Several cartel-connected individuals received lengthy prison sentences for their roles in smuggling large quantities of meth and heroin from Mexico to Texas.
Late last week, 48-year-old Manuel Orozco-Ambriz, 31-year-old Erick Cuellar-Rodriguez, 31-year-old Felipe de Jesus Garcia, and 24-year-old Cesar Juarez Romero went before U.S. District Judge Diana Saldana in Laredo, where she sentenced them to prison terms for a drug smuggling conspiracy. The judge is expected to sentence 37-year-old Jose de Jesus Morales in the near future.
All five men had previously pleaded guilty to drug trafficking conspiracy charges stemming from an investigation that began in 2018. Court documents do not identify the cartel that the five men belong to, but federal prosecutors listed them as members of a trafficking organization.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, the sentences vary from from three months to 30 years in prison.
On April 1, 2018, two informants told Laredo DEA agents that Orozco Ambriz had four batteries full of meth and heroin that needed to be moved from Mexico to Atlanta, Georgia. Court documents revealed that federal agents seized 97 pounds of methamphetamine and 2.6 pounds of heroin.
From May to November 2018, federal agents recorded phone calls and controlled crossings of the drugs that were later intercepted. The drugs were crossed from Mexico into Laredo, Texas.
De Jesus Morales delivered the first loaded battery, Cuellar-Rodriguez delivered the second one, and Juarez-Romero delivered the third battery with drugs inside. Federal agents then arrested Orozco-Ambriz in November 2018 as the fourth and last drug deal was being done.
Luisana Moreno is a contributing writer for Breitbart Texas.
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