FOUR INDICTED IN JOINT COCKE COUNTY DRUG INVESTIGATION
JOHNSON CITY – A joint investigation by Special Agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Cocke County Sheriff’s Office and the Drug Enforcement Administration has led to the indictment of four people charged in connection with a cocaine trafficking operation.
In June 2015, TBI Special Agents with the Drug Investigation Division, working alongside detectives with the Cocke County Sheriff’s Office and DEA Agents, began investigating a drug trafficking organization believed to be distributing cocaine throughout Cocke County and Jefferson County. The investigation revealed that Miguel Perez, 36, Gilberto Cortes, 40, Samantha Faye Hill, 31, and Tony Velasques,39, were responsible for distributing a large amount of cocaine between June 2015 and July 2016.
On Wednesday, a Cocke County Grand Jury returned indictments charging Perez, of Newport, and Cortes, of Parrottsville, with one count of Conspiracy to Distribute more than 300 Grams of Cocaine, one count of Sale of more than .5 Grams of Cocaine and one count of Delivery of more than .5 grams of Cocaine. Hill and Velasques, both of Newport, are charged with one count of Conspiracy to Distribute more than 300 Grams of Cocaine. All four subjects were arrested Wednesday afternoon and booked into the Cocke County Jail. Perez, Cortes and Velasques are being held without bond. Hill is being held on a $25,000 bond.
