12 indicted on 84 counts in alleged Texas-Ohio cocaine conspiracy

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

An 84-count federal grand-jury indictment charging 12 people with conspiracy to distribute cocaine in the Youngstown area was unsealed in federal court Wednesday.

The indictment, related to the arrests of three people last month at an Austintown residence by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, alleges the defendants conspired to transport cocaine from Texas to Ohio.

DEA agents arrested three of the defendants, Bruce Cuevas Sr., 61, of Youngstown; Jose G. Martinez, 42, and Lilia Comacho-Jiminez, 32, both of Austintown, last month at a Notre Dame Drive home in Austintown, after an investigation that began in March 2015.

Youngstown-based U.S. District Court Judge Benita Y. Pearson authorized a phone tap in March 2015 for calls between Martinez and an Irvine, Calif., man in connection with this case, according to a federal affidavit.

After surveillance, agents determined that cocaine was transported in April from Texas to Martinez’s Notre Dame Drive home.

Cuevas transported the cocaine from there to his Osborn Avenue home, the affidavit said.

The drug was then given to another man, who was pulled over by the Ohio State Highway Patrol on Interstate 71 southbound in Wayne County, where a drug-sniffing dog found nearly 18 pounds of suspected cocaine taped inside the car’s speaker box.

Four children the DEA found while searching the Notre Dame Drive home were placed under emergency protective custody with the Mahoning County Children Services Board.

Also charged in January was Ricardo Bustillos-Ramos, 46, of Austintown, who purportedly delivered the cocaine that was shipped from Texas in a duffel bag to Martinez’s home.

Others indicted were: Jonathan Rivera, 30, of Dallas; Pedro Aboite-Espitia, 44, of New Carlisle, Ohio; Raymone T. West, 26, and Michael S. Patterson, 41, both of Springfield, Ohio; Felipe Hildago-Rivera, 30, of Des Moines, Iowa; Justin D. Trevor, 28, of Wellsville; Joseph W. Warrick, 54, of East Liverpool; and John N. Clemens, 71, of Kensington, Ohio.

Rivera and Aboite-Espitia supplied cocaine to Martinez for distribution in the Youngstown area, the U.S. attorney said. Martinez supplied cocaine to Trevor, Clemens and Warrick for redistribution in northern Ohio and to West and Patterson for redistribution in southern Ohio, according to the indictment.

Bustillos-Ramos transported cocaine from Texas to Martinez in Ohio; and Cuevas transported drugs and drug proceeds for the organization, while Hildago-Rivera possessed and transported cocaine for the organization, the U.S. attorney said.

The conspirators used cellphones, code words and phrases to facilitate their drug trafficking, according to the indictment.

The indictment, issued Feb. 10, was kept sealed until all defendants could be arrested.

The indictment seeks forfeiture of six vehicles and the Notre Dame Drive home, which it says were either used in the purported drug-distribution conspiracy or proceeds derived from it.

The case is being prosecuted by David M. Toepfer, a Youngstown-based assistant U.S. attorney.