Corrections officer and 5 family members arrested for trafficking meth
An Arizona Department of Corrections officer and five family members have been arrested for trafficking methamphetamine from Mexico for distribution in the U.S.
Noe Ruiz, 31, who worked at Lewis Prison in Buckeye for seven years, was arrested after a seven-month investigation that yielded 20 pounds of methamphetamine Tuesday night and another 35 pounds in other states including South Dakota and Ohio, said Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Deputies estimated the 20 pounds of methamphetamine to have a street value of $2 million. Investigators also recovered weapons, 12 pounds of cocaine and $400,000 in cash in Arizona and other states. Deputies arrested Ruiz's father, Domingo Ruiz, 55, after pulling him over for failing to use a turn signal near 83rd Avenue and Indian School Road. They found four pounds of methamphetamine in a hidden compartment in the car and a weapon.
Deputies then searched five residences, including the younger Ruiz's, where they found money-counting machines, Arpaio said.
Arpaio said Domingo Ruiz was the leader of the operation and his five children were distributing the drug.
"It sound like the old mafia days," he said. "Except this crime family happens to be a real family."
Also arrested were the younger Ruiz's siblings: Maria Ruiz-Ochoa, 27; Humberto Ruiz, 29; Ruben Ruiz, 22; and Javier Serrano-Garcia, 19 .
