Five men charged with felony pot possession after two isolated busts

MISSION — Five men were charged with felony marijuana possession charges Thursday in connection with two separate drug busts.

Two of the men - Miguel Angel Gonzalez and Gilberto Rolando Ramirez - were arraigned following a raid Wednesday near Palmhurst, said Dora Ramos, local commander for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force.

Agents at that bust discovered five handguns and 945 pounds of marijuana bundles inside a house along Bertha Boulevard, just east of Trosper Road. Gonzalez, 43, and Ramirez, 26, were each given a $200,000 bond for the charges.

Three other men were also charged Thursday in Mission Municipal Court after police found 596 pounds of marijuana inside two vehicles at a Burger King parking lot.

Alberto Montiel Jr., 30, Ruben Vela Jr., 29, and Rolando Flores, 21, were approaching the restaurant at 2414 E. Expressway 83 with coworkers at noon Wednesday when police received a tip that the trio was carrying marijuana bundles that had been smuggled across the Rio Grande, said Mission police spokesman Jody Tittle.

Each man was given a $250,000 bond.

Montiel, Vela and Flores were construction workers with Williams Brothers Construction, which is building the Anzalduas International Bridge and the border wall. Police said the men - who were on their lunch break - were still wearing reflective safety vests when they were arrested.

Montiel has served prison time for at least one assault, he told Judge Jonathan Wehrmeister during his arraignment.

Vela, prior to his latest arrest, was on a 10-year probation period for possession of a firearm by a felon and burglary of a habitation.

Although five men were detained at the restaurant parking lot, authorities said two appeared uninvolved in the crime and were released. Four vehicles were searched, but police only found drugs inside two - a green van and a Chevrolet Tahoe.

Police said they were questioning the men when they saw the drugs inside the vehicles.

"The bundles were clearly visible (in the two vehicles)," Tittle said. "They were even wet" from being transported across the river, he added.

Flores' wife, Magdalena, stood outside the courtroom during his arraignment Thursday afternoon, bleary-eyed and visibly upset. She said she was surprised at her husband's arrest, which she heard about from a relative who worked with him at Williams Brothers.

"I don't understand why he was arrested if they didn't find him with anything," she said. "He already lost his job, he lost everything," she said of the incident.

If the men are convicted, they could each be fined up to $10,000 and spend up to 20 years in prison.

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Monitor staff writer Jared Taylor contributed to this report.

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Ana Ley covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4428.