Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team (JNET) personnel arrested two men and seized a total of 43.75 pounds of cocaine Monday night after they conducted a traffic stop on a 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee on northbound Interstate 5 in Lewis County.
The street value of the seized cocaine is estimated to be between $500,000 and $600,000, according to charging documents filed in Lewis County Superior Court on Tuesday.
The two occupants of the Jeep, identified in court documents as Lamberto Palomera Mora and Melecio Palomera Mora, were arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail on possession of a controlled substance with intent to manufacture or deliver charges at 9:27 p.m. on March 17, according to jail records.
They were arrested after a K-9 alerted to the presence of narcotics in the vehicle during the traffic stop, according to court documents.
JNET personnel reportedly acquired a search warrant for the Jeep and found 18 “brick style packages” of a substance that field-tested positive for cocaine, according to court documents.
The reason for the traffic stop was not disclosed in an affidavit of probable cause filed in Lewis County Superior Court on Tuesday.
Both Lamberto Palomera Mora and Melecio Palomera Mora had preliminary hearings on possible felony charges at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 18, in Lewis County Superior Court.
An affidavit of probable cause and a judge’s order determining probable cause for both Lamberto Palomera Mora and Melecio Palomera Mora were filed in Lewis County Superior Court on Tuesday, but charges had not been filed as of Tuesday afternoon.
Lewis County Superior Court Judge Paul Strophy granted the prosecution’s request Tuesday for a 72-hour no-bail investigative hold for both subjects
“This appears to be part of a larger drug organization moving significant weight and value of drugs,” Deputy Prosecutor Scott Jackson said during a hearing for Lamberto Palomera Mora on Tuesday.
Melecio Palomera Mora was reportedly deported in 2014 and was convicted in 2018 for reentering the U.S. illegally, Jackson said Tuesday.
“I believe the state has just argued that Mr. Palomera Mora will return,” defense attorney Rachael Tiller said of Melecio Palomera Mora in response to Jackson’s concern that the defendants would flee Lewis County and not return to court if released from jail.
Review hearings for both Lamberto Palomera Mora and Melecio Palomera Mora are scheduled for Thursday, March 20.
