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Meth ring broken up
'Monstrous amount' seized; 12 suspects in country illegally

By Joe Garner, Rocky Mountain News
October 26, 2006
A methamphetamine distribution ring with tentacles across northern Colorado has been smashed and the kingpin arrested, law enforcement authorities announced Wednesday.
A federal grand jury indicted 21 people Oct. 18 on drug-trafficking charges that could result in federal prison sentences for life, officials said at a press conference at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver.

Twelve of the 21 people indicted, including one with at least 10 aliases, were in the country illegally.

Officials said more than 45 pounds of high-purity methamphetamine, 1.1 kilos of cocaine and $59,000 were seized during a 13-month investigation. The wholesale value of the methamphetamine was about $865,000, with a street value in the millions, the officials said.

Another 8 pounds of methamphetamine, $12,000, four weapons, a bulletproof vest and a set of night-vision goggles were found in the sweep of arrests in the Greeley area this week.

"Most meth is seized in ounces. This was a monstrous amount," said Jeffrey D. Sweetin, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in the Rocky Mountain states. "This will have an impact for decades in Greeley."

Weld County Sheriff John Cooke said Greeley has emerged as a major point for methamphetamine sales and distribution because of the population growth on the northern Front Range, which includes a large community of illegal immigrants.

"The supply is coming to the demand," the sheriff said.

Officials said the organization used buses and private vehicles to ferry the illegal drug from southern California to Las Vegas and on to Greeley, bypassing potential markets in cities and resorts along the route. From Greeley, where agents documented links to gangs, most of the methamphetamine was sold in northern Colorado.

However, some of the drug was sent to traffickers in southeastern Wyoming, western Nebraska and as far east as Virginia.

In at least once case, the traffickers stuffed a child's Elmo doll with four pounds of methamphetamine to hide the illicit cargo, Sweetin said.

The alleged leader of the organization, Rigoverto Valle-Sierra, was arrested without incident Tuesday in Greeley, officials said. Weld County Drug Task Force officers and DEA agents arrested nine others earlier this week. Nine more already were in custody on state charges, and two are fugitives.

Trials may not begin for more than a year, but each defendant could face at least 10 years, and up to life, in federal prison, on charges of conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and of distributing the drug, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Each defendant also is charged with other drug-trafficking crimes.

U.S. Attorney Troy Eid said the arrests illustrate the trend that methamphetamines are being manufactured in high-volume plants elsewhere and shipped to Colorado. Previously, methamphetamines were cooked in mom-and-pop laboratories for local sale.

The alleged traffickers were organized in overlapping circles of distributors and sellers at various levels in a high-volume trade, as opposed to a vertical structure in which each soldier had a specific duty.

Major meth bust, by the numbers

21 People indicted on charges of transporting methamphetamine from southern California for sale in northern Colorado, with Greeley as the hub.

45 Amount in pounds of meth seized during a 13-month investigation, including 4 pounds packed in a child's Elmo doll.

$865,000 Estimated wholesale value

99% Purity of meth seized

700 Number of small labs that would have to be raided to equal the quantity seized in this sweep.