PORT ANGELES — The Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team arrested two people and served two search warrants at two Port Angeles motels, seizing small amounts of heroin and methamphetamine and taking a child into protective custody.
OPNET and the Port Angeles Police Department arrested 49-year-old Manuel Raymond Martinez and 52-year-old Katharine Marie Ewing following ongoing drug investigations.
Twice in January, OPNET detectives said they used a confidential informant to purchase about 8.8 grams of heroin from Martinez in the area of the Aircrest Motel in Port Angeles.
On Tuesday, detectives say they were watching Martinez at the Aircrest Motel and observed what appeared to drug transactions. He was arrested at about 5:06 p.m. and was found to be in possession of five bindles of heroin, each weighing 1.4 grams, court records say.
Martinez, who was taken into custody when he exited a room at the Aircrest Motel, was arrested within 100 feet from the Kids Campus daycare and preschool, which also serves as a school bus stop.
“Martinez admitted to selling heroin to support his habit,” the probable cause affidavit says.
He appeared in Clallam County Superior Court on Wednesday and was ordered held on $5,000 bail. Martinez remained in the Clallam County jail Wednesday for investigation of several counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and delivery of a controlled substance in a public place.
Following Martinez’s arrest, detectives were granted search warrants for individual rooms at the Travelers Motel, 1133 E. First St., and Holiday Lodge, 1414 E. First St., where they say they found Ewing in possession of about 1.7 grams of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.
Court records don’t say what led to OPNET detectives applying for warrant at Travelers Motel.
Ewing’s juvenile granddaughter was found in her room at the Travelers Motel. The child was turned over to Child Protective Services.
Ewing told investigators she had been smoking meth for several years, but that she removed drugs from the hotel room because her granddaughter was in there.
While executing the search warrant at the Holiday Lodge, detectives discovered 5 strips of Suboxone — a drug often used to treat opioid addiction but also used on the streets — in a room belonging to Martinez.
Ewing also appeared in court Wednesday and was released without bail.
Charges are expected to be filed in both cases on Monday at 1 p.m.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsula dailynews.com.