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5 men accused of impersonating DEA during Grants Pass pot robbery By Nick Morgan Updated: Oct 20, 2022 05:32 PM A A Five men from San Antonio, Texas, have been captured by federal officers after allegedly pretending to be Drug Enforcement Administration agents earlier this year during an armed robbery at a marijuana operation in Josephine County. Nevin Cuevas Morales, 21, Michael Ray Acuna, 20, Jose Manuel Lopez, 22, Alan Jaasiel Lopez, 19, and Juan Carlos Conchas, 20, each face federal charges of conspiring to commit robbery, conspiring to possess marijuana with intent to distribute and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime for their alleged involvement in a March 12 robbery outside Grants Pass, according to a news advisory issued Thursday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and newly unsealed court records filed in U.S. District Court in Medford. A sixth suspect, 19-year-old Jordan Allen Gammage, still is on the loose, police said. According to police and court records, Josephine County sheriff’s deputies interrupted a robbery the afternoon of March 12 at 707 Pyle Drive, Grants Pass. On scene, police found suspects with “a badge, DEA/police lettering on clothing, body armor and radios” who were holding five victims at gunpoint, according to an affidavit filed by the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office. The suspects scattered when police arrived, but sheriff’s deputies found one of the suspects, Alan Lopez, hiding in a wooded area nearby. Lopez was held in the Josephine County Jail until last week, when he was charged federally in the robbery conspiracy. He has since made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Medford. The suspects allegedly forced victims on the property out of their residences at gunpoint and restrained several of them with duct tape and zip ties, according to federal prosecutors. During an “extensive investigation,” federal prosecutors say they turned up at least one incriminating group photo taken in late February at an Oregon hotel. “After arriving in Oregon, the group put on their DEA attire and posed, with firearms, for a photo in a hotel room,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Cellphone records and other digital forensics allegedly turned up text message conversations discussing the robbery plans. Four of the suspects were captured in Texas earlier this month. Morales and Acuna were arrested Oct. 6, and Conchas and Jose Lopez were arrested Oct. 13. All of them appeared in U.S. District Court in the Western District of Texas. The suspects all have been ordered detained until they can be extradited to Oregon. The one outstanding suspect, Gammage, remains at large and is believed to be in the San Antonio area. The robbery and marijuana conspiracy charges can carry federal sentences of between 10 and 40 years. The charge of using, carrying and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a drug crime can is punishable by up to life in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Reach web editor Nick Morgan at 541-776-4471 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @MTwebeditor.