United States Drug Enforcement Administration

SEATTLE — The Mexico-based leader of a violent drug trafficking organization was arraigned Thursday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, following his transfer from Mexico. Jose Luis Sanchez-Valencia, 58, was transported from Mexico to the United States last month. The indictment for four federal felonies was returned in 2022. Sanchez-Valencia is charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and three counts of illegal use of a communication facility. Sanchez-Valencia entered a plea of “Not guilty,” and trial was set in front of U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour on April 20.

“This case underscores the relentless commitment of the Drug Enforcement Administration and our law enforcement partners to dismantle violent, cartel-connected drug trafficking organizations at every level,” said Robert A. Saccone, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Seattle Field Division. “By bringing this defendant from Mexico to face justice in the United States, we are sending a clear message: no matter where cartel leaders attempt to hide, we will work across borders to hold them accountable. The trafficking of methamphetamine, concealed in everyday items like candle wax, demonstrates the lengths these organizations will go to poison our communities.”

“This defendant was the cartel-connected leader of a violent drug trafficking ring operating in the South Puget Sound region,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd for the Western District of Washington. “His telephone calls link him to the conspiracy and to a local leader who was shot outside a Kitsap County stash house. Our goal in these investigations is to bring the leaders to justice. Whether they are here in Washington or abroad, they are pulling the strings for the cartels that profit at the cost of human lives in our community.” 

On Feb. 28, 2023, a local leader of the drug ring, Jose Elias Barbosa, was sentenced to more than twelve years in prison for his leadership role in the drug trafficking organization tied to the CJNG cartel. The Sanchez-Valencia indictment cites three phone calls between Barbosa and Sanchez-Valencia tied to activities of the drug ring.

In November 2019, the DTO received a shipment of liquid methamphetamine concealed in candles. Barbosa helped DTO members to extract the methamphetamine and cook it into crystal form at a Port Orchard, Washington location. While law enforcement was surveilling the operation, Barbosa was shot behind the house.

The wiretapped calls in this investigation revealed a culture of violence. Members pursued those who owed drug debts to the organization and possessed firearms during the drug conspiracy. The wiretapped calls showed members discussed kidnappings, assaults, and even murders as ways to get debtors to pay up.

The charges in the indictment have penalties of a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and up to life in prison.

Sanchez-Valencia was amongst 37 Mexican nationals wanted for serious crimes in the United States transferred into U.S. custody on Jan. 20. The Justice Department Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs coordinated the transfers.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Tacoma Resident Office in partnership with Tahoma Narcotics Enforcement Team (TNET); Kent Police Department; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); SeaTac Police Department; Thurston County Narcotics Team (TNT); the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); and IRS Criminal Investigation (CI).

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 U.S. 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. HSTF Seattle comprises agents and officers from HSI, FBI, DEA, ATF, The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), IRS-CI, the U.S. Secret Service (USSS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, with the prosecution being led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington.

The charges contained in the Sanchez-Valencia indictment are only allegations.  A person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.