BREAKING NEWS: Deputies arrest local man after $900,000 coke seizure

Story posted Sep 21, 2007 - 12:16:15 EDT

By Stephen Guilfoyle editor@onlinechester.com

A Great Falls man arrested Friday morning was part of a network bringing powdered cocaine into the United States from Mexico, deputies say.

Reports say he was to receive almost 20 pounds of coke valued at $900,000

James Anthony Beckam, 28, of 48 Circle St., Great Falls, was picked up on a warrant and charged with trafficking cocaine in excess of 400 grams.

The official charge is listed in grams, but investigators he was arrested because he was to receive almost 9 kilograms of power cocaine, which is 19.8 pounds of coke, which was seized earlier this month in another state.

The Sheriff's Office cooperated with the FBI and the Arkansas State Police on the investigation. Two people with Charlotte addresses were arrested after a vehicle stop in Arkansas Sept. 9. The cocaine was seized in that traffic stop.

Isidro Marin Hernandez, 38, and Sandra Margarita Rodriguez Ruano, 26, both of 36th St., Charlotte, remain in custody in Arkansas, on that state's equivalent charge, according to Deputy Scott Thompson of the Drug Enforcement Unit, a team made up of deputies and Chester City Police officers.

According to an Arkansas newspaper, the cocaine was valued at almost $1 million.

According to the Times Herald, "troopers with Arkansas State Police Troop D took more than $900,000 in narcotics off of the streets after a pair of routine traffic stops on Interstate 40. ... (On Sept. 9) troopers found several kilos of cocaine during a traffic stop near the 247 mile marker on I-40. According to the report, a trooper saw a car, which was traveling eastbound on I-40, with its reverse lights on, and stopped the vehicle. During a search of the vehicle, the trooper found a hidden compartment in the passenger side airbag that contained 9 kilos of cocaine."

The paper's online story says Hernandez and Ruano are each "charged with felony possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. Hernandez was also charged with defective tail lights."

In its story, the other, unrelated seizure was $1,500 worth of marijuana.

Further arrests are possible, Thompson said, and the case remains under investigation.

According to Sheriff Robby Benson, it's another example of the DEU cooperating with other agencies to stop the flow of drugs.

Thompson said the network was not just bringing drugs into the county, but into the state from another country.

Beckam was arrested at 7 a.m. at his residence. Three cars were searched and then seized during the arrest, Thompson said.

Beckam may get a bond hearing sometime tonight, he said.

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