Several Sequoyah County Residents Arrested Following An Investigation By Federal Drug Agents

The DEA shuts down an elaborate drug ring in Oklahoma. Federal court records say a Sallisaw couple paid people to run huge amounts of drugs and cash from Mexico to the US. <br/><br/>An affidavit names

Thursday, May 4th 2006, 6:14 am

By: News On 6

The DEA shuts down an elaborate drug ring in Oklahoma. Federal court records say a Sallisaw couple paid people to run huge amounts of drugs and cash from Mexico to the US.

An affidavit names Sammy Valdivia as the head of the drug running enterprise. It says he paid his wife's father, Paul Philpot and her brother, Travis, and a number of others to run cash and drugs using a race horse business as a front.

Agents say the runners picked up the drugs in Mexico using horse trailers, and distributed them in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Georgia, Kentucky and beyond. Informants told agents they used the trailer so if they were stopped by police, they could say the cash was from horse deals.

During the investigation, which took more than a year, agents seized nearly $3-million from the group.

No one has been convicted.

The affidavit says the Valdivia's maintain they're running a horse operation.