“Shrek” Receives Significant Sentence In Operation El Patron
LAREDO, Texas - Oscar DeLeon, aka “Shrek,” 39, of Laredo, has been sentenced to more than 20 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $42 million following multiple convictions of drug and international money laundering charges resulting from a long-term Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task (OCDETF) investigation, announced Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Joseph M. Arabit, Houston Division and U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson. DeLeon was convicted by a Laredo federal jury Dec. 11, 2013, following a three-day trial and approximately three hours of deliberation.
Today, U.S. Circuit Judge Gregg Costa sitting by designation, ordered DeLeon to pay a money judgment of $41,950,000 and serve 262 months in federal prison to be followed by 10 years of supervised release.
DeLeon was a co-conspirator working for a Laredo-based drug trafficking organization. He assisted with a drug conspiracy, existing from 2006 to 2010, that shipped cocaine, marijuana and U.S. currency from Mexico through Laredo to Atlanta, Ga., and throughout the United States. De Leon was convicted on drug and international money laundering conspiracy charges from 2006-2010 as well as possession with intent to distribute more than 100 kilograms of cocaine and more than 300 kilograms marijuana from May 2008 and May 2009, respectively.
To date, a total of 38 co-conspirators have been convicted and sentenced as part of this investigation. During the course of the investigation that led to the convictions, federal agents seized more than $7.5 million in drug proceeds and more than 450 kilograms of cocaine. Agents also seized a drug ledger that attributes the movement/distribution of approximately 12,500 kilograms of cocaine and $41. 9 million in drug proceeds by these and other co-conspirators.
Deleon will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
The charges and resulting convictions are the result of OCDETF operations dubbed “Operation El Patron” and “Havoc” involving Homeland Security Investigations, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration with the assistance of Webb County District Attorney’s Office, U.S. Border Patrol, Laredo Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Graciela Rodriguez Lindberg and Sanjeev Bhasker prosecuted the case.
