Two alleged meth dealers arrested

HAYWARD -- Hugo Arnoldo Aguilar and Alejandro Sanchez came to the United States from Mexico to make money, authorities said.

The Alameda County Narcotics Task Force said they should have chosen another way to do it.

Task force officials said Aguilar, 27, is a major crystal methamphetamine dealer, and when they arrested him and Sanchez on Tuesday they seized more than 5 pounds of the drug with a street value of at least $850,000.

Alameda County sheriff's Deputy Steve Angeja, a task force supervisor, said Wednesday the eight-week investigation revealed Aguilar was a significant meth dealer selling the drug from Alameda County, particularly the Livermore Valley, to Sacramento.

He would deliver the drugs in person or do transactions at his two-story home on Central Avenue in the Hayward hills, authorities said. Angeja estimated Aguilar was selling up to a pound of meth a week.

Angeja said an undercover task force officer made some covert purchases of the drug from Aguilar during the investigation.

The undercover officer arranged to buy

5 pounds of crystal meth for $36,500 from Aguilar with the delivery to be made at a Hayward site Tuesday.

Aguilar and Sanchez were arrested after making the delivery, authorities said. Angeja said the delivery was the first time the task force encountered the 37-year-old Sanchez, whom they believe is either a runner for Aguilar or another dealer.

After the arrests, the task force, assisted by Hayward police Sgt. Teddy Muniz and members of his Special Duty Unit, served a search warrant at the Central Avenue home.

Bennie, the task force's specially trained dog, sniffed out more methamphetamine in a downstairs bedroom, Angeja said.

Authorities said Aguilar, who said he is a construction worker, lived at the house with his pregnant wife and small child. Angeja said he admitted to investigators the drugs were his and his wife knew nothing about his being a dealer.

Angeja said Sanchez had a counterfeit driver's license on him and refused to give an address or talk to investigators.

Aguilar and Sanchez will be arraigned today in Superior Court on charges of sale and transportation of methamphetamine, possession for sale of methamphetamine and conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, Deputy District Attorney Paul Delucchi said.

It also was established that both men are in the United States illegally from their native Mexico and have had holds placed on them by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.

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