On the evening of Wednesday, November 8th, members of the Medford Area Drug and Gang Enforcement team (MADGE) successfully intercepted a vehicle on Highway 97, following intelligence that it was transporting large quantities of narcotics from Southern California to Washington State.
MADGE investigators, in collaboration with the Oregon State Police, halted the vehicle, where a Medford Police K9 named “Bodie” alerted to the presence of narcotics. A subsequent search unveiled a massive 117 pounds of powder and pill form Fentanyl, along with the discovery of a loaded 9mm handgun in the vehicle.
The MADGE team, a multi-jurisdictional narcotics task force, operates with an intelligence-driven, multi-agency prosecutor-support approach. Supported by the Oregon-Idaho High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), MADGE includes members from the Medford Police Department, Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office, Parole and Probation, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the FBI.
The Oregon-Idaho HIDTA program, sponsored by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), coordinates and funds multi-agency drug enforcement initiatives, including MADGE.
Following this successful operation, with the assistance of HSI, the case has been accepted for federal prosecution by the Assistant US Attorney’s Office.
The arrested suspect is identified as Jothan Paul Barrios-Chable, a 20-year-old resident of Portland, Oregon.
All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law
Source: MPD
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