By The Porterville Recorder
The investigation into one of the Porterville Police Department’s largest narcotics-related seizures may be handed over to federal investigators, with a representative from one of the agencies calling the bust “very significant.”

The amount of drugs and money seized in the Aug. 16 traffic stop and subsequent search of two Porterville homes — roughly $850,000 combined value — as well as the far-flung locations of two of the suspects’ residences may be enough to pique the interest of one of the Fresno-based federal law-enforcement agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigators or the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Police Chief Chuck McMillan said.

“There definitely is enough weight and money for the feds to adopt it and prosecute this federally,” McMillan said. “We’re still investigating and trying to sort through the stuff that was seized.”

Detectives arrested Noe Sanchez, 31, and John Sanchez, 32, of Coachella, located 28 miles east of Palm Springs, and Roque Rios, 28, and Rachel Trujillo, 30, of Porterville, for involvement in the series of seizures.

Police located more than 20 pounds of crystal methamphetamine, valued at $650,000, and $200,000 in U.S. currency in the search of the vehicle driven by Noe Sanchez, and homes in the 1900 block of West Roby Avenue and the 400 block of East Olivewood Street.

Special Investigations Unit detectives stopped Noe Sanchez and John Sanchez on Highway 65 north of Teapot Dome Avenue and with the assistance of canines reportedly discovered five pounds of methamphetamine in the car. This triggered the subsequent home searches, where Rios and Trujillo were arrested.

The combined amount of drugs and money seized made the bust one of the largest in recent memory. McMillan said he could only remember a handful that had larger amounts of methamphetamine, including one where Porterville PD found 30 pounds of methamphetamine in the car of an Oklahoma man detectives tracked from Porterville to Highway 58 in Bakersfield.

“We’ve had $100,000 busts before, but this was a very large one for us,” McMillan said. The fact that both Sanchez men live so far away from Porterville leads investigators to believe that the duo may be connected to a larger drug operation, McMillan said. “We are trying to find out who they are associated with,” McMillan said.

DEA Special Agent Casey McEnry said she could not comment as to whether the Porterville PD had been in contact with the agency, which targets large-scale drug-trafficking organizations.

When told the amounts involved, however, McEnry did not hesitate to classify the suspects as part of a “major trafficking organization.”

“Twenty pounds is an extremely significant amount of drugs of any kind,” McEnry said. “Any group capable of distributing that amount of drugs would be considered a major trafficking organization, and the money just shows the capability of this organization.”

Meanwhile, the case is making its way through the Tulare County Superior Court system. The individuals pleaded not guilty to charges ranging from possession, transportation and distribution of suspected crystal methamphetamine, maintaining a house where drugs are being sold, and conspiracy to distribute the drugs.

Their bails are each set at $1 million. “It will stay in the court system here, and it can be pulled out of state court anytime prior to trial,” McMillan said. “This is going to be an in-depth, drawn-out investigation that stretches into different parts of the state.”

Contact The Recorder newsroom at 784-5000, Ext. 1044.