United States Drug Enforcement Administration

LAREDO, Texas - A total of 12 drug traffickers have been handed federal prison sentences for their convictions related to a far-reaching drug trafficking conspiracy, announced Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Joseph M. Arabit, Houston Division and U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson. Edgar Loera and Miguel Angel Vives-Macias were convicted by a federal jury of multiple counts involving heroin and methamphetamine on March 3, 2014, following  a five-day trial and less than four hours of deliberation. Ten others pleaded guilty in advance of that trial.

Today, U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison handed Loera, 31, of Mira Loma, Calif., and Vives-Macias, 35, of San Antonio, respective sentences of 225 and 188 months in federal prison. Those that had previously pleaded guilty in the case were also sentenced today. Luis Daniel Aguilar, 23, of Laredo, received 157 months, while Juan Trevino Jr., 24, Eduardo Gonzalez, 41, Clementina Aguilar-Castillo, 29, and Jose Librado Sanchez-Guerra, 30, all also of Laredo, received respective sentences of 100, 90, 81 and 75 months in federal prison. Antonio De Jesus Mejia-Contreras, 24, of Mira Loma, Calif., was sentenced to 81 months of federal imprisonment. Ericka Pina, 38, of Corpus Christi, and Leticia Corona, 38, of Dallas, received 54 and 70 months, respectively. Eduardo Segura, 23, of Tucson, Ariz., received 73 months, while Carlos Vasquez, 25, of Pomona, Calif., will serve a 30-month-term.

During trial, jurors heard testimony from several co-conspirators who detailed several instances of heroin and methamphetamine trafficking from Mexico to Laredo, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas as well as distributions to California, Illinois, Oregon, Tennessee, Kansas, Washington and the Carolinas. The government also presented numerous vehicle title histories from California and Texas as well as vehicle and passenger crossing records from the ports of entry along the entire U.S.-Mexico border.
 
Testimony of several witnesses, including the 10 co-defendants, tied Loera and Vives-Macias to the trafficking organization between 2011 and 2012. Their testimony implicated both with recruiting drivers and couriers for the drugs in California and Texas.
 
The case was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force by agents with Homeland Security Investigations, Drug Enforcement Administration and Texas Department of Public Safety. Assistant U.S. Attorney José Angel Moreno prosecuted the case.