Duplin deputies seize 87 grams of crack
By Nelson Bland
Published in News on October 29, 2009 1:46 PM
KENANSVILLE -- A Sanford man who was allegedly trafficking in cocaine in Duplin County was arrested on numerous drug charges after Duplin County Sheriff's deputies stopped his vehicle recently on N.C. 403 near Faison, Sheriff Blake Wallace said Wednesday.
The case has been adopted by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration due to the amount of drugs and charges, Wallace said.
Following an undercover operation by the sheriff's Duplin Interstate Criminal Enforcement team and the Duplin County Drug Enforcement Task Force, Pastor Magadan Garcia, 37, Pine Village, Sanford, in Lee County, was arrested on Oct. 20. He was booked on 13 counts of trafficking in cocaine, three counts of possession of cocaine with the intent to sell and deliver, three counts of maintaining a vehicle for a controlled substance, four counts of possession of drug paraphernalia (plastic bags to package cocaine) and two counts of manufacture of cocaine.
Garcia was placed under a $2 million bond at the Duplin County Jail in Kenansville.
In response to reporters' questions at a news conference Wednesday, Wallace noted that "Pastor" is Garcia's first name and not a religious title.
Wallace said deputies seized the vehicle along with 77 grams of crack cocaine. Officers had earlier obtained 10 grams of crack cocaine from Garcia in undercover operation, Wallace noted.
He explained that deputies learned through the course of an unrelated drug investigation that Garcia, an illegal alien, was possibly involved the cocaine trafficking.
The task force and DICE team worked in conjunction with Lee County sheriff's officials on the Garcia case, Wallace said.
"We discovered that Mr. Garcia would leave Lee County with a significant amount of crack cocaine and travel southeast into Duplin County but stop along the way in Harnett County as well," Wallace said. "On his return trip back to Lee County he would stop at the same locations to pick up large sums of money."