HAMILTON, Mont. — A Port Angeles woman paid her bond and left a Montana jail where she was held on drug charges, but she was returned to custody less than 24 hours later after authorities said she used heroin and methamphetamine.
Marlen Ravelo, 47, satisfied the conditions of a $100,000 bail Monday after being charged with 10 drug-related felonies, but was returned to the Ravalli County Adult Detention Center within a day, according to Lt. Travis McElderry the Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office.
Ravalli County sheriff’s deputies said that Ravelo; Mason Gregory Skerbeck, 23, of Port Angeles; and Crystal Lee Griffin, 21, of Stevensville, Mont., possessed $225,000 worth of narcotics when they were arrested Saturday.
Griffin is a former Port Angeles resident who recently moved to Montana.
All three were charged Monday in Ravalli County court on four counts of conspiracy to distribute dangerous drugs, five counts of criminal possession of dangerous drugs with intent to distribute and one count of use of property subject to criminal forfeiture, all felonies.
On Wednesday all three — after Ravelo was returned — were in custody in the Ravalli County Adult Detention Center.
Skerbeck and Griffin were being held on $100,000 bond, according to the county’s jail log.
Authorities said in court documents that when Ravelo made a telephone call to arrange bail on Monday, she also arranged for a drug delivery.
She was released late Monday.
On Tuesday morning, a urine test showed the presence of narcotics, and she was returned to the detention center with an increase in bail to $250,000.
A new felony charge against Ravelo of tampering with physical evidence was added Wednesday after detention center employees caught her attempting to replace her urine sample with a “clean” fake sample, according to the court documents.
McElderry said heroin is unusual in his community, and the case was by far the biggest heroin drug bust in his 13 years at the Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies have found sporadic heroin use, he said, but nothing on the scale of the $225,000 in heroin and methamphetamine they confiscated in this case.
This was the second drug-related arrest this year for Ravelo, who was identified by Montana law enforcement officers as Marlen Revelo.
On July 22, Ravelo was in a car driven by Colette Marie Vail, 35, when a Jefferson County deputy pulled over a vehicle driven by Vail on U.S. Highway 101 near Discovery Bay because of an expired license plate registration, according to authorities.
The deputy then said he discovered suspected heroin wrapped in a burrito-like package.
The vehicle was taken to the sheriff’s Port Hadlock office, where a search warrant was obtained. Deputies said they found heroin, methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.
Ravelo was charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to manufacture or deliver and unlawful possession of a controlled substance, and was out on a Jefferson County bond.
She is scheduled for trial beginning Nov. 30, according to Jefferson County court documents.
On Oct. 30, Vail pleaded guilty to driving with a suspended license; possession of heroin with intent to manufacture or deliver; and unlawful possession of oxycodone, buprenorphine and methadone and was sentenced to 30 months in prison, according to Jefferson County court documents.
In Montana, authorites were led to the threesome by a confidential informant, who told the sheriff’s office that two Washington residents had arrived in Montana with a large quantity of heroin.
The informant provided detailed information on Ravelo and Skerbeck and their rented car, and said they were planning to meet with Griffin in Stevensville to arrange the sale of the drugs, court documents said.
Deputies stopped their rented vehicle; all three were found to be in the car, according to the affidavit.
The car was searched, and deputies found 257.4 grams of heroin, 201.7 grams of large crystals of methamphetamine and 30 grams of meth, as well as 16 hydrocodone pills, 14 films of Suboxone and one Fentanyl patch, according to the court report.
They also said they found a loaded .380 Ruger pistol, $1,730 in cash, drug paraphernalia, a laptop computer, an iPad and five cellphones.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
