CHARLOTTE, N.C. - U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell sentenced to prison today four Texas men for trafficking more than 14 kilograms of cocaine, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
Ronnie Martinez, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in North Carolina and South Carolina, joins U.S. Attorney King in making today’s announcement.
Miguel Angel Mares, 35, of Dallas, Texas, David Mondragon, 38, of Houston, Texas, and Juan Carlos Mendoza, 40, of Laredo, Texas, were each sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Milton Rivera-Cubas, 31, a Honduran national residing in Garland, Texas, was sentenced to 57 months in prison and five years of supervised release.
According to filed documents and court proceedings, from April 2021 to May 2021, the defendants conspired with each other to traffic more than 14 kilograms of cocaine. Over the course of the investigation, an undercover HSI agent made arrangements with the co-conspirators for the delivery of the cocaine from Texas to Charlotte. In May 2021, all four defendants traveled into Charlotte to facilitate the delivery.
Each defendant pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and possession with intent to distribute cocaine and aid and abet the same. They are currently in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.
In making today’s announcement, U.S. Attorney King commended HSI for their investigation and thanked the North Carolina State Highway Patrol and the Gaston County Police Department for their assistance.
Assistant United States Attorney Regina Pack, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte, prosecuted the case.
Source: USAO - North Carolina, Western
