Two men arrested last July by undercover drug agents in the Kedron Kroger parking lot in Peachtree City were found guilty of trafficking in methamphetamine Tuesday afternoon by a Fayette County jury.

Superior Court Judge Johnnie L. Caldwell Jr. sentenced both Jose Manuel Navarro, 26, of Lilburn and Fernando Baldespino Rivas, 28, of Norcross to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
In testimony Monday afternoon, special agent Angel Santos of the Fayette County Drug Task Force said that Navarro and Rivas were arrested in the parking lot of the Kedron Kroger after a confidential informant arranged the buy for $19,000.

Agents seized 787 grams, almost two pounds’ worth, of methamphetamine from the green Ford Explorer that Navarro and Rivas occupied, officials said.

Individuals who are purchasing meth for their personal use typically buy quantities ranging from one-quarter of a gram to one gram, Santos told the jury. One gram can be sold on the street from between $80 and $110, he noted.

Defense attorney Steve Harris, who represented Rivas, asked Santos what the informant was to receive in return for helping agents on the case. Santos said he agreed to speak with the district attorney’s office to seek a lighter sentence for the unnamed informant on a then-pending drug charge.

The confidential informant met with one of the suspects and secured a sample of the meth before the signal was given to drug agents to arrest Navarro and Rivas, Santos said. Prior to the sting, the informant was searched to make sure he did not have any drugs on his person.

Harris indicated that his client did not know the drugs were present in the car, but Navarro’s attorney, Joe Saia, said Navarro was merely doing a friend a favor by driving him to Peachtree City, and so he had no knowledge the drugs were in the vehicle.

The drugs were found under the passenger’s seat and in several compartments of the car where they were hidden from plain view, Santos said. The drugs were kept in three large bags, a plastic container and 77 smaller individually-wrapped bags, Santos said.

login to post comments