U.S. Attorney Leigha Simonton of the Northern District of Texas announced that 12 drug traffickers associated with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel have been sentenced to 4 1/2 to 40 years in federal prison.
Francisco Javier Rodríguez Arreola, the lead source charged in the case, was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years in federal prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Rodriguez Arreola, a 45-year-old Mexican national born in Michoacán, was arrested in Del Rio, Texas, in 2021 while illegally re-entering the United States from Mexico after being previously deported.
In his plea, the defendant admitted that he helped coordinate the transportation of 199.97 kilograms of liquid methamphetamine from Mexico to Dallas, with a street value of up to $9.9 million, hidden in the diesel tank of a red semi-truck.
During the investigation, court-authorized wiretaps revealed that Rodriguez Arreola, who goes by the street names “Taquito” and “Viejo” (“Old”), communicated in code with his co-defendants about the movement and sale of controlled substances. The one who was there was captured.
Court testimony revealed that Rodriguez-Arreola previously served time in federal prison and was deported to Mexico in April 2020. Less than a month after his deportation, he returned to drug trafficking in May 2020. The co-defendants then discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed the movement and sale of controlled substances. The defendant stated that the price of methamphetamine has increased due to the pandemic, and that he hoped the price would go up because a kilogram of methamphetamine used to sell for $14,000, the complaint said.
At Tuesday's sentencing hearing, prosecutors said on behalf of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of Mexico's most violent and powerful drug cartels, that Rodríguez Arreola had flown multiple times from Mexico to the United States. provided evidence that he coordinated the delivery of methamphetamine. During the hearing, Rodríguez Arreola was identified as someone who had access to the CJNG's upper echelons due to his ties to someone who directly reports to cartel leader El Mencho, aka Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes.
The attorney's testimony revealed that the defendant had significant ties to Plaza Boss, who worked for CJNG as a methamphetamine broker and had contact with cartel leaders. Rodriguez-Arreola's responsibilities include finding drivers and personnel capable of transporting and distributing methamphetamine, planning routes, confirming deliveries, preventing loss, and finding locations to receive, store, and transfer methamphetamine packages. Masu.
Tuesday's sentencing hearing revealed that during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rodríguez Arreola told a co-defendant that he needed a U.S. resident driver to transport the methamphetamine, so the defendant asked for one provided by CJNG. It was further revealed that he had access to counterintelligence information. [loads]Drivers with visas were not allowed to pass through. [the border crossings with their loads of methamphetamine].
Other sentenced defendants include:
- Ricardo Hernandez Zarate, 480 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances and 240 months in prison for money laundering (concurrent sentences)
- Pedro Hernández Zarate sentenced to 360 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances
- Uriel Marin Gaona sentenced to 120 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances
- Benito Diaz Hernandez sentenced to 210 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances
- Marcos Garcia Reyes sentenced to 87 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances
- Hereodoro Rosales Ramirez sentenced to 168 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances
- Rafael Diaz sentenced to 60 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances
- Jose Alberto Plasencia Torres sentenced to 292 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance
- Elmer Gardea Tello sentenced to 55 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute (cocaine)
- Walter Daniel Chapa Marty sentenced to 121 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances
- Salvador Antonio Martinez sentenced to 151 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance
During the investigation, law enforcement seized approximately 650 kilograms of methamphetamine-based drugs, 17 firearms, $220,922 in U.S. currency, and $12,200 in real and personal property.
The investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Dallas Field Office, and included assistance from the Texas Department of Public Safety, Gainesville Police Department, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Dallas Police Department, Fort Worth Police Department, Williamson County, Texas Sheriff's Department, and Hawkins County, Tennessee. The Sheriff's Office, FBI Knoxville Field Office (Tennessee Field Office), and Drug Enforcement Administration Dallas Strike Force 1 prosecuted this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney George Leal prosecuted the case.
This case is a case of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). The OCDETF program was established in 1982 to attack and reduce the supply of illegal drugs entering the United States and to reduce violence and other criminal activity associated with drug trafficking. The OCDETF program leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and uses a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach to identify and disrupt top-level drug traffickers and drug trafficking networks. , deconstruct. Additional information is available at https://www.justice.gov/ocdetf.
