March 20, 2019
By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –
Trafficking of drugs is an all too common charge against many Western Oklahomans, but aggravated trafficking is reserved for those instances where arrests are for huge amounts of illegal narcotics.
Two of four recently arrested have been charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated trafficking of illegal drugs, specifically, methamphetamine.
The two others were charged with drug trafficking.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the arrests were the culmination of an undercover buy at a home in the 300 block of South 14th Street in Clinton that included agents with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs among a number of other agencies including the District 2 Drug Task Force.
The arrests were less than 700 feet from the Nance Elementary school playground.
An OBNNDD agent allegedly purchased approximately 501 grams of methamphetamine from an Oklahoma City woman at the home.
The charges leveled, however, were for trafficking about 97 grams or 3.42 ounces of meth and were against 39-year-old Michael Dean Ford of Clinton and a woman living with Ford at the home, 29-year-old Venessa Hinojosa. Ford’s charge includes after former convictions of two or more felonies.
Charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated trafficking of methamphetamine are 22-year-old Maria Isabel Flores and 24-year-old Lorenzo Uribe, both of Oklahoma City.
The probable cause affidavit says a search warrant was initially executed on March 13 at the home. There, law enforcement agents allegedly seized approximately 97 grams of meth from a black safe along with many items of evidence.
Another affidavit says that an order of 18 ounces of meth was placed by undercover agents with an Oklahoma City woman and later that day, the delivery vehicle arrived and Flores allegedly participated in the transaction thought to have been worth over $5-thousand dollars. The fourth person, Uribe, was apparently in the vehicle after it was stopped a short distance away from the home allegedly after the transaction. A drug-sniffing dog had been employed in the search of the vehicle. Additionally, approximately $5-thousand-400-dollars was in Flores’ possession at the time with serial numbers matching the buy money.
All four are due in Custer County District Court on April 26 for preliminary hearing conferences.
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