10 arrested as FBI, police bust alleged meth and weapons ring near South Lake Tahoe
Ten suspects were arrested Tuesday after federal and local law enforcement served arrest warrants related to an alleged drug and weapons trafficking ring in the South Lake Tahoe area.
Three South Lake Tahoe residents, the subjects of a federal warrant, were arrested Tuesday by the FBI for suspected involvement in an interstate meth trafficking organization operating in and around South Lake Tahoe and Stateline, Nev., the FBI Sacramento Field Office said in a news release.
Agents arrested Frank Ray Bacon, 53; Patricia Louise Ekizian, 69; and Joshua Daniel Wilson, 34. All three face charges of distributing methamphetamine, and Wilson faces an additional charge of dealing firearms without a license, the FBI said.
An additional seven suspects were arrested by local law enforcement and face narcotics and/or weapons charges at the state level as a result of the investigation, according to the news release.
Those seven are: Thomas Adams, 51; Kayla Cheyene Carver, 26; Lindsey Marie Ketchen, 25; Timothy Austin Pannel, 28; Angelina Monique Perez, 29; Jordan Eli Poyner, 26; and Derick Ryan Silva, 24.
Adams, Pannel, Poyner and Silva were in custody at El Dorado County’s South Lake Tahoe jail, booking records show.
The South Lake Tahoe Police Department shared a Facebook post Tuesday saying law enforcement officers were serving “several” warrants at multiple locations early that morning.
“Today’s actions were a result of a very long investigation,” the department wrote in a news release later that evening.
The joint investigation involved the FBI, South Lake Tahoe Police Department, El Dorado County and Douglas County sheriff’s offices, the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, according to the FBI news release.
