Two Arrested On Cocaine Charges

By John Larson

SOCORRO - A raid on a residence on Tafoya Lane resulted in the arrest of two Socorro men on four narcotics charges, three of them felonies. John Giles, 22, and Joel Martinez, 25, were arraigned Monday on one count each of trafficking cocaine, manufacturing crack cocaine, conspiracy and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Socorro Police Officer Rocky Fernandez said the raid was the result of a series of controlled buys from the suspects.
According to the criminal complaint, Fernandez served a search warrant on the residence at about 5:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6, along with other city police officers and Socorro County Sheriff deputies.
“When no one answered the door after repeated knocks we opened the front door, announcing that we were the police and had a warrant to search the premises,” Fernandez said. “Joel Martinez and his cousin John Giles were in the kitchen eating a hotdog and were in the process of manufacturing crack cocaine.”
He said the two men were so surprised at seeing the police come in they dropped a cocaine mixture on the kitchen floor, “along with a half-eaten hotdog.”
“It was a mess,” Fernandez said.
The cocaine was cleaned off the floor, and about one ounce was collected in a jar, Fernandez said.
Evidence collected at the scene also included approximately one ounce of powdered cocaine, various baggies with cocaine residue, an electronic scale, a rolled up one dollar bill with cocaine residue, a cell phone with text messages indicative of cocaine transactions, and two handguns, one with the serial numbers filed off.
An amount of powdered cocaine cut into a line ready for inhalation was also seized.
Preliminary hearings in Magistrate Court for John Giles and Joel Martinez will be at 9 a.m. on August 18.
They are each being held on $100,000 cash or surety bond.
Man Faces Meth Charges
Another suspected drug dealer was arrested Saturday, July 14 for possession of methamphetamine with intent to sell.
The case against Daniel Pacheco, 42, of Socorro - involving two narcotics felonies and one misdemeanor, including trafficking methamphetamine, possession of prescription medication and drug paraphernalia - was bound over to District Court July 22.
According to the criminal complaint, Socorro Police Officer Rocky Fernandez received a tip that Pacheco was seen at a gas station on California Street with a methamphetamine pipe, which violated his conditions of release on a previous conviction.
Fernandez and Sgt. Richard Lopez questioned Pacheco, and during a routine pat-down Lopez found a meth pipe with residue in Pacheco’s pocket. He was then arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia.
Continuing the pat-down, Fernandez found a baggie which contained 16 small foil bindles in another pocket.
A bindle is a normal method for selling a single dosage of narcotics such as cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamine.
“I asked [him] what was in the baggie and he told me he did not know but had found the baggie on the ground,” Fernandez stated in the complaint.
Pacheco was incarcerated at the Socorro County Detention center after processing at the Police Department.
His case goes before a jury in District Court on Nov. 1.

Two Arrested On Cocaine Charges