LITTLE ROCK — A 16-month drug investigation that led to a 36-count indictment and toppled an Arkansas drug-trafficking organization all started with a traffic stop in North Little Rock, officials said Tuesday.
According to Bill Bryant, special agent in charge of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration office in Little Rock, the investigation began in October 2010 after officers pulled over Terry Wayne Green of Independence County and found drugs in his car.
The investigation that followed involved more than a dozen law enforcement agencies throughout Arkansas and led to drug charges for 22 people, including Green.
During an announcement of the indictment in North Little Rock on Tuesday afternoon, Christopher Thyer, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, credited the multi-agency investigation with bringing down a network that moved 20 to 25 pounds of methamphetamine a month.
Between Thursday and Tuesday, federal and local law enforcement agencies arrested or issued court summonses to 21 suspects named in the indictment. Of those, 17 remain in custody.
Bryant said officials were still looking for one defendant in the indictment, Rhanda Rachael Ramey, 30, of North Little Rock, on three counts, including conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine.
During their raids, investigators seized seven vehicles, five guns, $163,590 and approximately 13.3 pounds of methamphetamine, Bryant said.
The investigation, “Operation Meilke Way,” was named after Michael Richard Meilke, a Bradford man who purchased methamphetamine by the pound, Bryant said, and who was indicted in August.
Bryant said that as the investigation developed, it reached into White and Independence counties, where officials said the bulk of the trafficking was taking place.
The organization was headed by Jorge Rojas-Olivera, who took in pure methamphetamine ice, a smokeable form of the drug, from Mexican traffickers at his Batesville home, Bryant said.
Rojas-Olivera, who was arrested and booked into Pulaski County jail a month ago, faces four criminal counts, including one charge of witness tampering, in which prosecutors said he attempted to arrange the murder of a potential federal witness, the indictment said.
Six of the defendants named in the indictment live in Pulaski County. Two North Little Rock men, Paul Hussey, 41, and Kevin Hyder, 36, face multiple counts of conspiring to possess methamphetamine mixtures.
Stephen Hill, 39, and Angelique Kennedy, 38, both of Maumelle, both face three indictments related to conspiracy to possess and deliver methamphetamine.
Rodolfo Longoria, 44, of Jacksonville was also indicted on three counts of conspiracy and possession of methamphetamine mixtures.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 01/18/2012