Big cache seized in Menasha drug bust has ripple effect
By John Lee
November 19, 2009

Comments(3)

Last week's bust of a drug ring will put a dent in Fox Valley marijuana supplies — at least temporarily.



Also, the arrests of four people and confiscation of marijuana valued at up to $700,000 will be followed by more arrests and the seizures of a large amount of cash and two vehicles, said Brad Dunlap, director of the Lake Winnebago Area Metropolitan Enforcement Group (MEG) a multijurisidictional drug unit.

Four people were arrested last Thursday, including one man on federal charges, after a three-month investigation by federal Drug Enforcement Administration, Brown County Drug Task Force, Lake Winnebago Area Metropolitan Enforcement Group and the state Division of Criminal Investigation.

The investigation started with an informant's tip and the purchase of cocaine from a Brillion man at a home in Wrightstown on Aug. 28, and eventually included several drug buys, meetings and surveillance of the drug ring doing business in Appleton, Brillion, Grand Chute, Kaukauna and Menasha.

The informant told police the Brillion man, who has not been charged, would sell "multiple pounds of marijuana" to dealers on consignment.

Meanwhile, Norman A. Gallardo-Santos, 25, was charged Tuesday in federal court with conspiring to deliver and possession with the intent to deliver cocaine and marijuana.


U.S. Magistrate James Sickel ordered him held pending a detention hearing Friday. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 2.

Three others taken into custody when police executed search warrants on an apartment at 1095 Stillmeadow Lane in Menasha were jailed in Chilton pending the filing of state charges. Officials said Maria Gaudalupe Zepeda was released on bond pending filing of charges, while Baldamar Valdovinos-Zepeda and Pablo Comtrara-Mata remained in jail Wednesday.

Calumet County Dist. Atty. Ken Kratz's office said the two are being held pending additional investigation and the filing of charges.

Dunlap said Valdovinos-Zepeda also is detained on an order from the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service.

Dunlap said the case "puts a dent" in the local supply of marijuana.

"The marijuana confiscated is worth just about $700,000 on the street if you sold it at personal use quantities, the ounce level," he said. "At the pound, level it's worth about $350,000."

Besides the drugs, police also will ask the courts to order seizure of assets, including a truck, a car, $67,990 in cash found in the apartment and electronic equipment.

Laws covering forfeiture actions filed in state or federal trial courts allow agencies to either use confiscated items or sell them at auction. A federal seizure brings 80 percent of the money to the agency that made the arrests, while state seizure action gives the agency 70 percent of the proceeds, he said.

"The real winner there is the taxpayer because it will go in the coffers to fight crime," he said.

He said the investigation continues with a subpoena for bank records after police got records from an Appleton bank that show tens of thousands of dollars deposited and were withdrawn within 24 hours from a bank branch in the state of Washington.

"I would anticipate additional arrests or at the very least additional charges in this case," Dunlap said.




http://www.postcrescent.com/article/200 ... 1003/APC01