News Release
December 17, 2004

One Drug Trafficker Pleads Guilty And A Second Sentenced

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA (DEC 17) - United States Attorney Sheldon J. (Shelly) Sperling announced today that Cerrardo Ramirez TREJO, a/k/a Garerdo Erago Ramirez, a/k/a Gerardo Ramirez Trejo, age 28, of Poteau, Oklahoma, entered a plea of guilty in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, at Muskogee, to a 1 count of a felony ­Indictment .

TREJO was charged with possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and distribution of methamphetamine.

According to Assistant United States Attorney Michael Littlefield, the AUSA who represented the United States of America in the case, the charges arise from an investigation by Special Agents and investigators from the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Van Buren Arkansas Police Department. On September 19, 2004, in Poteau, LeFlore County, Eastern District of Oklahoma, Cerrardo Ramirez Trejo, also known as Garerdo Erago Ramirez and Gerardo Ramirez Trejo, delivered to a confidential informant in a surveilled operation approximately 100 grams of a substance which field-tested positive for methamphetamine, was found in possession of in excess of $4,000, the serial numbers of which had been recorded which was delivered by the confidential informant to Trejo in exchange for controlled substances; and was found in possession of approximately 8 grams of what appeared to be a controlled substance, matching the in excess of 100 grams which was positively field tested to be methamphetamine.

Sentencing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation. TREJO faces a possible term of life imprisonment, a 5 -year term of supervised release, and a fine of not more than $4,000,000.00.

United States Attorney Sheldon J. (Shelly) Sperling announced that on December 16, 2004, STACEY MATTHEW RHODES, age 29, of Gans, Oklahoma, was sentenced in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, at Muskogee, by U.S. District Judge Ronald A. White.

RHODES had earlier pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and distribution of methamphetamine. On July 15, 2004, RHODES was charged by the Grand Jury sitting in and for the Eastern District of Oklahoma along with three co-defendants in an indictment alleging conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute methamphetamine. Two of the co-defendants, Valencia Eugenea Folsom and Harold Randall Plank, have pled guilty and are awaiting sentencing. RHODES was sentenced to a term of 5 years in the Bureau of Prison, and 4 years of supervised release.

According to Mike Littlefield, the Assistant United States Attorney representing the government in this case, the charges arise from an investigation by special agents and investigators from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Pocola Police Department, Fort Smith Police Department, LeFlore County District Attorney’s Office, Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs who participated in this extensive investigation. The task force deployment began in early November, 2003. Acting upon the request of then LeFlore County District Attorney Rob Wallace, the federal, state and local prosecutors and investigators assembled a team of law enforcement agencies from across the region to launch an investigation of unprecedented scope in this area. The operation was named “Hell on the Border,” for (hanging) Judge Isaac Parker’s jail in Fort Smith.