Mark Barrett

mbarrett@citizen-times.com

ASHEVILLE – Six area residents have been charged with trafficking a little more than a ton of marijuana.

Officers with several law enforcement agencies intercepted a shipment of 2,288 pounds of marijuana in a rented white van at a home at 208 McKinnish Cove Road at about 7 p.m. Tuesday, said Stacy Cox, special agent in charge of the Asheville office of N.C. Alcohol Law Enforcement.

N.C. ALE is part of a multiagency law enforcement task force that received information that "a large shipment of marijuana was coming into North Carolina to be delivered in the Asheville area and the investigation led us to that address," she said.

McKinnish Cove Road is a little west of Leicester Highway on the edge of West Asheville. Two of the people arrested lived at the home, according to arrest warrants filed early Wednesday.

The amount of marijuana involved is among the largest, if not the largest, recorded in arrests in the area in recent years.

Cox said she could not say whether the marijuana was intended for resale locally.

Each of the six people arrested was charged with two felony counts of conspiracy to traffic in marijuana. They are:

--James Arthur Clements, 44, of 208 McKinnish Cove Road.

--Tisha Michelle Clements, 43, of 208 McKinnish Cove Road.

--Kenneth Robert Grace Jr., 25, of Candler.

--Idelfonso Napoleon Lopez, 67, of Asheville.

--Eduardo Macias-Beltran, 28, of Candler.

--Johnny Ruiz Ramirez, 28, of Canton.

Local and state agencies involved in the task force include the State Bureau of Investigation, State Highway Patrol, Buncombe County Sheriff's Office and Asheville Police Department.