Mexican National Sentenced to 48 Months in Prison for Role in Cocaine Conspiracy
TUCSON, Ariz. – Aaron Leopoldo Aguirre-Gutierrez, 50, of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, was sentenced on Jan. 20, 2026, by U.S. District Judge Raner C. Collins to 48 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Aguirre-Gutierrez previously pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine.
Between Feb. 24, 2024, to August 2024, in Tucson, Arizona, Aguirre-Gutierrez and others distributed approximately 19 kilograms of powder cocaine.
This investigation is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States.
This HSTF Tucson led investigation comprises agents and officers from the FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department with the prosecution being led by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Petermann of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona, Tucson.
CASE NUMBER: CR-24-5214
RELEASE NUMBER: 2026-020_Aguirre-Gutierrez
