POLICE BUST DRUG RING

Large Quantities Of Meth, Cocaine Were Moved Through City, Authorities Say

Law-enforcement officers staged a dozen simultaneous raids across the
central Willamette Valley in the predawn hours of Wednesday,
arresting 11 people and breaking up what they called the biggest
drug-trafficking operation in the history of Benton County.

The raids, which occurred at 4 a.m. in residences and businesses in
Corvallis, Albany, Independence, Creswell and Springfield, were part
of an operation authorities code-named "Ice-Breaker," an
investigation that Corvallis police launched in November 2005. Later
in the morning, seven more locations were searched. Authorities said
that they seized cash, weapons and methamphetamine in at least some
of the raids, but didn't release details on Wednesday.

The suspects were arraigned Wednesday afternoon before Benton County
Circuit Court Judge David Connell. Connell set bond for the three
suspects authorities identified as the key players at $10 million
each. Bond for the other suspects was set at $1 million each.

"These are individuals who are poisoning our community with meth, at
what we could consider unprecedented levels," said District Attorney
John Haroldson. "Every person who struggles with an addiction is fed
by organizations like this."

Said Corvallis Police Capt. Jon Sassaman: "In this case, we believe
that in a given week there are anywhere from six to 10 pounds of
methamphetamine being distributed through Corvallis. In addition to
that, one to two kilos of cocaine. A week."

That exceeds previously known amounts handled by Benton County drug
dealers by several orders of magnitude.

For example, the total amount of methamphetamine seized in Corvallis
in all of 2005 -- a record year -- was 691 grams, or about 1.5 pounds.

"Historically, if we came across several ounces of meth, it was big
for this jurisdiction," Sassaman said, "and that's a big case for any
jurisdiction."

"This case absolutely compares and is on an equal playing field with
that of what the DEA would encounter or what another larger agency
would encounter," he said.

The three key suspects were identified as [Name redacted], 41,
Creswell; [Name redacted], 30, Independence; and [Name redacted], 27,
Albany. [Name redacted] was charged with two counts of racketeering,
accusing him of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. The two
[Name redacted] brothers were both charged with one count of money
laundering, a class B felony, and racketeering -- specifically, that
they conspired to distribute methamphetamine.

[Name redacted] ran La Poderosa Mexican Store on Northwest Ninth
Street in Corvallis. [Name redacted] ran Del Valle, a similar store
in Independence. And [Name redacted], who according to court
documents was supplying the [Name redacted] brothers with drugs, ran
Gregorio's Auto Body shop on Highway 99W, south of Corvallis.
Law-enforcement officials said the businesses were serving as fronts
for illegal drug trafficking and money laundering.

The other defendants all face one charge each of racketeering. They are:

[Name redacted], 36, Albany

[Name redacted], 32, Albany

[Name redacted], 27, Eugene

[Name redacted], 32, Corvallis

[Name redacted], 37, Albany

[Name redacted], 21, Albany

[Name redacted], 35, Albany

The 11th man arrested, 28-year-old [Name redacted]of Corvallis, was
not arraigned on Wednesday. Authorities said they did not have an
arrest warrant for [Name redacted] on Wednesday, as they did with the
other defendants, and likely would arraign [Name redacted] sometime this week.

No pleas were entered during the arraignments, and different court
dates were set for each defendant. Some will reappear in court as
early as today. None appeared with an attorney. All of the defendants
requested court-appointed attorneys, but Connell denied most of those
requests. Most of the defendants spoke Spanish and were accompanied
by a translator.

Racketeering is a class A felony with a maximum possible sentence of
20 years in prison and a fine of up to $375,000. Money laundering is
a class B felony with a maximum possible sentence of 10 years in
prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Court documents filed by prosecutors asked for the large bond amounts
because of the large amount of money allegedly generated by the
organization. Court documents indicated that one traffic stop of
suspects in the case had produced as much as $15,000 in cash, a kilo
of cocaine and 11 pounds of marijuana.

Outside the courtroom, Haroldson vowed to prosecute the cases to the
full extent of the law. And Haroldson, who is Mexican-American, noted
that all the defendants were Hispanic. "This type of criminal
activity gives all Hispanics a bad name," he said.

The investigation began in November 2005, but officials declined to
say Wednesday how the investigation started.

Nevertheless, as Corvallis police investigators gathered material, it
became clear that the drug-trafficking operation was being run out of
Corvallis. It also became clear that it was bigger than anything the
agency had dealt with before. Corvallis officers called the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Agency.

"They had first right of refusal," Sassaman said.

But the DEA's resources were already overtaxed, so the agency told
Corvallis police that it couldn't take the case.

"And so we were faced with 'do nothing' -- which really was not an
option," Sassaman said.

He said Corvallis police decided to devote the resources and
investigate the case themselves, with the help of state agencies and
law enforcement in the other jurisdictions where the drug traffickers
allegedly were working.

The Oregon Department of Justice, Oregon State Police Meth Initiative
Task Force, Benton County Sheriff's Office, Albany Police Department,
Independence Police Department, Polk County Sheriff's Office, Bend
narcotics investigators, the Douglas County Interagency Narcotics
Team and Immigration and Customs Enforcement all played a major role
in the investigation and in the searches and arrests Wednesday.

In an independent investigation, the DEA did its own raids Wednesday
in Eugene. Officers working on each investigation were aware of the
other investigation and coordinated their dates so as not to alarm
each other's suspects. But the drug-trafficking organizations did not
overlap, according to Sassaman.

"I am extremely proud of the work that the multi-agency
law-enforcement teams did investigating this case," Haroldson said.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Stringer has handled the case
for the office, and has made an exceptional effort, according to Haroldson.

"A case like this means that people must invest a tremendous amount
of themselves, with personal sacrifice," Sassaman said. "This team
has done that."

Early morning raids target 12 locations

It's 4 a.m. just inside the Albany city limits.

A small house sits at a bend in the road on a narrow strip of land
with Highway 20 in front and railroad tracks immediately behind. Cars
traveling between Corvallis and Albany occasionally whoosh by. A
parking lot lies beside the house. There are half a dozen vehicles in
it -- mostly SUVs and pickups -- one so rusted it probably hasn't
been driven in months, if not years.

Oregon state troopers move in silently to block the highway. As a
SWAT team enters the house and secures it, the troopers hear crashing
through the woods and think that perhaps suspects were on the run.
But it's only the sound of deer fleeing.

The Albany house was one of 12 locations, from Corvallis to
Independence and Creswell to Albany, raided at 4 a.m. Wednesday by
Oregon state police as authorities targeted a drug ring they said
spanned the mid-Willamette Valley. Seven more sites were searched as
the morning progressed.

About 120 officers from multiple agencies were involved with the
operation. In Corvallis, 25 people gathered in a command post at the
Law Enforcement Center and coordinated the simultaneous raids.

Corvallis Police Capt. Dan Hendrickson, whose patrol officers were
out on the raids, said officers faced real risks.

"Where there are drugs, there are guns," he said. "Where there is one
gun, there are two guns."

A knock on the door woke Clifford Hall and his family at 4 a.m. in
their house on Highway 99W south of Corvallis. Hall opened the door
to find two deputies from the Benton County Sheriff's Office.

"They were very polite," Hall said. "They asked how many people were
in the house."

Then they told Hall and his girlfriend and four kids to stay together
in a front room. The next thing the family heard was "Bang, bang,
bang!" as a SWAT team broke into the building about 15 feet behind their house.

Hall lives on the same property as Gregorio's Auto Body, a business
suspected of being involved in the drug ring and operated by one of
the people authorities accused of being a key player in the ring,
[Name redacted].

Hall and his family have lived there for four months.

"When we first moved in it was normal," he said.

There were a couple of guys working there -- but not doing much work,
Hall said. The same cars that had been in the yard when Hall moved in
were still sitting there Wednesday, untouched. Hall said [Name
redacted] told him that his crew was in Mexico.

Then about a month and a half ago, activity at the site picked up.
Hall said men would be at the site in the middle of the night.

"So many people in and out, I couldn't tell you (how many)," Hall said.

On some nights he could smell something strong coming from the
building right behind his house. Corvallis Police Capt. Jon Sassaman
said he and his team thought there might be a methamphetamine lab
located on the property. A search Wednesday did not turn up a lab, however.

Half a dozen drug-sniffing dogs from across the state were brought in
to search the multiple locations. Officers spent the day Wednesday
patiently combing through each site. Some of the sites will take days
to completely process.

"We do expect to have more arrests in the coming days and weeks,"
Sassaman said. "We would expect that there may be additional search
warrants served."