• United States Attorney Richard B. Roper
    Northern District of Texas

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2008
    WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/TXN


    CONTACT: KATHY COLVIN
    PHONE: (214) 659-8600
    FAX: (214) 767-2898



FUGITIVE DEFENDANT IN MAJOR COCAINE DISTRIBUTION RING ARRESTED IN MEXICO

Pablo Rivera Appears in U.S. District Court in Dallas


DALLAS — A defendant who was indicted in the Northern District of Texas in summer 2003 on charges related to his involvement in a major cocaine distribution ring, appeared this afternoon in federal court in Dallas and U.S. Magistrate Judge Irma C. Ramirez ordered that he be detained pending trial, announced U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper. Pablo Rivera was charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Dallas in June 2003 with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute narcotics. He had been a fugitive but was arrested in Mexico in September and was returned to the Northern District of Texas per extradition orders.

Pablo Rivera was charged in the case styled U.S. v. Juan Pablo Elizondo, et al., 3:03 CR 188. In that case, 31 individuals, including Rivera, were charged with various offenses related to their involvement in a major drug distribution organization that operated from Laredo, Texas, to Dallas, and into Oklahoma.

The North Texas High Intensity Drug Trafficking Task Force began investigating the drug trafficking activities of Elizondo and other members of his organization in 2002. Elizondo, using a network of individuals to store, transport and distribute cocaine, supplied large amounts of cocaine to the Ellis County, Texas area, and to the Ardmore, Oklahoma area. Millions of dollars in U.S. currency, hundreds of kilograms of cocaine, and numerous weapons, including fully atuomatic assault weapons, were seized during the investigation.

While Elizondo remains a fugitive, other members of the organization have been convicted and have received substantial prison sentences. For example: Virgilio Rosales and Gary Thomas were sentenced to life in prison, Martha Flores was sentenced to 292 months in prison, Roy Combs was sentenced to 296 months, MD Guillermo Garcia was sentenced to 360 months, and Jorge Martinez was sentenced to 292 months in prison.

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of local, state and federal law enforcement, including the North Texas Hih Intensity Drug Trafficking Task Force; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Federal Bureau of Invstigatin; the Dallas county District Attorney’s Office; the Dallas, Carrollton, Coppel, Irving, Lancaster, and Richardson, Texas Police Departments; the Ardmore, Oklahoma Police Department; the Ellis and Dallas County Sheriff’s Offices; the Texas Department of Public Safety; and the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation.

Deputy Criminal Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Guess is prosecuting the case.
http://dallas.fbi.gov