Andrews Cocaine bust suspects named

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas in Midland released the names of six of the 14 suspects arrested Thursday in connection to an ongoing cocaine trafficking investigation in Andrews County.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Klassen wrote in an e-mail Saturday that Jimmy Joe Kelly, Elizabeth Ann Kirby, Jose Ambrosio Vasquez, Paul Rhodes, Abel Bejerano and Marcelo Bejerano-Contreras all made their first appearances in the federal court in Midland on Friday and have been charged in the cocaine trafficking investigation. The six were being held in a federal holding facility.

Klassen said he was withholding the names of the remaining suspects until they made their first hearing and were formally charged. He said that should take place Monday. He also did not have the ages and residencies of the six suspects available.

The release was in response to a Freedom of Information request made by the Odessa American that was issued to the Andrews County Sheriff's Office after Chief Deputy Cheryl Martin refused to disclose the identities of the suspects Friday.

Andrews sheriff and police officers along with Drug Enforcement Agency investigators raided several places in the Andrews area and arrested 14 people Thursday. It was part of a months-long investigation that also led to the raid of a methamphetamine ring there last month.