A Portland couple faces federal conspiracy to distribute heroin charges after they were stopped while allegedly driving to an arranged drug deal with their four children ages 2 months to 11 years old, according to prosecutors and court records.
Officers from the Portland police drugs and vice division seized about 5 ounces of heroin from the mother's bra, $350 in cash in suspected drug profit money from the mother's diaper bag, seven bags of heroin from a Diaper Genie disposal in a bedroom of their Southeast Portland apartment and four more bags of heroin stuffed in a child's "Cars" slipper, according to court records.
This afternoon, Maria Gonzalez-Torres, 30, and Jose Lizarraras-Chacon, 37, were arraigned in U.S. District Court in Portland. They both entered not guilty pleas to two-count indictments alleging conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin and possession with intent to distribute heroin.
"They're selling a product that kills people in this community," Assistant U.S. Attorney Leah Bolstad told the court.
Bolstad pointed out that the two were collecting $1,100 a month in food stamps even though police seized $84,249 in cash stashed in the couple's apartment.
Lizarraras-Chacon, the children's father, was convicted in 2010 of unlawful delivery of heroin in Multnomah County Circuit Court, sentenced to probation and deported as an illegal alien.
But he returned to America and picked up where he left off, Bolstad told the court. "He got deported, and he came back and he continued selling heroin," she said.
The two defendants now face immigration holds.
They were arrested Nov. 29 in Southeast Portland and initially charged with heroin delivery and child neglect. Their case was moved from state to federal court because of the circumstances of the drug operation and the likelihood of facing stiffer sentences, said Ryan Lufkin, a Multnomah County deputy district attorney.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed in state court after their arrest, a confidential police informant had ordered heroin from Gonzalez-Torres. Portland drug enforcement Officer Tim Manzella listened to the phone conversation and heard Gonzalez-Torres say, "He is finishing now bagging it up," and tell the caller it would take about 30 minutes to meet.
Other officers set up surveillance on the couple's apartment in the 17900 block of East Burnside. They watched Lizarraras-Chacon carry an infant in a car seat to a Ford Expedition, and then saw more children get into the car. Portland police stopped the car as it headed north on Northeast 181st Avenue.
The couple and their four children -- ages 2 months, 4, 7 and 11 -- were inside.
The mother told officers that she takes the heroin orders and drives with Lizarraras-Chacon to deliver the drugs, the affidavit said.
Police searched their apartment and recovered about 2 pounds of heroin and discovered a .45-caliber handgun with a loaded magazine in a closet, the affidavit said.
The state Department of Human Services took the four children into protective custody.
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