18
Wednesday, December 21, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Hearing on Authorities bust Bend gun traffickers
councilor-
elect
residency
set for Wed.
Among the multitude
of events canceled due to
inclement weather was the
scheduled hearing regarding
city councilor-elect Richard
Esterman’s residency.
The hearing was resched-
uled for Wednesday evening,
December 21, at 6 p.m.
Esterman is one of three
Sisters City Councilors
elected in November balloting
and is slated to assume office
in January 2017. His filing
papers for the election, sub-
mitted in July, listed his resi-
dence as 153 N. Oak St. and
indicated he would soon be
moving to 329 Jefferson Ave.
One of the requirements
that must be met in order for a
person to run for the office of
City Councilor is that he must
have been a resident of the
city (within city limits) for 12
consecutive months prior to
the election.
Questions were raised
prior to the election regard-
ing whether Esterman was
actually living inside the city
limits, and a hearing was
scheduled to resolve the mat-
ter before the January seating
of the candidates elected in
November.
Three people have pleaded
guilty to charges related to
a firearms trafficking ring
taken down by the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives (ATF) Seattle
Field Division. The investi-
gation concluded guns were
being bought in Central
Oregon and sold to gangs in
California in exchange for
money and drugs.
ATF, working with
the Central Oregon Drug
Enforcement Team (CODE)
and the Amtrak Police
Department, with the assis-
tance of the Burlington
Northern Santa Fe Railway
Police Department, the Lodi
(CA) Police Department,
Deschutes County District
Attorney’s Office and the
Sacramento (CA) Sheriff’s
Department, investigated a
firearms and narcotics traf-
ficking ring that started in
2014 and ran through August
2016 in the Bend area.
Jacob Quesada, 24,
employed straw purchasers
Cynthia Job, 22, and Dennis
Job, 64, all Bend residents,
to purchase guns from retail
stores and private parties
around the Central Oregon
area. Soon after the firearms
were purchased, Quesada
would travel to Lodi and
Stockton, California, areas
via passenger trains, and sell
them to alleged gang mem-
bers in the Central California
area. Investigators believed
Quesada would receive cash
for the firearms or would
trade them for commercial
amounts of methamphet-
amine, which was later
distributed throughout the
Central Oregon region.
There were more than 50
firearms purchased by the ring
members from 2014 to 2016.
Of those 10 were later recov-
ered by law enforcement in
violent crimes in California.
Following the arrest of
Qu es ad a i n Des ch u t es
County, Oregon, investiga-
tors from ATF and CODE
executed two search warrants
at Quesada and Cynthia Job’s
residence, which is located in
the Deschutes River Woods
subdivision south of Bend,
and within 1,000 feet of an
elementary school. A second
search warrant was simulta-
neously executed at Dennis
Job’s Deschutes River Woods
home. During the execu-
tion of the search warrants
detectives located and seized
a commercial quantity of
methamphetamine, as well as
other evidence of the illegal
possession, distribution, and
manufacturing of metham-
phetamine and the illegal dis-
tribution of firearms.
During their arrest, ATF
special agents and CODE
detectives attempted to stop
Quesada and Cynthia Job
during a traffic stop. Quesada
refused to immediately stop
and led law enforcement on a
short vehicle pursuit with their
two children in the vehicle.
Ultimately, Quesada stopped
his vehicle and both he and
Cynthia Job were taken into
custody. The endangered
children were later released to
Oregon DHS Child Welfare.
“Straw purchasers will
continue to be investigated
and prosecuted for violating
the law,” said ATF Seattle
Special Agent in Charge Doug
Dawson. “Straw purchasers
and firearms traffickers are
responsible for the crimes
committed with those guns.
As a society we have to make
straw purchasing as socially
reprehensible as the crimes
committed with those guns.”
“The Central Oregon Drug
Enforcement Team is com-
mitted to investigating and
dismantling these types of
organizations,” said CODE
team Lieutenant Ken Mannix.
“We will continue to work
with our local, state, and fed-
eral partners to ensure that
those responsible for the traf-
ficking of narcotics and fire-
arms are held accountable to
the fullest extent of the law.”
Earlier this month all
three pled guilty in Deschutes
County Circuit Court.
Jacob Quesada pleaded
guilty to unlawfully furnish-
ing a firearm in furtherance of
a felony when he reasonably
should have known a felony
would be committed and the
unlawful delivery of meth-
amphetamine, and recklessly
endangering another when
attempting to flee from police
during a traffic stop.
Cynthia Job, longtime
girlfriend and mother of
Quesada’s children pleaded
guilty to unlawfully furnish-
ing a firearm, for unlawfully
and knowingly transporting
a firearm in furtherance of a
felony, when she should have
reasonably known a felony
would be committed with
a firearm. She also pleaded
guilty to delivering metham-
phetamine within 1,000 feet
of school.
Cynthia’s grandfather,
Dennis Job, pleaded guilty to
unlawfully furnishing a fire-
arm, for selling firearms in
furtherance of a felony when
he reasonably should have
known a felony would be
committed with the guns. He
also pleaded guilty to provid-
ing false information on an
ATF 4473 form during the
purchase of a firearm.
Best Wishes for a Wonderful
Holiday and a Very
Happy New Year.
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“O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver, the hope of the nations
and their Saviour: Come and save us, O Lord our God.”
(Magnifi cat Antiphon, Vespers of December 24)
Christmas
Ch
i
Mass
M S
Schedule:
h d l
December 24, 2016 5:30 p.m.
December 25, 2016 12 a.m. (Midnight Mass)
December 25, 2016 6 a.m. (Latin Mass)
December 25, 2016 10 a.m.
Solemnity of Mary Mass Schedule
December 31, 2016 5:30 p.m.
January 1, 2017
10 a.m.
St. E
S
Edward
d
d the
h M
Martyr R
Roman C
Catholic
h l i C
Church
h h
123 Trinity Way, Sisters | 541-549-9391 | stedwardsisters.org | Very Rev. Andrew Szymakowski, J.C.L., Pastor