News Releases and Statements

According to court documents, Jose Roman, 43, Marcos Valencia Jr, 32, Ezequil Castro, 37, and Juan Gonzalez, all of Kansas City, Kansas; Manuel Alvarez, 28, of Seneca, Manuel Faudoa, 23, of Dodge City and Gerardo Sierra-Martinez, 21, of Kansas City, Missouri, are charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

A federal grand jury returned seven indictments on April 19 and July 19, and a criminal complaint was issued on Aug. 1 as part of the investigation.

A Joint Fentanyl Impact Team investigation into suspicious activity led authorities to execute a search warrant around 10:30 a.m. on Aug. 2 in the Kansas city of Pittsburg.

A judge sentenced Angel Daniel Miranda-Contreras, 29, of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, to 41 months in prison during the last week of July. Miranda-Contreras was found guilty of attempting to smuggle drugs into the United States following an HSI Arizona probe. He pleaded guilty to importation of fentanyl, importation of heroin, importation of methamphetamine and importation of cocaine on April 10.

Chief District Court Judge Peter Welte sentenced Daniel Vivas Ceron, 42, of Colombia, to 27 years of imprisonment followed by five years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $11,048.43 in restitution for his role in a fentanyl distribution operation originating in a Canadian prison.

According to court documents, Cherakee Lee Perez, 33, of Presidio County, provided a negative declaration during a U.S. Customs and Border Protection vehicle inspection at the Presidio Port of Entry from Mexico into the United States.

HSI Kansas City acting Special Agent in Charge of Taekuk Cho, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Kansas Attorney General’s Office and the Kansas Highway Patrol announced a new collaborative initiative to combat fentanyl in Kansas called the Joint Fentanyl Impact Team.

Heriverto Ramirez, 36, of Brownsville, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute 1,741 grams of fentanyl on July 20 following an investigation conducted by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Texas Department of Public Safety.

U.S. Attorney Mac Schneider for the District of North Dakota announced that Juan Sillas-Rocha, 45, of Tijuana, Mexico, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, continuing criminal enterprise, and conspiracy to commit murder in furtherance of the continuing criminal enterprise before Chief Judge Peter Welte in Fargo, North Dakota, on July 13.

On June 14, a judge sentenced Veronica Dittman, 28, of Tempe, to five years in prison for her role in operating multiple darknet pages selling illicit drugs with two previously sentenced co-conspirators. The sentence follows a multiagency investigation involving HSI Arizona.

On July 11, a judge sentenced Hector Francisco Ramirez-Roman, 39, of San Luis, Rio Colorado, Mexico, to 108 months in prison followed by four years of supervised release for posing with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

Following the success of Operations Blue Lotus and Four Horsemen, which stopped nearly 10,000 pounds of fentanyl and led to 284 arrests during a two-month period earlier this year, the next phase of DHS’s campaign to target and disrupt the fentanyl supply chain has stopped over 5,000 pounds of precursor chemicals used in the production of fentanyl in its first few weeks.

Ascencion Garza Jr., a 64-year-old resident of Hebbronville, Texas, was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to 12 years in federal prison to be immediately followed by five years of supervised release for possession with intent to distribute approximately 16 kilograms of cocaine. Garza pleaded guilty to the charges on January 10.

After extensive bilateral cooperation between the United States and Mexico, Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office, Fiscalía General de la República, conducted a significant enforcement operation on June 23 to dismantle a prolific transnational drug trafficking organization operating in Nogales, Sonora, along the U.S.–Mexico border. The operation resulted in the arrest of five people and the seizure of 120,000 fentanyl pills, 15 pounds of methamphetamine, 17 pounds of heroin, 15 pounds of cocaine, 3 assault rifles, one 9mm handgun, and a vehicle.

Leonard Darnell George is charged along with Mario Angel Gutierrez, Esteban Galvan and four other unnamed defendants with conspiracy to import and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances in the Southern District of California and elsewhere. 

Nine2Five LLC and its owner, Sebastian Guthery, pleaded guilty in federal court on July 10 to felony crimes related to the illegal importation of kratom, an opioid-like plant, and the subsequent laundering of proceeds from the sale of the illegally imported product.

Juan Gonzalez-Cardebas, a 56-year-old Mexican national who is lawfully in the United States, was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine and one or more kilograms of heroin, as well as possession with intent to distribute 18 kilograms of cocaine. Gonzalez was convicted of the charges in August 2022.

HSI San Juan special agents assigned to the Caribbean Corridor Strike Force, working in conjunction with the DEA, CBP's AMO San Juan Marine Unit, and the Puerto Rico Police Bureau seized approximately 328.9 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated street value of $4.9 million.

Lauretta Payce, 61, of Fontana, California, and Andrea Romo, 41, of Gardena, California, were convicted of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

In just two days, HSI San Juan interdicted 434 kilograms of cocaine across Puerto Rico in conjunction with CBP’s AMO and the DEA.

On June 23, U.S. District Judge Greg Kays sentenced Michael Brandon Pedrino to 160 months of incarceration to be followed by five years of supervised release as part of a plea agreement related to drug distribution and firearm possession.

HSI and OFO’s Operation Blue Lotus, along with the U.S. Border Patrol’s Four Horsemen operation, seized substantial amounts of methamphetamine and interdicted more than a ton of fentanyl.

Robin Salinas Macal, 30, a Mexican national, was removed after having recently served time at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu for distribution of narcotics.

The surge, labeled Operation Blue Lotus, was launched by DHS along the Southwest Border, including the Southern and Central districts of California and the District of Arizona, from March 13 to May 10, 2023.

U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez sentenced Joseph Gray Jr., 47, to 360 months in federal prison for smuggling meth. His co-defendant, Jasmine Cecelia Dorsey, 28, was ordered to serve 64 months in prison for the same offense. Both Gray and Dorsey must also serve five and three years, respectively, of supervised release following incarceration.