Thread: TX-ATF arrests Conroe couple on heroin, firearms charges

ATF arrests Conroe couple on heroin, firearms charges

Updated: 03.16.10

A Conroe man is one of three people arrested Thursday after an 18-month investigation by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Immigration and Customs Enforcement that led to drug and gun trafficking charges.

Fernando Argenis Huezo, 28, of Conroe, and Joel Linares Soeranis, 35, a Guatemalan national, were arrested with warrants issued from the filing of a criminal complaint accusing the men of conspiring to possess with intent to distribute 17.8 kilograms of heroin.

Huezo was arrested one block from his Conroe home, while Linares was arrested at his business, Nationwide Import Car Salvage in Houston, officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston said Tuesday.

Jenni Otilia Cortez, 26, Huezo’s common-law wife, was also arrested Thursday and charged with falsifying her address in connection with the purchase of 43 semiautomatic pistols and rifles costing approximately $42,025 since 2008, officials said.

The complaint alleges that 15 of the 43 firearms allegedly purchased and traced back to Jenni Cortez were discovered by law enforcement authorities in Mexico and Guatemala.

Three of those 15 firearms were recovered within two weeks of their purchase, officials said.

Customs and Border Protection officers at the Brownsville and Matamoros International Bridge discovered the 17.8 kilograms of heroin on Nov. 6, 2009 hidden in the drive shaft of a Dodge pickup truck driven by a third person trying to enter the U.S. from Mexico. The truck’s registration showed Huezo as the first lien holder, officials said.

Twenty-one minutes before the discovery and seizure of the heroin, Huezo had crossed the same bridge as a pedestrian, records showed.

Huezo allegedly guided the truck’s driver from Houston to Mexico, where Huezo allegedly arranged for the drive shaft containing the heroin to be mounted on the vehicle, officials said.

Linares allegedly arranged for the driver and guide to travel from Houston to Mexico for the purpose of smuggling the heroin into the U.S.

U.S. Magistrate Steven Wm. Smith found Tuesday there was probable cause to send the case before a federal grand jury, officials said. He ordered Huezo that can be released upon posting $2,000 of a $100,000 bond, and Huezo also will be subject to home confinement if released.

Linares’ bond hearing is set for this morning, officials said.

If convicted of conspiring to possess with intent to distribute more than one kilogram of heroin, both Huezo and Linares face a minimum penalty of 10 years in a federal prison and a $4 million fine.

Cortez appeared before U.S. Magistrate Francis H. Stacy on Friday and was released on a $25,000 bond. If she is convicted of making a false statement in the purchase of a firearm, she faces a maximum five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.


http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2010/ ... 021710.txt

It is not a coincidence that this occurred in the Houston area, just another benefit of living in a Sanctuary City of Houston and the surrounding area.