Three men from San Jose and another suspect from Gilroy face additional hearings in U. S. District Court in San Jose this week, following their May 20 arrest on narcotics trafficking charges.
U.S. Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Wade R. Shannon on Friday announced the arrests and arraignments of Victor Nevarez, 49, Juan Rivera Arzate, 38, and Pedro Gaona Salse, 28, all of San Jose, and Adhemar Castaneda Becerril, 26, of Gilroy.
The charges, in sum, include conspiracy to distribute and to possess narcotics with intent to distribute, as well as a complaint against Mr. Becerril for possession with the intent to manufacture, distribute or dispense. The prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation, Hines said in a statement.
According to an indictment unsealed last Thursday, Nevarez and Arzate were charged with engaging in a conspiracy to traffic methamphetamine from December 2020, to March 2022. According to prosecutors, agents seized more than 10 kilograms of methamphetamine, thousands of dollars in cash and a pistol.
Gaona Salse was arrested and arraigned on a charge of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. According to federal complaint, DEA agents executed a search warrant at Gaona’s residence in the early morning of May 19. Next to a toilet in the bathroom nearest Gaona’s bedroom, the agents found approximately 80 grams of a gray substance believed to be fentanyl. Agents also found a pistol at Gaona’s residence.
Becerril was arrested and arraigned on a separate complaint charging him with possession with the intent to manufacture, distribute, or dispense methamphetamine. According to the complaint, in the early morning of May 19, DEA agents also executed a search warrant at Castaneda’s residence. Castaneda was home at the time. During the search, agents found in the laundry room a saucer pan with a dark liquid substance inside. The dark liquid tested presumptively positive as methamphetamine. The substance weighed approximately 2.6 kilograms (more than 5.8 pounds). According to the complaint, other items were located near the liquid methamphetamine that, in combination, are consistent with clandestine methamphetamine conversion labs.
The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force identifies, disrupts, and dismantles high-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States, by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
These offenses need to be upgraded to Capital Crimes – with quick execution.
“Drug Overdoses Killed More Than 107,000 U.S. Residents In 2021, Marking A New, Tragic, Record”
(YahooNews May 2022)
More adults between 18 and 45 died of Fentanyl overdoses in 2020 than ANY OTHER Leading cause of death, including Covid-19, motor vehicle accidents, cancer and suicide.
“Fentanyl overdoses have surged to the Leading Cause of Death for
adults between the ages of 18 – 45, according to an analysis of U.S. government data.”
Hold Open-Borders Biden responsible with impeachment:
Mexico and China are the primary sources for the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., according to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
Between 2020 and 2021,
nearly 79,000 people 18 – 45 years old,
37,208 in 2020 and 41,587 in 2021, died of Fentanyl overdoses.
Comparatively,
between Jan. 1, 2020, and Dec. 15, 2021, there were 53,000 COVID-19 deaths
among those 18 – 49 yrs old, according to CDC data.
Thank-you’s to SAC Wade Shannon and the DEA agents involved in arresting these men! Hopefully there will be some follow-up press release on the disposition of this case —what sort of justice the system actually will deliver to these men—and that Mr. Shannon will again want to personally deliver it.