Two men bound over on trafficking charges

Two men charged with trafficking more than a pound of methamphetamine and smaller quantities of cocaine were bound over to district court Wednesday afternoon.Jose Manuel Garcia-Gaona, 35, and Francisco Javier Solis-Ledezma, 32, were arrested Aug. 4 on suspicion of trafficking more than 28 grams of methamphetamine and possession of methamphetamine.According to the police report, a Honda Accord, with the drugs in its trunk, was towed and impounded on Aug. 3.In testimony heard at the original preliminary hearing, a phone call from a woman asking if anything had been removed from the vehicle aroused the suspicions of the tow yard, Chellsey Kernodle testified Oct. 10.“I told her we did not remove anything,” said Chellsey Kernodle, the towing company dispatcher.Two men came to the tow yard and asked if they could get their prescriptions out of the car. Without proof of ownership over the prescriptions or the vehicle, the answer was no, she testified.Matthew Kernodle, a senior driver with the company, searched the car for prescriptions but found none, he testified. Instead, he found a plastic bag in the trunk. When he opened the bag in the office, it was filled with crystals, he testified during the first hearing.Another man, who was caught holding the bag, had trafficking and possession charges against him dropped last week.Solis-Ledezma’s lawyer, Ben Walker, told Judge John Tatro the state had not met its burden of proof that Solis-Ledezma was actually involved in the trafficking and moved to have the charges dismissed. Walker also asked the judge to reassess his bail down to $25,000 from $250,000.Tatro said there was enough evidence to bind Solis-Ledezma over to district court and that he was not going to reduce the bail after the testimony he had heard.Solis-Ledezma and Garcia-Gaona will be arraigned in district court at 9 a.m. Oct. 29.