Bridgeport residents among nine arrested in Task Force investigation

BRIDGEPORT – Four current and two former Bridgeport residents were among nine suspects arrested, Feb. 24, by members of the North Central Washington Narcotics Task Force (NCWNTF) in a multi-jurisdictional raid that seized narcotics, cash, weapons and vehicles in Douglas and Okanogan counties and on the Colville Reservation.
Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office Chief Criminal Deputy, Steve Brown, commander of the NCWNTF, said Bridgeport residents, Hipolito Adan De Jesus, Jose Perfecto Adan De Jesus, Walter Gomez-Gonzales, Claudia Lynn Garcia and former residents Alberto Lopez-Flores and Rachel Ann Bainard, were among those taken into custody.
Following a four-month drug-trafficking investigation that began in Nov. 2016, “members of the NCWNTF, Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and Border Patrol executed federal search warrants at locations in Douglas and Okanogan County,” according to a media release from NCWNTF.
During the investigation, detectives from the NCWNTF, DEA and BIA purchased quantities of narcotics from the drug trafficking organization and identified Hipolito and Jose Perfecto Adan De Jesus, who were transporting cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin from California to Douglas and Okanogan counties.
When the two suspects were apprehended on Feb. 4, near Klamath, Oregon, Oregon State Troopers found approximately 3.5 pounds of meth, 2.25 pounds of cocaine, three pounds of heroin, a pistol, and $66,550 in cash.
The detectives also identified drug stash houses in Douglas County and on the Colville Reservation which led to later execution of the search warrants.
Garcia, 23, who has a Bridgeport address but lives in Okanogan County, was taken into custody at one of the Douglas County locations. She was identified as the distributor of the organization’s narcotics throughout Douglas and Okanogan counties.
Another female, Leticia Panzo Lopez, 28, was arrested at a stash house along State Route 17 on the Colville Reservation and charged with forgery.
Gomez-Gonzales, 24, wanted on felony warrants and identified in two other task force drug investigations, surrendered to deputies who drove by his home, even though he was not a part of the investigation and there was no warrant to search his home, the NCWNTF release said.
Gomez-Gonzales told deputies he had received multiple calls about the warrants that day and assumed he was next on the list, the release said.
Additional drug investigations resulted in the arrest of former Bridgeport residents Lopez-Flores and Bainard with help from the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office and Omak Police Department
“At the conclusion of the investigations, approximately 12 pounds of narcotics, $70,000 in cash, five vehicles and two weapons were seized,” the NCWNTF release said.
Online rumors of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in the Bridgeport area were thought to be related to the Task Force arrests, but Brown dispelled that rumor.
“If there were any ICE agents involved in this I am not aware of them,” said Brown and added that the Task Force does not typically call in ICE in cases with U.S. non-citizens.
“When we do a drug investigation, based on criminal history and other checks we would generally be able to determine whether the person is a citizen or not,” said Brown. “Our focus is the drug investigation and not their legal status.”
Brown said that in the event of an arrest where it is determined that the subject is not a citizen of the U.S., those federal agencies responsible for the subject’s status would deal with that. 
“The Task Force’s mission and focus is on drug crimes, not the legal status of an individual,” Brown said.
The NCWNTF staff includes one National Guard employee, three Task Force detectives and other Okanogan County law enforcement personnel as local agency budgets allow, per the website: www.okanogansheriff.org/ncwntf.htm.
The Task Force has a full-time detective from the U.S. Border Patrol, a full-time detective from the Ferry County Sheriff’s Office and a full-time sergeant from the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office.
“Cocaine has been the main narcotic purchased by detectives over the last few years but methamphetamine is a close second,” the website said. “The task force also works border cases involving smuggling, usually marijuana cases.”