Apolonio Ruiz Jr
Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Apolonio “Polo” Ruiz, Jr. began his law enforcement career as a police officer for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). During his tenure at LAPD, SAC Ruiz worked as an officer in several patrol divisions, and as an undercover officer for the Anti-Terrorist Division and Narcotics Division. While working in the Narcotics Division, SAC Ruiz joined Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) first ever Mobile Enforcement Team (MET) via the Los Angeles Rampart Task Force. In June 1998, SAC Ruiz joined the DEA and graduated from Basic Agent Class #125 on October 9, 1998.
SAC Ruiz reported to his first DEA assignment in the El Paso Field Division where he remained until June 2003. He was then transferred to the North & Central Americas Division’s Merida, Mexico, Resident Office (RO) and concentrated on high-level bi-national drug investigations. While at the Merida RO, SAC Ruiz focused on large scale transnational criminal organizations in Colombia, Mexico, and Panama. Through his tireless efforts, SAC Ruiz obtained the successful indictment, arrest, extradition, and conviction of four Consolidated Priority Organization Targets (CPOT) to include Diego Murrillo-Bejerano a.k.a. “Don Berna,” former member of the “Los Pepes,” and top commander of the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), seven Regional Priority Organization Targets (RPOT), and 19 criminal associates.
In September 2007, SAC Ruiz was promoted to Group Supervisor at the Nogales (Arizona) District Office and in May 2011, SAC Ruiz returned to DEA’s operations in Mexico as the Resident Agent in Charge for the Mazatlán Resident Office. Amongst the many high value target captures, SAC Ruiz was most notably able to coordinate enforcement operations with the U.S. Marshals Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and Secretaria de Marina (SEMAR) in the first capture of CPOT Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman-Loera along with other members of his drug trafficking organization in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico. In June 2015, SAC Ruiz was hand-selected as the Special Operations Division’s Mexico City Country Office Staff Coordinator. Due to his extensive leadership, teamwork philosophy, and valued partnerships with host nation counterparts and U.S. law enforcement agencies in Mexico, SAC Ruiz was tasked to be the sole DEA representative to coordinate high value target capture operations, including the recapture of CPOT Guzman and other Sinaloa and Gulf Cartel leaders. Under his leadership, SAC Ruiz traveled with Mexican counterparts and extradited CPOT Guzman-Loera to Long Island, New York, in January 2017.
SAC Ruiz was promoted to Assistant Special Agent in Charge in June 2017 and led in this capacity both in the Nogales and Tucson District Offices before his selection as the Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix Field Division, in January 2026.
SAC Ruiz graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso with a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice and a Minor in Political Science and Sociology.