Three individuals are facing drug charges in the city of Dunkirk — two of which were arrested last week on gun charges.

Dunkirk Police and the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office state that for the past several months, members of the Southern Tier Regional Drug Task Force have been conducting an investigation into the sale and distribution of illegal narcotics from a residence at 49 E. Second St. in the city. The investigation led to officers obtaining arrest warrants for the individuals as well a search warrant for the residence.

Around 8 p.m. Friday, task force members executed a search warrant at the residence with Jose Rodriguez Jr., 45; Christian Manual Padilla-Rivera, 29; and Aixmary Rodriguez-Rosa, 35; located and arrested on warrants for third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. Officers also report a large quantity of U.S. currency was located and seized from within the residence.

All three subjects were transported to the Dunkirk City Police Department jail pending arraignment.

Christian Manual Padilla-Rivera

On March 23, Rodriguez-Rosa and Padilla-Rivera, along with city residents Nelson Catala, 42, and Limarys Carmona, 41, were charged with criminal possession of a weapon and manufacture, transport, disposition and defacement of weapons and dangerous instruments and appliances.

Those four were taken into custody after officers responded to 152 Lake Shore Drive East for a report of a person with a gun.

Upon arrival, officers observed a vehicle leaving the scene that witnesses reported the firearm was being taken away from the scene in.

Officers performed a traffic stop in the parking lot of the Steger High Rise parking lot. Simultaneously, officers received reports that the individual alleged to have threatened subjects at the Lake Shore Drive East location with the firearm was running south on South Beaver Street. That individual, identified as Catala, was located and apprehended.

Through investigation, officers allegedly found Padilla-Rivera and Rodriguez-Rosa, as well as Carmona in possession of a loaded defaced pistol. It is alleged that none of the subjects had any legal right to possess the firearm.

Catala was charged with two counts of second-degree menacing.

Members of the Dunkirk police department and the Chautauqua County Sheriffs Office Southern Tier Regional Drug task Force encourage the public to contact them with any in formation related to illegal drug activity at: the Sheriffs Office Tip Line at 1-800-344-8702 or the Dunkirk Police Tip Line at 363-0313.