2 LR men arrested in federal drug case

Grand jury indicted both last year as part of charges from drug-ring probe

Two Little Rock men indicted last year on federal drug conspiracy charges have been arrested, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney’s office in Little Rock.

The release said that Richard Smith, 48, and Enrique Salazar-Pacheco, 22, who were charged by a federal grand jury in an indictment handed up on Dec. 8, 2021, were taken into custody Wednesday.

In November, the release said, two federal officers were conducting surveillance as part of an ongoing investigation into a methamphetamine trafficking organization that involved Smith and Salazar-Pacheco. As the agents were attempting to leave the rural area, a man later identified as Jackie Davidson, 50, of Woodson, exited the wood line and fired multiple shots at them, striking their vehicle several times.

The indictment charges Smith, Salazar-Pacheco, and three others with various methamphetamine and firearms charges. Smith, Salazar-Pacheco, and Abelardo Gonzalez, 46, of Woodson, are charged with conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of a methamphetamine mixture. Smith and Salazar-Pacheco are also individually charged with possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, and Gonzalez is charged with being an unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm. Salazar-Pacheco is also charged with possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

Davidson is charged with using a firearm to assault two federal agents, using a firearm during a crime of violence and attempted murder of federal officers. Jose Alonso Mena Moreno, 43, of Woodson, is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and with being illegally present in the United States.

The investigation, the release said, is part of Operation “Central Sweep,” a joint operation between the Drug Enforcement Administration, Bu

reau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, the Central Arkansas Drug Task Force, Searcy Police Department and White County Sheriff’s office with assistance from the Little Rock Police Department to disrupt the flow of drugs moving into White County from Little Rock and other areas.

Searcy Police Chief Steve Hernandez said arrests in the operation have been made both at the local level in White County as well as beyond the county line in trying to shut off the drug supply to the area.

“Criminals do not follow city limit boundaries,” Hernandez said in the release, “so we identified the source of these narcotics in Southwest Little Rock where those who were supplying narcotics to citizens of Searcy were taken off the streets.”

Since July 2020, the release said, law enforcement officers have seized over 300 pounds of methamphetamine, almost six pounds of fentanyl, 2½ pounds of cocaine, 24,000 counterfeit Oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl, 84 firearms and have made a total of 66 state and federal arrests including members of the Gangster Disciples and the CJNG Cartel.

In an initial appearance Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joe Volpe, Salazar-Pacheco pleaded innocent to the charges and was ordered detained pending a bond hearing. Adam Joseph Childers of Bryant was appointed to represent him in the case.

Volpe appointed Efrem Neely Sr. of Pine Bluff to represent Smith, who he ordered detained on a parole hold.

Gonzalez, Moreno and Davidson are currently being held in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, according to court records.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Mazzanti is prosecuting the case.