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Hialeah police: Undercover officers help rescue 2 girls at dealers’ motel room with meth, heroin, fentanyl, marijuana

Raid at Star Motel: Police officers seize drugs, arrest 5 suspects, rescue 2 girls ages 4 and 10

Police officers rescued two girls and arrested their mother, Jessica Nieves, left; stepfather, Roy Duran, top left; grandfather William Nieves, top right; their grandmother Melinda Nieves, bottom right; and their grandmother's boyfriend, Jose Cortes, on Thursday at the Star Motel in Hialeah. (M-DCCR)

HIALEAH, Fla. – Detectives raided a Hialeah motel after accusing a family of selling drugs in front of two girls who were regularly around men with criminal records.

Jessica Nieves, their mother, and relatives were staying in two separate rooms at the Star Motel, at 1651 West Okeechobee Road, according to police.

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The case involves an investigation with undercover officers who bought crystal meth from them in the motel room on Feb. 20, March 7, and on Monday while the girls were present, according to police.

On Thursday afternoon, detectives were back to the motel with a warrant and reported rescuing the 4-year-old girl and finding more crystal meth, heroin, marijuana, and pills, according to a police report.

Nieves, 39; her boyfriend Roy Duran; her father, William Nieves, and the girls, aged 4 and 10, were staying in the same room, according to a police report.

The girls’ grandmother Melinda Nieves, who is still married to their grandfather, was staying in another room at the same motel with her boyfriend Jose Cortez, according to the report.

The 4-year-old girl told a police officer that Duran, 38, feeds her and her sister, and he, their grandparents, and Cortez, 53, watch over them when their mother doesn’t, according to a police report.

Records show Duran was out on a felony bond for possession of a controlled substance. Cortez, a convicted felon known as “King Chachi” who has been in and out of prison for decades, was last released from prison in 2022.

Police officers reported picking up the girl’s 10-year-old sister from an elementary school in Hialeah and taking her to the police department’s headquarters where they questioned and arrested the five suspects.

Police officers took the five to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. The Nieves, Duran, and Cortez faced two counts of child neglect with no great bodily harm.

Cortez also faced charges of possession of a firearm, weapon, or ammunition by a convicted felon; and two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to use.

William Nieves also faced charges of trafficking fentanyl and three counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell.

Jessica Nieves also faced three counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, possession of heroin with intent to sell, and possession of marijuana with intent to sell.


About the Author
Andrea Torres headshot

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.

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