GRAND RAPIDS, MI—Patrick A. Miles, Jr., United States Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, and Paul Abbate, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Michigan, announced the arrest of a Lansing fugitive and his wife. Eric Lopez, age 40, of Lansing, was arrested by the FBI as he left City Hall in Lansing on September 9, 2014. The FBI was assisted in its fugitive investigation by the Tri-County Metro Narcotics Squad. Eric Lopez had been indicted by a federal grand jury in Grand Rapids on April 16, 2014, together with co-defendants Jose Alvarez, Rudy Gelista, Nickey Joe Duprest, and Eddie Ramirez, on a charge of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana, and had avoided apprehension since that time. His wife, Christina Lopez, age 39, was also arrested. She has been charged with making false statements to the FBI, and for being an accessory after the fact to her husband’s drug charge by assisting him in avoiding apprehension. Eric Lopez has been ordered detained without bond pending trial with co-defendant Duprest, who has pled not guilty. The remaining co-defendants have all pled guilty. Christina Lopez was released on bond pending trial on her charges.

These indictments and convictions were the result of an ongoing Drug Task Force investigation in the Lansing, Michigan, area led by the FBI and the Tri-County Metro Narcotics Squad. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John Bruha.

The charges are merely accusations, and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.