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Friday, August 25, 2006
Police hold 4 men on drug charges after seizing 17 pounds of cocaine
Rockingham sheriff acted on tip

By Dan Galindo
JOURNAL REPORTER

Four men, including three from Winston-Salem, were arrested, and more than 17 pounds of cocaine were seized in a drug investigation Tuesday night, the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office announced yesterday.

Sheriff Sam Page said that narcotics detectives acted on a tip that a large amount of cocaine was headed to Rockingham County on Tuesday night He wouldn't describe the tip further.

Page said that deputies stopped a black Jeep Cherokee on Williams Road in Madison and a blue Chevrolet pickup on Poole Road in Mayodan. Drug-sniffing dogs were used to find 8 kilograms, or about 17 1/2 pounds, of cocaine and a .45-caliber pistol in the Cherokee.

The drugs were wrapped in plastic smeared with axle grease to try and throw off a dog off the scent, Page said.

Deputies took a semiautomatic, .380-caliber pistol from the pickup.

Page said that deputies arrested three men from Winston-Salem: Noe Alejandro Vera Ramirez, 32, of 263 East Drive; Paulino Castro Cortez, 27, of 3610 Hege St.; and Arturo Lopez Herrero, 26, of 2690 Meadowood Drive.

Also arrested was Ignacio Olivas Galindo, 36, of Roy, Wash.

Vera and Castro, who were in the Cherokee, each face two counts of trafficking in cocaine.

Lopez and Olivas were in the pickup and charged with conspiring to traffic in cocaine.

Page said that all four men are in the country illegally and that federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have been notified.

It's not clear where the cocaine was headed, Page said.

After the arrests, deputies asked narcotics detectives with the Winston-Salem Police Department to go to Castro's home on Hege Street.

Police Capt. Alonzo Thompson of Winston-Salem said yesterday that the detectives were given permission to search the home.

They found no drugs but did take some documents, he said.

The four men were in the Rockingham County Jail last night, with bond set at $16 million each.

• Dan Galindo can be reached at 727-7377 or at dgalindo@wsjournal.com.