Hearings set in two drug pleas

Staff Reports

Two men arrested in a February Indian Hills drug raid waived their right to a preliminary hearing and are scheduled to appear in District Court next week.

Catarino Vasquez-Esquivel and Marco Mendez appeared in East Fork Justice Court on Friday to waive the hearing.

Attorneys for the two men said negotiations on a plea agreement had been successful and East Fork Justice of the Peace Jim EnEarl set district court dates.

According to attorney Jennifer Yturbide, Vasquez-Esquivel, 27, will plead guilty to one count of trafficking in a controlled substance and that she would be free to argue for leniency while prosecutor Dina Salvucci agreed not to make a recommendation regarding sentencing.

According to defense attorney Alan Erb, Mendez, 29, will plead to conspiracy to violate the Uniform Controlled Substances Act, a felony.

Under the agreement reached Friday, both Erb and Salvucci will be free to argue on sentencing.

Mendez was ordered to appear Tuesday in district court.

Of the four men arrested Feb. 17 in the raid, only one is protesting his innocence.

Leo Osori-Cahavez, 28, is denying his identity.

despite fingerprint evidence that he is also known as Matias Mendoza-Espinoza, someone who had been deported and illegally re-ented the United States four times.

The men and one woman, Teresa Castellanos Padilla, 22, were arrested for allegedly trying to sell a half-pound of methamphetamine, worth $25,000 on the street, which was seized by Douglas County officers Feb. 17 at a home at 902 Peridot Court in Indian Hills.