by Mark Wiggins
WACO - A dozen members of a major drug trafficking ring are facing hard time, sentenced today for their role in bringing tons of drugs from Mexico to sell in Central Texas.
It was the quiet conclusion of years of work by the Waco Treasury Task, the collaborate effort of investigators working for the FBI, DEA, IRS, ICE and local law enforcement agencies across Texas. Public information officer for the IRS Dallas Field Office, Special Agent Denise Corcoran calls it a major victory in the fight against crime.
"This is what the result was, we put 12 people in jail today and there's a few more to follow, but the majority of the people are going to be off the streets in the Waco area," says Corcoran.
The ring operated by bringing marijuana and cocaine from Mexico to safe houses in the border town of Laredo. From there, a member working for UPS put boxes packed with drugs on UPS trucks to ship across the country.
Other members drove hundreds of pounds a month from Laredo to Waco, where it was delivered to a house in the 1900 block of Berlinger Drive. Once there, some of the drugs were parceled out to local dealers, while the rest were shipped on to North Texas.
A bank account opened at a local Wells Fargo was used to send the money back to Laredo, where it was laundered by another member and used to pay for the drugs. Corcoran says following that money trail was a major factor in helping investigators break the organization.
"When we want to put these organizations out of business, the best way to do that is to take their money," says Corcoran.
The twelve now face a total of over 115 years in prison and will have to repay two million dollars in illegal proceeds from the operation to the government.
Several others still await sentencing; in all about 18 members have pleaded guilty to having a role in the organization. The following are the names of the co-conspirators and their sentences as decided on Friday:
David Escobar, 121 months; Fabian Montemayor, 120 months; Jose Jessica Mejia, 46 months; Jorge Salinas Jr., 37 months; Edward Lee Curtis, 120 months; Juan Antonio Escobar, 46 months; Ruben Rodriguez, 121 months; Jesus Jaramillo, 120 months; James Cornelius Jr., 151 months; Priscilla Cadena, 120 months; Cedric DeWayne Stephens, 120 months; Albert James Holston, 262 months.
