January 10, 2013
Contact: Public Information Officer
Number: 954-660-4602

JAN 10 (TAMPA, Fla.) – Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Miami Field Division, and Robert E. O’Neill, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, announced that today U.S. District Judge James S. Moody, Jr. sentenced Sergio Godinez Del Toro (47, Napa, California) to 24 years and four months in federal prison for conspiring with others to distribute, aiding and abetting others in possessing with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine.  Godinez Del Toro was found guilty on October 16, 2012, following a jury trial.

According to testimony presented at trial, Godinez Del Toro was a leader in a California-based drug trafficking organization (DTO) that was attempting to establish a methamphetamine and marijuana distribution network in central Florida.  In January 2012, the DTO shipped eight pounds of marijuana to Haines City, sold the marijuana, and laundered the proceeds through banks in Pasco County. 

In February 2012, the DTO attempted to transport twelve pounds of methamphetamine to Dade City, Florida from California, through Arkansas.  The drugs were intercepted by the DEA and Arkansas State Police, outside of Jonesboro, Arkansas.
 
In March 2012, the DTO shipped a total of 24 pounds of methamphetamine (valued at $320,000) to Dade City, in six separate UPS shipments. On March 28, 2012, Godinez Del Toro arrived in Dade City   after methamphetamine load had been shipped, to oversee the distribution and transfer of the drug proceeds back to California. On March 30, he transferred at least $6,000 in drug proceeds through two separate banks.  On April 5, 2012, the DEA and the Pasco County Sheriff's Office seized seven pounds of the methamphetamine and arrested Godinez Del Toro and two of his co-conspirators. 

This case was investigated by the DEA Tampa District Office and the Pasco County Sheriff's Office as part of an on-going Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation.  The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nation's drug supply.