Multi-Jurisdiction Operation Nets Nine Arrests for Alleged Methamphetamine-Related Crimes

United States Attorney Danny C. Williams, Sr. announced today that a federal grand jury returned indictments against two individuals for conspiracy and possession of more than 500 grams of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.

The indictments named Gonzalo Ponce-Arturez, age 35, from Austin, Texas, and Raven Frederick-Holmes, age 31, from Tulsa, Oklahoma, as defendants. If convicted, each defendant faces a sentence of not less than 10 years and up to life imprisonment. Parole has been abolished in the federal system.

The charges are the result of a multi-jurisdictional operation that included contributions from agents and officers associated with the Cherokee Nation Marshals Service, Rogers County District Attorney’s Office Investigators, Catoosa Police Department, Rogers County Sheriff’s Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Bureau of Indian Affairs. The coordinated investigative effort netted a total of nine arrests related to drug trafficking crimes in Rogers County and elsewhere in the Northern District of Oklahoma.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma and the Rogers County District Attorney’s Office will coordinate the prosecutions of those individuals arrested. The prosecutions of Ponce-Arturez and Fredrick-Holmes will proceed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma. The seven other individuals who were arrested will be charged and prosecuted in Rogers County District Court. Those individuals include: John Hunt, age 68; Gene Miller, age 53; Shelley Boothe, age 30; Carl Fogleman, age 30; Ayla Jones, age 20; Charles Yahola, age 24; and John Cooper, age 34.

An indictment is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty at later criminal proceedings.