Drug task force seizes 40 pounds of marijuana in Butler County

MORGANTOWN, Ky. – Two men are facing charges in connection with drug trafficking in Butler County.

According to a release by the Bowling Green-Warren County Drug Task Force, drug task force detectives obtained a search warrant that the Kentucky State Police Interdiction Unit used to conduct a search of a residence on Wednesday night in Morgantown.

Officials say detectives and troopers found 22-year-old Pacheco Alan Esquivel and 39-year-old Benjamin Alexis Alicea in the residence with about 40 pounds of marijuana.

Esquivel and Alicea were arrested without resistance. The drug task force says it additionally seized a hand gun and $2,652 in cash.

Esquivel was previously arrested in August at an Airbnb off of East 13th Avenue in Bowling Green and charged with trafficking in marijuana (over 5 pounds). Esquivel and another man, Emmanuel V. Garcia, possessed 30 pounds of marijuana in their apartment, officials say.

Esquivel was indicted in Warren County in October before being released on a $6,000 cash bond.

The investigation into the the source of the marijuana and trafficking activity in both Bowling Green and Butler County is ongoing.

Esquivel and Alicea were taken to the Butler County Jail.