By Nicholas Gilmore
The Santa Fe New Mexican
SANTA FE, N.M. — Charges were filed Tuesday against 11 people suspected of taking part in an illegal drug dealing ring within the Santa Fe County jail.
The accused include seven men who were incarcerated at the jail and four women who investigators allege were sneaking methamphetamines and suboxone to inmates.
The Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office investigated the case over the past several months by monitoring inmates’ phone calls. Investigators said the suspects planned drops and payments with their girlfriends using code words, according to an affidavit filed with arrest warrants in each case.
The men and women implicated in the case all face felony charges, including combinations of counts of conspiracy to distribute illegal drugs and conspiracy to bring contraband into a jail. Some also face distribution charges.
Investigators from the sheriff’s office were first tipped off about a potential drug ring by a correctional officer at the jail who had confiscated drugs from an inmate and told deputies he believed there was a dealing ring “organized by inmates and civilians,” according to the affidavit.
The inmates who face charges in the sting include: Curtis “Dough Boy” Benavidez, 42; Isaac “Iceman” Griego-Vigil, 35; Jessie “Chewy” Martinez, 44; Joshua “Dreamer” Vialpando, 38; Daniel “Dopey” Fernandez, 41; Michael Flores, 35; and Jessie Castillo, 37, according to criminal complaints filed against each of the men.
The women who face charges include Kaylene Sherwood, 30; Victoria Duarte, 33; Jasmine Campos, 26; and Jeanette Romero, 39. Most of the suspects reside in Santa Fe , while one is from Española and another lives in Chimayó.
Investigators allege that in phone conversations with their girlfriends, six of the inmates had conspired to sneak drugs into the jail by using code words like “windows” for methamphetamines, “truck” for other types of drugs and “dollars” for suboxone strips — which are a medication used in treatment for opioid addiction.
Investigators wrote they believed each week one of the girlfriends would “drop” a package at the jail by taping it behind a “kiosk machine” where people can deposit money into inmates’ accounts. Benavidez worked as a porter in charge of sweeping and mopping the administrative lobby that contained the kiosk, police wrote.
In late May, a correctional officer was given an “anonymous letter” that claimed the “admin porter dough boy” was retrieving packages of meth and suboxone from the kiosk for “Dreamer” left by his girlfriend, and that they had been “doing it every week,” the affidavit states.
In the video below, Gordon Graham discusses how to combat contraband in correctional facilities.
The correctional officer checked behind the kiosk and found a package containing 112 suboxone strips and 15 grams of methamphetamines and replaced it with a “decoy package,” the affidavit says. Officers later watched Benavidez retrieve the decoy package while he was cleaning and confronted the inmate, investigators wrote.
The investigation included surveillance of the inmates’ phone calls, during which other inmates and their girlfriends were mentioned. Police wrote one of the women appeared to be a girlfriend to two different men who were involved.
“Do you remember about the truck I was telling you about and how the battery dropped ... Thank you for fixing it — I need it fixed by Tuesday,” Duarte said to Flores in a May 19 phone call, according to the affidavit. “I’m hoping it will be okay like now before you get out; make some money with the truck. Do you understand what I’m saying? That would help us a lot.”
Police interviewed each of the men about the allegations, and three admitted their involvement in the alleged drug ring, according to the affidavit. Vigil told police he was only involved so that he could have a supply of suboxone, which he took himself, police wrote.
Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Denise Womack-Avila said deputies had not yet served arrest warrants on the four women charged in the case, but warrants were served on each of the inmates Tuesday.
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