News Releases and Statements

On Jan. 11, Monica Mata Vasquez, 49, was sentenced to 136 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by five years of supervised release. At the hearing, the judge emphasized the significance of the case, noting that fentanyl is destroying the community and killing people across the country.

For the past several months since Operation Youngblood was executed on Sept. 22, 2023, Homeland Security Investigations San Juan has shared updates on the status of the fugitives of the Hasta Los Marcian criminal organization.

HSI San Juan, along with the Puerto Rico Police Bureau and the U.S. Marshals Service, arrested Shaquille Emmanuel Rivera–De Jesus, one of the fugitives of HSI’s Operation Youngblood executed on Sept. 22, 2023.

Kahlil Felder, 39, of Southeast Washington D.C., was arraigned on a four-count indictment charging him with possession with intent to distribute more than 400 grams of fentanyl, and using, carrying and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, among other charges. Felder was ordered detained pending trial.

William Reyes Garcia, 33, of Silver Spring, Maryland, received the 15-year prison sentence at the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Greenbelt on Dec. 5.

Nathan Hernandez, 20, of Yuma, is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on March 25, 2024, before U.S. District Judge Michael T. Liburdi.

Pilar Angel Leon-Beltran, 44, of Sinaloa, Mexico, pleaded guilty to the charges on March 22. He admitted to being in violation of a condition of his supervised release from a previous federal conviction.

Augusto Jean Carlo Castillo-Hernandez aka Metal aka Joker, 34, of Guatemala, was arrested on Aug. 31, 2021, in Guatemala and extradited to the United States in February 2022 along with two other people.

On Nov.29, a federal grand jury in Tucson returned an 11-count indictment against Jorge Damian Roman-Figueroa, Luis Eduardo Roman-Flores, Manuel Jose Bernal, Joel Salazar-Ballesteros and Jesus Armando Gonzalez-Villela, citizens of Mexico, for conspiracy to transport aliens; conspiracy to launder monetary instruments; conspiracy to distribute marijuana, methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine; distribution of marijuana, methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine; and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

Ezequiel Alanis Espitia, a 40-year-old citizen of Mexico, was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to 27 years in federal prison to be immediately followed by five years of supervised release for money laundering and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. Espitia pleaded guilty to the charges on May 17.

As alleged in court documents, Caro Quintero aka Pelo Chino and El Chino, conspired to import large quantities of cocaine from Mexico into the United States from 1994 to January 2022. Francisco Abraham Flores Ortiz aka Panchito and two now-deceased co-conspirators allegedly conspired to import large quantities of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana from Mexico into the United States from January 2008 to January 2018. Oscar Manuel Gastelum Iribe aka Salgado and Musico allegedly conspired to import large quantities of methamphetamine and cocaine from Mexico into the United States from January 2009 to December 2015.

Jesus Vega Perez, 22, of Casa Grande, was convicted by a federal jury on Jan. 19 of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and importation of methamphetamine.

Branden Lee Narvaiz, a 35-year-old resident of Freer, was sentenced Dec. 6 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to five years in prison immediately followed by four years of supervised release for possession with intent to distribute a substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine.

The multi-jurisdictional operation targeted air, land and sea smuggling and trafficking corridors throughout the Carolinas that was initiated to disrupt the flow of deadly narcotics, illicit proceeds of crime and violent criminal organizations operating throughout the region.

According to court documents, Jose Julio Rodríguez-Cumba, directed a large-scale drug trafficking organization that imported and distributed multi-hundred-kilogram shipments of cocaine from South America to Puerto Rico and the continental United States.

Manuel Ignacio Ley Villa, 53, was convicted Nov. 28. According to court documents, on April 30, Villa approached the Hidalgo Port of Entry driving a maroon Chrysler Pacifica.

Richard Nares, 51, of Edinburg, was sentenced by a federal judge Nov. 27 to 60 months in federal prison to be followed by five years of supervised release.

According to publicly filed court documents, Aaron Leib Kobisher aka El Kobi, 34, of Mexico, is facing charges related to multiple seizures, including a June 2021 interception of approximately 2 kilograms of powdered fentanyl that was linked to him and his drug trafficking organization.

According to the investigation, authorities arrested Jose Arellano-Rodriguez, 26, of Durham, North Carolina, Aug. 2 at a rest stop in New Kent County after he attempted to pay $90,000 for what he believed was a load of more than 50 kilograms of cocaine.

Gerardo Hernandez, 40, of Tucson, pleaded guilty on May 5 to importation of fentanyl.

A federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned an indictment charging Carlos Alberto Hernandez-Laguer aka Brea, Luis Roberto De Leon-Sanchez aka Coco, and Misael Ruiz-Valentin aka Misa, with four counts of conspiracy to import cocaine, importation of cocaine, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, and possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

Elena Barrera, a 45-year-old resident of Mathis, pleaded guilty in the Southern District of Texas to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute liquid methamphetamines.

The roundtable brought together local, state and federal leaders to discuss and collaborate on California’s efforts to end the fentanyl crisis. Bonta shared the California Department of Justice’s strategy to address the multifaceted crisis by collaborating on enforcement operations and seizures with law enforcement partners statewide, bringing billions of dollars for recovery services into the state by holding the opioid industry accountable and developing and implementing effective public policy solutions with legislative partners.

Victor Torres, 28, pleaded guilty before a federal judge for importing cocaine concealed in a car battery. During his plea, Torres admitted he knew he was transporting drugs into United States and that individuals in Mexico recruited him.

A federal grand jury returned indictments for Jeremiah Pittman, 21; Shamall McDonald, 21; Juan Christian Rodriguez-Luhan, 20; Raeshawn Demond Roberts, 21; Jacob Deshaun Raglin, 24; Javion Lavelle Cooper, 19; Tyson Charae Hawthorne, 21; and Dantawn Richardson, 20, all charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.