Man caught with pound of meth, woman face felonies

A woman who was driving a car that was pulled over in Saukville last week and a man who ran from it with what authorities said was a pound of methamphetamine and is accused of lighting a shed where he hid on fire face drug-dealer charges in Ozaukee County Circuit Court.

Pedro D. Jimenez Ortiz, 32, and Jessica F. Faust, 49, both of Green Bay, were each charged Monday with possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine, possession with intent to deliver fentanyl and a second or subsequent offense of possession of cocaine.

Jimenez Ortiz is also charged with a felony count of arson and misdemeanor charges of resisting an officer and bail jumping.

During a court hearing on Monday, Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Sandy Williams set bail at $75,000 for Jimenez Ortiz and $50,000 for Faust.

According to a criminal complaint, at 4:10 a.m. Friday, April 17, Ozaukee County sheriff’s deputy Michael Zilke stopped a 2016 Hyundai Elantra near Green Bay Road in Saukville, and as he was approaching the vehicle he saw a man later identified as Jimenez Ortiz run from the car carrying a dark-colored cross-body bag.

As Zilke was speaking with Faust, who was the driver, he noticed a digital scale with white residue on it in the back seat in plain view, which Faust said she knew nothing about.

A dog from the Hartford Police Department arrived at the scene, did an open-air sniff of the vehicle and indicated there were narcotics inside.

Officers searched the car and inside Faust’s purse found cocaine. A gray, rock-like substance found in the front passenger door panel tested positive for fentanyl, the complaint states.

The police dog was used to track Jimenez Ortiz, and as the search for him continued Zilke was notified at 9:39 a.m. that a shed off Northwoods Drive in the Town of Port Washington was on fire. The shed was 1,000 feet south of the area where the police dog lost Jimenez Ortiz’s track.

Officers eventually spotted Jimenez Ortiz near the Walmart store in Saukville and saw he was carrying several bags from the store and the cross-body bag he was seen carrying when he ran from the car, according to the complaint.

Jimenez Ortiz resisted officers and attempted to run away before he was arrested.

Officers found a pair of muddy shoes in one of the bags Jimenez Ortiz was carrying and discovered he had a new flip phone and a receipt for it.

In another Walmart bag that Jimenez Ortiz was carrying authorities found a total of 453 grams of methamphetamine, a gray, rock-like substance that was identical to the fentanyl found in the car but was not tested for safety reasons and cocaine, the complaint states.

Jimenez Ortiz initially told authorities, “I don’t know anything” and he was “helping somebody out.” He went on to say that he is “just an addict” and that he was paid by Faust to ride along with her and buy methamphetamine, according to the complaint.

Jimenez Ortiz said that after running from the car he found the shed, went inside and started a fire in the corner to say warm. He said he fell asleep, and when he woke up the fire was out of control, the complaint states.

Both Faust and Jimenez Ortiz have previously been convicted of drug crimes, which is why they are charged in Ozaukee County with a second or subsequent offense of possession on cocaine.

In 2014, Faust was convicted of manufacturing-delivering heroin in Sheboygan County. A judge withheld a prison sentence, placed her on probation for five years and ordered her to serve a year in the county jail as a condition of probation.

Jimenez Ortiz was convicted of a misdemeanor count of possession of marijuana in Brown County in 2018 and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.

In January, he was charged in Sheboygan County with carrying a concealed knife, a misdemeanor, and was free in lieu of bail in that case at the time of his arrest in Ozaukee County.