10 Arrested In Sweeping Meth Bust

Last Update: 12/10 5:42 pm

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested 10 people Wednesday on drug charges as part of a sweeping investigation that began more than a year ago.

Federal prosecutors said the charges carry a minimum 10-year prison sentence, and $4 million fine.
Defense attorneys familiar with the case say the eight men and two women are from the Porterville and Terra Bella areas.

The defendants walked shackled at the waist into a hearing at the downtown Bakersfield courtroom of Magistrate Theresa Goldner

Nine of the defendants are each charged with conspiring to sell more than a pound of methamphetamine.
A 10th defendant faced a charge of being found in the U.S. after being removed for being in the country illegally.

Magistrate Goldner read the charges slowly to each of the defendants, sometimes through the help of an interpreter.
Several of the people charged are illegal immigrants and being held because the Goldner said they posed a greater risk of fleeing.

"It was a nationwide investigation," said defense attorney David Torres who represented several of the defendants. "It's my understanding there have been individuals arrested in various other cities. It has been going on for about a year and a half now."

Torres says the federal investigation involves wiretaps and drug buys. But he says he is still in the process of receiving and reviewing hundreds of pages of reports.

An ICE Spokeswoman said her agency would provide more information in a news release Thursday http://www.kget.com/news/local/story/10-Arrested-In-Sweeping-Meth-Bust/f8Q5Kiwyi0608cWH2mV1LQ.cspx