Heroin Dealers Arrested; Leads to More Arrests
from:City Of Modesto category:Government and Politics posted:September 30th, 2008
Modesto, CA---On Friday, September 26, Modesto Police arrested two heroin dealers on McHenry Avenue. Their arrests led investigators to ten additional arrests for people seeking to take possession of the heroin.
An investigation into the sales of heroin led members of the Modesto Narcotic Enforcement Team (MNET) and the Street Crimes Unit (SCU) to two suspected dealers. Investigators met with 23-year-old Jorge Astorga and 20-year-old Mario Cisneros, both Mexican nationals, at about 5:30 PM on Friday evening near the intersection McHenry and Bowen Avenues. Astorga and Cisneros sold heroin to undercover officers and their arrest led them to additional heroin packaged for sale as well as approximately $2,000 in cash. They were arrested for possession of heroin for sale, transportation of heroin; both felonies.
Investigators noticed that their cell phones were ringing constantly. Within a short period of time, six people arranged to purchase heroin from undercover officers posing as dealers. The officers sold pieces of Tootsie Roll candy which is similar in appearance to that of black tar heroin. The following people, all residing in Modesto, were arrested for attempted possession of heroin:
William Knight, 08-05-62
Samuel Bridges, 01-19-66
Margo Lugo, 01-24-59
Jeffrey Hanawalt, 05-04-61
Janice Clayton, 06-15-48
Patti Williams, 02-15-55
Investigators continued their operation on Saturday. They made the following four arrests at various locations throughout the city of Modesto:
Sheri Curtis, 08-18-60
Holly Wilkinson, 07-02-53
Joshua Gonsalves, 01-26-90
Andrew Perow, 11-11-81
Andrew Perow, a clerk at a local gas station, met officers in the lot of the service station and purchased the fake heroin.
For more information about this news release, contact police spokesman Sergeant Brian Findlen (findlenb@modestopd.com) at (209) 652-1386.
