CLEARFIELD – Two men facing drug charges after an Interstate 80 interdiction will have their case heard by a federal judge.
The news was announced this morning before the scheduled preliminary hearings of Hugo Franciso Leal Flores, 36 of Mexico, and Arnulfo Perez Uresti of Texas. F. Cortez “Chip” Bell III, first assistant district attorney for Clearfield County, made motion for two weeks continuance on the case. According to Bell, this will give the U.S. Attorney General’s office time to file their paperwork on the case. Once that is done, the state will drop their case against the two men.
Around 28 kilograms, or 61.7 pounds of cocaine was found inside of a truck that Uresti was driving on I-80 in Bradford Township. After a stop for tarp flapping unsecured, a consent to search was obtained from Uresti, state troopers found a compartment in the floor of the truck that contained foil-wrapped packages. The powdery substance inside the vehicle field-tested positive for cocaine.
After a search warrant was served, 26 kilograms of cocaine was found in the hidden compartment, while 2 kilograms were found inside the passenger rear wall behind the rear speaker void. According to the affidavit of probable cause, the packages weighed between 2.4 to 2.6-pounds each.
Bail for each man is set at $500,000 straight.
One source indicated that the wholesale value of the drugs was around $700,000. The street value for the cocaine would be around $2.8 million
Bell said the federal government became involved in the case because of the large amount of drugs as well as the fact they were found on I-80.
Local defense attorney Steve Jarrett will continue to represent both Uresti and Flores in the case.
“We have to go to federal court,” said Jarrett. “We have to get reasonable bail for these guys.”
“We have to see if it is drugs, and see if the stop was legal,” added Jarrett.
“It’s great to get drugs off the street but you have to do it the right way,” said Jarrett.