Feds bust Bend-to-Calif. gangs gun-trafficking ring

Three Bend-area residents have pleaded guilty to charges related to a firearms trafficking ring taken down by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Seattle Field Division. The investigation found guns were being bought in Central Oregon and sold to gangs in California, in exchange for money and drugs.

ATF announced Thursday it investigated a firearms and narcotics trafficking ring that started in 2014 and ran through August 2016 in the Bend area.. The agency was working with the Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team (CODE) and the Amtrak Police Department, with the assistance of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Police Department, the Lodi (CA) Police Department, Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office and the Sacramento (CA) Sheriff’s Department,

Authorities said Jacob Quesada, 24, employed straw purchasers Cynthia Job, 22, and Dennis Job, 64, all residents in Deschutes River Woods, to purchase a variety of guns, but mainly handguns, from retail stores and private parties around the Central Oregon area.

Soon after the firearms were purchased, Quesada would travel to Lodi and Stockton, Calif. areas by passenger trains and sell them to alleged gang members in the Central California area.

Investigators said they believe Quesada would receive cash for the firearms or would trade them for commercial amounts of methamphetamine, which was later distributed throughout the Central Oregon region.

There were more than 50 firearms purchased by the ring members from 2014 to 2016. Of those, 10 were later recovered by law enforcement in violent crimes in California.

Following the arrest of Quesada in Deschutes County in late August, investigators from ATF and CODE executed two search warrants at Quesada and Cynthia Job’s residence, located in DRW, south of Bend, and within 1,000 feet of an elementary school. A second search warrant was simultaneously executed at Dennis Job’s Deschutes River Woods home.

During the execution of the search warrants, detectives located and seized a commercial quantity of methamphetamine, as well as other evidence of the illegal possession, distribution and manufacturing of methamphetamine and the illegal distribution of firearms.

During their arrest, ATF special agents and CODE detectives attempted to pull over Quesada and Cynthia Job during a traffic stop. Quesada refused to pull over and led law enforcement on a short vehicle pursuit, with their two children in the vehicle.

Ultimately, Quesada stopped his vehicle and both he and Cynthia Job were taken into custody. The endangered children were later released to Oregon DHS Child Welfare.

“Straw purchasers will continue to be investigated and prosecuted for violating the law,” said ATF Seattle Special Agent in Charge Doug Dawson. “Straw purchasers and firearms traffickers are responsible for the crimes committed with those guns. As a society, we have to make straw purchasing as socially reprehensible as the crimes committed with those guns.”

“The Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team is committed to investigating and dismantling these types of organizations,” said CODE team Lieutenant Ken Mannix. “We will continue to work with our local, state and federal partners to ensure that those responsible for the trafficking of narcotics and firearms are held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

Earlier this month, all three entered guilty pleas in Deschutes County Circuit Court.

Jacob Quesada pleaded guilty to unlawfully furnishing a firearm in furtherance of a felony when he reasonably should have known a felony would be committed and the unlawful delivery of methamphetamine, and recklessly endanger another when attempting to flee from police during a traffic stop.

Cynthia Job, longtime girlfriend and mother of Quesada’s children, pleaded guilty to unlawfully furnishing a firearm, for unlawfully and knowingly transporting a firearm in furtherance of a felony, when she should have reasonably known a felony would be committed with a firearm. She also pleaded guilty to delivering methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of school.

Cynthia’s grandfather, Dennis Job, pleaded guilty to unlawfully furnishing a firearm, for selling firearms in furtherance of a felony when he reasonably should have known a felony would be committed with the guns. He also pleaded guilty to providing false information on an ATF 4473 form during the purchase of a firearm.

Deschutes County Deputy DA Andrew Moore said Quesada received three years probation on the charges he pleaded guilty to and a six-month jail term. He remained held in jail Thursday on $350,000 bail.

Cynthia Job’s sentence included 30 days in jail and three years of probation. Dennis Job is scheduled for sentencing Feb. 15. Both were released from jail after their guilty pleas earlier this month.

ATF spokeswoman Ginger Colbrun said Friday that contrary to what many people believe, there are no federal laws that directly address gun trafficking. Instead, prosecutors rely on federal statutes about falsifying information when buying a firearm and sometimes a statute about dealing in firearms without a license.

She also noted that “straw purchasers” often are chosen because they have no prior criminal records, which is why cases can result in probation and not prison time.

In this case, Colbrun said, Oregon has similar statutes, so discussions between federal and local officials led to the decision to pursue local charges.

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