TACOMA, WA – Today Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist charged Samuel Tafolla Hernandez, 39, and Thomas Servantes Diaz, 34, with unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. Servantes Diaz was also charged with unlawful possession of a firearm while not being a citizen of the United States. A third defendant, Jose Mauricio Lozano-Miranda, 38, was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance. Tacoma Police arrested the men after an investigation led to the discovery of 44 pounds of methamphetamine. The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. in room 270 of the County-City Building in Tacoma.
“This is one of the biggest drug busts we’ve seen in Pierce County in the last decade,” said Prosecutor Mark Lindquist.
Tacoma Police received a tip that Tafolla Hernandez had arranged for loads of methamphetamine to be smuggled from the southwestern United States to Pierce and King Counties. Detectives watched Tafolla Hernandez while he routinely visited his storage unit in Puyallup and then met other individuals in parking lots throughout the county.
On March 24, 2015, police followed Tafolla Hernandez and Servantes Diaz to the storage unit, and the officers served a search warrant. In the unit, they found 44 pounds of methamphetamine. At the Fife home the men shared, police found bundles of U.S. currency totaling $225,000 concealed in a book case behind a wall of diapers.
Charges are only allegations and a person is presumed innocent unless he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Heather Songer
Communications and Public Information Coordinator
Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office
253-798-6265
253-380-5856
[email protected]