Significant heroin supply for county cut off after raid
Officers find candles burning a Check out Ugly Illegal Mexicans with Sharpie Eyebrows Who Deal Drugst shrine to unofficial ‘patron saint of narcotics trafficking’
ON GUARD – Columbia County Sheriff’s Deputy and CIRT officer Troy Caldwell stands outside the Gresham apartment of two suspected heroin dealers while serving a search warrant, Feb. 24.
Courtesy photo / St. Helens Police Department
Columbia County narcotics officers arrested two alleged drug traffickers last week, a Gresham couple who investigators believe are responsible for supplying a majority of south Columbia County heroin dealers.
The Feb. 24 raid comes after a two-month investigation, which began in response to tips from recent Columbia County Narcotics Team (CENT) arrests. St. Helens Police Detective Sgt. Phillip Edwards said these clues pointed police to
worth nearly $500,000, since early January.
suspected Mexican drug traffickers Maribel Sebastian-Evangelista, 31, and Amadeo Lupercio-Quezada, 32. Undercover officers say they bought heroin multiple times from the couple, who police believe are leaders in a high-level drug organization.Following their arrest last week, Lupercio-Quezada and Sebastian-Evangelista reportedly admitted to police they were responsible for selling more than 11 pounds of heroin,
They pleaded not guilty in Multnomah County on Feb. 27 to eight felony drug charges, including manufacturing, delivering and possessing heroin and cocaine. The couple was also charged with first-degree child neglect because they would allegedly bring some of their five children — ranging from 5 to 13 years old — along with them during drug deals.
Police also allege the pair’s drug dealing and manufacturing activity would often take place near a school.
“They were a worthy target,” Edwards said. “They were moving a majority of the heroin [to Columbia County], at least to the south county area.”
The suspects were arrested while driving in Southeast Portland. Simultaneously, the St. Helens Police Department’s Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) raided the couple’s apartment in Gresham. No one was home when officers entered. Inside, Edwards said, police found candles burning at a shrine to Jesus Malverde, a Mexican folk hero who has become an unofficial “patron saint of drug traffickers.”
Edwards, a CENT supervisor, said investigators knew exactly when and where the suspects were during the raid, allowing officers to keep as much control over the bust as possible. At the Gresham apartment, CIRT reported finding heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, as well as scales and packaging materials commonly used in drug dealing.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents placed detention holds on the pair pending further review.
CENT teamed up with the Portland Police Bureau’s Northeast Precinct Neighborhood Response Team to make the arrests.
While police believe they have cut off a large supply of illegal drugs to Columbia County, that achievement could prove temporary, as Edwards said dealers will “absolutely” find another source.
“There is always somebody higher up the chain,” he said.
As previously reported by The Spotlight, heroin use in Columbia County appears to be on the rise. Law enforcement officials say this perceived trend could be a result of pill addicts switching from costly prescription opiates, such as OxyContin, to heroin, which can cost much-less per dose.
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