Texas drug organizer receives lengthy prison sentence

LAREDO, Texas — A member of a well-known drug organization was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $42 million following multiple convictions on drug and international money laundering charges, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas.

Oscar DeLeon, aka "Shrek," 39, of Laredo, was sentenced by U.S. Circuit Court Judge Gregg Costa to 262 months in federal prison. DeLeon was also ordered him to pay a money judgment of $41,950,000, followed by 10 years of supervised release. DeLeon was convicted by a Laredo federal jury Dec. 11, 2013, following a three-day trial and about three hours of deliberation.

According to court documents, DeLeon was a co-conspirator working for a Laredo-based drug trafficking organization. He assisted with a drug conspiracy, existing from 2006 to 2010, that shipped cocaine, marijuana and U.S. currency from Mexico through Laredo to Atlanta, Ga., and throughout the United States. De Leon was convicted on drug and international money laundering conspiracy charges from 2006 to 2010 as well as possession with intent to distribute more than 100 kilograms of cocaine and more than 300 kilograms marijuana from May 2008 and May 2009, respectively. 

To date, a total of 38 co-conspirators have been convicted and sentenced as part of this investigation. During the course of the investigation that led to the convictions, federal agents seized more than $7.5 million in drug proceeds and more than 450 kilograms of cocaine. Agents also seized a drug ledger that attributes the movement and distribution of about 12,500 kilograms of cocaine and $41. 9 million in drug proceeds by these and other co-conspirators.

Deleon will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

The charges and resulting convictions are the result of a long term Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation dubbed “Operation El Patron” and “Havoc” involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Assistance was provided by the Webb County District Attorney’s Office, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol, Laredo Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety.                                                                      

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Graciela Rodriguez Lindberg and Sanjeev Bhasker, Southern District of Texas, prosecuted the case.