Federal, state and local law enforcement officials say they've busted another drug trafficking organization that was bringing methamphetamine and cocaine into Washington from Mexico.

The results of the 14-month investigation into the vast drug trafficking network were announced this morning at a press conference.

Officials say they have arrested 31 people, including eight from Pierce County, as part of "Operation Arctic Chill," the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency reported today. Federal drug charges have been filed against 20 of the people arrested. Another three will be charged and arraigned this afternoon.

Investigators say those arrested are part of the Oseguera-Chavez Drug Trafficking Organization.

According to an ICE press release, the leader of the organization is Martin Oseguera-Chavez of Roy. He's believed to be responsible for buying meth and cocaine from dealers in California and Mexico. The drugs were then distributed through other members of the drug trafficking organization.

The drugs were transported along the Interstate 5 corridor in the hidden compartments of vehicles, federal authorities report.

"Members of the DTO sought to conceal their actions, speaking with each other in coded language to describe the drugs, calling crystal methamphetamine 'clothes' or 'blind man' and referring to poor quality drugs as 'stretched' or 'bruised,'" the press release states.

Law enforcement officials have executed more than 35 search warrants over the past two weeks. In Washington, the warrants were served in Carnation, Federal Way, Lynnwood, Olympia, Puyallup, Rainier, Roy, Tacoma, Vancouver and Yelm. Another warrant was executed in Oakdale, Calif., where investigators found an idle meth lab and a pound of meth.

Law enforcement officials also seized more than 19 pounds of meth, a quarter pound of cocaine, $60,000 in cash, 22 vehicles and 23 firearms.

"The success of this joint operation is measured by the fact that we successfully dismantled a criminal drug trafficking organization from the top down," Leigh Winchell, special agent in charge of ICE's Office of Investigations, said in a press release. "ICE will continue to partner with DEA and others to more effectively investigate these organizations - from smuggler to distributor - and bring to bear the complete complement of law enforcement’s authorities on this threat to our communities."

Here's a list of who has been charged, their age and their residence when they there arrested. ICE officials are not commenting on the immigration status of any of the defendants because of the criminal investigation, spokeswoman Lorie Dankers said.

Arrested Tuesday:
Martin Oseguera Chavez, 50, Roy
Maria Oseguera Lopez, 50, Roy
Maria Del Socorro Oseguera Oseguera, 33, Lynnwood
Baldemar Huerta Galvan, 28, Lynnwood
Alberto Rosales Torres, 39, Tacoma
Erika Oseguera Oseguera, 26, Yelm
Rosalinda Oseguera Lopez, 44, Roy
Doug Alfonso, 48, Olympia
Rigoberto Farias Contreras, 46, Carnation
Daniel Camarena, 30, Tacoma,
Miguel Mora Esquivel, 36, Federal Way
Harold Wesley Moreland, 59, Olympia
Gabriela Ludmila Safr, 28, Tacoma
Crescenciano Yanez Bucio, 30, Yelm
Bernardo Salazar Ponce, 28, Roy

Arrested Monday
Juan Pablo Rincon-Lopez, 30, Tacoma

Arrested June 13
Juan Antonio Trejo-Lopez, 30, Elma
Juan Trejo-Lopez, 37, Elma
Gregorio Gomez-Lopez, 34, Mossyrock
Eduardo Martinez, 27, Elma

In addition to ICE and DEA, the following agencies were part of the investigation: Auburn Police Department, Bonney Lake Police Department, Centralia Police Department, Federal Way Police Department, Gray’s Harbor Task Force, Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, Puyallup Police Department, South Snohomish Drug Task Force, Tacoma Police Department, Tahoma Narcotics Enforcement Team, Washington Department of Corrections and Washington State Patrol.

Photo courtesy of the AP

Last year, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies busted another sizable drug cartel that was bringing meth into the state from Mexico. Find my story about that bust below.

=> Read more!

A federal judge on Monday sentenced a Mexican national convicted of trafficking methamphetamine in Western Washington to more than seven years in prison.

Herminio Barragan Mendoza, 36, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute meth and being an alien in possession of a firearm. He faces deportation following his prison term.

Federal prosecutors said Mendoza lived in Olympia and owned a farm near Roy at the time of his arrest.

He was one of 22 people arrested in April 2008 following a lengthy police investigation. More than 300 law enforcement officers served 20 search warrants and seized meth, guns and cash in raids in multiple counties.

Federal prosecutors said Mendoza was one of the leaders of the trafficking ring, and assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Thomas asked Monday for a 10-year term for him.

Mendoza's defense attorney, Phil Brennan of Seattle, asked for a sentence just short of six years, saying his client had no prior convictions and that the government's claims that he was a leader of the ring were dubious. Mendoza lived in a rented house and drove used cars, Brennan argued in court documents.

U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle settled on a sentence of seven years, four months. The judge also ordered Mendoza to forfeit his Roy farm to the government.

An Auburn Police investigation led to the arrests of multiple suspects at a Puyallup Fred Meyer.

Puyallup Police Lt. Dave McDonald said Auburn police were investigating drug activity, which led to arrests at the River Road and Meridian store, with Puyallup Police assisting. The Washington State Patrol's air unit and a trooper also assisted in the arrests.

McDonald said large amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine were confiscated, and an Auburn K-9 unit was searching the suspects' vehicles for more.

Sumner police cordoned off an automotive shop on Main Street East this morning to investigate possible manufacturing of methamphetamine inside.

City of Sumner spokeswoman Carmen Palmer said three people have been detained and police are waiting for a signed search warrant before they go inside.

Palmer said a patrol officer saw suspicious activity in the business located in the 15500 block of Main Street East about 3 a.m. He also smelled the odor of ammonia and saw plastic tubing which are consistent with making meth, she said.

One of the men arrested apparently worked in the shop, Palmer said, adding that the owners of the business who knew nothing about what was going on in the shop at night are cooperating with police.

The Pierce County Clandestine Laboratory Team which handles meth labs was called, Palmer said.

Further details will be posted as they become available.

An Auburn man was sentenced today to more than 18 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

Nahum Copado-Nieto, 37, was arrested last May after a wiretap investigation of a group that smuggled meth from Mexico, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.

"This is a giant methampetamine conspiracy, and the overwhelming evidence is that this defendant was the linchpin for the conspiracy," U.S. District Judge James L. Robart said.

Investigators found nearly a pound of meth and more than $44,000 in cash at the home of Copado-Nieto, a Mexican national. Two other couriers were arrested during the investigation. The meth was reportedly 99.4 percent pure.

The three other defendants have already been sentenced. Copado-Nieto pleaded guilty in October.

A Lakewood man was sentenced to 18 years in prison today for selling large amounts of methamphetamine.

Tomas Zea Reyes, 40, was arrested in December 2005 for selling meth through a grocery store in Lakewood. Officers seized 6.5 kilograms of meth, $150,000 in cash and jewelry. Officers search Reyes' home and found three loaded pistols, a bulletproof vest, more than $7,000 in cash, drugs and drug packaging equipment. At the time of his arrest, Reyes and wife Antonia Cazares had three children, ages 13, 12 and 2, which were taken into protective custody.

Meth was found in the three children's systems.

"Nobody knows for certain how the drugs got in their systems," Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Dion said in a Department of Justice news release. "Maybe it was deliberate, or maybe it happened because Reyes just did not care about their safety. Either way, Reyes has poisoned the children, and they are victims of his crime – just like the addicts who buy his product on the street."

This tale comes from a probable cause affidavit from a recent University Place Police case:

On Jan. 3, a Pierce County Sheriff's Deputy stopped a vehicle on Bridgeport Way because it had a broken tail light.

LESA Records advised that there was an officer safety alert out for the defendant, indicating that the defendant told his counselor he had resentment towards law enforcement. The safety bulletin stated that the defendant had kept explosives in his car and would blow himself up as well as police if he was pulled over. The bulletin also stated that the defendant might try to commit “suicide by cop.”

The man had a large folding knife on him and a machete-like knife was found in the car.

The same deputy recovered an item from the driver’s console (within driver’s reach), that was wrapped in brown tape and cloth. There was a fuse at the end of it that was approximately 5-7 inches in length. The defendant said the item was a firecracker that he found a few years ago on the road and he was keeping it in his car to set if off someday.

The guy said he had also recently smoke some methamphetamine.

The bomb squad came out to "render the device safe," but their efforts set off the device -- "A small crater was left in the blacktop approximately five inches across and a half inch deep."

Criminal justice officials, treatment providers, prevention specialists and politicians will gather today in Tacoma for a two-day methamphetamine summit.

This is the state's seventh such summit on the meth epidemic. More than 275 people are expected to be in attendance for the event at the Hotel Murano, according to a press release from Pierce County.

The summit will kick off this morning with a "Parade of Transformation," which is billed as an hour and 15 minutes of speeches from 22 speakers. (A press release from Gov. Chris Gregoire's office said she'll be addressing the summit at 8:30 a.m., extending the parade to 90 minutes.)

Other politicians in attendance will be U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and Pierce County Executive John W. Ladenburg.

Here's a little more from the press release.

The summit's goal is to further equip the attendees to carry on the fight against meth in their communities, according to Executive Director Terree Schmidt-Whelan of the Pierce County Alliance. "We want to introduce the National Methamphetamine Training and Technical Assistance Center to the meth-impacted agencies and communities in our state," she said.

The Tacoma-based center is designed to assist communities across the nation in the fight against the manufacture, distribution and use of methamphetamine. The center is being formed through a partnership of the Pierce County Alliance and Safe Streets Campaign, both of which are part of the Washington State Methamphetamine Initiative. Funding for the center was allocated through the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

"We also want to showcase the ongoing WSMI efforts across the state to combat the manufacture, distribution and use of methamphetamine,"
Schmidt-Whelan said.

The benefits of the Innovative Treatment Model and research that validates the effectiveness of Safe Streets Campaign-inspired Methamphetamine Action Teams will be presented during the summit.

Attendees also will hear of current methamphetamine trends, such as trafficking of stronger forms of meth by Latino gangs.

I'll be at the event this morning and will report back.

Safe Streets is hosting a meth forum this week at Pacific Lutheran University. A release promises "in-depth discussion on meth trends including drug trafficking, meth-related crime, and teen use," and it sounds a chance to get all your meth-related questions answered.

(And if you can't make it, watch a few episodes of A&E's "Intervention." Spooky.)

WHAT: Meth Forum
WHERE: Xavier Hall, 12108 C Street South, Tacoma
WHEN: 6-8 p.m. Thursday

U.S. Patty Murray (D-Washington) will be in Tacoma today to talk with law enforcement and community leaders about the gang and methamphetamine problems plaguing the region.

She will meet with a panel of officials at Tacoma Police Department headquarters this morning. Among those scheduled to attend are Tacoma Police Chief Don Ramsdell, Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor, Tacoma Schools Superintendent Art Jarvis, deputy Pierce County prosecutor Greg Greer, state Rep. Chris Hurst, Tacoma City Councilwoman Connie Ladenburg and others.

Last month, Murray earmarked $500,000 for Pierce County’s anti-gang efforts and $1 million for the state’s anti-methamphetamine efforts in a spending bill moving its way through the U.S. Senate.

Gangs and meth are problems Tacoma and Pierce County residents have been dealing with for years. The battle against meth has evolved from highly explosive homemade drug labs to imported crystal meth that is distributed around the region. Law enforcement officials believe the highly addictive drug is behind some property crime and metal thefts as addicts look for ways to get cash so they can get their fix.

Last year, Tacoma received near $430,000 from the federal government to work on anti-meth and anti-gang efforts among the Latino gang population.

I'll be at the meeting and will report back on the review later today.

UPDATE: Here's the story I've got posted on the homepage. I'll have a more complete version in Wednesday's paper.

Tacoma firefighters are in the 400 block of S. 72nd fighting a fire in an abandoned garage believed to be a possible meth lab that exploded, according to the scanner.

I'll update this post when I'm able to get more information.

Update 1: Four people were seen running from the scene, according to radio traffic.

Update 2: I still haven't been able to talk to a fire department spokesman, but they're calling for fans on the radio, which usually means they've got things under control and are just trying to clear out the smoke.

Update 3: Fire spokeswoman Jolene Davis said the call came in as a garage fire at 6:54 p.m.

Firefighters were on scene within four minutes and had the fire out by about 7:30 p.m.

Davis was not able to confirm the fire was related to a meth lab, but said there had been police activity at the house earlier in the day. (I’m checking with police about that.)

She was also not able to confirm radio traffic about at least one patient that was being decontaminated, but said she’d call me back if she learned anyone was being taken to a hospital for treatment.

No other structures were damaged, she said, but several nearby vehicles may have been scorched.

Update 4: I just got off the phone with police spokesman Mark Fulghum and the plot thickens -- the garage *used* to house a meth lab, but it hasn't been active for some time. The place was actually boarded up and in the process of being decontaminated. A health inspector was out looking at the site at 4 p.m. today. There was no meth lab there at that time.

Fulghum wasn't sure about the earlier report of the people fleeing. He said police are talking to one man who used to live in the house there. It's possible he'll be cited for trespassing.

At this point, inspectors are working to determine what did spark the fire and whether it was intentional.

Thieves cut the wire to a traffic signal and lights at Bridgeport Way just off Interstate 5 on Sunday night, creating a dangerous situation.

The theft occurred around 9:50 p.m., the state Department of Transportation reported.

State transportation crews put in temporary connections and got the traffic signal up. They will need to return at a later date to make a more permanent fix.

This is just the latest case of wire theft in the region. Law enforcement officers have said drug addicts are behind most of the thievery. The thieves resell the stolen wire and aluminum for cash for meth.

The state Department of Transportation has had steel bridge railings, guardrails, signal boxes and impact attenuators stolen. The department is working with the Washington State Patrol to hault the activity.

Transportation officials ask drivers who spot suspicious work zones to call their local law enforcement agency. Anyone who spotted suspicious activity Sunday night that prompted the power outage on Bridgeport is asked to call the State Patrol.

The transportation department describes a legitimate work zone as:

* signs alerting you that you are approaching a work zone

* proper lighting

* orange cones, barriers, signs, etc.

* workers/flaggers wearing orange, reflective vests, hard hats, goggles and gloves

* vehicles with either, exempt license plates and the WSDOT logo or clearly marked with contractor name.

* Weekly, WSDOT posts on its Website construction and maintenance operations. If it's a state-owned roadway, the work will be listed at www.wsdot.wa.gov/construction/</blockquote>