Seven co-defendants were sentenced throughout the week, including Jonathon “Luke” Paz, Drew Wilson Crandall, Alexandrya Marie Tonge, Katherine Lauren Anne Bustin, Mario Anthony Noble, Sean Michael Gygi and Ana “Gabby” Noriega, while Christopher Sean Kenny was sentenced last month in a separate hearing.
Fernando Ramirez, 53, from Tamaulipas, Mexico, was sentenced July 13, in federal court to 70 months in federal prison to be followed by four years of supervised release.
Kenneth Hall, 38, a previously convicted felon, sold a total of 383.6 grams of methamphetamine in Henderson and Las Vegas between March 6, 2018, and April 3, 2018. According to court documents, the April 3, drug sale, Hall showed and offered to sell a handgun to the buyer.
A Montana man who admitted trafficking drugs, including methamphetamine, in Montana and receiving meth through the mail in Butte was sentenced to prison July 13.
According to court documents, Ramiro Ramirez-Barreto, 44, from the Mexican State of Morelos, operated a criminal enterprise with ties to Virginia, North Carolina and California.
Acting United States Attorney Richard G. Frohling of the Eastern District of Wisconsin announced that on August 25, 2020, a federal grand jury indicted Herlin Hernandez-Trinidad (a/k/a “Rainely), and on January 26, 2021, a federal grand jury indicted Jose Crespo-Lorenzo (a/k/a “El Colombiano”).
Gurpal Singh Gill, 39, of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine as charged in a superseding information. Gill faces a mandatory minimum five years to 40 years in prison, a $5 million fine and at least four years of supervised release.
David Ray Shaver, 33, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute meth. Shaver faces a mandatory minimum 10 years to life in prison, a $10 million fine and at least five years of supervised release.
Jose Miguel Lazarin-Zurita pleaded guilty March 5 to possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute, and attempting to export a rifle and several firearm-related accessories without a license to Mexico.
Gabriel Ulloa, 29, distributed fentanyl to the 27-year-old victim, who believed he was buying oxycodone pills from Ulloa, according to the indictment and allegations made at the initial court appearance. The victim died as a result of ingesting the drugs.
The six defendants were charged by criminal complaint in April with attempting and conspiring to manufacture, distribute and dispense controlled substances using cryptocurrencies via the dark web. The group was allegedly orchestrating millions of dollars of online drug sales.
Jovany Alonso Robledo-Delgado, 35, of Mexico, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Scott H. Rash. Robledo-Delgado previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import methamphetamine, cocaine, fentanyl, and heroin.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office of Field Operations (OFO), have identified the increased use of social media platforms such as Facebook, by transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), to recruit and facilitate drug smuggling in the El Paso area. The TCOs advertise various jobs such as money couriers for money service businesses such as Casas De Cambio, or money exchange houses, and unsuspecting job seekers reply with their interest to the advertisement. The solicitor, or “recruiter,” will then send a direct message to the job seeker with more information about the job.
Jesus Camacho-Luque, 31, of Arizona, was sentenced by the Washoe County District Court after pleading guilty in April. Based on the sentenced received, Camacho-Luque must serve a minimum of seven years in prison before he is eligible for parole.
During the multi-year probe, dubbed “Operation Tragic Blow,” law enforcement seized multiple kilograms of heroin and cocaine, including a 14-kilogram cocaine seizure in Chicago’s Belmont Cragin neighborhood and a two-kilogram heroin seizure in a high-rise apartment building in Chicago’s Buena Park neighborhood.
A 31-year-old ‘dark web’ heroin dealer was sentenced today in U.S. District Court here to five years in prison, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. Zachary Madding of Mill Creek, was arrested at a long-stay hotel in Mukilteo, after a horrific assault on his estranged girlfriend.
Anthony Martinez, 40, of La Habra, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald. Martinez pleaded guilty on January 15, to one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine.
The arrests, conducted Friday and continuing over the weekend, were led by the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, the Neshoba County Sheriff’s office, the Philadelphia Police Department, the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, and the Drug Enforcement Administration following a multi-year investigation in collaboration with Homeland Security Investigations New Orleans.
George Harrison, 56, of Estill County, Kentucky, was found guilty of three counts of distribution of 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, one count of possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, all charges contained in an August 2019 indictment.
