Thread: FL: Mexican restaurant sells tacos and meth!

http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/app ... /802050334

Trial begins in suspected restaurant drug ring


Kris Wernowsky
kwernowsky@pnj.com
Gulf Breeze businessman Rogelio Galvan Chavez and three of his former employees listened Monday as a federal prosecutor described their involvement in a crime syndicate selling drugs and guns in Northwest Florida.

"He used all of the co-defendants to get his drugs out on the street," Assistant U.S. Attorney David Goldberg said. "This case is about an organization. This case is about organized crime."

During the first day of their trial, federal investigators said Galvan Chavez, 35, used employees at his Cancun's Mexican Grill in Gulf Breeze to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine and firearms.

Galvan Chavez is charged with two counts of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, and various counts of harboring illegal aliens and unlawful transport of firearms. He faces a possible life sentence.

Goldberg said Galvan Chavez, who is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Mexico, provided fellow defendants with jobs, vehicles and places to live.

The other defendants in court Monday were:

n Cesar Madonado Basquez, 28, charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, illegal immigration and unlawful transport of firearms.

n Jesus Rodriguez Orosco, 34, charged with two counts of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, illegal immigration and unlawful transport of firearms.

n Antioco Cabrera Esquivel, 34, charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, illegal immigration and possession of fraudulent identification documents.

Another defendant, Alejandro Hatem-Hernandez did not appear in court Monday, but the prosecution played the first of several taped conversations between him and an undercover informant.

Hatem-Hernandez unknowingly acted as a go-between for the informant and Rodriguez Orosco, Goldberg said.

Four others have pleaded guilty to lesser charges connected to the Dec. 3 raids on businesses owned by Galvan Chavez.

Defense attorney Michael Griffith said that during 10 months of surveillance, investigators never saw Galvan Chavez complete a drug deal. Griffith said that his client simply associated with men who were drug dealers.

"What they did on their own doesn't have anything to do with Mr. Galvan Chavez," Griffith said of the co-defendants. "You as jurors will see he had no drugs. He did not have large sums of money."

Goldberg clarified through witness testimony that Galvan Chavez is not being tried for distribution, but instead for his role a conspiracy.

"Does the head guy usually hold the dope?" Goldberg asked U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration special agent Sonya Bryant who led the investigation.

"Not usually," she said.

United States Attorney's Office
Northern District of Florida

April 30, 2008

For more information contact:
Managing Assistant U.S. Attorney Dixie A. Morrow
(850) 444-4000
[b]
FORMER OWNER OF GULF BREEZE “CANCUN’Sâ€

Tacos and Speed bet the service was fast

Now this is a real win. Life in prison. If he could get paroled he'll be deported and not let back in the country since this is a major crime and he is naturalized.