SPEED TRAP NETS BIG FISH

Authorities' New Tactics Pay Off

Area law enforcement officials issued this warning to meth
traffickers: You might not be caught selling, you might not even have
drugs when you're arrested, but you will be charged and you will go to
federal prison.

For proof, look no further than Operation Speed Trap -- northcentral
Montana's largest methamphetamine ring bust.

"We didn't buy any dope in Speed Trap. We didn't have any informants,"
said Sheriff's Sgt. Dan Kohm of the Central Montana Drug Task Force.
"We built a case on people who wanted to be witnesses, instead of
defendants."

Dealers are familiar with the old-school police techniques of
undercover drug buys or wiring informants to record
conversations.

Investigators still use those tools, but Speed Trap proved that even
without such evidence, officers could build large-scale drug
conspiracy cases that net long sentences in federal prison.

Officers say roughly three-fourths of the meth used in this area is
imported from south central Washington, a historical drug hub.

Speed Trap exposed Yakima, Wash., as our region's meth source and at
least temporarily clogged that pipeline.

So far 30 people have been convicted federally for selling meth from
southeastern Washington between 1998 and 2000. Most went to Great
Falls, Havre and the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation.

No defendants have taken their cases to trial, instead choosing to
plead guilty and hope for leniency. All but two were sentenced to
federal prison.

Their charges and sentences reflect that altogether, they sold more
than 450 pounds of meth, even though the largest amount ever seized
was a pound and a half.

A few were traffickers bringing meth, also called speed and crank,
from the Yakima area. Most were the Montanans who worked for them to
distribute the drug.

Many of those people will be in jail for years, keeping them and the
dope they sold off the streets.

While others are stepping in to take their place, for a time drugs
were harder to find in northcentral Montana's smaller
communities.

Massive Investigation

Federal, state, county and city officers worked together and with
Washington state law enforcement for the massive effort.

Information from 225 interviews with Speed Trap dealers and their
associates already has led to other arrests along the Hi-Line, with
more expected.

"The information gleaned in Speed Trap will be used for years to
come," Assistant U.S. Attorney Lori Harper-Suek said.

In 1997, stories began dribbling in about a pair of Washington men
bringing pounds of methamphetamine and selling it for four to 10 times
what they paid.

Business was so good for Alejandro Rodriguez that he invited then
18-year-old Victor Saucedo to join him in selling drugs in the Golden
Triangle, northcentral Montana's fertile wheat-growing region that
stretches from Great Falls to Havre and Shelby.

After a fight over Saucedo's girlfriend, the partnership collapsed
with Rodriguez selling mostly to the Fort Peck Reservation and Saucedo
targeting the area between Havre and Great Falls.

After delivering a pound of meth from Rocky Boy's Reservation to the
Fort Peck Reservation in the spring of 1999, Rodriguez's vehicle
became stuck in a ditch just outside of Fort Peck.

Police stopped to help him and discovered the girl with him was a
juvenile runaway and arrested him. Talking to her, they learned about
the methamphetamine he had sold.

Authorities charged Rodriguez with conspiring to sell meth -- in
federal court where sentences are stiffer.

In building the case, officers learned more about Saucedo and the
people working for him.

While keeping a fairly low profile, Saucedo sold directly to a few
people, who in turn sold to many others, never revealing Saucedo as
their drug source.

Girlfriends and associates did much of the driving in his trips back
to Yakima, Wash., lowering Saucedo's risk of getting caught.

"The MO of Speed Trap was to get large quantities, use some and get
rid of it fast," Harper-Suek said.

Getting Caught

But by the summer of 2000, the people working with Saucedo got
reckless and slipped up.

Officers arrested one man on an outstanding warrant in the airport.
Flying in from Washington, he was two inches taller because of the
$5,000 hidden in his shoes.

In a double-homicide trial in Havre, lawyers said one victim sold meth
provided by Saucedo and one of his dealers.

One of Saucedo's dealers, Daniel Sangrey, left a Pringles can with
nearly a half-pound of meth in a Helena hotel room that July.
Employees refused to give him back the chip can, instead turning it
over to police.

In September, Saucedo was sentenced to 12 days for possessing a
marijuana joint and paraphernalia. He had been stopped for driving
without a license and insurance.

While he served his time in the Cascade County regional jail,
investigators learned one of his dealers had cash and drugs stored in
a Stuckey Road mobile home.

With enough evidence for a search warrant, they moved
in.

Saucedo never left jail. He was charged federally with running a drug
conspiracy and illegally wiring money.

Eleven others were charged in federal court soon after as arrests
began piling up.

Harper-Suek said the majority has been sentenced.

But even within the last month, another Washington man, Antonio
Tiscareno, was charged with conspiring to sell meth as part of Speed
Trap.

Sharing Details

Area investigators shared what they learned about Saucedo and other
traffickers with southcentral Washington law enforcement, hoping they
will be able to catch Saucedo's supplier.

"There's definitely people ahead of him," Harper-Suek said. "He's as
far up the chain as we got."

Others named during the investigation might not have been charged
under Speed Trap, but still ended up in jail.

Several were charged in state and regional courts. The two most
significant spinoffs landed in federal court.

Five people, including ringleader Matthew Douglas Winchell Sr., of
Havre, were sentenced this summer for selling at least two pounds of
meth to the Hi-Line. Winchell, whose drug ring operated from 1997 to
2002, was associated with Speed Trap defendants Freddy Ameline and
Ruben McDowell.

Tied to several people charged in Speed Trap, Sherry Frasure made her
own mark trading meth for stolen western art, antiques and other
knickknacks.

Police found hundreds of items in plastic bins, cash and 2Th pounds of
drugs hidden in her storage unit. She was sentenced to 10 years in
federal prison in March.

Measuring Impact

All those arrests had an immediate impact on property crime and drug
sales in the region, law enforcement said.

"I don't know how long it lasts," Harper-Suek said. "But a number of
times we were told there is no methamphetamine to be had on the (Rocky
Boy's) Reservation."

Unfortunately, even two years after 22-year-old Saucedo landed a
16-year sentence, meth continues to pour in from Washington.

Tribal police criminal investigator James Big Horn said drugs -- both
meth and cocaine -- continue to plague the Hi-Line.

More people are manufacturing their own meth, but drugs imported from
Washington are easy to find.

"I can drive into Havre and see Washington license plates," he said.
"It's a constant battle. Once somebody is arrested and jailed,
somebody else comes to take his place."