Indictments in heroin overdose death meant to be a 'message' to dealers, authorities say
By Maxine Bernstein
March 04, 2010, 8:44PM

Federal and state authorities say they want Thursday's federal indictment of two alleged heroin dealers in connection with two fatal overdoses to send a clear message that drug distributors will be held accountable for people's deaths.

"To those who peddle these deadly drugs: Know that law enforcement is coming for you," said U.S. Attorney Dwight C. Holton.


Jose Luis Torres-RojasHolton's statement came moments after Jose Luis Torres-Rojas, 30, who goes by the name "Chad," and Jose Hernandez-Flores, 37, who goes by the name "Pepe," entered not-guilty pleas in U.S. District Court in Portland to two counts of distribution of heroin resulting in death. Both defendants face immigration holds.

Portland police, aided by the Regional Organized Crime Narcotics Task Force, worked for a year, tracing the source of the heroin that killed Patrick McGinnis, 38, on Jan. 4, 2009, and Joshua Reeves, 28, on July 29.

The two defendants now face charges under the federal Len Bias Law, named for the University of Maryland basketball star who died of a cocaine overdose in 1986. The minimum sentence is 20 years in prison; the maximum, life imprisonment. Since 2004, 10 defendants have been prosecuted under the federal law in Oregon.


Jose Hernandez-FloresAssistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen Bickers called Torres-Rojas and Hernandez-Flores a danger to the community. "This case speaks loudly that heroin is a potentially deadly substance distributed here in the community," Bickers said.

She said both defendants headed a fairly significant black tar heroin distribution network, "moving kilograms of heroin and unfortunately into the veins of young individuals in our community."

At least four lower-level dealers, who delivered the heroin for "Chad" and "Pepe," conducted the hand-to-hand sales and picked up money from buyers, also were identified by police and have been, or are being, prosecuted in state court.

"This is all about going up the food chain," Holton said. "The drug trade in Oregon is deadly and violent."

In 2008, the latest full year that statistics are available, Oregon had 229 overdose deaths. Of those, 119 were from heroin. Multnomah County had 106 overdose deaths; 71 from heroin.

Reeves' mother, Toni Rae Macy, who found her son curled up dead in a fetal position in the back of the van he was living in with syringes beside him, attended the arraignment. She asked that both suspects be detained pending trial, "so that other families don't experience what her family has experienced with the loss of Joshua," Bickers said.

McGinnis' dad, John McGinnis, a retired Portland FBI supervising agent, said by phone, "Any time people are taken out of the system, it's a good thing." Yet McGinnis said the war against drugs is misplaced, and that more support and resources should be given to helping addicts.

Authorities raided Hernandez-Flores' home in Vancouver on Wednesday and seized two guns, $25,000 in cash and drug records, Bickers said. In one of the suspect's statements to investigators, he "complained about how America is full of addicts," Bickers told the court.

Mark McDonnell, a Multnomah County senior prosecuting attorney, said Portland police, pushed by Norm Frink, chief deputy district attorney, began investigating drug overdoses as potential homicides in August 2006, when Kraig Crowe, a Lincoln High School graduate, was found dead from a cocaine overdose at a Southwest Portland park.

"We wouldn't have identified these dealers if we hadn't been investigating these deaths as homicides," McDonnell said. "It sends a message you can't do this with impunity."

Anyone with information that would help investigators trace the drug source resulting in overdose deaths can call the Portland police Drugs and Vice Division at 503-823-0246.


http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ss ... rdose.html