[1]Enrique Orozco-Cabrera sits between his lawyer and an interpreter in Lewis County Superior Court, facing a drug charge.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – As soon as Enrique Orozco-Cabrera pleaded not guilty to attempting to sell more than two pounds of methamphetamine, his attorney told the Lewis County Superior Court judge he’d a like a court date as quickly as possible so his client could plead guilty.
Orozco-Cabrera was in court on Thursday following his arrest the previous Friday morning by Centralia police who were accompanied by two special agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“I don’t know very much English,” Orozco-Cabrera responded through a Spanish interpreter when the judge asked if he spoke English.
Orozco-Cabrera is 36 years old and from Seattle, according to the Centralia Police Department. Charging documents in his case indicate his city of residence is unknown, although when he was taken into custody on Nov. 23, he had Mexican identification in his wallet bearing a different name.
His defense attorney J.P. Enbody didn’t elaborate on why the man was so eager to plead guilty to the felony that could get him as much as 10 years in prison. But Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Shane O’Rourke had an idea about his drug case.
“There is some interest by federal prosecutors to take it, because of how much methamphetamine he had,” O’Rourke said after the court hearing.
A lot of times, a person faces much stiffer penalties in federal court, O’Rourke said.
Orozco-Cabrera, originally identified in an incident summary from police as Orozco-Caberra after the arrest, is being held in the Lewis County Jail on $200,000 bail.
Court documents describe his arrest at the unspecified “target location” after Centralia police got a tip a man called Lewis would be delivering two pounds of meth in exchange for $21,000.
Officer Adam Haggerty, Sgt. Jim Shannon and two federal agents made a plan early on the morning of Nov. 23 and before 8 o’clock that day, Haggerty was watching a house, according to charging documents.
The documents offer the following account and allegations:
A black Ford pickup truck drove slowly past Haggerty and moments later drove past him again and pulled far down a driveway. A few minutes after that, a man – later identified as Orozco-Cabrera – was seen walking from the back of the house wearing a dark stocking cap and subsequently went up to the front door and went inside.
Concerned, Haggerty phoned his confidential informant and asked if that was the drug dealer; the informant indicated yes and asked Haggerty to move in and apprehend him.
When officers entered the house, Orozco-Cabrera was holding a plastic shopping bag with what turned out to be two pounds plus 5.8 ounces of what field tested positive for methamphetamine. He had $6,000 cash with him.
The suspect was arrested and first gave his name as Andreas, but later gave his real name to jail staff and the identification was confirmed through his finger prints.
Customs and Immigration has a “hold” on him. O’Rourke said that usually means there is some indication a person might be in the country illegally.
Orozco-Cabrera is currently scheduled to plead guilty to possession with intent to deliver and be sentenced on Wednesday afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court.