C.O. Drug Team busts cocaine trafficking ring; 3 arrests

A lengthy investigation of a cocaine trafficking ring that stretched from Southern California to Central Oregon has ended in raids on three homes and a downtown Bend office and the arrests of two Bend men and one from Long Beach, Calif., drug agents said Thursday.

Last Thursday, Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team detectives and Long Beach police arrested Devin Pohl, 40, and Clinton Cooper, 45, both of Bend, and Michel Henriquez-Veloz, 55, of Long Beach, at separate locations in Bend and the Southern California City, said Bend Police Lt. Ken Mannix.

The long-term investigation found that Pohl and Cooper were working as partners to buy large amounts of cocaine from Henriquez-Veloz on a regular basis, who would regularly ship commercial quantities of the drug to Deschutes County by commercial shipping carriers, Mannix said.

Around 11:15 a.m. last Thursday, detectives contacted and arrested Pohl without incident in a parking lot at 70 Southwest Century Drive after he picked up a shipment of cocaine, the lieutenant said. He was found to have about 6 ounces of cocaine and cash.

A short time later, CODE Team detectives and Long Beach Police Investigators executed three search warrants on two homes in Bend and one Long Beach, including the home of Pohl and Cooper.

Mannix said they seized evidence of cocaine sales and manufacturing. The Long Beach raid turned up a half-pound of cocaine, $17,000 in cash and a gun.

As the investigation continued, detectives learned Pohl had leased commercial office space in downtown Bend, Mannix said. A search the same day of that location led to seizure of more evidence, including about 2.2 ounces of cocaine, scales, packaging material, LSD, MDMA tablets and cash.

Pohl and Cooper were booked into the Deschutes County Jail, where Pohl remained held Thursday night on $100,000 bail for a variety of drug charges, including distribution and manufacturing cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school, as well as money laundering, engaging in unlawful financial activity and two counts of endangering the welfare of a minor.

Cooper was booked on drug and money laundering charges and released later that day after posting 10 percent of his $55,000 bail, a jail officer said.

Henriquez-Veloz was booked into the Los Angeles County Jail on cocaine possession and manufacturing charges, as well as a felony weapons charge, Mannix said.