HSTF Investigation Leads to Mexican National Being Sentenced to Prison for Drug Conspiracy
TUCSON, Ariz. – Sebastian Higuera-Fuentes, 23, of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, was sentenced on Oct. 27, by United States District Judge Raner C. Collins to 60 months in prison, followed by four years of supervised release. Higuera-Fuentes previously pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine.
As part of the conspiracy, Higuera-Fuentes was involved in the distribution of approximately 20 kilograms of pure methamphetamine. Higuera-Fuentes acted as a leader in the conspiracy, negotiating pricing, arranging meeting times and locations, and directing his co-conspirators to deliver the drugs. As a direct result of law enforcement’s efforts in this case, the methamphetamine never made it into Arizona communities.
This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. This HSTF Tucson investigation involved agents and officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration in Detroit, Michigan and Tucson, Arizona, Homeland Security Investigations, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, United States Marshals Service, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, United States Customs and Border Protection, United States Border Patrol, United States Postal Inspection Service, United States Secret Service, and the Bureau of Land Management. The prosecution is being by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Petermann, District of Arizona, Tucson, handled the prosecution.
CASE NUMBER: 24-CR-6720-TUC-RCC
RELEASE NUMBER: 2026-186_Higuera-Fuentes