By Daniel Borunda
The El Paso Times
DEA agents and El Paso police arrested 11 people on suspicion of being part of local methamphetamine manufacturing rings, federal officials said Thursday.
Ring members allegedly would go to various pharmacies to buy products with pseudoephedrine and then use it to produce methamphetamine in a process known as “cooking.”
The arrests were made Thursday and Wednesday as part of two federal indictments for activities since 2005, stated a news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Details of the arrests were not revealed.
“Methamphetamine is extremely harmful to individual abusers and can destroy the quality of life in any community,” said Joseph M. Arabit, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s El Paso division.
“Through this investigation, the DEA is holding dealers, as well as those who aid in meth am phetamine production by diverting pseudoephedrine, accountable for the harm they cause,” Arabit said in a statement.
Charged in one indictment were Lloyd Leslie Revels, 29; Sylvester Singleton, 49; and Antonia Miramontes, 41.
In the other indictment, Wesley Robert Kornegay, 29, is accused of cooking meth with pseudoephedrine (a component in cold medicines) acquired by seven other people. The others arrested were Jason Nathanial Stephens, 35; Matthew Adrian Uster, 30; Shannon Smith, 25; Jacklyn Silva, 29; Rachel Hall, 33; Kevin Green, 26; and Kevin Sibley, 24.
The defendants are charged with conspiring to manufacture meth and possessing the chemicals used to make it. If convicted, they face 10 years to life in prison.
Methamphetamine causes users to feel a short yet intense rush, but the drug is highly addictive and is a problem in communities across the nation.
Copyright 2011 El Paso Times, a MediaNews Group Newspaper