500 grams of meth
A Calhoun woman is facing federal drug charges after authorities say they found the drugs in her car.
JBailey@RN-T.com
A Calhoun woman faces federal drug distribution and firearms charges after she was arrested with over 500 grams of methamphetamine in her car and apartment.
According to a criminal affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Rome, a joint investigation between the Calhoun Police Department, DEA and FBI specifically focused on 33-year-old Elizabeth Lopez who reportedly delivered “multi-kilogram quantities of methamphetamine.”
“Beginning in August 2019 and continuing into July 2020, (a confidential source) made controlled purchases from Lopez,” FBI Special Agent Timothy Coakley wrote in the court filing. “Those controlled purchases of methamphetamine were directed by law enforcement and ranged in amounts from one ounce to 20 ounces of methamphetamine.”
But on July 16, the arrest of her
boyfriend eventually led to the largest seizure of the operation.
In that traffic stop, initiated by a Georgia State Patrol trooper, Lopez
METH,
and Mark Anthony Rosas were found with $5,000 in cash and two handguns in her 2005 Cadillac. They’d been driving back from Chattanooga where she told the trooper she had sold a vehicle.
Rosas was arrested on outstanding arrest warrants from Bartow County and once at the jail investigators began recording their conversations.
According to the affidavit, on July 23 during a telephone call to the jail Lopez mentioned she was going to get in touch with her contact in Atlanta. Rosas warned her not to do anything until she got her brake light repaired on the Cadillac.
That same day law enforcement began surveillance on Lopez at her Creekside Drive apartment in Calhoun.
At approximately 5:30 p.m. she and her three children travelled to Singleton Road in Norcross. Agents watched as a yellow Mini Cooper pulled up. A male entered the Cadillac with a white bag and exited without the bag a minute later.
Agents requested assistance from the GSP and at 10:57 p.m. a trooper observed the Cadillac’s faulty tail light and stopped Lopez near exit 312 in Calhoun.
She refused to let the trooper search her vehicle but Calhoun PD K-9 unit Sido alerted to the presence of drugs in the car. Police found a small handgun underneath the driver’s seat and a pink
duffle bag in the trunk.
In that bag was a white Checkers bag containing approximately 500 grams of meth. After Lopez was arrested she told agents she bought the meth for $5,000. She also said there were more guns and marijuana at her apartment at 106 Creekside Drive.
Agents obtained a search warrant and on July 24 found a safe with a stolen Smith and Wesson .38 revolver, a Jennings 9mm pistol, approximately 20 grams of meth and 30 grams of marijuana.
Lopez was indicted in U.S. District Court in Rome on August 28 for charges involving drug trafficking and firearms possession.
The indictment states she conspired with “M.R.” and others to sell methamphetamine. Mark Rosas remained in the Bartow County Jail Tuesday on firearms possession and parole violation charges.
Lopez was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond after a first appearance hearing. She is scheduled to be arraigned at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.