San Jose,California man held for allegedly making, dealing methamphetamine.



A San Jose,California man today faces six felony counts for allegedly manufacturing and dealing drugs after local law enforcement officers found 15 pounds of methamphetamine and the materials used to make the drug stuffed in the walls of his home.
After months of surveillance, the California Department of Justice's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement served a search warrant at Gilberto Sanchez Solorio's home near Hellyer Lake,California on Thursday, Special Agent in Charge Bob Cooke said.

Using dogs from Santa Clara,California police and officers from San Jose,California police department, officials allegedly found 40.5 pounds of pseudoephedrine tablets - common cold medicine used to make meth - stashed in the ceiling of the garage. Inside a shed, officers found 15 pounds of solid methamphetamine, two gallons of the liquid form of the drug, a ledger and 36 pounds of materials used to thin the drug, Cooke said.

Using the cutting agents, Solorio could have doubled the drug, putting 30 pounds of meth worth $500,000 on the streets, Cooke said.

The seizure is the third bust of its size in the county this year.

"That's a lot of dope," Cooke said. He credits increased law enforcement and changing laws with the increase in seizures, but warns that meth is a serious problem throughout the country.

Compared with problems with cocaine in the 1980s, Cooke said meth is far more pervasive and more damaging.

"That was nothing like what we are facing now," he said.

Nearly 50 percent of the arrestees in Santa Clara County,California test positive for meth, said Deputy District Attorney Thanh Ngo, who works with narcotics officers. And officials in Contra Costa County,California reported that 90 percent of their domestic violence cases are meth related, Ngo said.
Officials say that Solorio manufactured and distributed the drug, getting others to pick up the ingredients such as cold medications for the meth he made himself and also receiving shipments smuggled from Mexico.

"This was like a factory producing drugs," Ngo said. "But there are many other manufacturers out there that are filling our communities with this poison."

Solorio, Cooke said, wasn't new to the business. He has a prior conviction on a cocaine distribution charge.

Along with the drugs at the home on Burman Drive, officers allegedly found a nightstand filled with cash and two handguns. They seized four cell phones that Solorio allegedly used to conduct business.

Two of Solorio's nephews, ages 16 and 17, were also picked up at the house. They were later released to a relative, Cooke said.

Solorio's girlfriend, 21-year-old Yasmin Guzman-Camacho was also arrested but is not being charged in the case. She is being held in Santa Clara County,California Jail pending an immigration hearing.

Solorio, who is scheduled to appear in court today, faces 19 years in prison.