Eight Grays Harbor residents have been charged by complaint with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and are alleged to have been involved in a drug ring that distributed of heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine.
More than 14 pounds of methamphetamine, roughly a half pound of heroin and around a half pound of cocaine have been seized in the case, according to Drug Enforcement Agency Spokeswoman Jodie Underwood.
Reynalda Felix-Quiroz, Joana Salas-Cervantes, Alfredo Torres-Lombera, Hugo Garcia-Guzman, Luis Martinez-Padilla, Roque Meraz-Alvarez, Esther Martinez and Javier Bojorquez all appeared in U.S. District Court this week on the charges.
The complaint states the group was involved in a drug ring in the county that used Anna's Tienda, as well as other local restaurants, as headquarters for the operation, with Felix-Quiroz using Anna's Tienda to transfer drug money to Mexico and other Latin-American Countries.
Between Jan. 28, 2014, and April 1, 2015, the complaint says more than $670,478 was transferred from Anna's Tienda using a wire transferring service.
The group appeared in court Thursday after seven federal search warrants and two state search warrants were executed in the Grays Harbor area early Wednesday morning as part of an investigation led by the Drug Enforcement Agency, Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard CGIS and the Grays Harbor Drug Task Force, according to Underwood.
During the execution of the search warrants on Wednesday, approximately $20,000 in cash, two pounds of methamphetamine, an ounce of heroin and five ounces of cocaine were found.
Felix-Quiroz, 27, of Montesano, and her boyfriend, 26-year-old Aberdeen resident Torres-Lombera, employed numerous brokers, drug runners and subsidiary distributors to help further their distribution of narcotics, according to the criminal complaint. The two regularly made trips to Los Angeles or sent runners there to buy drug shipments and bring them back to Grays Harbor.
Through surveillance and informant buys, the complaint says it was learned that 25-year-old Salas-Cervantes, of Aberdeen, admitted to collecting thousands of dollars each day for Felix-Quiroz and also said he collected $15,000 every few days from a drug trafficker that was supplied by Felix-Quiroz.
Controlled buys were made from Meraz-Alvarez, 28, of Montesano, Hoquiam resident Garcia Guzman, 33, Martinez-Padilla, 26, of Aberdeen, 25-year-old Bojorquez of Aberdeen and Martinez, a 50-year-old from Aberdeen.
In early 2015, the complaint states, investigators learned Torres-Lombera and Felix-Quiroz were no longer a couple and learned the group had split up into separate groups, but investigators continued to follow the loosely connected organization.
Authorities caught runners working for Torres-Lombera in August of 2015 carrying 11 pounds of methamphetamine coming back from Los Angeles after making a drug run.
Underwood said the eight in custody will most likely have detention hearings next week, but was not certain if they had been set.
