Judge Won’t Dismiss Charges Against Pair In Cocaine Case Two Men Identified As Major Dealers In Operation Doughboy

A federal judge refused Friday to dismiss criminal conspiracy charges against two men identified as major cocaine dealers.

Attorneys for Keith S. Young, 47, and Edelmire “Eddie” Tamez Jr., 38, asked U.S. District Judge Fred Van Sickle to dismiss the charges after federal prosecutors rested their case.

“The court cannot say the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction,” the judge said.

The ruling on the fifth day of trial came with the jury out of the courtroom. The trial is set to continue Tuesday, after the Presidents Day holiday.

Young, of Electric City, Wash., and Tamez, of Pasco, face minimum 10-year prison terms if convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

Tamez will not testify in his own defense, his attorney, Antonio Salazar, told the judge Friday.

But the defense attorney said he will call David Delfs, 39, who is in jail on a federal firearms charge.

Delfs and John L. Calvert, 35, were arrested Jan. 6 after a five-hour standoff with police at an East Spokane apartment.

Salazar didn’t say how Delfs is tied to the Young and Tamez case.

Young and Tamez were arrested last September by the FBI and Spokane Regional Drug Task Force as an outgrowth of Operation Doughboy - a cocaine conspiracy investigation that snared two dozen suspects.

The final government witness was Bruce Farline of Coeur d’Alene.

The 42-year-old salesman was subpoenaed as a reluctant prosecution witness after getting a written guarantee of immunity from prosecution for discussing his drug dealing.

Farline said he got cocaine over the past 10 years from John S. Drake, and was introduced to Young by Drake.

Drake, a former drug counselor, was a key prosecution witness against Young and Tamez. He is in line to get a light prison sentence because he cooperated and testified.

Drake testified that he obtained kilograms (2.2 pounds apiece) of cocaine from Young and Tamez, and arranged deliveries to Doughboy defendants James Larsen and Clarence “Cip” Paulsen III.

“Did Mr. Drake ever tell you who his supplier was?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Rice asked Farline.

The witness said Drake said he got cocaine from Young or Tamez, “then he would say it was somebody else. I didn’t ask him because it was none of my business.”

Earlier in the day, Nelson Mariani, of N7225 Country Homes Blvd., described how he became a major cocaine dealer, supplied by Drake.

Mariani, who is awaiting sentencing for his role in the conspiracy, said he was fired from his job at Kaiser Aluminum’s Mead plant for missing work at the same time he was dealing in kilogram-quantities of cocaine and using the drug.

Drug agents found $57,100 in cash in Mariani’s car and home safe when they arrested him in September as he attempted to buy a kilogram of cocaine from Drake.