A methamphetamine trafficking investigation that started in Jackson County led to the May 1 arrest in Roseburg of two suspects, one of whom is still being held in the Douglas County Jail.

Daniel Zainez-Pena, 35, of Tillamook and Juan Leonardo Garcia-Perez, 25, of Cloverdale were each arrested and lodged at the Douglas County Jail on suspicion possession and distribution of a controlled substance, according to a jail spokeswoman.

Though Zainez-Pena is no longer in the Douglas County Jail, he and Garcia-Perez both have federal holds placed on them because they are in the country illegally, according to a media release on the Web site of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.
Garcia-Perez is still in custody locally, with a $100,000 bail in addition to the federal hold.

Lt. Curt Strickland, commander of the Douglas Interagency Narcotics Team, said local officers assisted Jackson County narcotics investigators after learning the suspects might be conducting illegal drug activity in the Roseburg area.

“It was some dealers from Tillamook that traveled to Roseburg to kind of meet their buyers in the middle, I guess to say, and they settled on Roseburg,” Strickland said in a phone message left with The News-Review. “They did the deal, or started to do a deal there in a business parking lot on Airport Road in Roseburg, and we had a Roseburg P.D. officer make a traffic stop on them.”

A drug-detecting dog brought in to assist with the investigation signaled drugs were present in the vehicle, and in a subsequent search officers discovered six ounces of methamphetamine and over $2,000 of suspected proceeds from drug transactions, according to the Jackson County sheriff’s release.

A search warrant was served on Zainez-Pena’s home in Tillamook, where officers reportedly seized scales, packaging materials, cutting agents used to dilute the drug, and $15,000 in suspected drug proceeds, according to the sheriff’s release.

Police believe Zainez-Pena has been supplying mid-level amounts of meth to Jackson County for the past year, and the Medford Mail Tribune reported that he may have been bringing the drug in to Roseburg, Bend and other areas of Oregon.

In addition to DINT, Jackson County officers were assisted by the Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team, the Tillamook Narcotics Team, the Lincoln County Interagency Narcotics Team and special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

• You can reach City Editor Christian Bringhurst at 957-4201 or by e-mail at cbringhurst@nrtoday.com.