Mexico City, Mexico — A Mexican national was sentenced to 14 years in prison for his role in a conspiracy to import cocaine. The Justice Department’s Criminal Division says he conspired to ship over 1,900 kilograms of cocaine into the United States.
According to court documents, 46 year old Jesus Rauda-Avila was a member of a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization led by Marisela Flores-Torruco. They were a group responsible for importing large shipments of cocaine into the United States.
“Jesus Rauda-Avila conspired with a drug trafficking organization to import almost 2,000 kilograms of cocaine into the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
“This level of Mexican drug importation is the root of the injection of drugs and violence into our communities. Because of people like this defendant, countless Americans lives are ruined, and their families are left picking up the pieces.
“The Criminal Division will pursue drug traffickers at this level and remove them from our law-abiding society,” he said.
“This case highlights DEA’s global reach and commitment to justice for those who threaten the safety and security of the United States,” said Special Agent in Charge Cindy Marx of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Special Operations Division.
“The case against Rauda-Avila exposes the scope of international drug conspiracies, and today’s sentence reflects what’s possible when DEA, as part of HSTF, works hand-in-hand with our federal and international partners to dismantle the criminal organizations that threaten Americans.”
According to the Division, the criminal group had operations in New York, Texas, and elsewhere in the United States. They sourced cocaine from Colombia and provided logistical and financial support to coordinate the narcotics’ passage through Central America and Mexico and into the United States.
The Justice Department’s Criminal Division says their investigation dates back to 2016.
During his trail, authorities say Rauda-Avila pleaded guilty to conspiring to import cocaine to the United States. Three of the defendant’s co-conspirators, Marisela Flores-Torruco, Qiyun Chen, and Jose Francisco Mendoza-Gomez, have already been convicted in the Eastern District of Virginia for their roles.
