The group is alleged to have imported significant amounts of drugs from Puerto Rico through the U.S. Postal Service as well as from a source connected to the Sinaloa Cartel.
“On two separate occasions, packages coming from Puerto Rico coming to Shepherdstown and Martinsburg were interdicted, assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Bernard said at a Tuesday news conference. “In one instance 1.5 kilograms of heroin was seized, in another, 2.9 kilograms of cocaine.”
Saul Alexi Padilla-Garcia, age 34, of Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and 17 others have been charged after an investigation led authorities to a local business in Martinsburg.
“This is one of those cases that were hiding in plain sight. The individuals were operating a car wash and detailing operation called Legends here in Martinsburg.” Bernard said. “For those doubting: the cartel does reach the northern district of West Virginia, it does reach the Eastern Panhandle.”
In a separate case, seven people are facing charges after investigators seized nearly 40,000 fentanyl pills and 12 firearms earlier this year in Berkeley County. According to the indictment, the individuals involved had a stash house on the Shepherdstown Road in Martinsburg where they stored their drugs and guns.
“This investigation uncovered a dangerous network distributing deadly drugs like fentanyl into our communities,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Shawn Morrow of the Louisville Division, which covers all of West Virginia and Kentucky. “ATF’s Martinsburg and Roanoke offices, FBI, West Virginia State Police, Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office, and the Eastern Panhandle Drug Task Force worked tirelessly to take crime guns and dangerous drugs off our streets. This case demonstrates the excellent work being done by law enforcement across the region, and it sends a strong message that drug trafficking and crimes involving firearms are not tolerated in West Virginia.”
Three individuals from the two organizations remain at large: Olvin Luis-Melendez Robles, age unknown, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Manuel Sanchez Gomez, 37, California; Jwan Martine Smith, 38, of Martinsburg.