News Releases and Statements

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.

Anastacio Santiago Chaparro, also known as Arnoldo Urquidez, 41, of Mexico, was recently sentenced to 110 months' imprisonment for trafficking cocaine at the U.S. District Court of New Jersey in Camden. In February, Santiago Chaparro pleaded guilty to an indictment of those charges and illegal reentry by a convicted felon.

A Massachusetts man was sentenced June 2 in federal court in Boston after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation into his role leading a large-scale drug trafficking organization found he distributed fentanyl sourced from Latin America.

These sanctions target drug traffickers utilizing boats and narco-subs to traffic ton-quantities of cocaine, along with an alleged corrupt Guyanese law enforcement official. The sanctions also target individuals who are operating covert airstrips to traffic drugs via aircraft.

Jose Angel Ibarra-Rojas, 36, was sentenced on June 4 by U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton to serve 132 months in federal prison. At the hearing, the court heard how the narcotics were packaged in a sophisticated manner. The heads of the cabbages were removed, and balls of methamphetamine were then inserted into the leaves in order to conceal them. Not a U.S. citizen, he is expected to face removal proceedings following his imprisonment. Ibarra-Rojas pleaded guilty Nov. 6, 2024.

Jaime Renteria-Fernandez, 31, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, is charged in a superseding indictment with nine counts related to alleged offenses committed in support of the Barraza drug trafficking organization. Co-conspirator Alex Barraza was the leader of the DTO and was sentenced to life in federal prison Oct. 24, 2024.

A Colorado man was sentenced in a federal court May 27 in Alpine to 240 months in prison for distributing fentanyl to a Texas resident as a result of an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The shipment, which originated in China and was destined for the Sinaloa Drug Cartel in Mexico, was identified as a result of an initiative launched by ICE in 2019 that leverages the agency’s extensive expertise in illicit cross-border trade and sophisticated analytical tools and techniques to identify suspicious shipments of chemical precursors from China, India and other source countries that are destined for the drug cartels in Mexico.

An illegal alien from Guatemala was sentenced in federal court May 23 to 14 years in prison for managing a cocaine trafficking organization that smuggled more than 1,000 pounds of cocaine into the United States from Guatemala. This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Betty Nora Anderson, 65, of Phoenix, previously pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Fentanyl and Methamphetamine, Possession with Intent to Distribute Fentanyl, Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine, and Falsification of Records in a Bankruptcy Proceeding.

Following his prison term, German Montano-Peralta, 33, of Nacozari, Sonora, Mexico, will also be on three years of supervised release. Montano-Peralta previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and methamphetamine.

Houston residents James Michael Brewer aka ‘Creeper’, 33, Jonathan Alvarado aka ‘Joker’, 28, Alexis Delgado aka ‘Chino’, 28, Hector Luis Lopez aka ‘Capulito’, 23, Kylie Rae Alvarado, 24, Ruby Mata, 31, Victor Norris Ellison, 35, Mexi Dyan Garcia aka ‘Mexi’, 31, and Jesus Gomez-Rodriguez aka ‘Jr.’, 33, made their initial appearances in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas May 22 when the indictment was unsealed.

The seizures, to which ICE Homeland Security Investigations significantly contributed, include more than $200 million in currency and digital assets, over two metric tons of drugs, comprised of 144 kilograms of fentanyl or fentanyl-laced narcotics, and over 180 firearms. In addition, the United States and international law enforcement partners made 270 arrests of dark web vendors, buyers, and administrators in Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States.

ICE, in a joint operation with Washington City Police Department, served a Utah state search warrant May 14 for possession of false documents and illegal drugs at a collection of residences in Washington City.

An indictment unsealed May 13 is the first in the nation to charge alleged leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel with narco-terrorism and material support of terrorism in connection with trafficking massive amounts of fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin into the United States.

Leonardo Estrada, 41, will serve the next 288 months in prison. He pleaded guilty May 22, 2023.

Olvin Javier Velasquez Maldonado, 39, allegedly conspired to transport approximately 24 kilograms of cocaine from Honduras to the U.S. on a vessel attempting to illegally bring 23 Honduran nationals into the country. This operation was intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard in February 2022, about 75 miles off the coast of Louisiana after the vessel, M/V Pop, developed engine trouble.

The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces interdicted and announced the seizure of more than 44,550 pounds of cocaine and 3,880 pounds marijuana valued at approximately $509.9 million as part of the joint multiagency Panama Express Strike Force mission in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

An investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; along with the Virginia State Police; and the U.S. Attorney’s Office ​for the Eastern District of Virginia, led to the sentencing of Jamaican national Kirkville Virgo, 47, March 28, to 14 years in prison for attempting to possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute.

Antonio Espinoza Zarate, 55, also known as “El Gato,” and his son, Francisco Javier Espinoza Galindo, 31, were arrested and charged in U.S. District Court, Central District of California.

Noe Gonzalez-Martinez, also known as Tocayo, 41, will serve the rest of his life plus 60 months in federal prison for his role in multiple convictions related to a murder-for-hire scheme that brought three sicarios, or hitmen, across the U.S. border into Laredo.

Sergio Humberto Ramos, 73, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, admitting that he was paid to store the drugs at a trucking yard near Nogales until they could be transported.

Marvin Murphy, 48, of Philadelphia, was convicted on March 18 after a two-day bench trial at the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in Camden. Murphy was remanded into custody after the verdict.

Emmanuel F. Almonte Mejia, 40, of Philadelphia, was sentenced to 60 months, Feb. 27 and Hector Luiz De La Cruz Nunez, 32, was sentenced to 60 months, Feb. 5 by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. Both men and co-conspirator, Loanny F. Duran Hiciano, 37, previously plead guilty for their roles in a Philadelphia area drug mill.

Jose Bibiano Cabrera-Cabrera, 37 and Jesus Humberto Limon-Lopez, 43, were taken into U.S. custody after members of drug cartels were recently designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists, such as the Sinaloa Cartel, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, Cártel del Noreste, La Nueva Familia Michoacana, and Cártel de Golfo.