On Jan. 5, 2015, almost 20 months following a large drug and violent crime sweep on and near the Yavapai-Apache Indian Reservation, the last of 22 defendants was sentenced in federal district court. Raul Valdez Hernandez, 55, of Seligman, Ariz., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell to 10 years imprisonment for distributing methamphetamine.
This coordinated multi-agency community impact initiative spanned over a year and resulted in the successful prosecution of 22 defendants, several are active members of the Yavapai-Apache Indian Reservation, for various charges, including drug trafficking and firearms violations, as well as assault and domestic violence related charges. The individual sentences ranged from time served with supervised release up to 15 years imprisonment.
The investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Northern Arizona Safe Streets Task Force, Yavapai County’s Partners Against Narcotics Traffickers (P.A.N.T.), and the Yavapai-Apache Tribal Police Department.