Prosecutors target West Texas meth dealers

Federal and local law enforcement are targeting meth dealers in the oil-rich MIdland-Odessa region of West Texas.

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Separate grand juries this week charged four men and three women with conspiring to distribute methamphetamine in the oil-rich Midland, Texas, region.

The arrests leading to the charges involved shots fired on a street, a vehicle pursuit that ended in a crash, and drugs stashed within walking distance of a park and an elementary school.

Detectives with the narcotics unit of the Midland Police Department had been tracking methamphetamine sales in the city for several months. They identified two possible distributors keeping drugs and firearms at a home near Travis Elementary and Dunagan Park.

Court records show Midland police on June 2 heard gunshots along South Terrell Street and intercepted a Cadillac driven by one of the suspected distributors. The officers found that three of the occupants, including driver Juan Chavez Carrillo, had arrest warrants. Chavez’s girlfriend, Elizabeth Leyva, allegedly was found in possession of nearly half an ounce of meth hidden in her bra.

Authorities executed a search warrant at the suspected drug stash house. A criminal complaint affidavit alleges investigators found a few ounces of meth and cocaine, a Glock 9mm pistol and a 12-gauge shotgun.

A grand jury on Wednesday charged Chavez and Leyva with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.

On June 12, the Narcotics Unit moved in on another suspected distributor. A complaint affidavit alleges detectives learned that Cole Moody had purchased a substantial amount of methamphetamine in New Mexico and kept it at a hotel in Midland along with a firearm and body armor.

A police SWAT team attempted to take Moody into custody coming out of the hotel, but the suspect allegedly got into a pickup and sped away. Court records show a pursuit ended with Moody wrecking his vehicle, and then attempting to run away before officers caught him and apprehended him.

Investigators allegedly found 2 pounds of meth, a small amount of fentanyl, a firearm and body armor in the pickup. Detectives searched the hotel room occupied by Moody and found two women and a man who carried meth and/or cocaine in their clothing or belongings.

A grand jury on Wednesday charged Moody, Kassandra Madrid, Jerry Wayne Sisco and Cheyanne Montijo with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances.

On June 3, an FBI agent assigned to the El Paso Field Office and Ector County sheriff’s investigators learned from an informant about a drug transaction involving methamphetamine allegedly being offered for sale by Victor Antonio Coca in Odessa, Texas.

The informant presented clear plastic bags to investigators with about 4 ounces of meth he had allegedly purchased from Coca and said he saw the suspect in possession of another 1.5 kilos of meth.

Investigators later arrested Coca and searched a hotel room where they allegedly found a woman trying to flush methamphetamine down a toilet. Officers recovered more than half a kilo of meth.

Coca allegedly told authorities he had brought 2 kilos of meth from Houston for sale in Odessa. A grand jury this week indicted him on a charge of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.