Two Arrested by Sheriff's Office

The Ashe County Sheriff's Office ended a five-month search for 23-year-old Rubio Mizraim Ramirez on Friday,

Nov. 28, 2008, when they arrested the fugitive in Jefferson on three counts of felony trafficking of cocaine and three counts of conspiracy to traffic in cocaine. The charges were the result of an undercover investigation by the Sheriff's Office, who had received a true bill of indictment on Ramirez from an Ashe County grand jury in July.

Ramirez is currently being held at the Ashe County Detention Center under a $350,000 bond.

The Sheriff's Office also arrested 22-year-old Paul Richard Chakmakis, of West Jefferson, and charged him with "multiple undercover purchases of cocaine and marijuana in Ashe County," according to a press release issued by the Sheriff's Office. The arrest was made with the help of the State Bureau of Investigation, the Boone Police Department and the Wilkes County Sheriff's Office.

The investigation took place between May 2008 and July 2008. The Sheriff's Department seized a large quantity of cocaine with a street value of $30,000.

Chakmakis is currently out of jail on a $25,000 bond.

-Joel Frady