HAMILTON, Mont. — A 47-year-old Port Angeles woman remained in a Montana jail Friday while authorities there, those in Jefferson County and federal prosecutors decide who will prosecute her first.
Marlen Ravelo was among 12 defendants whose indictments were unsealed Thursday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Seattle, after a two-year investigation of drug trafficking in the Puget Sound region.
Ravelo initially had been arrested on Montana charges Oct. 31 — even while she awaited a Nov. 30 trial on drug charges in Port Townsend — but had posted bond and been released from the Ravalli County Adult Detention Center in Hamilton.
However, because deputies said she set up a drug delivery when she arranged for bail, they rearrested her Tuesday. They reset bond at $250,000 after a urine test revealed she had used narcotics.
They added a charge of tampering with evidence to her 10 state drug-related counts after jailers said they caught her trying to replace the sample with “clean” urine.
Who goes first?
Most recently, U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes in Seattle unsealed indictments naming Ravelo among two-dozen defendants.
A spokeswomen for Hayes’ office in Seattle said Friday it remained undecided whether the Jefferson County case, the Montana charges or the federal indictments against Ravelo would take precedence.
The federal office did not enumerate the federal complaints against her.
Twelve of the 24 indicted defendants had been arrested by Friday, federal authorities said. Besides Ravelo, they included residents of Bothell, Everett, Marysville and Stanwood, as well as Fresno, Calif.
Raids on Thursday seized 14 pounds of heroin, 43 pounds of methamphetamine, cash and eight handguns, bringing the investigation’s heroin total to 50 pounds, meth to 100 pounds and cash to $1.12 million.
Port Angeles raid
As part of the federal investigation, officers of the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team (OPNET) and other agencies searched a house at 453 McCarver St., Port Angeles, on Thursday, arrested Johnnie J. Blanco, 27, of Port Angeles and booked him into the Clallam County jail on possession of a controlled substance.
The McCarver Street search was conducted by Clallam County sheriff’s deputies, Border Patrol officers and Port Angeles and Sequim police officers, as well as OPNET detectives.
The search uncovered a small amount of drugs and what police said were “a number of firearms.”
Meanwhile in Montana, Mason Gregory Skerbeck, 23, of Port Angeles and Crystal Lee Griffin, 21, of Stevensville, Mont., who had been arrested with Ravelo, remained in the Hamilton jail.
Griffin is a former Port Angeles resident who recently moved to Montana.
Their bond remained at $100,000 apiece on allegations they had possessed $225,000 worth of narcotics when they were arrested Oct. 31.
Jefferson County case
The Montana arrest and the federal indictments followed Ravelo’s arrest July 22, when Jefferson County deputies said they found drugs in a car in which she was riding when it was pulled over near Discovery Bay.
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 had been scheduled for a trial starting Nov. 30 — which also may be put into abeyance by the federal proceedings.
The federal case stems from an investigation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in conjunction with the Seattle Police Department and the Snohomish Regional Drug and Gang Task Force.
It also involved the Internal Revenue Service, Homeland Security Department, the sheriff’s offices of King and Snohomish counties, and police departments in Centralia, Everett and Marysville.
DEA Special Agent-in-Charge Keith Weis called the defendants “a transnational criminal organization with tentacles in our area.”
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Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com.
