PHOENIX - DEA Special Agent in Charge Doug Coleman, along with the Tempe Police Department and Arizona Attorney General’s Office, announced the recent takedown of a local methamphetamine trafficking ring. Five people were indicted for their alleged involvement in a drug trafficking organization that operated in Tempe, Tolleson, Avondale, and West Phoenix.
“The DEA is committed to targeting and dismantling drug trafficking organizations that use Phoenix and the surrounding area to further distribute their drugs across the country," said Doug Coleman, head of the DEA in Arizona. “Our partnerships with agencies including Tempe PD and the Arizona Attorney General’s Office are crucial to the successful investigation of those individuals who destroy our communities by bringing these drugs into our neighborhoods."
The joint investigation by the DEA’s Phoenix Field Division and the Tempe Police Department began in October 2017. During the course of the case, investigators identified Isabel Ceniceros-Alvarado as the alleged ringleader involved in the distribution of approximately 50 pounds of methamphetamine per month. Ceniceros-Alvarado and the other subjects allegedly earned more than $100,000 a month in illegal drug sales.
The four remaining defendants are identified as: Jesus Ceniceros-Quiroz, Jesus Eduardo Castro-Ceniceros, Jose De Jesus Moreno-Ayala, and Jesus Antonio Fornes; and along with Ceniceros-Alvarado face 27 felony charges including Possession of Dangerous Drugs for Sale, Conspiracy, Illegally Conducting an Enterprise, Money Laundering, and Misconduct Involving Weapons. Investigators seized more than 30 pounds of meth and 18 illegal firearms when the defendants were arrested without incident on May 2, 2018.
