Criminal charges continue to mount against a man accused of running a multi-state drug operation with ties to the Sinaloa Cartel out of his sometime house in east Salem.

A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted Heriberto Salazar Amaya, 36, on charges alleging he engaged in a continuing criminal enterprise and five counts of distributing fentanyl. He is also charged with possessing fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine with the intent to distribute. 

Salazar Amaya, a Mexican national, remains charged with his original accusations of a drug trafficking conspiracy and violating U.S. immigration laws. The new indictment charged him and 16 others with the drug conspiracy.

He is being prosecuted in federal court in New Mexico, where he is scheduled to appear on Tuesday to face his new charges. A jury trial is set to start in October.

Salazar Amaya came to Salem in January, where he orchestrated the drug operation from a house he rented on Northeast Greencrest Street, according to a federal drug enforcement agent’s affidavit. 

He took orders for drugs and assigned couriers to deliver them to regional managers in New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado – and ultimately to dealers to sell on the streets, the affidavit said. The agent described him as a key operator for the Sinaloa Cartel.

Salazar Amaya was arrested in Salem in late April. 

The collapse of the drug operation propelled Salem into national headlines when U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Salazar Amaya’s arrest at a press conference.

Administration officials have used cases like the accused kingpin’s to garner support for their aggressive efforts to deport immigrants, though data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement released earlier this month showed a majority of people detained by the agency had no criminal history.

A Salem Reporter investigation could not establish what brought Salazar Amaya to Salem.

But on Wednesday, the same day as the new indictment, Bondi again publicly mentioned him while testifying during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing.

She scoffed when U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, raised concerns about potential foreign influence on U.S. policy and refused to address his questions. 

She instead referenced Salazar Amaya’s arrest in Salem and unauthorized immigration to the U.S.

“I would think that you would want to talk about the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel who was living in Oregon – one of the top leaders,” Bondi said. “When we captured him, he had $3 million cash in his home.”

“It is wildly offensive that you would accuse President Trump of not protecting American interests in our country when he is the president that has shut down our borders,” she said. 

As part of the cartel case, authorities said they seized nearly 4.2 million fentanyl pills and over 25 pounds of fentanyl powder from Arizona and New Mexico – the largest seizure of fentanyl in U.S. history – as well as $4.4 million in cash spread across five western U.S. states.

After Salazar Amaya’s arrest in Salem, he was extradited to New Mexico and pleaded not guilty to the charges. A federal judge ordered that he remain in custody.

In addition to the federal charges, Salazar Amaya has an “active felony drug trafficking warrant out of Oregon,” the judge said in her order.

The state warrant is out of Multnomah County, federal prosecutors told Salem Reporter. But the circumstances surrounding that warrant remain unclear.

The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office could find no record of such a warrant, according to Patrick Dooris, spokesman for the office.

The Oregon Department of Justice isn’t prosecuting the case either, agency spokeswoman Jenny Hansson said.

State court records also showed no charges filed against Salazar Amaya.

RELATED COVERAGE:

Mystery surrounds accused drug kingpin’s ties to Salem

Man accused of running Sinaloa cartel-linked operation from Salem

Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.

A MOMENT MORE, PLEASE– If you found this story useful, consider subscribing to Salem Reporter if you don’t already. Work such as this, done by local professionals, depends on community support from subscribers. Please take a moment and sign up now – easy and secure: SUBSCRIBE.