Note: View the Indictment ALBUQUERQUE – An Albuquerque man has been indicted on federal charges following a DEA investigation that uncovered a large-scale narcotics trafficking operation in Albuquerque. According to court documents, on August 13, 2025, DEA agents conducted an undercover operation in Albuquerque in which Jose Magana Garcia, a...

EL PASO, Texas – A Mexican national charged with four counts in a 14-count indictment was extradited to the Western District of Texas following his arrest in Mexico last week. According to court documents, from January 2016 through August 2019, Hector Adrian Rojero Ramos aka Teto, 54, allegedly engaged in...

ALBUQUERQUE – An Arizona man was sentenced to 14 years in prison for drug trafficking and firearms offenses following his arrest at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in New Mexico in 2023. There is no parole in the federal system. According to court documents, on April 27, 2023, David Maldonado...

MIDLAND, Texas – A Mexican national unlawfully residing in Texas was sentenced Thursday to life in federal prison for his criminal actions as the leader of a drug trafficking organization tied to a Mexican cartel. According to court documents, Jose Ramon Castillo-Lopez aka “Pepo,” 30, of Namiquipa, Chihuahua, Mexico, supplied...

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Heriberto Lopez-Landeros, 44, of Avondale, was sentenced last week by United States District Judge Steven P. Logan to 14 years in prison. Lopez-Landeros pleaded guilty to Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine on August 5, 2024. Lopez-Landeros was the head of an Arizona-based drug trafficking organization responsible...

ALBUQUERQUE – Five members of a drug trafficking organization based in Albuquerque have been charged in federal court with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. Tomas Rubalcaba, 45, Joaquin Rubalcada, 40, and Humberto Gastelum, 65, appeared before a federal judge last week and will remain in custody pending...

ALBUQUERQUE – A California man was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison for attempting to transport over 2 kilograms of heroin by train from Bernalillo County to North Carolina. There is no parole in the federal system. According to court documents, on February 26, 2021, Mario A. Serna was...

TUCSON, Ariz. – Enrique Heriberto Nunez-Tiznado, 45, of Sasabe, Sonora, Mexico, was sentenced on February 22, 2024, by United States District Judge Scott H. Rash to 63 months in prison. Nunez-Tiznado pleaded guilty to Possession with Intent to Distribute Fentanyl, Heroin, Cocaine, and Methamphetamine, and Conspiracy to Launder Monetary Instruments...

Note: View the Superseding Indictment . ALBUQUERQUE – Towanda R. Thorne-James, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's El Paso Division and Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, announced the results of a law enforcement operation that resulted in fifteen defendants being...

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Hector Manuel Cruz, Jr., 29, of Chandler, was sentenced last week by United States District Judge G. Murray Snow to 15 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release. On April 25, 2023, Cruz pleaded guilty to Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine. Co-defendant Konstantin...