The Grant County Sheriff’s Office continues its fight against property crimes, and yesterday dealt a blow to an alleged major player in the local theft trade.

Deputies on Mar. 14 served a property search warrant at 13290 Road M.5-Northwest in rural Quincy. The warrant stemmed from the investigation of several thefts.

On the property, Deputies found a large amount of stolen goods, including a truck-mounted fuel tank, electric fuel pump, 4000-watt Honda generator, laser surveying tools, four railroad crossing batteries, an oxy-acetylene torch, Suzuki ATV, chop saw and most of a stolen GMC pickup truck. Thus far, around $20,000 in stolen property has been recovered.

One of the suspects in this case, Daniel Amaya, 39 of Ephrata, was arrested the day before on other Grant County warrants and is lodged in the Grant County Jail. He faces charges connected to the stolen property.

Two firearms were also found, and since Amaya is a convicted felon and not allowed to possess guns, they, too, were seized.

The investigation is continuing and more property is likely to be recovered. Deputies are also looking for Amaya’s crime associates.

It can happen to anyone. Spoofers have targeted two well-respected consumer protection agencies in an attempt to harm the very people those agencies protect.

In mid-January, the Federal Trade Commission warned people that scammers had sent e-mail messages that appeared to be from the FTC to thousands of businesses claiming that people had complained about them. The email included a link or attachment to a document including more information. The goal? Entice frazzled business owners to click on the link or attachment then dump malware on their computer.

The Grant County Sheriff's Office announced Thursday that two men are in custody on cocaine charges after Grant County's Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team severed search warrants on a home in Moses Lake.

Alexander Zambrano, 30, is charged with possession of cocaine with intent to deliver in a school zone and his 21-year-old brother Julio was arrested for possession of cocaine.

Both are citizens of Mexico and not legally living in the United States, according to a press release from the sheriff's office.

INET detectives discovered nearly an ounce of cocaine, a scale and undercover buy-money when they served the search warrants.