N.J. men arrested in crack trafficking Auburn bust part of continuing probe

AUBURN – The arrests of two New Jersey men this week on drug trafficking charges are part of a continuing investigation involving more than half a dozen law enforcement agencies, according to officials.

Victor Torres, 65, and Felix Merced, 35, also known as Felix Ramos, who are both from New Jersey and also used an apartment in Auburn, faced an initial court appearance Friday.

Authorities said they were arrested Wednesday afternoon. Maine Drug Enforcement Agency agents were called to the apartment by officers from the Central Maine Violent Crimes Task Force who were investigating the theft of firearms from an Auburn gun store.

Task force members who entered the apartment found a plastic sandwich bag containing 9.8 grams of crack cocaine, and a follow-up search turned up another 4.9 grams of crack, as well as $1,600, authorities said.

Both men were charged with aggravated trafficking in crack cocaine and bail was set at $25,000.

Officers also searched a vehicle parked on the premises that authorities said was owned by a local person believed to be a drug customer and found four homemade pipe bombs inside.

The devices were secured and dismantled by agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the components were turned over to the state Fire Marshal’s Office for examination, authorities said.

The DEA issued a statement alleging that Torres has been a major distributor of cocaine in the Lewiston-Auburn area in recent years and is also suspected of moving money and guns between New Jersey and Maine.

The statement noted that Wednesday’s arrests in Auburn came one week after the arrest of Edward McDonald in Jersey City, N.J., in connection with a quadruple homicide. It also said McDonald was arrested by the DEA in Poland in 2001 for possession of more than a half-kilogram of cocaine he intended to distribute locally.

The 2001 investigation had connected McDonald, who was convicted in U.S. District Court in Maine and released from federal prison last spring, with members of the Torres family from Jersey City, N.J., authorities said.

The investigation involves the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force, the Central Maine Violent Crimes Task Force, the Hudson County (New Jersey) Violent Crimes Task Force, the Lewiston and Auburn police departments and the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department.