Drug Trafficking Network Busted, Sept. 29

On Wednesday, September 27, 2017, a joint operation involving the FBI, DEA and Central Oregon Drug Enforcement (CODE) Team resulted in the federal arrest of nine people charged with participation in a drug distribution network operating in the Madras/Redmond area. CODE officers and deputies arrested three others on state charges. Two of those additional arrests involved outstanding warrants; the third was a probable cause arrest for drug and weapons charges. All arrests were without incident. The federal defendants will each make an initial appearance before Magistrate Judge Jolie A. Russo at the U.S. District Courthouse in Eugene at 1:30 pm on Thursday, September 28th. As part of this operation, law enforcement also identified 11 drug-endangered minors. Jefferson County Child Welfare took immediate custody of five of these children, and the FBI filed mandatory child abuse reports for all identified minors. Law enforcement partnered with victim assistance programs within the FBI and Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office as well as with Jefferson County Child Welfare. Since this investigation began in 2016, law enforcement believes the organization has trafficked both heroin and methamphetamine throughout Central Oregon. In a series of searches conducted in conjunction with the arrests on Wednesday, investigators also recovered ten weapons.