Narcotics

Following an ICE San Diego investigation, three fugitives transferred from Mexico — Pablo Edwin Huerta Nuno, also known as Flaquito; Juan Carlos Felix Gastelum, also known as El Chavo Felix; and Abdul Karim Conteh — appeared in federal court in the Southern District of California Aug. 13.

Rosa De Arcos, an alleged drug trafficker, was extradited from Mexico to the United States Aug. 8, and arraigned in federal court on charges of importing and conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine following an ICE Homeland Security Investigations probe.

Davon Mitchell was sentenced July 28 to serve 20 years in prison after he admitted to distributing fentanyl that resulted in the overdose deaths of two individuals; and selling fentanyl that resulted in the non-fatal overdose of another individual on three occasions.

Juan Carlos Padilla Santos, a Dominican national with prior murder and narcotics convictions, was sentenced to 100 months in prison after an investigation by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations New York uncovered he had illegally reentered the United States despite having been previously deported twice and having been the subject of a third removal order.

On June 11, a federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned an indictment charging 53 gang members from the municipality of San Juan with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, possession and distribution of controlled substances, and firearms violations.

Ovidio Guzman Lopez, who succeeded his father — Joaquin Guzman Loera, also known as El Chapo — as one of the heads of the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Chicago to federal drug charges.

Following a three-week trial in December 2024, a jury found Larry J. Williams, Jr., 44, also known as “J Streets” and “J”, guilty of all 16 counts as charged against him in a second superseding indictment in September 2021.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations Newark and multiple federal, state and local partners made 18 arrests of alleged co-conspirators for roles in a drug trafficking organization on July 1 in Newark, New Jersey.

An investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement led to the sentencing of Amos Oluremi Nureni, 43, to 10 years in prison followed by four years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

A federal grand jury indictment was unsealed June 13 in San Diego alleging that 13 Guatemalan nationals are part of a Guatemala-based cocaine trafficking organization operating out of La Mesilla and Democracia, Huehuetenango, Guatemala, which is on the Guatemala-Mexico border.