Onesimo Garza Jr., 45, of McAllen, Texas, who was out on bond from Texas, appeared in federal court in Muskogee for a Friday hearing, but the judge ruled that he could not hear the case because he did not have original jurisdiction.
Apparently after Garza's release was initially ordered in Texas, the Texas judge in the case entered a new order that required Garza to be detained.
The Oklahoma judge ordered that Garza immediately be detained. Garza had traveled from Texas to attend the hearing, and was taken into custody at the Friday hearing.
Garza is one of 11 suspects, including several Sallisaw residents, named in a federal indictment that alleged drug conspiracy, distribution of cocaine and marijuana, money laundering, and other crimes. A Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) investigation instigated the charges against all 11 suspects and led to the arrests of eight of the defendants in May when federal agents descended on the Sallisaw area home of Samuel and Rhonda Valdivia.
Samuel Valdivia is described by law enforcement officials as the leader of the drug ring, allegedly enlisting family and friends to transport drugs and drug money across the country.
Pamela Pearson, Hoyet Philpot, David Nelson, Twila Nelson, and Randy Philpot, all of Sallisaw, Garza, and Jose Luis Partida of Edinburg, Texas, are also named in the indictment.
Last month all 11 suspects pleaded not guilty to the charges, and a trial date was set for Aug. 7. Both, the defense and prosecution were given until July 28 to file all documents in the case.
Last week, attorneys for the Valdivias, Travis Philpot, and Paul Philpot asked the court for an extension and to declare the case "complex."
On Friday, the court granted the unopposed motion and agreed to give the prosecution and defense more time to go through the documents and prepare for trial.
According to the court minutes, preliminary discovery responses indicate that there will be three sets of discovery information, which will include over 3,000 intercepted conversations and volumes of documents. The DVD provided with the first set of discovery contains several thousand pages.
The Aug. 7 trial date was postponed and a scheduling conference is set for Aug. 18.
