Ten charged in Bend meth trafficking case
An investigation into a major methamphetamine trafficker led to the arrests of seven Bend residents and citations for three others last week, as well as a raid on a storage unit that turned up 3 pounds of the drug, Central Oregon drug agents said Tuesday.
Detectives assigned to the Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team had conducted a short-term investigation into trafficking of commercial quantities of meth throughout Deschutes County, said Bend police Lt. Ken Mannix.
The investigation revealed that Salvador Gonzalez-Gonzalez was making “routine trips” to California to acquire large amounts of meth to sell in the county, Mannix said in a news release.
“Gonzalez-Gonzalez had a large customer base,” he said, and was working with others to deliver the drug, including a partner, Adrian Parra Lopez,24, with whom he was storing commercial amounts of meth in a Bend storage facility.
Last Wednesday, acting on information uncovered in the case, surveillance teams staked out a room at the Rodeway Inn & Suites on Southeast Third Street, the lieutenant said.
Around 11:20 a.m., detectives contacted Nicholas Butler, 33, and Ashley Monnier, 27, near the intersection of Third Street and Wilson Avenue, and arrested Monnier on drug charges while citing and releasing Butler on a meth possession charge. Around the same time, Marshall Rogers, 24, was contacted by CODE detectives near the corner of Third Street and Roosevelt Avenue, and he too was arrested on meth possession charges.
All three had just left a motel room where Gonzalez-Gonzalez was staying and under surveillance, Mannix said.
Around 11:45 a.m., surveillance teams, assisted by Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies and Bend police, stopped a gray GMC Envoy SUV near the intersection of Third Street and Wilson Avenue, after it left the motel.
Gonzalez-Gonzalez, Tonya Woods, 42; Kristina Stewart, 27; Kaitlyn Weibel, 23, and Christopher Porter, 34, were in the SUV at the time, with Woods driving, Mannix said.
During the traffic stop, a drug-sniffing dog alerted to the presence of drugs in the vehicle. A search turned up about a half-ounce of meth, cash, drug records, packaging material and a loaded handgun. Four of the occupants were arrested and taken to the county jail, while Porter was issued a citation to appear in court.
Around 6 p.m. that day, detectives executed a search warrant on an unidentified storage facility. They found and seized about 3 pounds of meth, packaged for sale, as well as other evidence of drug sales and manufacturing.
During the raid, detectives contacted Parra Lopez and Katerina Escalante, 20, who had arrived at the storage facility. Parra Lopez was arrested while Escalante was issued a citation.
Six of those arrested remained at the jail Tuesday, with Stewart held without bail on a parole violation. Bail for the others ranged from 20,000 to $25,000, according to jail records.
