Fresno County Methamphetamine Organization Indicted

FRESNO, Calif. — A federal grand jury returned a 13-count indictment today against 14 individuals, charging them with conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

Charged in the indictment are Olegario Trujillo, 29, of Fresno; Arnold Martinez Valencia, 39, of Woodlake; Edgar Valencia-Farias, of Tulare; Caesar Alejandro Gomez, 33, of Fresno; Gladys Ramos, 30, of Woodlake; Carlos Tafoya-Ramos, 22, of Woodlake; Marcos Diaz, 23, of Madera; Ramiro Salas Munoz, 37, of Lindsay; Arthur Allen Walker, 32, of Poplar; Francisca Torres-Guisar, 51, of Visalia; Pedro Delgado-Montenegro, 36, of Porterville; Jose Roberto Arreola-Serrato, 31, of Tulare; Gary Passmore, 65, of Washington state, and Jorge Martinez Jr., 23, of Tulare.

According to court documents, Olegario Trujillo was the leader of a large-scale drug trafficking organization, responsible for distributing methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin in California and Washington. Pedro Delgado-Montenegro and Jose Arreola-Serrato supplied him with methamphetamine. Trujillo directed several of the other charged individuals to deliver drugs and instructed them as to the disposition of drug proceeds. Arnoldo Martinez Valencia worked with Trujillo, managing the drug distribution to Shelton, Washington. As the result of investigation, law enforcement seized a large amount of controlled substances, including 14 kilograms of methamphetamine, two kilograms of cocaine, and one kilogram of heroin.

This case was the product of a Central Valley High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) investigation conducted by the Central Valley Marijuana Investigation Team (CVMIT). CVMIT is comprised of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), California Department of Justice-Bureau of Investigation, California Fish and Wildlife, Tulare County Sheriff's Office, Kings County Sheriff's Office, and Fresno County Sheriff's Office. Assistant United States Attorney Kathleen Servatius is prosecuting the case.

If convicted, Trujillo faces a maximum statutory penalty of life in prison and a $10 million fine. The remaining defendants face a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.