take away the demand for these drugs, someone else will be waiting in line to take their place," Corbett said.

Jill King Greenwood can be reached at jgreenwood@tribweb.com or 412-321-2160.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... 40980.html