Six ML area residents plead not guilty in federal drug bust

SPOKANE — Six Grant County residents are each facing lengthy prison terms for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine after a series of drug busts by federal law enforcement officers in the Moses Lake area in early May.

“We did conduct multiple search and arrest warrants in the Moses Lake area on May 4 and 5,” said Jason Chudy, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Seattle.

According to documents filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, Ismael Ortiz Jr., Leticia Ann Martinez, Mario Robert Crittenden, Cody Flores, Jesse Troy Charlton and Irbin Martinez-Santacruz have all been charged in the same case with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine by a federal grand jury in Spokane.

All defendants are in federal custody and all pleaded not guilty May 6, according to court documents. Judge John T. Rodgers ordered Ortiz to be released Wednesday.

Crittenden, Ortiz, Martinez-Santacruz, Charlton and Flores all have pre-trial hearings set for July 1 and jury trials scheduled to start on July 7.

According to heavily redacted indictments, Ortiz, Flores, Crittenden, Martinez-Santacruz and Charlton have all been charged with “knowingly and intentionally” conspiring to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine from July 9, 2020, through May 4, 2021.

If convicted, they each face a minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life.

Martinez is charged solely with conspiring to distribute five grams or more of methamphetamine on Aug. 5, 2020, and faces a minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of 40 years in federal prison if found guilty.

In a separate, but apparently related indictment, Ortiz and Martinez are also accused of conspiring to distribute five grams of methamphetamine “on or about November 12, 2020.”

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at [email protected].