Drug Kingpin

Federal Judge Orders Drug Kingpin to Serve 30 Years in Prison After Jury Convicts Defendant in Drug Conspiracy Case


April 20, 2010 - PORTLAND—Dwight C. Holton, the United States Attorney for the District of Oregon, announced today that Honorable Anna J. Brown has ordered the leader of a far-reaching drug conspiracy, Jorge Ortiz-Oliva, to spend 30 years in federal prison. In October 2009, a federal jury found the two Salem men, Ortiz-Oliva, 39, and a co-conspirator, Pablo Barajas Lopez, 31, guilty of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine and marijuana and to distribute cocaine. Judge Brown ordered Lopez to spend 15 years in federal prison for the conviction. Nine of Oliva and Lopez’s co-conspirators pled guilty prior to trial to various drug trafficking charges related to their roles in the conspiracy. Subsequent to the trial, Oliva, a citizen of Mexico, pled guilty to the charge of illegal re-entry into the united states.

Ortiz-Oliva headed a poly-drug trafficking organization which produced methamphetamine in large “super labs” (over 10 lbs. per cooking cycle) over a several-year period in Marion County, Oregon, and grew vast fields of marijuana plants on public lands and national forests in several states, including remote areas of Jackson County, Oregon, where over 20,000 marijuana plants were seized. Oliva also orchestrated the interstate distribution of large loads of methamphetamine, marijuana, and cocaine to other drug traffickers located in Texas, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Georgia, Massachusetts, Washington, California, Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, Ohio, and Utah. Aided by intercepts obtained during a court authorized wiretap, investigators seized $835,000 in cash from hidden compartments in three separate vehicles traveling south on I-5 between Eugene and Medford over an eight-week period. At the end of the investigation, search warrants were executed in multiple states and investigators seized nine kilograms of cocaine in San Jose, California: additional large quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana were seized in Arizona and Oregon together with meth lab equipment, numerous firearms, and $126,000 more in cash from several of the conspirators. The drug quantities involved, the level of drugs produced in clandestine labs and in the national forests, combined with the geographical scope of the conspiracy make this drug trafficking organization one of the largest drug organizations ever encountered in the District of Oregon. Ortiz-Oliva is considered a “career offender” under federal law based on his prior convictions for assault in the third degree for shooting a man in Salem, Oregon and for the Oregon federal convictions of possession with intent to distribute amphetamine.

This investigation was led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) office in Salem, Oregon, assisted by the Salem Police Department, the Oregon State Police, the Marion County Sheriff’s Department, the Blue Mountain Narcotics Team, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Regional Organized Crime Narcotics Task Force, the Keizer Police Department, and other federal and state law enforcement agencies throughout the United States.

U.S. Attorney Holton said after the sentencing, “We intend to upend drug organizations like this root and branch—and won’t rest until leaders like Mr. Oliva are safely behind bars.”

“Today’s sentencing sends a clear message to drug traffickers that their actions have serious consequences,” said DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge Paul W. Schmidt. “Operation ‘Need for Speed’ exposed and dismantled this far reaching and well established poly-drug trafficking organization. This investigation is an excellent example of team work, cooperation and dedication by law enforcement. The Drug Enforcement Administration is committed to keeping our communities safe and will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to combat drug trafficking.”

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen Bickers.