Nearly $50K worth of meth, stolen guns found during Atlanta drug raid

ATLANTA — The Drug Enforcement Administration seized nearly $50,000 worth of methamphetamines after stopping two vehicles during a traffic stop in northwest Atlanta.

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In a Channel 2 Action News exclusive, DEA special agent Crystal Harper confirmed to Channel 2′s Michael Seiden that agents received a tip about a man stuffing drugs into a suitcase.

Around 3 p.m. on June 20, agents performed traffic stops on a Ford Windstar and an Audi four-door sedan at Bolton Road and James Jackson Parkway. 

When agents searched the vehicles, they seized 21 kilograms of methamphetamine, which carries a street value of $48,300, according to DEA officials. They also seized three stolen guns, according to court documents.

Federal agents arrested Kevin Vega-Santana, 22, Hector Lopez-Bernal, 44, and Luis Angel Gonzalez-Rios, 48. All three suspects are charged with trafficking in illegal drugs and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, according to jail records.

The D.E.A. told Channel 2 that this is an ongoing investigation and did not specify if the three suspects are connected to a specific criminal organization.

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Channel 2 has also learned the youngest suspect, Vega-Santana, was once charged in a separate drug investigation.

The details came from an arrest affidavit that stated that Atlanta police were conducting a gang and drug investigation in 2020 that led them to Vega-Santana’s northwest Atlanta home, where they discovered 6,000 grams of methamphetamines.

“There (were) several large bags approximately six, 1000 gram bags filled with methamphetamine in plain view sticking out of box beside the bed,” the officer wrote in his report.” “There were several other half-filled bags of meth recovered from his room as well.”

Vega-Santana was out on bond when Fulton County prosecutors declined to pursue charges against him, citing “prosecutorial discretion.”

Channel 2 has reached out to the Fulton County D.A.’s office for more details about that decision.

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