ALBUQUERQUE - Three members of a Grant County methamphetamine trafficking ring, including the ringleader, pled guilty late yesterday afternoon to methamphetamine trafficking charges. The three were part of a group of 12 defendants who were indicted in April 2015, as the result of an investigation that began in March 2014, and targeted a drug trafficking organization led by Daniel Lee Jacquez, 34, of Silver City, N.M., that distributed methamphetamine in Grant County, N.M. Three other defendants previously entered guilty pleas in this case.

The 12 defendants were charged in a 34-count indictment with participating in a drug trafficking conspiracy and committing a series of substantive drug trafficking offenses and a firearms offense. The conspiracy count charged all 12 defendants with conspiring to distribute methamphetamine in Grant County from March 2014 through April 2015. Eight counts charged certain defendants with distributing or possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine, 24 counts charge certain defendants with using communications devices (telephones) to facilitate drug trafficking crimes, and one charged a defendant with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

During yesterdayG