17th Member of Cocaine Distribution Conspiracy Sentenced To Prison

APR 6 -- (Madison) - On April 5, 2010, Stephen P. Sinnott, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Martin Pineda-Pineda a/k/a Magin Avellaneda-Avila, 26, a citizen of Mexico, was sentenced to 51 months in prison without parole in U.S. District Court for distributing cocaine.

Pineda-Pineda is the 17th drug dealer sentenced to prison as a result of the long-term drug investigation in Jefferson County conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration; Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation; Dodge County Sheriff's Department; Jefferson County Drug Task Force; Fort Atkinson Police Department; Watertown Police Department; and Janesville Police Department.

The sixteen other individuals previously sentenced in this case, along with the charge and prison term, were:

Maximo Pineda-Buenaventura, Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, 17 years and 6 months

Servando Herrera-Vazquez, Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, 11 years and 8 months

Efrain Pineda-Buenaventura, Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, 10 years

Teodulo Pineda-Buenaventura, Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, 5 years

Otoniel Mendoza, Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, 5 years

James Hrobsky, Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, 2 years and 6 months

Will Bryant, Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, 4 years and 4 months

Jesus Duque-Pineda, Distribution of Cocaine, 6 months

Arturo Pineda-Lopez, Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, 3 years and 1 month

Perfecto Pineda-Duque, Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, 3 years

Juan C. Pineda-Pineda, Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, 1 year

Harold Hausz, Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, 5 years

Eli Torres-Banos, Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, 1 year

Gerado Pineda-Soria, Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, 2 years and 6 months

Arnold Wood, Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, 5 years

Scott Thorsen, Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, 4 years and 6 months

Pursuant to federal law, all of these sentences are being served without the possibility of parole. In addition, three individuals who have been indicted for their role in the conspiracy remain fugitives: Angel Ayala-Pineda, Celestino Velazquez-Rodriguez, and Emmanuel Pineda-Gonzalez.

Beginning in February 2008, the United States received authority from U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb to conduct wiretaps on several of the telephones being used by Maximo and Efrain Pineda-Buenaventura to conduct a drug operation run out of multiple dwellings in Watertown and a residence in Janesville. Approximately 8,000 calls were monitored by law enforcement officers between February and June in which Pineda-Pineda and others were overheard conducting drug transactions and making arrangements to facilitate the sale of large amounts of cocaine in the Western District of Wisconsin.

On June 19, 2008, law enforcement officers executed 11 search warrants in the Western and Eastern Districts of Wisconsin, resulting in the arrest of several defendants in Watertown, the seizure of over $100,000 in United States currency, several automobiles, and multiple kilograms of cocaine.

Prior to the execution of those search warrants, Pineda-Pineda left Jefferson County and relocated his drug operation to Tampa, Florida., where he was arrested under an alias, Magin Avellaneda-Avila. Pineda-Pineda was prosecuted in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. On September 3, 2009, he was sentenced to 70 months in prison. Judge Crabb ordered that the sentence imposed today will run consecutively to this Florida sentence.

The prosecution of this case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul W. Connell.