A Laredo resident was sentenced on June 1 to a total of 274 months in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute cocaine and conspiracy, according to Acting U.S. Attorney John G.E. Marck.
Pio Alejandro Campos, age 53, pleaded guilty on Jan. 12. U.S. District Judge Diana Saldaña ordered Campos to serve 262 months in prison for the new offense and an additional consecutive term of 12 months for violating the terms of his supervised release from a previous federal drug trafficking conviction. The sentence will be followed by eight years of supervised release and includes a $14,000 money judgment.
At sentencing, evidence was presented regarding Campos’s multiple convictions across several jurisdictions since 2008, including prior federal convictions involving cocaine or heroin in the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Northern District of Illinois, and Southern District of Ohio. Judge Saldaña said that Campos had engaged in a continuing pattern of criminal activity and noted that he committed new crimes while on supervised release each time. After his most recent conviction, Campos received executive clemency in December 2024 but was again on supervised release when he committed this latest offense.
In August 2024, while completing his sentence at a halfway house for heroin trafficking, Campos participated in cell phone and WhatsApp communications related to potential cocaine sales as part of an undercover operation. He later met with individuals to discuss details about supplying cocaine with delivery locations including San Antonio, Houston, and New Orleans. On May 3, 2025, he delivered one kilogram of cocaine in San Antonio for $14,000.
Campos will remain in custody pending transfer to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility yet to be determined.
The Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives conducted the investigation; Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Lou Castillo prosecuted the case.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas is part of the Department of Justice under the Attorney General; it has offices across six cities including Laredo and employs more than two hundred attorneys serving forty-three counties with over nine million residents while focusing on prosecuting federal crimes and handling civil cases for the government, according to its official website. The office has been led by figures such as Alamdar Hamdani and Ryan Patrick as listed on its official history page.