Search warrants sought for phones seized from suspected traffickers

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  • Illegal Drugs
  • Photo Provided                        A Motorola cell phone currently in DEA custody.
  • Photo Provided                      A black Apple iPhone 8+ currently in DEA custody.
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OKLAHOMA CITY – Today’s mobile telephones carry an encyclopedic volume of data about their users. Three men arrested last month on narcotics charges probably wish their mobile phones were at the bottom of a well.

Applications for search warrants authorizing comprehensive examinations of three mobile phones seized from suspected drug traffickers were filed last month in Oklahoma City’s federal district court for the Western District of Oklahoma. One case led to the seizure of 26 pounds of methamphetamine and $40,000 cash, and another resulted in the confiscation of almost $100,000 in cash. 

SUSPECTED DRUG TRAFFICKER WAS ‘ON AN ERRAND’ FOR SOMEONE IN MEXICO

A Moore police officer assisting a federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) task force in Oklahoma City for the past year applied Jan. 22 for a warrant to search an Apple iPhone confiscated during the arrest of Eugenio Gadiel Bernal-Ruiz, a/k/a “Tuka”. In his sworn affidavit, the officer reported that DEA OKC launched an investigation in September 2019 that targeted “a methamphetamine drug trafficking organization operating in Oklahoma City.” A DEA “cooperating source” identified Bernal-Ruiz as a meth distributor operating in the capital city, the Moore police officer writes.

An undercover law enforcement officer made “a controlled purchase” of four ounces of meth from Bernal-Ruiz last Oct. 9, the affidavit alleges. Later that month Bernal-Ruiz was the front-seat passenger in a vehicle during a traffic stop that led to the seizure of $99,980 in U.S. currency, the affidavit continues. Bernal-Ruiz “admitted he knew he was transporting currency and admitted he received a payment of $2,000 to complete the money transport.” No charges were filed, and he was released from custody.

On Jan. 9, DEA task force members “participated in a controlled delivery of a vehicle loaded with suspected methamphetamine,” the affidavit reports. As a result of that operation, task force officers conducted “a consensual search” of a house in northwest Oklahoma City. Bernal-Ruiz was observed in the yard of the house next door and was arrested “for his activities in October through December 2019...” The suspect said he had been unemployed for approximately two years and “admitted that he would obtain methamphetamine from his source of supply for further distribution.”

He also said that when he was arrested last October with nearly $100,000 in cash, “he was on an ‘errand’ for an individual in Mexico and that he believed he was transporting drug proceeds for this individual.” Bernal-Ruiz provided the code to open his phone but did not consent to a search of the device, officers said. He faces charges of drug conspiracy and possession of meth with intent to distribute, and was assigned a court-appointed interpreter “to render necessary interpretive services ...”

METH TRANSPORTED FROM EL PASO TO OKLAHOMA CITY

An agent with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (OBNDD) assigned to a DEA task force submitted affidavits in support of applications filed Jan. 28 for search warrants to examine an Apple iPhone and a Motorola cell ‘phone seized in another drug trafficking investigation. In early January the DEA OKC received information that a drug trafficking organization was “looking for a driver to transport approximately 20 pounds of methamphetamine” from El Paso, Texas, to Oklahoma City.

A DEA undercover officer (UC) “made arrangements to pick up the loaded vehicle,” both affidavits relate. The UC “picked up the courier vehicle and determined the doors of the vehicle were loaded with multiple bundles” of meth. The UC arrived in Oklahoma City on Jan. 9, contacted the drug trafficking organization (DTO) and was given an address where he would meet with a member of the DTO, that person would collected the drug-laden vehicle and pay the UC for transporting the vehicle, the affidavit states.

DEA OKC “established surveillance at the meet location.” Shortly after the undercover officer arrived, a Cadillac Escalade arrived and parked directly behind the courier vehicle. Officers ran a check on the tag of the Escalade and found it was registered to Ramon Ramirez-Torres. DEA agents later identified the occupants of the Escalade as Ramirez-Torres, the driver, and Alexander Hernandez-Cardenas, the front-seat passenger. The driver paid the undercover officer with “a large sum of U.S. currency.” Hernandez-Cardenas left the location in the vehicle loaded with the narcotics and Ramirez-Torres drove off in the Escalade, the affidavit states.

CAR CARRIED METH, HEROIN; $40K FOUND IN CLOSET

After he traveled to various locations and switched from the Escalade to a Jeep that’s also registered to him, Ramirez-Torres was arrested without incident. His mobile phone was seized, and he signed a consent form that allowed law enforcement officers to search his residence in northwest Oklahoma City. Their officers found $40,000 cash in the master bedroom closet, along with a firearm those serial number had been filed off. DEA OKC later arrested Hernandez-Cardenas; impounded the loaded vehicle, which was found to contain approximately 26 pounds of meth and a kilogram of heroin; and confiscated a Motorola mobile phone concealed beneath the center console.

Hernandez-Cardenas told the DEA agents that he had been contacted to pick up the loaded vehicle and pay the driver $4,000, and also said he was to receive further instructions pertaining to delivery of the vehicle. Both men were charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine.