Three Additional Members of Heroin Drug Trafficking Organization Plead Guilty
(ORLANDO, Fla.) - Harold Omar Vargas-Delgado (33, Kissimmee), Cary Mitchelle Vargas-Delgado (34, Orlando), and Angel Ruben Maldonado, Jr. (42, Orlando) pleaded guilty today to charges related to their involvement in multiple conspiracies to distribute heroin throughout central Florida. In addition, Harold Omar Vargas-Delgado pleaded guilty to possessing with the intent to distribute a kilogram or more of heroin, possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Harold Omar Vargas-Delgado faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison. Cary Mitchelle Vargas-Delgado faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in federal prison, and Angel Ruben Maldonado, Jr. faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
Previously, two other members of the drug trafficking organization, Eliazer Cruz (52, Kissimmee) and Hector Pabellon Nunez (51, Kissimmee), pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin. Cruz faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison, and Nunez faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in federal prison.
According to the defendants’ plea agreements, in March 2016, law enforcement received an anonymous tip about a heroin drug trafficking organization (“DTO”) operating in the central Florida area. On six occasions, between October 2016 and May 2017, an undercover officer (“UC”) purchased approximately 111 grams of heroin from Cary Mitchelle Vargas-Delgado, Harold Omar Vargas-Delgado’s sister. During one of those transactions, Cary Mitchelle Vargas-Delgado, speaking in Spanish, discussed with the UC the high quality of the heroin and that it was “uncut.” She said that since the heroin was “pure,” the UC would be able to “work it” and make more money.
Law enforcement also learned that the DTO distributed kilogram amounts of heroin weekly to other groups and individuals around Florida. Harold Omar Vargas-Delgado provided large, distribution amounts of heroin to his sister. She then distributed gram amounts of heroin to others, including Angel Maldonado, Cruz, and Nunez, who would then further aid in the distribution of that heroin to other users.
On October 20, 2017, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Harold Omar Vargas-Delgado’s home in Kissimmee and seized 2.8 kilograms of heroin laced with fentanyl, along with a brick/kilogram press; a heat sealer; approximately $16,000 in cash; men’s jewelry, including watches, valued at over $100,000; six cellphones; two 50-round ammunition magazine drums; two respirator masks; a hydraulic jack; and a money counter. They also seized eleven firearms, three of which had been reported stolen, and several additional magazines of ammunition. Some of the firearms were recovered from secret compartments that had been custom built into several of the vehicles parked at the home.
Also on October 20, 2017, law enforcement officers arrested Cary Mitchelle Vargas-Delgado and seized from inside her home $6,238 in cash, a .380 caliber firearm, a scale, several small baggies, and several cellphones.
This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration Orlando District Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, the Osceola County Bureau of Investigation, and the Kissimmee Police Department. It is being prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
More information about this case can be found at http://www.flmd.uscourts.gov or https://ecf.flmd.uscourts.gov
