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Steamboat Springs — The case of Jorge Orduno-Acuna will go to trial after a lengthy preliminary hearing Thursday, but not before several charges were dropped or amended.

Orduno-Acuna initially faced 10 criminal charges stemming from an All Crimes Enforcement Team drug investigation and raid on an apartment in Creekside Court on Aug. 31.

ACET Commander Gar­rett Wiggins spent much of Thursday’s six-hour preliminary hearing as a witness explaining how Orduno-Acuna was identified, how the information was gathered and, crucially, the weight of the drugs that were seized. One of the charges Orduno-Acuna faced was possession of 450 grams of methamphetamine.

Routt County Public Defender Sheryl Uhlmann repeatedly questioned Wiggins about the amount of drugs seized in the Aug. 31 raid on the home, at one point going through the report listing separate baggies seized and asking Wiggins to add up the weight. According to the records that Uhlmann and Wiggins read, 364.99 grams of methamphetamine were seized during the raid.

In his report, Wiggins stated that more than 450 grams of methamphetamine were seized during the raid, but he explained that he might have included drugs purchased by a confidential informant during the course of the investigation.

Uhlmann then had Wiggins add the additional weight into the calculation, but the total was 449.04 grams.

Under state statute, a person who is convicted of distribution of 450 grams of a Schedule 2 drug, which includes methamphetamine and cocaine, is subject to a minimum jail term. In Orduno-Acuna’s case, that minimum would be eight years.

Wiggins testified that the methamphetamine seized from the Creekside Court apartment was among the most pure he had ever seen. Fourteenth Judicial District Attorney Elizabeth Oldham attempted to make the argument that the drugs were going to be combined with other chemicals also found in the house, possibly bumping the weight over the threshold, but objections by Uhlmann were upheld, and the argument was not allowed.

Routt County Judge James Garrecht, who oversaw the preliminary hearing before the case goes to district court for trial, said that because the 450-gram threshold was not met, the additional charge would be dropped. He also agreed with Uhlmann that one of the three conspiracy charges should be dropped because only two controlled buys were recorded by investigators.

Uhlmann spent some of the time questioning Wiggins about what task force officers were involved in the search and the reliability of the informant who recorded video and audio of drug deals.

One line of questioning revolved around the $4,000 given to the confidential informant before a controlled purchase of drugs leading to the Aug. 31 raid. Only $3,900 of that was recovered, Uhlmann said. Wiggins admitted the other $100 was never recovered.

Garrecht agreed to send eight of the 10 counts forward to district court. Orduno-Acuna is scheduled for arraignment Dec. 3.

One of Orduno-Acuna’s co-defendants, Ernesto Sanluis-Espinoza, pleaded guilty to lesser charges and was deported to Mexico. The third suspect, Alexander Ocho-Espinoza, is scheduled for a four-day trial beginning April 26.