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Kings County Sheriff and law enforcement agencies cooperate to end heroin drug ring
It also took court orders, wiretapping, intense surveillance, and undercover drug purchases to bring several suspects to justice.
In all, seven persons were eventually arrested by detectives on charges of possession, transportation, sale of heroin, conspiracy and criminal profiteering. Law enforcement officials seized three pounds of heroin worth $109,200, a pound of methamphetamine, valued at $6,000, $35,000 in cash, three guns, and four vehicles. Robinson said officers from the various entities put in about 4,500 hours of surveillance and work.
Agencies involved in the year-long investigation involved the Hanford, Lemoore, and Corcoran police departments, Kings County Probation Department, the Central Valley Department of Justice, the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), and the Kings County Gang Task Force.
Robinson told a room full of press and law enforcement officials, including Kings County District Attorney Keith Fagundes, that the Kings County Narcotics Task Force got a tip in October 2015 that suspect Robert Huerta of Hanford was a major source of heroin in Hanford and Kings County.
Following up, detectives linked Huerta to suspect Frank “Joe” Reyes of Hanford. Surveillance led to the discovery that another suspect, Louis “Nate” Vasquez was selling heroin for them. In January, 2016 detectives had enough evidence to obtain search warrants and discovered “numerous and consistent” calls between Huerta, Reyes and Vasquez.
“The wiretaps are really what we needed here,” said Robinson, indicating that it took up to six months to get to the point that a judge would okay wire taps.
In February, task force members, working undercover, purchased heroin from Huerta. In June and July, additional heroin was purchased by the task force members from Reyes. In the meantime, law enforcement kept using video surveillance to keep an eye on one of the suspect residences where they saw additional drug sales occurring.
Robinson said that additional surveillance confirmed numerous heroin sales daily by Huerta and Reyes. A supplier was confirmed to be Reyes and Reye’s supplier was identified as Jose Refugio Flores. A wiretap apparently confirmed his involvement on a large scale of heroin coming into Kings County.
“They were conducting daily heroin sales in our county,” said Robinson.
A search warrant was served in Fresno County after local detectives discovered Flores had a connection in Fresno and Los Angeles for heroin. A search at the home of suspect Ubaldo Lopez residence in Fresno found a kilo of heroin, a pound of meth and a stolen handgun.
On August 25, Flores and an Edgar Lopez-Hernandez, from the Los Angeles area, met near Bakersfield where Flores was to pick up the shipment of heroin he ordered on August 10. Following the exchange Flores is stopped with 1.5 pounds of heroin and Lopez-Hernandez and his passenger, suspect Ivan Valenzuela, are stopped with $19,224 in the trunk of their car. “They were all arrested and put in jail,” said Robinson.
Search warrants were then served on Flores, Reyes, and Huerta. Detectives found $5,200 in cash, two handguns and ammunition seized at Florez’ home. Three ounces of heroin, $2,317 and three vehicles were seized in Reyes’ home, and $10,000 is cash and a handgun and ammo from a stash house, and finally, three quarters of an ounce of heroin and vehicle seized at Huerta’s house.
“It takes a team effort to conduct these investigations,” said Robinson, “and we couldn’t have done it without this cooperation.”
Fagundes, who will put the suspects on trial soon, was impressed with the work of the various agencies involved. “This was a phenomenal operation by all the agencies involved. It just goes to show you what we can when we work together.”
