|
Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Friday, January 17, 2003
Task force stop nets $220,500 cocaine seizure
By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer
There was more in the engine of a truck traveling through
Reeves County than just automobile parts, local drug task force
officers discovered on Wednesday, when they seized over $200,000 in
cocaine after a traffic stop five miles east of Toyah.
At approximately 11:36 a.m., Trans Pecos Drug Task Force officer
Kevin Roberts stopped a 1994 GMC pickup that was eastbound on Interstate
20 at mile marker 27 for a traffic violation.
Officer Roberts was assisted by the task force officer Joe
Gonzales and a U.S. Border Patrol Agent.
The officers obtained verbal consent from the driver of the
vehicle for them to do a search, during which Roberts and Gonzales
observed tampering had been done to the engine.
"We subsequently located approximately 5.4 pounds of
cocaine concealed in the engine block of the GMC," said Roberts.
The street value of the cocaine was estimated to be about $220,500.
Arrested was the driver of the vehicle, Louis Perez, 30, of
Glendale, Ariz.
Perez is currently being detained in the Reeves County Jail on
charges of first degree felony charges for possession of a controlled
substance (cocaine) over 400 grams.
"In the past month and a half the task force has taken about 20
pounds of cocaine off the streets, which have a street value of $800,000," said
task force commander Gary Richards.
He added that with the complicated ways the drugs
are currently being transported through here, the officers are showing
some really good observant skills. Task force officers have seized
drugs hidden in wheels and in gas tanks in recent months.
"Kevin has been with us for the past year and a half and Joe for
the past six months and they are working really well together," said
Richards. "They are showing each other different things and are getting
good at observing the different areas the drugs are hidden in."
He said the task force has seized 11 vehicles in the past seven months
and $50,000 in confiscated drug money was awarded to the task force.
Also on Wednesday, an officer with the local task currently working
in Midland, assisted in an arrest of a man who had a warrant out for a
drug-related violation. Arrested for possession of a controlled substance
(steroids) was Benjamin Doan Walker, 30.
"Our officers are doing an outstanding job, whether it's right here
in Reeves County or while they are assisting other officers in other cities
and counties," said Richards.
Family rudely awakened as car crashes into home
By JON FULBRIGHT
and
JENNIFER GALVAN
Staff Writers
A Pecos man washing dishes while preparing to go to work
got an unexpected visitor this morning, and his family members were
jolted out of their beds when a car crashed through the living room of
their home at Plum and Jackson streets.
The incident occurred about 3:50 a.m. when the Chevrolet
Lumina jumped the curb and sidewalk in front of the home of Guillermo
and Irene Valle at 1418 S. Plum St., and managed to make it's way
between two trees and past a third to crash through the brick wall of the
family's living room before coming to a stop.
Fire and Emergency Medical Service personnel were called to
the scene, but none of the occupants of the car requested treatment,
and no one in the home was injured.
The vehicle was reportedly heading north and came through
the intersection at Jackson and Plum Streets when the accident
occurred. "They were coming on Plum Street and the girl said she swerved
to avoid a dog in the middle of the street, and the passenger jerked
the wheel, so they had two different reactions," said Pecos Police
Officer Armando Garcia.
The driver of the vehicle, identified as Zalixta Navarrette, 23, was
not under the influence of alcohol when the accident occurred, but the
passenger in the seat next to her, as well as another man in the back seat had
been drinking, and were placed under arrest, Garcia said. Police also found a
bag containing five cans of beer, with a sixth can, which was open, was in the
back seat of the Lumina.
Navarrette would probably be charged with traffic offenses in
connection with the crash, while the two passengers, identified as Pilar Chavez, Jr.,
26, and Arturo Hernandez, 21, were charged with public intoxication,
according to Pecos Police Lt. Kelly Davis.
Garcia said when the car hit the house, "The man had barely left the
living room to get ready for work. The others were asleep in the bedroom."
"He had gotten up and had been sitting on the couch, and then he went
in here (the kitchen) and he started washing some dishes when he hear
the crash," Irene Valle said.
The car ended up halfway in the Valles' home, blocking the front
doorway and part of the door to the family's kitchen. It was pulled out of the
house about an hour after the crash by Hector's Tire Service with a chain and
winch, which had to be adjust twice to get the car around one of the trees in front
of the house.
Virginia couple sues DPS over I-10 strip search
By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer
A Virginia couple is suing Department of Public Safety
officer in U.S. District Court in Pecos, following an incident that
occurred in February of last year that they say embarrassed the wife, when she
was ordered to undergo a strip search alongside Interstate 10
between Balmorhea and Fort Stockton.
Rodger and RoJetta L. Presgraves, of Bentonville, Va., are suing
Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Ernesto Velasquez out of the
DPS office in Fort Stockton, in the United States District Court for the
Western District of Texas, Pecos Division.
Attorney for the couple is H. Thomas Hirsch of Odessa.
The suit states that on Feb. 13, 2002, the couple was in
their automobile traveling eastbound on I-10 somewhere between
Balmorhea and Fort Stockton, touring the southwestern portion of the
United States while on their way to San Antonio.
Approximately at 9:15 a.m., they were pulled over by
Trooper Velasquez, who was traveling with an unknown female trooper with him
at the time. They were told that they were speeding and then received
a citation for that and another one for no liability insurance because
Mr. Presgraves could not find his insurance card. The no
liability insurance ticket was later dismissed.
Velasquez then told the couple that he needed to search
their automobile. They complied and the trooper began reaching into their
car taking pieces of the automobile apart and generally trashing the car.
While this was going on, Rodger Presgraves was told to sit on the front bumper
of his eastbound automobile and keep his eyes to the east. While this
was going on, the female trooper told RoJetta Presgraves that she
would have to strip search her.
The suit then states that in view of all the vehicles and trucks
that passed by on I-10, RoJetta Presgraves was forced to remove
all of her clothing and stand nude on the shoulder of the highway.
No drugs or any type of illegal contraband were found and
the couple was finally allowed to be on their way.
In their suit, the couple states that after they received the two traffic tickets, any other detention was
illegal seizure under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United
States Constitution.
Rodger Presgraves alleges that Trooper Ernesto Velasquez inflicted
$1,036 in damages to his vehicle during the futile search for drugs and contraband.
Their lawsuit claims that RoJetta Presgraves suffered extreme
mental anguish and humiliation when she was forced to strip naked on the
shoulder of Interstate 10 in front of all the traffic traveling east and west and that
they were entitled to $50,000 in damages.
The suit stated that the couple plans to add the unknown female
trooper as a defendant to the case as soon as they discover her name and
current location.
Fabens women run out of gas, out of luck
CARLSBAD, N.M. (AP) - A sheriff's deputy who assisted two
women and five children in a van after it ran out of gas here found there
wasn't enough room in the tank because it was full of marijuana.
Eddy County sheriff's deputy Kelly Calicoat was dispatched to a
location on U.S. 62/180 near the New Mexico-Texas state line, 30 miles southwest
of Carlsbad, on Wednesday to help a motorist who ran out of gas.
Calicoat arrived to find the women and children had been given some
fuel. He decided to follow them to ensure they had enough to reach
Carlsbad, Bobby Sullivan of the Pecos Valley Drug Task Force said Thursday.
Calicoat stopped the van after the driver exceeded the posted speed limit.
Calicoat contacted the drug task force after speaking with the women
and becoming suspicious.
The agents found a concealed compartment in the gas tank containing
72 pounds of marijuana. The also seized $700 in cash.
The compartment significantly reduced the van's fuel capacity,
Sullivan said.
Leticia Guadian, 24, and Vanessa Chavez, 22, of Fabens were arrested
and charged with distribution of marijuana and conspiracy. Both were being
held at the Eddy County Detention Center Thursday on $10,000 secured bonds.
Chavez's five children - ranging in age from 18-months to five-years -
were kept in police custody until their father arrived to get them.
Sullivan said the investigation continues.
"At this point, we are expanding our investigation into who sent
the marijuana and who was going to receive it on the Oklahoma end,"
Sullivan said.
Dance scheduled Saturday night
A country dance will held following the Reeves-Loving
County Livestock Sale on Saturday, at the Reeves County Sheriff's Posse Barn.
The dance will be held immediately after the livestock show sale and
will feature D.J.s LDL (Los Dos Gringos Locos). The sale will begin at 7
p.m. at the Reeves County Civic Center.
Churches to hold 'March for Life'
A March for Life is scheduled for 5 p.m., Sunday, though the
central part of Pecos.
The March will begin at Santa Rosa Church, 620 E. Fourth
and participants will walk to St. Catherine's Catholic Church,
Plum and Walthall.
Everyone is welcome to participate.
Weather
High Thursday 48. Low this morning 26. Forecast for tonight:
Mostly clear. Lows in the mid 20s. Southeast winds 5 to15
mph. Saturday: Mostly sunny. Highs in the lower 50s. Northeast winds 5
to 15 mph. Saturday night: Mostly clear. Lows in the upper 20s. Sunday:
Mostly sunny. Highs in the mid 60s. Martin Luther King Jr Day:
Partly cloudy. Lows in the mid 30s. Highs in the upper 60s.
Obituaries
Luisa Gallardo
Services for Luisa S. Gallardo, 86, of Pecos, who died today, Friday, Jan.
17, 2003, in Odessa are incomplete.
Pecos Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Copyright 2003 by Pecos Enterprise
|
