Friday, Dec. 12, 2003 | 11:12 a.m.
A federal magistrate released half of the people who were arrested in a multiagency federal drug and gang sweep in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The alleged drug dealers were released on their own recognizance Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court.
Federal Magistrate Peggy Leen followed the recommendation of pre-trial services in her decision to release six of the 11 arrested in Wednesday's sweeps, which found cocaine, guns and other drugs in the homes and cars of the those searched. All of the releases included several conditions.
A 12th man, Eliso Villa Jr., 27, was arrested by federal authorities in Los Angeles as part of the sweep and appeared in U.S. District Court there. A 13th Las Vegas suspect, whose name remains sealed, was still a fugitive Thursday.
Two of the Las Vegans arrested in the case -- Kohath Carroll, 33, and Graylon Dillon, 31 -- remained jailed, primarily because their arrests broke their conditions of parole for other convictions.
Three of the individuals remain in custody. Their detention hearings were postponed because of difficulties with verifying information and, in one case, because of a problem with the proposed public defender. The cases of Johnny Jones, 25, and Jose Antonio Morales, 24, were postponed to 3 p.m. today, and Davion Brook's hearing was postponed until 9 a.m. Tuesday in Leen's courtroom.
The U.S. Attorney's office had asked Leen to detain the nine men, claiming they were either a danger to the community or a flight risk. Instead, four -- Arphaxad Carroll, 33; Damon James, 24; David Keith, 29; and Henry Villa-Chavez, 25 -- were released.
The attorney's office did not ask that the two women, Roxana Arteaga, 20, and Lavonne Norwood, 30, be detained as neither had any significant record and both had strong ties to the community. Both were released.
U.S. Attorney Pat Walsh told Leen that Arphaxad Carroll and many of the others arrested for drug trafficking had "been selling narcotics in the area for quite some time."
Authorities believe many of the defendants were working together through an organization to traffic the cocaine into Las Vegas. Many of them were charged in pairs.
Keith in particular was said by Walsh to be an "integral member of this organization that has been distributing cocaine base throughout the Las Vegas Valley since last April."
With the exception of Norwood, who is charged with money laundering, all of the defendants face one or two drug-related charges, including distribution of a controlled substance, possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance or conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.
Some, including Arphaxad Carroll and Dillon, may face more charges for guns found in their homes, U.S. attorneys said. They also indicated authorities are still investigating many of those arrested for connections to other crimes.
Drug Enforcement Agency officers raided six locations in the Las Vegas area with assistance from Metro and North Las Vegas Police, Los Angeles DEA spokesman Jose Martinez said. Southern Nevada is included in the DEA's Los Angeles territory.
Search warrants for 10 cars and four bank accounts were also served in the multi-agency investigation named "Operation Armed and Dangerous."
Cocaine was found in several of the cars, including a secret compartment in Dillon's vehicle, U.S. attorneys said. Dillon had one of the worst records of the bunch, with a larceny and felony robbery conviction, for which he had been on parole at the time his most recent arrest.
Wiretaps and surveillance helped federal agents arrest several of the suspects, including Chavez and Morales, U.S. attorneys said.
Police had stopped a vehicle carrying the duo after they had first intercepted phone calls and saw Morales leave Chavez's home with a large black bag, Walsh said. Police found 55 grams of cocaine base, methamphetamine and marijuana. This was Chavez' first offense.
Undercover officers were also a major component of the investigation. Kohath Carroll, who was on parole for a felony drug-trafficking conviction at the time of this arrest, sold 15 grams or more of cocaine to undercover officers on three occasions, U.S. attorneys said.
James was found with 20 grams of cocaine base and a firearm with an altered serial number. Walsh said jail house phone calls made by James from the Clark County Detention Center for a previous arrest indicated that the gun may have ties to a homicide in Kansas. He has two prior drug convictions, authorities said.
Numerous law enforcement agencies, including all local police, the FBI, U.S. Marshall services, the U.S. Attorney's office, the Clark County District Attorney's office, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives worked together to make the arrests possible and will continue to work together to prosecute the cases, officials said.
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