DALLAS — Twelve drug traffickers, with ties to one of Mexico’s most violent and powerful drug cartels, were sentenced on Tuesday.
The prison terms range from 40 years to four and a half years, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.
Authorities said the convicted suspects are tied to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
Over the course of the investigation, law enforcement seized about 650 kilograms of methamphetamine drugs, 17 guns, $220,922 in U.S. currency and $12,200 in real and personal property.
Francisco Javier Rodriguez Arreola, who authorities said is a top source of supply, was handed a 40-year sentence in federal prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
Rodriguez Arreola, a 45-year-old Mexican citizen born in Michoacan, was arrested in 2021 in Del Rio, Texas while illegally reentering the U.S. from Mexico after having been previously deported.
In plea papers, he admitted that he helped coordinate the shipment of a load of 199.97 kilograms of liquid methamphetamine – with a street value of up to $9.9 million – from Mexico to Dallas concealed inside the diesel tank of a red semi-truck.
During his sentencing, prosecutors revealed evidence that showed Rodriguez Arreola coordinated multiple deliveries of meth on behalf of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. He was in charge of finding drivers, planning routes, confirming delivery, loss prevention and finding locations to receive, store and transfer meth shipments, court documents show.
Prosecutors said he reported to plaza bosses, who reported directly to the cartel’s leader, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, a.k.a. El Mencho.
Other defendants sentenced include:
- Ricardo Hernandez Zarate, sentenced to 480 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance and 240 months in prison for money laundering, to be served concurrently
- Pedro Hernandez Zarate, sentenced to 360 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance
- Uriel Marin Gaona, sentenced to 120 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance
- Benito Diaz Hernandez, sentenced to 210 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance
- Marcos Garcia Reyes, sentenced to 87 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled
- Heleodoro Rosales Ramirez, sentenced to 168 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance
- Rafael Diaz, sentenced to 60 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance
- Jose Alberto Plascencia 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 a controlled (cocaine)
- Walter Daniel Chapa Marty, sentenced to 121 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance
- 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
The investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office, with special assistance provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Dallas, Gainesville, and Fort Worth Police Departments, Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, the Williamson County, Texas Sheriff’s Department, the Hawkins County Sheriff’s Department in Tennessee, the FBI’s Knoxville Field Office - Tennessee Resident Agency and the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas Strike Force 1.
