Tuesday, June 11, 2019 | 7:05 p.m.
Authorities in Southern Nevada recently busted a methamphetamine trafficking ring, indicting 13 suspects, according to the office of the U.S. attorney for the district of Nevada.
A 30-count indictment charging the alleged suspects was unsealed Friday, according to federal court logs. It’d been filed on May 22.
The alleged ringleader, Miriam Elizabeth Suarez-Contreras, 38, appeared in federal court Monday, officials said. She also used the names “Ella” and “Liz.” If convicted, she faces up to life in prison, officials said.
The 13 suspects were charged with conspiracy to distribute 50 grams of meth or more, officials said. The crimes took place in Nevada from an unknown start time until mid-April.
Suarez-Contreras and 30-year-old Ramiro Ramirez-Barajas, who is also known as Sergio, had both previously been deported to Mexico, officials said.
The other suspects are Roberto Blancas-Mata, also known as Carlos Delgado, 66, of Las Vegas; Rahdsma Henderson, also known as “Weezy,” 41, of Las Vegas; Stephen Lloyd, 38, of Las Vegas; Charles Parr, also known as Charles Magnuson, 60, of Salt Lake City, Utah; Doug Stumpf, 55, of Henderson; Brian Scarborough, 43, of Henderson; Renea Barnes, also known as “Renea Valdez,” 50, of Las Vegas; Quentin Armstrong, 41, of Sandy Valley; Cipriano Pineda-Acedo, 49, of Las Vegas; Jose Guillermo Tello-Albarran, 32, of Las Vegas, and Martha Pedraza-Zamora, 40, of Las Vegas.
Suarez-Contreras faces an additional 16 counts of distribution of the drug, while Ramirez-Barajas an additional eight, officials said.
Tello-Albarran and Henderson also face distribution counts, while Scarborough, Parr, Lloyd, Stumpf, Barnes, Armstrong, Pedraza-Zamora, and Pineda-Acedo face counts of possession with the intent to distribute, officials said.
Scarborough was also docked for carrying a gun as a felon during a drug trafficking crime, officials said.
A jury trial for Suarez-Contreras is slated for July 29, officials said.
