United States Drug Enforcement Administration

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Pedro Oscar Dieguez, a/k/a “The Cuban,” was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney to serve 400 months in prison and five years of supervised release on cocaine trafficking and related charges, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Judge Whitney also ordered the defendant to pay a $20,000 fine and the forfeiture of Dieguez’s Mercedes vehicle, three firearms and $1,890 in cash.

U.S. Attorney Tompkins is joined in making today’s announcement by John S. Comer, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Field Division of the Drug Enforcement (DEA), which oversees the Charlotte District Office; Sheriff Eddie Cathey of the Union County Sheriff’s (UCSO) and Chief Rodney D. Monroe of the Charlotte- Mecklenburg Police (CMPD).

According to filed court documents, trial evidence presented, and today’s sentencing hearing:

In January 2014 following a four-day trial, Dieguez, 49, of Indian Trail, N.C. was convicted by a federal jury of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and money laundering conspiracy.

From about 2004 through 2013, Dieguez and his coconspirators trafficked more than 700 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated street value of more than $21,000,000. Dieguez obtained his drug supplies from Mexican cartels and other sources of supply with connections to cartels and transported it to the Charlotte area using trucks. Dieguez and his conspirators ultimately redistributed the cocaine as crack cocaine. Dieguez engaged in a conspiracy to launder the drug proceeds through bank accounts and by purchasing expensive exotic horses. Dieguez kept the horses on his 16-acre ranch located in Indian Trail, which he also used to offload the drug shipments. While executing a search warrant at Dieguez’s ranch, law enforcement seized multiple firearms, including a .45 caliber High-Point handgun and a .22 Ruger handgun.

Dieguez, a Cuban national, has been in federal custody since April 24, 2013, after it was discovered that he had been planning to flee to Cuba. He will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

Two of Dieguez’s conspirators, Maximiliano Aguilar-Rodriguez and Juan Diego Aguilar- Preciado were previously sentenced to 70 months and 46 months in prison, respectively, and to three years of supervised release.

United States v. Dieguez; Case Number 3:13-cr-20-FDW.

The DEA encourages parents, along with their children, to educate themselves about the dangers of legal and illegal drugs by visiting DEA’s interactive websites at www.justthinktwice.com, www.GetSmartAboutDrugs.com and www.dea.gov.