GREEN BAY (WTAQ) – Charges have been filed in a large drug bust in Green Bay this week.
Adolfo Castellano and Erika Castellano were charged with possession with intent to deliver and maintaining a drug trafficking place.
Police seized more than $70,000 dollars worth of marijuana at home on Green Bay’s west side Thursday.
Officers obtained a warrant for 411 South Maple Street, and located the large supply, along with $7,400 dollars in cash, and two firearms.
Police Chief Andrew Smith said they have been working on this case for a long time.
“This investigation started over a year ago with a tip that our officers received.”
Officers ended up arresting four people.
42-year-old Adolfo Castellano, 42-year-old Erika Castellano, 20-year-old Crystal Gutierrez and 18-year-old Ryan Rathbun are all awaiting charges.
Police also located two children in the home. A 13-year-old and a one-year-old living in the home were handed over to Brown County Child Protective Services.
Smith says based on the amount of marijuana and cash in the residence, he has reason to believe that they put a halt to a major drug operation.
“Each one of these one pound bags of marijuana would be given to a lower level dealer, who would split it up into smaller quantities and then sell it on the street,” he said. “Taking this amount of drugs off the street, with an estimated value of $70,000 dollars, is going to put a dent in the marijuana distribution at least for a little while.”
He said so far this year alone, they seized about $33,000 worth of narcotics. That exceeds the amount seized all of last year.
Smith said he can’t recall seeing that amount of marijuana seized at one time, but they will continue to work to get drugs and drug dealers off the street because marijuana is illegal in Wisconsin.
“Many of the homicides that we had were as a result of low-level disputes among narcotics dealers and narcotics users over marijuana.”
