2 Sentenced To Prison For Trafficking Meth In Cherokee County: DA

CANTON, GA — Two people were sentenced to prison after being accused of trafficking drugs throughout Cherokee County, the district attorney's office said Wednesday.

Eloisa Chavez-Lopez, 40, pleaded guilty Nov. 15 to trafficking methamphetamine while co-defendant Erick Alexander Pauu-Sirin, 27, pleaded guilty July 28 to the same charge, Cherokee County District Attorney Shannon Wallace said.

Authorities began looking into Chavez-Lopez and Pauu-Sirin in February 2021 during a multi-agency narcotics squad investigation, Wallace said. According to the district attorney, authorities received tips that Chavez-Lopez was distributing meth.

Wallace said investigators saw Chavez-Lopez complete hand-to-hand drug transactions throughout Cherokee.

Search warrants were executed May 14, 2021, at two addresses where Chavez-Lopez and Pauu-Sirin lived, Wallace said.

At the first home, agents found more than 50 grams of meth and more than 50 grams of cocaine, packaged in more than 100 individual bags, Wallace said. Additionally, agents found $5,876 in cash, she said.

At the second home, agents located meth weighing more than a kilogram, Wallace said.

“Our CMANS agents were able to take a tip from a concerned citizen and begin to connect Ms. Chavez-Lopez and Mr. Pauu-Sirin to a network of high-level poly-drug traffickers,” Damion Overstreet, who prosecuted the case on behalf of the state, said in a news release. “Good old-fashioned police work and some patience by our CMANS agents laid out an organized scheme to flood our county with drugs.”

Chavez-Lopez was sentenced to 30 years, with the first 25 years to serve in the state penitentiary, while Pauu-Sirin was sentenced to 30 years, with the first 15 years to serve in the state penitentiary, Wallace said.