Four Suspects Plead Not Guilty in Dayton Drug Bust

DAYTON – Four suspects arrested in a joint-agency drug bust at the Best Western Hotel in Dayton on Feb. 18 entered not guilty pleas in Columbia County Superior Court on March 2.

According to a Columbia County Sheriff’s Office press release, the incident began when a car associated with a man wanted in Lewiston on a felony warrant was spotted in the parking lot of the Best Western Hotel in Dayton

Columbia County Sheriff personnel, joined by members of the Quad Cities Task Force, were watching when four people returned to the car and the officers attempted to stop the vehicle.

Sheriff Rocky Miller stopped the vehicle by striking it with his patrol car, sustaining minor injuries when his squad car went over a steep embankment and stopped after hitting a guard rail at the bottom.

All four suspects were arrested after a search of the vehicle yielded ¾ pound of what was believed to be methamphetamine as well as $2,700 in cash.

Geovanni Sanchez, 22, Hermiston; Alex L. Ahumada, 30, Lewiston; Elijio A. Mendoza, 29, Hermiston; and Julia L. Richardson, 31, are all charged with possession of methamphetamine with the intent to deliver. Richardson, believed to be the driver, is also charged with attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle.

Sanchez is being held on 100,000 bail. Bail for Mendoza and Ahumada, who both have outstanding warrants from other jurisdictions, is set at $150,000 each. Richardson’s bail was dropped from $150,000 to $75, 000 on March 2.

Trial setting is scheduled for March 16 for all four cases.