2 Milan men charged with meth dealing

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — A car with a cracked windshield, leaving the Economy Inn on the east side of Grants at 11:30 p.m., drew the attention of Grants Police Sgt. Jason Fank.

A traffic stop a few moments later resulted in the driver and passenger both being arrested.

The driver, Loran Urioste, 43; and the passenger, Francisco Garcia, 36, both of post office boxes in Milan, were both charged with one count of trafficking a controlled substance, methamphetamine, with intent to distribute, a second degree felony.

When Fan stopped the car, he asked for the driver's license and registration and after issuing a citation, asked if he could search the car, according to Cibola County Magistrate Court records.

Urioste did not answer and as acting nervous so Fan called for backup from a New Mexico Department of Transportation motor traffic law enforcement officer with a K-9 unit. When the officer and the dog arrived, Urioste said the officers and the dog could search the vehicle, court records static

Officer Hermillo Lucero searched Urioste and found $4,040. Inside the vehicle officers found three handguns, at least two of which were loaded: A .45-caliber, a .38-caliber and a 9 mm. Also found was .38-special ammunition, inside a backpack on the front seat, Grants Police Lt. Corey Allen said.

Additionally, officers found a Coca-Cola can with the top cut so it would come off and inside the can were a number of small plastic baggies, some empty, some full. The white substance found in the baggies, which weighed 13 grams, was tested and found to be methamphetamine, Allen said.

Also found were two scales and a pipe commonly used for smoking drugs, court records state.

Allen said the pair both denied that the drugs and weapons were theirs.

Allen also said the trafficking charge stems from the totality of the situation, the amount of the drugs, the money, the scales, and the weapons.

“Personal use is usually like half a gram,” he said.
Both were booked just past midnight on Oct. 13, into the Cibola County Detention Center and faced original preliminary hearing dates of Oct. 23 in Magistrate Court.

The 13th Judicial District Attorney's office motioned the court to continue the hearings and they were rescheduled.
Urioste faces a new preliminary hearing on Dec. 11, however, he will be bound over to the grand jury prior to that hearing date.

Garcia faces a new preliminary hearing on Nov. 6, in Magistrate Court, but has been remanded to the New Mexico Rehabilitation Center on Wednesday. The district attorney's office motioned the court to continue his hearing to assure that he would be incarcerated throughout the process.

If both are prosecuted and convicted of the trafficking charge, they could serve up to a maximum of nine years in state prison, a fine of $10,000, or both.

To contact reporter Jim Tiffin call (505) 287-2197 or e-mail: jtiffin.independent@yahoo.com.