Two Seminole residents, Franz Neufeld-Reimer, 45, and Helena Wieler de Neufeld, 45, were arrested Monday and accused of conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of a substance containing cocaine.
The two made initial appearances in Lubbock federal court and have been locked up in the Lubbock County Detention Center. A federal magistrate ordered that the two be transferred to Denver, Colorado where they were charged in criminal complaint.
The case started in August of 2015 with a traffic stop in Socorro, New Mexico. That seemingly ordinary traffic stop of a man named Jack Lucero Jr. led to the seizure of 16 kilograms of cocaine, according to federal court records. The traffic stop also led to a hotel receipt from Northglenn, Colorado.
That in turn led to the names of other people and a home in Thornton, Colorado. According to court records, in March of 2015 a vehicle with Neufeld-Reimer and Wieler de Neufeld inside was spotted at the home. That same vehicle was later spotted at the hotel in Northglenn.
The two were subject to undercover surveillance and a court-ordered tracking device for their car, court records said.
In June of 2015 the car was stopped in Pascagoula, Mississippi along Interstate 10. Court records said officers seized $100,000 of currency from inside the vehicle. Under questioning, court records said Neufeld-Reimer admitted that while in Chihuahua in early 2015 he was recruited by a Mexican drug trafficking organization.
According to court records, he admitted that he and Wieler de Neufeld took 8 kilos and later 10 kilos of cocaine to Denver.
Eight other individuals were indicted separately in New Mexico and Colorado, according to federal court records filed in Lubbock.
