He’s accused of leading a Tri-Cities drug operation. She moves it for him, police say

A Pasco couple is accused of moving large quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and fentanyl-laced pills in the Tri-Cities and across Eastern Washington.

Federal prosecutors say Jose M. Lopez Orduno is the leader of a drug trafficking organization.

And his partner, Angelica Viviana Sanchez, transports and distributes the drugs, according to prosecutors.

One court document says the couple are husband and wife, while another identifies them as boyfriend and girlfriend.

The couple have lived in northeast Pasco, but also list addresses in Yakima and Grant counties.

Lopez Orduno, 24, was arrested Dec. 17 after taking Sanchez to the Franklin County Courthouse for a month-old case involving an alleged stolen rifle inside her SUV.

It was the same SUV that Lopez Orduno was stopped in. Investigators said they found drugs, cash, a drug ledger, packaging material and several stolen guns inside.

Two of those guns were wrapped up and taped to a hiding spot inside the driver’s seat near the headrest, court documents said.

They were charged last month in U.S. District Court with drug crimes that could send Lopez Orduno to federal prison for five to 40 years, and Sanchez for at least 10 years to a life maximum.

A grand jury has not yet returned indictments on the couple.

No ties to a U.S. community

At a Dec. 27 hearing in a Yakima courtroom, Magistrate Judge Mary K. Dimke found probable cause for the charge of possessing 5 grams or more of pure meth with intent to deliver.

Dimke also ordered him to remain in custody based on his limited connections to any community in the United States, his lack of employment and stable housing, and the seriousness and dangerousness of the allegations.

Lopez Orduno is on a U.S. Marshals hold in the Yakima County jail.

He is a legal permanent resident but, if convicted, will face mandatory deportation once he serves his sentence.

Sanchez, 26, has not yet been arrested or appeared in federal court on the charge of possessing 50 grams or more of pure meth with intent to deliver.

Sanchez’s Franklin County trial is set for March 4 on charges of possessing a stolen gun and bail jumping, both felonies.

She has been out of custody on that case since posting $2,500 bail on Dec. 4. She had been picked up on a warrant for missing a court hearing, and at the time gave an address in Outlook.

Tipsters owe drug debt

The FBI’s Southeast Washington Safe Streets Task Force was contacted in November by three people about the drug operation.

The people — identified only as Cooperating Witness 1, 2 and 3 — said they were afraid of Lopez Orduno because they owed them money.

They identified Sanchez as the drug-runner for Lopez Orduno, documents said.

Pasco police Detective John D’Aquila, who is assigned to the task force, said he made no promises to the people regarding their self-incriminating statements. None of them have any misdemeanor or felony convictions.

However, since all three are illegally in the country, the task force agreed to help them get temporary legal status based on their cooperation, court documents said.

The Dec. 17 arrest came after one of the witnesses tipped off the task force and said Lopez Orduno would be at the courthouse in a white Chevy Equinox with at least 1 kilogram of drugs inside.

FBI investigators watched the Chevy until Pasco Officer Andrew Corral could stop the car.

Air fresheners to mask drug odor

Corral noted that the SUV had several air fresheners inside, and he knows drug traffickers commonly use them to try to mask the odor of drugs.

Lopez Orduno, when frisked, allegedly had $1,500 in his pants pocket and $1,000 hidden in one of his socks. And Corral’s police dog, Ezra, indicated possible drugs near the driver’s front door.

The officer got a search warrant and inside the car he found a backpack with 2 to 3 ounces of crystal meth, about 9 grams of cocaine and a stolen pistol, court documents said.

He also allegedly located the two wrapped pistols in the driver’s seat. One of those was confirmed stolen.

Lopez Orduno was ordered held in Franklin County Superior Court for possessing drugs with intent to deliver and possession of a stolen gun, but online records show no state charges were filed in that case.

That’s when federal prosecutors stepped in and charged the couple.

Selling drug supply for bail

The task force had received another tip Dec. 18 that Sanchez was at a Quincy motel and needed a ride because her husband had been arrested.

The tipster said they saw Sanchez with about 1 kilogram of meth and heroin and a bag of fentanyl-laced pills or “Mexis.”

Investigators were told Sanchez was collecting drug debts and trying to sell the rest of her drug supply to raise bail for Lopez Orduno, court documents said.

The motel manager told investigators Sanchez had been staying there since Nov. 30.

During a search, police found a black safe under the bed that held seven packages of meth weighing 1,200 grams total, about 39 grams of heroin and 100 Mexis, documents said.

They also discovered three pistol magazines, shotgun shells and 9mm ammunition, a case with a .22-caliber pistol, and a rifle lower and magazine covered in tape and paper.

Investigators also turned up several more gun magazines, a shoe box with 985 grams of meth, a case with loose white powder and a package of fentanyl pills, a bag with pills priced at $1,200 for 100, another 245 grams of meth and 64 grams of heroin, court documents said.

D’Aquila wrote in a document that he knows the purity of methamphetamine seized in the search is typically 90 percent or higher, meaning the 5 pounds of seized meth will contain more than 50 grams of actual meth.

Denied guns in her SUV

Sanchez had been arrested following a Nov. 8 traffic stop for driving with a broken tail light on the Equinox. She also had a suspended license.

Pasco Officer Joseph Mullen said he was walking up to the SUV when he spotted a shotgun grip near a back window. He could see that the shotgun was disassembled.

Mullen said in court documents that he asked Sanchez about the gun and she replied that she had no knowledge of it being in her vehicle.

Sanchez, who is not a U.S. citizen, gave permission for police to go inside the Chevy and look at the shotgun, and then to see what was inside a bag. The bag held a rifle that had been reported stolen in Texas, documents said.

Sanchez continued to deny knowing any guns were in the SUV, saying someone else must have stashed them there, according to court documents.

A later search found three more guns and ammunition for various calibers of guns and rifles, including some in the driver’s door panel, documents said.

Shot in leg at club

Lopez Orduno was the victim of a Pasco nightclub shooting in November 2018.

Court documents from that case said Lopez Orduno had bumped into a man in the restroom line at La Cabaña de Pasco on Sylvester Street and gotten to a urinal first.

The other customer, Alex Deleon, responded by firing twice at Lopez Orduno. One bullet passed through his left leg above the knee, exited the leg and became lodged in his right shoe above the toe.

Deleon ended up pleading guilty to second-degree unlawful gun possession with a previous conviction and second-degree assault, and was sentenced to 1 1/2 years in prison.

This story was originally published January 6, 2020 at 5:00 AM.