Ramon Chavez, Gabriel Farias-Chavez accused in 50 lb. per month meth ring using car batteries

Ramon Chavez.

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers has announced the bust of an alleged nine-member drug ring, in which suspects such as Ramon Chavez and Gabriel Farias-Chavez are said to have transported up to fifty pounds of meth per month from Mexico into Colorado. Their storage container of choice? Working car batteries. Photos below.

The main indictment is a hefty document, taking 34 pages to list 25 separate counts against the alleged co-conspirators, along with 37 predicate acts detailing reported money laundering and more. Here's the narrative listing "The Enterprise:"

The enterprise alleged in counts one and two was primarily a group of individuals, associated in fact, although not a legal entity. The enterprise included, but was not limited to, the following associated in fact individuals and/or legal entities: Gabrial Farias-Chavez, Ramon Chavez, Juan Ortiz, Arnoldo Alvarez-Gonzalez, aka "Monra," Gilbert Garcia, Carrie Holme, Jacquelyn Allen and others both known and unknown to the Grand Jury. The individuals associated with the enterprise had a primary objective and a common purpose which centered around an orchestrated scheme of distributing large quantities of methamphetamine, a Schedule II Controlled Substance, in and around the Metropolitan Denver area and in Northern Colorado. The conduct of the enterprise was to buy, sell, and trade methamphetamine. Gabriel Farias-Chavez and Ramon Chavez functioned as the leaders of this organization and supervised the distribution of methamphetamine to their runners and the collection of money owed to the organization. The leaders of this criminal enterprise relied upon and used a system of phones and other telecommunication facilities to arrange and execute methamphetamine for cash deals with a network of lower level runners and other dealers. Furthermore, members of the criminal enterprise often utilized coded terminology when speaking to each other on the telephone in order to conceal their criminal activities.

Predicate act 37 provides details with a further charge:

On Jly 27, 2010, the residence of Ramon Chavez at 3410 S. Platte River Drive, Apartment #3109, Englewood, CO was searched by law enforcement officers pursuant to a search warrant. In the closet of the bedroom utilized by Ramon Chavez, officers located an AC Delco car battery. Subsequently, officers located approximately 10.5 pounds of methamphetamine within the AC Delco car battery. The officers then sized the methamphetamine which was field tested and showed a presumptive positive result for amphetamines.

Click to check out three documents from the Larimer County Sheriffs Office: a Gabriel Farias-Chavez fact sheet, a Ramon Chavez fact sheet and a Carrie Holme fact sheet. And page down to see full-sized mug shots of this trio, as well as a release from the Colorado AG's office and photos of the battery in question.