DA: Wiretaps, GPS topple cocaine ring

By Paul Shockley
Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Law enforcement used an arsenal, including wiretaps and Global Positioning System tracking devices, to bring down an alleged cocaine-distribution network that has been under investigation since May 2011, according to a prosecutor and court records made public Wednesday.

Fourteen arrests over the span of three days represent the dismantling of an alleged organization bringing roughly 6 1/2 pounds of cocaine into Grand Junction per month, Western Colorado Drug Task Force officers said.

One of the two primary focuses of the investigation, 41-year-old Federico Lerma, was making trips to Denver about every 10 days for the drug, Chief Deputy District Attorney Dan Rubinstein said.

Starting Jan. 17 and ending Wednesday, authorities were listening in on four cell phones via wiretaps, capturing suspected drug transactions in parking lots of Grand Junction restaurants and at Denver residences.

Lerma is allegedly heard on a wiretap directing a source to meet his 16-year-old son for a drug deal. Lerma on Jan. 18 told a suspected buyer his son wouldn’t get out of high school — the name of the school was redacted by police — until 3:30 p.m. that day.

“Lerma assured (alleged buyer) that his son would be there at exactly 5:30 p.m.,” reads a transcript of the wiretap.

The boy delivered a “5” for $200, the records said.

When Federico Lerma and his daughter, Blanca Lerma, 19, were arrested Sunday returning to Grand Junction from Denver, officers searched their vehicle and found more than two pounds of cocaine inside the vehicle’s air filter, Rubinstein said.

Blanca Lerma’s 7-month-old child also was in the vehicle.

Officers who executed a search warrant at the family’s home at 830 Independent Ave., No. 42, found 1 1/2 ounces of cocaine in smaller quantities and $5,000 in cash, Rubinstein said.

Federico Lerma’s wife, Dolores Flores, 40, and the couple’s 16-year-old son, were arrested at the home.

During the investigation, officers had been watching the home using a video camera aimed at the residence, affidavits said

A confidential informant told Task Force officers in May 2011 that Lerma was selling large amounts of cocaine in Grand Junction. By the end of July 2011, officers were using confidential informants to make “controlled” buys of cocaine from Lerma, affidavits said.

“Investigations go in different directions for a variety of reasons, such as the availability of resources, protecting witnesses and determining priorities,” Rubinstein said, when asked about the delay in arrests.

Ismael Caloca, 50, of Aurora, was a source of supply for the organization, affidavits allege. Caloca was arrested in the Denver area on Wednesday, Rubinstein said.

The Drug Enforcement Administration hired Spanish-language translators to write synopses of the wiretap-captured conversations, the affidavit said.