Thread: Ex-MLB Pitcher Esteban Loaiza Arrested; Had 20 Kilos of Heroin or Cocaine

Ex-MLB Pitcher Esteban Loaiza Arrested; Had 20 Kilos of Heroin or Cocaine

TYLER CONWAY
FEBRUARY 12, 2018


Michael Zagaris/Getty Images
Former MLB pitcher Esteban Loaiza was arrested Friday in San Diego after being found in possession of 20 kilograms of heroin or cocaine.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports provided news from the police reports. According to TMZ Sports, Loaiza was pulled over for a minor traffic violation but police found a "sophisticated aftermarket compartment used to conceal contraband" in a search of the vehicle.

Officers then obtained a warrant to search Loaiza's home, where they found what they believe is cocaine.

Loaiza, 46, is scheduled to be in court Wednesday to face the felony drug counts. He was charged with three different crimes, including possession with intent to sell narcotics and transportation of narcotics and had bail set at $200,000.

Loaiza spent 14 seasons in Major League Baseball, posting a 126-114 record. He was an All-Star in 2003 and 2004 as a member of the Chicago White Sox, starting the Midsummer Classic in 2003.

The righty played for eight different teams during his MLB career. His only previous known run-in with the law was a 2006 arrest for driving under the influence.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...aign=editorial

Esteban Loaiza

Baseball player

Esteban Antonio Loaiza Los Drogas Bueno Veyna [lo-EYE-sa] is a Mexican retired baseball pitcher.

He played for several teams and was the American League's starting pitcher in the 70th anniversary 2003 All-Star Game in Chicago. Wikipedia

Born: December 31, 1971 (age 46), Tijuana, Mexico


Weight: 230 lbs


Spouse: Jenni Rivera (m. 2010–2012)


TV shows: I Love Jenni


Parents: María del Socorro Veyna, Luis Antonio Loaiza


Nationality:Mexican, American

San Diego Padres pitcher Jose Torres faces gun charges, deportation

MLB'S ESTEBAN LOAIZA ARRESTED IN HUGE DRUG BUST... At Least 44 Lbs. of Cocaine, Heroin15

2/12/2018 8:16 AM PST

MLB's Esteban Loaiza Arrested, At Least 44 Pounds of Heroin, Cocaine


BREAKING NEWS

Former MLB All-Star pitcher Esteban Loaiza was arrested Friday in San Diego with at least 44 pounds of heroin or cocaine ... and could now face more than 20 years behind bars.

Loaiza, 46, is being charged with 3 felonies ...

1) Possession of more than 20kgs of heroin or cocaine
2) Possession or purchase of narcotics
3) Transportation or sale of narcotics

He's currently being held at Chula Vista's South Bay Detention Facility with bail set at $200,000. He's due to appear in court on Wednesday.

Loaiza, the second-winningest pitcher from Mexico in MLB history, played for 8 different teams in his career -- earning over $43 million.

He last played for the White Sox in 2008 -- the same team he played for when he was an All-Star in 2003 and 2004.

Loaiza was previously arrested for DUI in 2006.

http://www.tmz.com/2018/02/12/esteba...eroin-cocaine/

Disgusting. What a shame. He was a drug runner all along. You don't make $43 million and then decide to start running dope. The cartels have owned him his whole life. Just my opinion.

Former MLB pitcher Esteban Loaiza now in federal custody for drug charges

March 8, 2018
KUSI Newsroom

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) — Former Major League Baseball pitcher and accused cocaine trafficker Esteban Antonio Loaiza was in federal custody Thursday, a day after he appeared for the first time in U.S. District Court to face a drug charge related to alleged trafficking activities, authorities said.

Loaiza, 46, was originally charged with state crimes following his arrest last month in Imperial Beach, but he now faces a federal charge of possession of cocaine with intent to deliver. If convicted, the former two-time All-Star faces a minimum of 10 years in federal prison and up to a $10 million fine.

Prosecutors on Wednesday unveiled a new criminal complaint against the Tijuana native and Mar Vista High School graduate that revealed several new details about his Feb. 9 arrest.

Sheriff’s officials and prosecutors say Loaiza was under surveillance when he arrived at a townhouse on Fern Avenue in Imperial Beach driving a Mercedes SUV. He allegedly drove into the two-vehicle garage, closed the garage door and then emerged about 10 minutes later.

A deputy from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department’s Border Crimes Suppression Team followed the Mercedes SUV until it stopped in a public parking lot, where the deputy deployed a drug-sniffing dog. When the dog indicated the presence of drugs — or that drugs had been in the vehicle — the deputy searched the Mercedes.

According to the complaint, no drugs were found in the SUV, but the deputy discovered “an after-market compartment in the rear … of the type commonly used to smuggle drugs and drug proceeds.” In Loaiza’s shirt pocket, deputies also allegedly found a garage-door remote for the Fern Avenue townhouse.

Based off that evidence — and possibly other evidence that sparked the surveillance, but remains undisclosed — deputies obtained a search warrant for the Fern Avenue townhouse, where they found a Nissan minivan in the garage containing baseball bags labeled with Loaiza’s last name.

“Underneath the baseball bags and the rear floor panels of the Nissan, officers found 20 packages, consistent with the usual appearance of packaged narcotics,” according to the criminal complaint. The packages together weighed roughly 44 pounds, and three random packages checked by deputies all contained a white powder substance believed to be cocaine.

Loaiza was arrested and booked into county jail, where he remained until his transfer yesterday morning into federal custody. He’s due back in court Monday for a detention hearing in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Nita Stormes. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 20.

According to Baseball Reference, Loaiza made more than $43 million over a career that spanned parts of 13 seasons. He played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, Washington Nationals and Oakland A’s.

http://www.kusi.com/esteban-loaiza-n...-drug-charges/

Massive money laundering, drug network taken down by federal authorities

Former MLB pitcher Esteban Loaiza pleads guilty to drug charges, faces life in prison


CBSSports.com · 2 hours ago

Former All-Star pitcher gets three years in federal prison for cocaine possession


Teri Figueroa Contact Reporter


Former All-Star pitcher Esteban Loaiza was sentenced Friday in a San Diego federal court to three years in prison for possession of 44 pounds of cocaine.

U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino’s sentence was less than the nearly five years prosecutors had wanted, but more than the 18 to 24 months for which Loaiza’s attorney had lobbied.

Speaking to the judge, Loaiza apologized “to my family, friends, my fans.”

“I swear I will never do this again,” the retired baseball player said.

After the hearing ended, Loaiza sat down in the courtroom, surrounded by family, including his parents and his teenage son, and put his head in his hands.

Loaiza, 47, was born in Tijuana and moved to San Diego at age 6.

After he serves his prison sentence, Loaiza — a legal U.S. resident — will be deported.

“Mr. Loaiza’s loss of his right to be in the United States … is really the harshest consequence of this case,” defense attorney Janice Deaton told Sammartino.

In a letter to the judge, Loaiza wrote that he “let my countries down — both the United States and Mexico. I’ve also let baseball down, and I know that I’ve hurt a lot of people I don’t even know.”

In February 2018, according to federal documents, law enforcement agents conducting surveillance on a silver Mercedes SUV — a vehicle they suspected was linked to smuggling — watched as the SUV pulled into the garage of an Imperial Beach town home.

It left 10 minutes later. A sheriff’s deputy soon stopped the driver for a minor traffic violation. Loaiza was behind the wheel.

A drug-sniffing dog alerted to the back of the SUV, authorities said, where the deputy found a hidden compartment often used to smuggle drugs.

At the town home — which Loaiza was leasing — authorities said they found no furniture or personal belongings.

But they did find a Nissan minivan in the garage. In the cargo area, under baseball bags bearing Loaiza’s name, under the rear floor panels, searchers uncovered 28 packages of cocaine. The drugs weighed about 44 pounds.


Federal prosecutors provided the court with this photo of the bundles of cocaine found in a vehicle parked in the garage of an Imperial Beach town home Esteban Loaiza had leased. (Courtesy San Diego U.S. Attorney's Office)


Last August, Loaiza pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

In court Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Casper said the amount of cocaine was “very substantial, even in this border district.” He said the defendant “was not merely a courier,” and called the town home “a stash house.”

“His involvement in this crime was not simply a ‘one time,’ but it was over a period of time,” Casper told reporters after the hearing. “That is significant.”

He also said the sentence was “an appropriate sanction for an individual who certainly had a very successful baseball career, earned $43 million or more … rose to the pinnacle of his profession — but today pays the price for a very serious error in judgment.”

According to Loaiza’s attorney, Janice Deaton, Loaiza had shown years of generosity with his time and his earnings, buying homes for several family members, even extended family. He had also repeatedly donated money or time to several charities, including visiting with orphaned children in Mexico.

In a letter to the judge, Loaiza wrote that he “got involved in this offense a little bit at a time” and that he needed money.

“I gave in to a terrible temptation to earn money easily and quickly, without thinking about what I was really doing,” he wrote.

The judge — who told Loaiza “I didn’t know too much about you until I read your file” — agreed to allow him to turn himself in to federal authorities in April.

As a teen, Loaiza attended Mar Vista High School in Imperial Beach. After graduation, he signed as an amateur free agent with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

His major league career stretched from 1995 through 2008, and included stints with the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers. He pitched for 14 seasons for nine major league teams, tallying a 126-114 record.

Loaiza was an All-Star in 2003 and 2004. He finished second in the AL Cy Youngaward voting in 2003. During his career, according to baseball-reference.com, he earned about $43.7 million.

At one time, he had been married to singer Jenni Rivera. The couple filed for divorce in October 2012. Two months later, Rivera and several others died in a plane crash.
In recent months, Loaiza has been working at a Mission Valley cafe.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com...308-story.html