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  1. #1
    Senior Member Dixie's Avatar
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    CA - Mexican nationals enter pleas in drug case

    Mexican nationals enter pleas in drug case; preliminary hearing set for next week in the case
    Thadeus Greenson/The Times-Standard
    Posted: 01/22/2011 01:10:02 AM PST

    Three undocumented Mexican nationals pleaded not guilty to drug and firearms charges in Humboldt County Superior Court Friday, after several days of delays due to the lack of a certified Spanish-English translator.

    Carlos Eduardo Colon, Samuel Joaquin Gonzalez and Mario Ruiz Arias were arrested Jan. 13 by the Eureka Police Department and face charges of possession of methamphetamine for sale, possession of marijuana for sale and unlawful possession of assault weapons. Through a translator, all pleaded not guilty to the charges Friday.

    The trio first appeared in court for an arraignment Tuesday, but the hearing was continued to Wednesday due to problems with the court's telephonic translation service. Similarly, when a certified translator was not available, Wednesday's hearing was pushed to Friday when an interpreter was available to translate the proceedings into Spanish for the defendants and their responses into English for the court.

    EPD officers served a search warrant on the 1000 block of Cousins Street on Jan. 13 in response to neighborhood complaints and arrested the three men afterward, finding 54 grams of powdered methamphetamine, 35 pounds of processed marijuana and six firearms at the residence, including a pair of assault weapons, police said.

    In the wake of the arrest, both EPD Sgt. Steve Watson and Humboldt County Sheriff's Office Immigration Liaison Stan Wickham said there was evidence indicating the men may be connected to a Mexican drug trafficking organization. Colon's attorney, Russell Clanton, has disputed that notion, saying it represented a “fast and loose approachâ€
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    Administrator Jean's Avatar
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    Mexican nationals held on drug, weapons charges

    Thadeus Greenson/The Times-Standard
    Posted: 02/18/2011 05:10:37 AM PST


    Three undocumented Mexican nationals will be held to stand trial on drug and assault weapons charges, a Humboldt County Superior Court judge ruled Thursday.

    After a two-day preliminary hearing, Judge Dale Reinholtsen found there was enough evidence to proceed with the prosecutions of Carlos Eduardo Colon, Samuel Joaquin Gonzalez and Mario Ruiz Arias on charges of possession of methamphetamine for sale, possession of marijuana for sale and unlawful possession of assault weapons. All have pleaded not guilty to the charges and remain held in the Humboldt County jail without bail. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed immigration holds on each of the men.

    The three were arrested Jan. 13 after Eureka police officers served a search warrant on an apartment in the 1000 block of Cousins Street, reportedly in response to neighborhood complaints. Officers reported finding 54 grams of powdered methamphetamine, 35 pounds of processed marijuana and six firearms, including a pair of assault weapons, at the residence.

    On the heels of the arrest, authorities said there was evidence that the three men have ties to a Mexican drug trafficking organization, but Colon's attorney, Russell Clanton, disputed that. No such evidence was presented during the preliminary hearing.

    On Wednesday and Thursday, Eureka Police Officer Travis Braud, the lead investigator in the case and the only witness called during the hearing, testified that he received information from confidential informants about suspected drug activity going on at the apartment. Braud testified that his search warrant affidavit identified suspects in the investigation, but none were Colon, Gonzalez or Arias.

    Defense attorneys for the three defendants argued that there was insufficient evidence tying their clients to the drugs found at the residence, as Braud testified that fingerprint analyses on the seized firearms had not yet returned, and that officers did not take any other prints from the residence. The attorneys also stated that officers did not show photographs of the three defendants to the confidential informants to see if they could tie the three men to the drug activity they had reportedly witnessed.

    Arias' attorney, Glenn Brown, contended that Colon and Arias had only recently traveled to the area from San Jose and were only in the residence a couple of days, at most.

    Braud said when officers were preparing to serve the warrant, one saw Colon exiting a Nissan pickup truck and getting into a Ford truck near the parking garage for the apartment. Officers detained Colon during the search, Braud said, and he was later found to have $800 in cash and keys to the apartment in his possession. Officers did not obtain search warrants for the two vehicles, Braud said, and left them at the residence.

    In the apartment, Braud said officers found Arias and Gonzalez in the living room area and, in a subsequent search, located the methamphetamine and assault weapons in one bedroom and the marijuana in another.

    The officer testified that three digital scales and the assault weapons -- an AK-47-style weapon and an AR-15-style weapon, both with pistol grips -- were also located in the bedroom with the methamphetamine, which was found in a plastic food storage container. The bedroom also contained paperwork and a prescription pill bottle with the false name that Gonzalez initially gave police, as well as a pair of receipts from a debit card found in Colon's possession, according to Braud.

    In the bedroom where the marijuana was found packaged for sale, Braud testified that officers found a Social Security card and identification for Arias.

    Braud also testified that officers obtained keys to the apartment from the property manager, but the locks at the residence had been changed. He said officers located the old door handle and deadbolt lock in the residence.

    Deputy District Attorney Maggie Fleming told the court she felt there was plenty of evidence to illustrate that the drugs found in the residence were intended for sale, and that the defendants had “constructive possessionâ€
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