SAN DIEGO – Sinaloa Cartel drug trafficker Jesus Manuel
Salazar-Nunez was sentenced to 135 months in prison today and 5 years of
supervised release for his role in a drug trafficking cell responsible for
shipping methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin from Mexico for importation into
San Diego.
According to court records, in 2015, Drug Enforcement
Administration agents intercepted the communications of Salazar-Nunez and other
high-level Sinaloa Cartel members making arrangements for tractor-trailers to
travel from Sinaloa, Mexico to Baja California, Mexico, carrying
methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin hidden among canned food and drinks,
frozen shrimp and vegetable boxes and other household goods. Once they arrived
at a Tijuana warehouse, the narcotics were unloaded, distributed to couriers
and smuggled into San Diego, California.
Salazar-Nunez recruited drivers, made arrangements with
narcotics customers to use their transportation services, deposited narcotics
proceeds into various Mexican bank accounts, and designed items to make it
appear that the tractor-trailer loads contained all legitimate items. On
September 16, 2015, agents arrested Salazar-Nunez when he flew into
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport from Guadalajara, Mexico.
On August 14, 2017, the day scheduled for his trial,
Salazar-Nunez entered a guilty plea before United States District Court Judge
Dana M. Sabraw to an indictment charging him with conspiracy to import
methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin into the United States. As part of his
guilty plea in the case, Salazar-Nunez admitted to making arrangements for four
tractor-trailer shipments. Thanks to the cooperation of United States and
Mexican law enforcement, all four of these tractor-trailers were seized in March,
April, and August of 2015 in Mexico.
In court today, Judge Sabraw explained that a severe
sentence was warranted because of the enormous size and lengthy scope of
Salazar-Nunez’s drug trafficking activities. Noting that Salazar-Nunez used his
education and professional achievements, as a college educated businessman, to
help move hundreds of kilograms of narcotics month after month from Mexico to
San Diego, Judge Sabraw said to Salazar-Nunez: “You are not an ordinary
defendant….and you need to recognize how wrong it was.”
“Today marks yet another severe blow to the operations of
the Sinaloa Cartel,” stated United States Attorney Adam L. Braverman. “The
Cartel’s drug trafficking empire continues to be diminished and their power
eroded with this prosecution. The dedicated efforts of our law enforcement
partners in San Diego and Mexico, who greatly assisted with these seizures,
shows our continued commitment to dismantle the Sinaloa Cartel.”
“Our communities might not know Mr. Salazar-Nunez by name,
but they are very familiar with living in the aftermath of lives destroyed by
drug addiction,” said DEA San Diego Special Agent in Charge Karen Flowers.
“Addiction fed by his greed has robbed many San Diegans of their future. The
San Diego law enforcement community will continue to keep the pressure on and
save lives.”
This case is part of a five-year investigation led by the
Southern District of California, that, in total, has resulted in charges
against over 125 people and has had a significant impact on the worldwide
operations of the Sinaloa Cartel. This investigation has also offered one of
the most comprehensive views to date of the inner workings of one of the
world’s most prolific, violent and powerful drug cartels. Cartel members and
associates were targeted in this massive investigation involving multiple
countries, numerous law enforcement agencies around the United States, a number
of federal districts and over 250 court-authorized wiretaps in this district
alone.
This investigation is also the result of ongoing efforts by
the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a partnership that
brings together the combined expertise and unique abilities of federal, state
and local law enforcement agencies. The principal mission of the OCDETF program
is to identify, disrupt, dismantle and prosecute high-level members of drug
trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations and
enterprises.
The United States was represented in court by Assistant U.S.
Attorney Matthew J. Sutton.
DEFENDANT
Criminal Case No. 15-CR-2380-DMS
Jesus Manuel Salazar-Nunez Age:
35 Culiacan, Mexico
SUMMARY OF CHARGES
Conspiracy to Import Controlled Substances, in violation of
Title 21 U.S.C. §§ 952, 960 and 963. Term of custody including a mandatory
minimum 10 years and up to life imprisonment, $10,000,000 fine and 5 years
supervised release.
AGENCIES
Drug Enforcement Administration
Homeland Security Investigations
Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations
Customs and Border Protection, Office of Border Patrol
United States Marshals Service
Internal Revenue Service
Federal Bureau of Investigation
United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of
Georgia
Department of Justice, Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task
Forces
Department of Justice, Office of Enforcement Operations
Department of Justice, Office of International Affairs
San Diego Law Enforcement Coordination Center
Mexico’s Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional (SEDENA)
Mexico’s Procuraduria General de la Republica (PGR)
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