ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY, Va. – Chips and dip — with a side of coke. Well, cocaine, that is.
Rockbridge County Deputy Chris Wade had a casual conversation with Luis Ramon De La Cruz-Leonardo that resulted in the seizure of cocaine worth at least $1.25 million.
“This was my first experience with that much narcotics,” admitted Wade.
Walking out of the White’s Travel Center service station and stating he was there for minor maintenance, De La Cruz-Leonardo led the deputy to his truck and allowed him to search it.
Wade described De La Cruz-Leonardo as cooperative and helpful.
“He was most likely so willing to let us in the trailer because that keeps us away from where it actually is which was in the cab,” stated Wade.
In the cabin, Wade says, they found a large number of drugs. A Kimber 1911 .45 caliber pistol was also recovered, according to federal court documents.
A strike force with the Drug Enforcement Agency had their eye on the suspect and his cousin, Jose De La Cruz, for a while.
From Sept. 27 to Sept. 30, 2021, a wiretap investigation showed that Jose called De La Cruz-Leonardo multiple times to coordinate picking up a bulk shipment of cocaine in Houston, Texas and then transporting it to the Bronx, where Jose lived.
Luis was also transporting boxed food items, including chips and dip.
However, on Oct. 7, at about 3:26 a.m., Wade stopped De La Cruz-Leonardo while he was at a truck stop on Raphine Road and arrested him.
De La Cruz-Leonardo faces federal charges. They include:
- Knowledge and intentionally possess with the intent to distribute 5,000 grams or more of cocaine (one count)
- Possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime (one count)
“A large...amount of our crimes are linked back to narcotics,” said Wade. He also stated interstate corridors like Interstate 81 can be hubs for drug trafficking.
“We are riddled with narcotics. Cocaine isn’t our big issue,” explained Wade. “Ours is methamphetamine, but I think every aspect of crime at least that we deal with all circles back to narcotics.”
Between Jan. 11 and Jan. 14, 2022, authorities conducted court-authorized searches of Jose’s, De La Cruz-Leonardo’s cousin, apartment in the Bronx and recovered $24,000, a kilo press used for shaping narcotics into bricks and a money counter.
Jose was arrested on Jan. 11. The judge set bail at $300,000 cash or insurance company bail bond and $600,000 partially secured bond.
Jose was indicted on the following charges:
- Operating as a Major Trafficker (one count)
- Conspiracy 2nd (one count)
- Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the 1st degree
- Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the 3rd degree
Since the October arrest, deputy Wade now works with a K-9 officer.
De La Cruz-Leonardo will go before a federal judge in Lynchburg summer 2022.