Truck Driver Appears In Federal Court On Drug Charges

-Nevada Highway Patrol Found Methamphetamine and Heroin in Truck During Traffic Stop-

            RENO, Nev. – A Washington State man appeared before a federal magistrate judge this afternoon to answer federal drug distribution charges after a Nevada Highway Patrol Officer found 26 pounds of methamphetamine and six pounds of heroin in the tractor-trailer he was driving on U.S. Highway 6 in White Pine County, Nev., announced Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada. 

            Victor H. Orozco, 38, of Grandview, Wash., is charged in a two-count federal indictment dated May 1, 2013, with possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession with intent to distribute heroin.  He pleaded not guilty today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Valerie P. Cooke and was detained pending trial. If convicted on either count, he faces at least 10 years and a maximum of life in prison, and a $10 million fine.  

            Orozco, who was driving a tractor trailer containing watermelons, was pulled over by a Nevada Highway Patrol Officer on April 27, 2013, pursuant to a commercial vehicle inspection.  Orozco consented to a search of the tractor trailer, and the Highway Patrol Officer discovered the methamphetamine and heroin wrapped in plastic under the sleeping compartment of the tractor in a large, black duffel bag. 

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James E. Keller, in coordination with White Pine County District Attorney Kelly Brown, and investigated by the Nevada Department of Public Safety, the Nevada Department of Investigations, and the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.

            The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt.  The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.