A multi-state law enforcement operation beginning on May 15 led to the arrest of two Wells men involved in a drug ring of nine people.
Jennifer Klemetsrud Puhl, acting U.S. attorney of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in North Dakota, says 47-year-old Alfredo “Freddy” Hernandez Jaquez and 37-year-old Wesley Wayne Tolleson, were taken into custody.
In a June 9 press release, Puhl says the drug operation had ties to the Almighty Latin King Nation criminal street gang.
Also arrested were Ricardo Jaquez, 46, Jose Manuel Jaquez, 36, and Jacob Edward Lambert, 37, all of Oakes, N.D.; Ashley Marie Bleecker, 40, of Belcourt, N.D.; Israel David Flores, 45, and Michelle Lee Fuller, 38, both of Audubon, MN; and Jason Leonard Gulden, 44, of Aberdeen,S.D.
The defendants were indicted by a federal grand jury, says Puhl, for their roles in a methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy.
“An indictment is not evidence of guilt,” she says. “The defendants are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.”
Authorities say the case is part of Operation Crown Down, an organized crime drug enforcement task force investigation into meth trafficking in North Dakota and other states.
All defendants have made an appearance in North Dakota federal court and face up to life in prison with a 10-year minimum mandatory sentence if convicted.
Some 15 law enforcement and drug agencies that include the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), FBI, Homeland Security, state and county authorities and police departments are continuing to investigate the case.