EGN NEWS DESK
Investigators had not beforehand defined how they got here to focus on Jorge Oceguera-Rocha.
The obvious connection was made in a information launch issued by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and the Riverside Police Department on Wednesday, April 25, saying the arrests of 15 folks in Operation Hotline Bling. Officers with the DEA, Riverside Police Department and U.S. Postal Service Inspection Service seized 376 kilos of methamphetamine, 37.4 kilos of fentanyl, 600,000 fentanyl tablets, 1.4 kilograms of cocaine and 7 firearms.
“During the course of the investigation, brokers developed info concerning a corrupt Riverside County Correctional Deputy … finally aiding within the arrest of the deputy whereas he was in possession of 104 kilos of fentanyl drugs,” the discharge mentioned.
The launch didn’t determine Oceguera-Rocha by identify. However, Officer Ryan Railsback, a Riverside police spokesman, mentioned the deputy arrested on the ten Freeway in Calimesa on Sept. 17 who authorities mentioned had 104 kilos of fentanyl drugs in his automobile is identical particular person.
Also, the discharge didn’t particularly say the deputy was working for the Sinaloa Cartel, and DEA spokeswoman Rosa Valle-Lopez on Thursday declined to substantiate that hyperlink. But in saying Oceguera-Rocha’s arrest, the Sheriff’s Department mentioned he had “a pivotal position of trafficking giant portions of narcotics inside Riverside County whereas off obligation.”
Capt. Rob Roggeveen, in an interview after the arrest, mentioned “We are doing every little thing in our investigative capabilities to make sure we dismantle the drug trafficking group Oceguera is affiliated with.”
Oceguera-Rocha, a 25-year-old Banning resident, has pleaded not responsible to fees of possession of a managed substance and possession of a managed substance for gross sales, each felonies. He is due again in court docket on Monday. He resigned after his arrest.
The DEA mentioned investigators seized sufficient fentanyl from the Sinaloa operatives to provide 10 million deadly doses. Overdoses from that prescription painkiller are the main reason behind dying for Americans ages 18 to 45, the DEA mentioned. The road worth of all of the medicine seized was estimated at $16 million.
A federal grand jury indictment charging conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and distribution of fentanyl and methamphetamine resulted in six folks being charged to date and the issuance of 16 arrest warrants. The indictment mentioned they operated a stash home in Perris, the place the medicine have been packaged for mailing to clients from put up places of work in Homeland, Menifee and Jurupa Valley.
