FBI, ATF, DEA, police and deputies arrest 18 people in drug raids in Spokane, Kootenai and Yakima counties
Federal agents and local police raided 15 homes across the region and arrested 18 people to break up a drug trafficking ring.
The effort included the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration working with Spokane police and the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office in Spokane, Spokane Valley, Yakima and Post Falls.
Investigators recovered more than 20 weapons in addition to large amounts of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine, said Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich.
“This investigation has spanned in excess of two years,” said Capt. John Nowels of the Sheriff’s Office. “A lot of work has gone into this.”
There were no problems during the searches, Knezovich said.
Evergreen Middle School, 14221 E. 16th Ave., in Spokane Valley was in modified lockdown for about a half-hour while the agents served a search warrant in the area.
The lockdown began sometime around 10:40 a.m., when the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office alerted school officials that there would be “police activity in the area,” said Marla Nunberg, director of communications at Central Valley School District. It ended at 11:15 a.m.
“The police just requested that,” she said. “We locked the doors and told the kids to stay in the classroom.”
A modified lockdown is different than a traditional lockdown, which limits movement indoors by locking all classrooms and closely monitoring students’ movement, explained Nunberg. Instead, school officials lock the front doors and don’t allow students outside of the building.
Busts like this are an important way to hinder the drug trade and reduce violent crime, Knezovich said.
“We’re trying to take the leadership out,” he said. “When you eliminate the leadership, it takes a while for them to rebuild.”
The suspects are expected to face various drug trafficking charges in federal court. Those arrested are: Spokane residents Jose Alfredo Mendoza-Vaca, 28, Donald Reed Daniels, 60, Jorge Armando Hernandez-Vera, 37, Enrique Eduardo Rodriguez-Mercado, 42, Sergio L. Lopez, 24, and Olton Leon Gaines, 53; Spokane Valley residents Milton Oswaldo Pena, 45, Federico Ramos-Perez, 29, Juan Jose Navarro-Martinez, 31, Angel Rodriguez Amezcua, 47, Nahum Martinez-Guadarrama, 29, and Horacio Luna-Cano, 32.
Others arrested are: Yakima residents Marcos Ramirez-Mercado, 45, Edson Marcos Ramirez, 23, and Mireya Hernandez, 51; Post Falls residents Trevor Edward Fedele, 21, and Edward Wayne Fedele, 43; and Nine Mile Falls resident Joel Lyman, 35.
Officials are still searching for 48-year-old Giovanni Pena of Spokane Valley, 26-year-old Jose Antonio Rojas-Calvillo of Spokane, 33-year-old Francisco Martinez-Perez of Spokane Valley and 31-year-old Victor Alexander Rangel of Spokane.
“This is a very complex, very large operation,” Knezovich said. “If you’re going to traffic drugs in Spokane, we will catch you, we will prosecute you.”