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  1. #1
    Super Moderator Newmexican's Avatar
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    Mexican National - Drug trafficker who brought heroin into Tampa gets 27 years in fed

    Drug trafficker who brought heroin into Tampa gets 27 years in federal prison

    Felix Mejia Lagunas, 42, was sentened Tuesday to 27 years in prison for his role in a drug trafficking organization that brought massive amounts of heroin into Tampa and Orlando. [Pinellas County Sheriff's Office]

    Dan Sullivan

    Published: December 19, 2017
    Updated: December 19, 2017 at 08:50 PM

    TAMPA — A Mexican national described as a leader in a drug trafficking organization that brought massive shipments of heroin into the Tampa Bay area was sentenced Tuesday to 27 years in federal prison.

    Felix Mejia Lagunas, 42, was at the top of a U.S. supply chain that guided at least 66 pounds of the drug onto the streets of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Orlando, federal prosecutors said.

    All three cities have felt the sting of heroin in recent years, a drug whose skyrocketing use is part of a national epidemic. In 2016, heroin killed 52 people in Hillsborough County. It killed 35 a year before that and 22 the year before that.

    Lagunas, who lived in California when he was arrested in March, directed drug shipments to distributors in Orlando, who then passed it to street-level dealers, federal authorities said. Along the way, handlers would add cutting agents like fentanyl, a powerful painkiller widely blamed for overdose deaths.

    In a Tampa courtroom Tuesday, defense attorney Roger Futerman downplayed Lagunas’ involvement. He pointed to other men who received the drugs, arguing their conduct was more egregious.
    U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew wasn’t buying it.

    "Do you know how many people were users as a result of the heroin your client brought into the U.S.?" Bucklew asked. "Do you know how many lives he’s ruined?"

    The arrest and prosecution of Lagunas capped a two-year investigation that had its origins in the Tampa Police Department’s efforts to combat violent street gangs.

    The Safe Streets Task Force, a collaboration between FBI agents and local law enforcement, began targeting suspected members of the Latin Kings gang in Tampa in 2015, said Lester Gonzalez, a task force officer with Tampa police.

    They began with hand-to-hand undercover drug purchases and, over time, graduated to sophisticated wire-tap surveillance of major distributors.

    "We just started from street-level buys and worked our way up," Gonzalez said.

    The U.S. Attorney’s Office detailed an intricate drug distribution network that included at least eight Tampa and St. Petersburg residents who moved and sold heroin.

    At the top of the stack was Lagunas. Prosecutors said he oversaw the importation of Mexican heroin from his home in California.

    "Domestically, there is no one higher than him because he is the source of supply," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Carlton Gammons. The only people who rank higher in the organization live in Mexico, he said.

    In January, investigators seized a package of heroin that Lagunas mailed to an Orlando man, Jesus Bermudez Caraballo.

    Caraballo gave portions of heroin shipments to three other men, who disbursed it in the Orlando area.

    A fourth man, Angel Alexis Alicea, would take the remaining drugs to three local distributors in the Tampa Bay area. Those people packaged and sold it to four street dealers, authorities said.

    Each person who touched the heroin mixed in other substances, like fentanyl, said Tony Vargas, a special agent with the FBI.

    In March, investigators executed search warrants on homes, storage units and other locations. They revealed what prosecutors said was a snapshot of the organization’s daily product distribution: 6.5 grams of heroin, $600,000 in cash and nine guns.

    In court, Gammons estimated the group was responsible for moving about 15 kilograms — or 33 pounds — of heroin per month.

    Lagunas and Caraballo were indicted along with another man, Jose Polanco Vazquez.

    Caraballo and Vazquez received 11 and 12 years in prison, respectively. A total of 10 other people were also convicted and given sentences that ranged from two to 21 years in prison.

    In court Tuesday, Lagunas stood before the judge in orange jail scrubs, his voice shaking as he spoke through a Spanish translator.

    "What can I say?" he said. "I can say that I’m sorry for all of you here present, to the state of Florida, to the people I harmed. .?.?. I’m remorseful for having done wrong things."
    In a plea agreement, he admitted being a "leader and organizer."

    But despite that, his lawyer argued he was little more than a "middle man" who simply obtained heroin for people who were interested in buying it.

    A sentencing memo described Lagunas’ poverty-stricken life in Mexico — the reason he came to the United States illegally. He had served time in prison previously. When he was released in 2010, he was deported but later returned.

    The proceeds of his drug activity supported a modest lifestyle, Futerman wrote in the sentencing memo. Lagunas used the money to support his wife, their two daughters and extended family in Mexico.

    "He’s not the person they say he is," his wife, Maritza Cabrera, said at the sentencing. "He comes from a very close family. .?.?. For us, this is very hard."

    Investigation leads to 8 local convictions

    An investigation of a major heroin trafficking organization has led to federal criminal convictions and prison sentences against 13 people, including eight Tampa Bay area residents. Those eight, and their sentences, were:

    • Jose Leonardo Jimenez, 29, of Tampa; 21 years

    • Freddie Resto, 59, of Tampa; 11 years

    • Angel Alexis Alicea, 29, of Tampa; 10 years

    • Jose Angel Jimenez Villa, 27, of Tampa; 10 years

    • Jose Antonio Crespo Negron, 30, of Tampa; 10 years,

    • Juan Carlos Lopez, 34, of Tampa; seven years

    • Robert Kelly, 56, of Tampa; four years

    • Rachel Augustine Thomas, 56, of St. Petersburg; two years

    Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida

    http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/...ison_163745287


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  2. #2
    Super Moderator Newmexican's Avatar
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    U.S. Attorneys » Middle District of Florida » News
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    Department of Justice
    U.S. Attorney’s Office
    Middle District of Florida

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    Friday, March 10, 2017



    Sixteen Defendants Charged In Drug Conspiracy

    Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces the unsealing of three indictments charging 16 individuals with federal drug trafficking crimes. Felix Mejia Lagunas, a/k/a “Carlos Lagunas Salgado,” (41, Riverside, California); Jesus Alberto Bermudez Caraballo, a/k/a “Bebo,” (28, Orlando); Jose Carlos Polanco Vasquez, a/k/a “Pola,” (28, Orlando); Raul Vicente Espada Ortiz, a/k/a “Gordo,” (39, Orlando); Deyvis Lee Echevarria (29, Orlando); Angel Alexis Alicea, a/k/a “Maly,” (28, Tampa); Jose Leonardo Jimenez, a/k/a “Cuzzy,” (28, Tampa); Jose Angel Leonardo Jimenez, a/k/a “Chuki,” (26, Tampa); Jose Antonio Crespo-Negron, a/k/a “Chepo,” (30, Tampa); Rachel Augustine Thomas (55, St. Petersburg); Juan Carlos Lopez, a/k/a “Bori,” (33, Tampa); Freddie Resto (58, Tampa); and Robert Kelly (55, Tampa) were charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin. If convicted, eachfaces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison. Additionally, Hector Luis Vazquez Alvalle, a/k/a “Hectitor,” (40, Orlando); Alberto Torres Ortiz, a/k/a “El Viejo,” (39, Homestead); and Christian Torres Vasquez (30, Guayama, Puerto Rico) were charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. If convicted, each faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in federal prison. The indictments also notify the defendants that the United States intends to forfeit an Acura ILX, Ford F-250, and $79,520which are alleged to be traceable to proceeds of the offenses.

    According to the indictments, between December 2015 and March 2017, the defendants conspired to distribute heroin or cocaine.

    An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

    “FBI Tampa Division is proud of the multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional effort to disrupt an alleged drug distribution network in our community. We as law enforcement officers took an oath to serve and protect and this operation exemplifies that commitment,” said Special Agent in Charge of FBI Tampa Division Paul Wysopal.

    “This is the result of a collaborative, long-term effort by local, state, and federal agencies,” said Tampa Police Chief Eric Ward. “We’re working together to get dangerous drugs and dangerous individuals off the streets, and making our communities safer.”

    FDLE Commissioner Rick Swearingen said, "After FDLE agents worked with Tampa police officers to initiate this long term investigation, FDLE, along with our partners, seized numerous kilos of cocaine and heroin, firearms and currency from an international, criminal street gang and successfully shut down a major heroin and cocaine trafficking organization in our state. Detecting and dismantling this type of criminal organization is a priority of FDLE and we work diligently in collaboration with our local, state, and federal partners to remove these threats."

    These cases were investigated by a multi-agency task force through the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply. Agencies involved in this OCDETF operation include the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Tampa Police Department, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Carlton C. Gammons.
    https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/<acronym title="Google Page Ranking">pr</acronym>/sixteen-defendants-charged-drug-conspiracy

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  3. #3
    Super Moderator Newmexican's Avatar
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    February 8, 2018

    Drug Trafficking Organization Dismantled

    Heroin Trade Fueled Violence in Tampa Bay Area


    Several years ago, the Tampa Police Department—in an effort to get a handle on the growing, mostly opioid-fueled violence it was seeing on its streets—began a focused effort to crack down on the gangs believed to be involved in dealing heroin.

    By October 2015, the Tampa Police Department had joined forces with the FBI’s Tampa Field Office on the Bureau’s Tampa Bay Safe Streets Task Force to widen the scope of the investigation. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement played a critical role as well. The partners began looking past the lower-level street dealers to get a more complete picture of where the drugs were actually coming from and who was responsible for them.

    And after a year and a half of joint local, state, and federal investigative activity—during which time the case had further morphed into an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation, with the additional federal partners that designation brings—a total of 16 subjects were indicted in March 2017 for their roles in a significant drug trafficking conspiracy. All 16 have since pleaded guilty, including Felix Mejia Lagunas, the leader of the conspiracy who oversaw—from his California home—the importation of heroin from Mexico into the United States and ultimately into Florida and the Tampa Bay area.


    In December 2017, Lagunas was sentenced to 27 years in federal prison. To date, all but one of his co-conspirators have been sentenced to federal prison terms as well. And the drug trafficking organization itself has been completely dismantled and put out of business.

    According to FBI Tampa case agent Antonio Vargas, a member of the Safe Streets Task Force, the early part of the investigation used confidential informants along with undercover personnel making drug buys.

    “But as the case grew more sophisticated,” he explained, “so did our investigative techniques as we began moving up the chain of command toward the leaders.” Among those techniques, said Vargas, were recording conversations during undercover drug buys, conducting physical surveillance and court-authorized electronic surveillance, getting grand jury subpoenas for financial and other records that were reviewed by financial analysts, and executing search warrants on intercepted mail parcels containing drugs or cash in bulk.

    “Using technique such as these,” Vargas explained, “allowed investigators to identify various members of the criminal enterprise as well as the particular roles each member played.” In addition to Lagunas at the top of the organizational structure, there was a individual in Orlando who received the heroin once it entered Florida and who then redistributed the product to four others—three who sold it in the Orlando area, and a fourth who transported it to the Tampa Bay area. Once in Tampa Bay, three different members of the organization mixed the drug with cutting agents (like fentanyl), packaged it for distribution, and then got it to four street-level dealers, who sold it in Tampa, St. Petersburg, and elsewhere.

    It all came to a head in March 2017, when investigators executed search warrants on residences, storage units, and other locations associated with Lagunas’ organization. Among the items seized were approximately 6.5 kilograms of heroin, nine firearms, and approximately $600,000 in drug proceeds—believed to be an average day’s work for members of the organization.

    Tampa Police Detective Lester Gonzalez, also a member of the Safe Streets Task Force, believes that it was the collaboration with the FBI and other agencies that made the difference in this case. “We conducted an intricate investigation to identify local suppliers of heroin in the Orlando-Tampa area,” he said, “uncovering the methods they used to transport and distribute the heroin. We then continued the investigation and were able to identify a Mexican national in California as the person responsible for the importation of that same heroin into the U.S.”

    Both Gonzalez and Vargas believe that the dismantlement of the Lagunas drug trafficking organization has had a positive impact on Tampa Bay-area communities.

    “Being able to stop these individuals from importing kilogram amounts of heroin into Tampa has made the Tampa Bay area safer,” said Gonzalez. “Their arrests have not only affected the availability of street-level heroin in this area but have also had an impact on the additional criminal activities that these individuals were involved in.”

    And according to Vargas, “The long prison terms given to Lagunas and his co-conspirators were primarily the result of the large amounts of heroin going into Florida and contributing to the opioid epidemic.”

    He also said that once the asset forfeiture aspect of this case is over, close to a million dollars might be forfeited. “Much of that,” said Vargas, “will be going back to participating agencies, with more than half going to the Tampa Police Department and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which will help them to continue the fight against the scourge of opioid-related crimes in their communities.”
    https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/tam...ion-dismantled


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    A Mexican nationaldescribed as a leader in a drug trafficking organization that brought massive shipments of heroin into the Tampa Bay area was sentenced Tuesday to 27 years in federal prison.
    Does that mean he is an illegal - are they all illegals? Are any "dreamers"? The public has a right to know! We know who is responsible for foreign drug cartels in our USA and that should be outfront in all media with a case like this.

  5. #5
    Super Moderator Newmexican's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by artist View Post
    Does that mean he is an illegal - are they all illegals? Are any "dreamers"? The public has a right to know! We know who is responsible for foreign drug cartels in our USA and that should be outfront in all media with a case like this.
    He is a citizen of Mexico and was previously deported.


    A sentencing memo described Lagunas’ poverty-stricken life in Mexico — the reason he came to the United States illegally. He had served time in prison previously. When he was released in 2010, he was deported but later returned.
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    This is why all illegals should be deported. A few known criminals deported here and there is just not going to make us safe and stop their criminal activity. No one should be able to live undercover like they do. No one should be in this country illegally and making big money selling drugs that kill our citizens. How do schumer, pelosi, the media think illegals are worth the trouble? All those that fight against a border wall, more enforcement, more deportations are truly hurting Americans.

    No papers, no stay. Can't understand the push to give them all amnesty. They really are selling drugs, raping, killing, drunk driving and have no right to be here.

  7. #7
    Moderator Beezer's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by artist View Post
    This is why all illegals should be deported. A few known criminals deported here and there is just not going to make us safe and stop their criminal activity. No one should be able to live undercover like they do. No one should be in this country illegally and making big money selling drugs that kill our citizens. How do schumer, pelosi, the media think illegals are worth the trouble? All those that fight against a border wall, more enforcement, more deportations are truly hurting Americans.

    No papers, no stay. Can't understand the push to give them all amnesty. They really are selling drugs, raping, killing, drunk driving and have no right to be here.

    AND THEY ARE ALL RELATED TO EACH OTHER...GET THE WHOLE LOT OF THEM OUT OF HERE!

    THEIR ILLEGAL PARENTS ARE NO ANGELS EITHER...TAUGHT THEM HOW THE CHEAT, LIE AND STEAL FROM OUR COUNTRY.

    THEY ARE NOT THE "AMERICAN DREAM"...THEY ARE FREAKING PARASITES THAT NEED TO BE DEPORTED!
    ILLEGAL ALIENS HAVE "BROKEN" OUR IMMIGRATION SYSTEM

    DO NOT REWARD THEM - DEPORT THEM ALL

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