Jun 30, 2008 5:33 pm US/Mountain
34 Indicted In Denver Area Drug Ring Investigation
GOLDEN, Colo. (CBS4) ―
Federal agents along with the district attorney and sheriff in Jefferson County announced the indictment of 34 people Monday allegedly involved in a major metro area drug trafficking ring.
The investigation was called "Operation Shoestring" and busted a ring that allegedly brought more than $4 million worth of cocaine into the Denver area each month. That's about 50 kilograms of the substance.
Authorities said the operation started in September of 2007 and lasted until April of this year. That's when the case was presented to a grand jury.
The investigation that also involved the Drug Enforcement Administration was named "Operation Shoestring" to reflect shrinking government budgets and resources, according to a news release.
The indicted include a man believed to be the source of the drugs and the people involved on subsequent levels all the way down to street dealers and users who live in "affluent, gated communities in Highlands Ranch and Fort Collins."
Authorities said the traffickers also bought and sold large amounts of marijuana.
Agents and local police report seizing almost six kilograms of cocaine, with a street value of $500,000 and 25 pounds of marijuana, with a street value of $10,000 during the course of the investigation. They also seized over $500,000 in US currency and six handguns.
"The West Metro Drug Task Force, DEA and our prosecutors did an outstanding job," said District Attorney Scott Storey in a prepared statement. "Their dedication and professionalism made it easy for the grand jury to do their job and help us get these offenders off the street and stop this stream of narcotics into our community."
Martin Vega-Beleta was the top level member of the organization, according to the indictment. His girlfriend, Norma Yudith Talabera-Espinoza, served as his lieutenant.
Erick Fernando Chaparro-Franco is suspected of being the drug runner, working closely with Vega-Beleta. Investigators believe that Vega-Beleta was the source of cocaine which came from Mexico to the Phoenix area and then to Colorado.
Vega-Belata regularly traveled back and forth between Denver and the Phoenix area. He allegedly transported money and arranged for large amounts of cocaine and marijuana to be delivered to the Denver metro area.
At the next level of the organization were Sergio Flores-Hernandez, Jaime Esparaza-Arreola, Sergio Munoz-Maltes and Juan Aguilar-Martinez. They are alleged to have purchased cocaine in kilograms and then distributed it to the people below them.
Operating at the next level down, Alejandro Banuelos-Serna and his girlfriend, Mirella DiFranco, Federico Banuelos, and Samuel Martinez are accused of having purchased one or more kilograms of cocaine at a time and then sold it by ounces or grams to other distributors and sometimes to the end user.
"This investigation resulted in authorities dismantling a significant international drug trafficking organization, transporting drugs from Mexico to Arizona and then on to Colorado, and ultimately to the affluent gated communities of highlands Ranch and Fort Collins, Colorado," said DEA Special Agent In Charge Jeffrey D. Sweetin.
The lower level participants in this drug ring are accused of buying and selling cocaine and marijuana from homes in Westminster, Wheat Ridge, Thornton, Arvada, Aurora, Denver, Fort Collins, Highlands Ranch and unincorporated Jefferson County.
The indictment of 34 people includes 141 criminal counts. Thirteen of the alleged participants at various levels are believed to have been in the United Sstates illegally.
Thirty of the 34 people accused in the trafficking ring have been arrested. Warrants are outstanding for the remaining four.
(© MMVIII CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
