Gregory A. White, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, Frank Figliuzzi, Special Agent in Charge of the Cleveland Division of the FBI, Anthony C. Marotta, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, DEA, Ohio, and Michael McGrath, Chief, Cleveland Division of Police, announced that a federal grand jury sitting in Cleveland, Ohio, returned a 40-count indictment charging:
1. Moises Reyes, aka Gordo, aka Anthony Pena, aka Pedro Rivera, aka Jose Cornell, aka Luis Corniel, age unknown, of 1535 Coldwater Drive, Columbus, Ohio;
2. Luis Torres, aka Carlos, aka Carlos Alfonzo, aka Jose Santana, aka Jose Espada, age 36, of 9509 Willard Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio;
3. Charlie Vargas, age 30, of 6616 Denison Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio;
4. Pedro Ayala, aka Jose, age 31, of 3177 West 95th Street, Cleveland, Ohio;
5. Roberto Rojas, aka Cangri, age 26, of 1710 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio;
6. John Rodriguez, age 34, of 2083 West 45th Street, Cleveland, Ohio;
7. Alfredo Leon, aka Freddy, aka Freddy Fox, aka Alfredo DeLeon, age 34, of 13917 Elsett Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio; and
8. Violeta Montanez, age 54, of 2490 Scranton Road, Cleveland, Ohio, with violations of the federal narcotics laws.

Count 1 of the indictment charges all eight defendants with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute and/or distribution of at least one or more kilograms of heroin and at least five or more kilograms of cocaine.

Counts 2-6 of the indictment charge Luis Torres with the distribution of various amounts of heroin.

Counts 7-40 of the indictment charge each defendant individually with the use of a communication facility (a telephone) to facilitate a drug trafficking offense.

If convicted, the defendants’ sentences will be determined by the Court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendants’ prior criminal record, if any, the defendants’ role in the offense and the unique characteristics of the violation. In all cases, the sentences will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases they will be less than the maximum.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph M. Pinjuh following a 13 month investigation code named "Operation Slim Jim", which included a Title III wire tap on the cell phone of Luis Torres, an illegal Dominican national residing in Cleveland. The investigation revealed that Moises Reyes, also an illegal Dominican national currently wanted on other federal drug charges in this district, and his associates would arrange for multiple kilograms of heroin and cocaine to be brought to Columbus, Ohio, from Arizona and elsewhere. Thereafter, Reyes and his associates would transport kilogram quantities of the heroin and cocaine to the greater Cleveland, Ohio area for re-distribution to Torres and his associates. Torres would then distribute the heroin and cocaine to Charlie Vargas, Pedro Ayala, also an illegal alien, Roberto Rojas, John Rodriguez, Alfredo Leon, Violeta Montanez and others. Thereafter, Ayala, Rojas, Rodriguez, Leon, Montanez and others would sell quantities of heroin and cocaine to various customers throughout the greater Cleveland, Ohio area. During the investigation, under-cover FBI informants purchased thousands of dollars worth of heroin from Torres.

The investigation also revealed that Torres would, from time to time, obtain “cloned” telephones for the purpose of conducting drug trafficking business without the risk of being detected by law enforcement. A “cloned” telephone is one in which two or more telephones share the same number, which is possible through the duplication of the original phone’s SIM card. Further, Torres would supply “cloned” telephones to Reyes and other members of the conspiracy to facilitate their drug trafficking activities and avoid law enforcement detection. Torres and Reyes would also transfer proceeds from their drug trafficking activities throughout the United States through the use of Quisqueyana, a wire transfer service operated by Dominican nationals, in an effort to facilitate their drug trafficking activities and avoid law enforcement detection. Additionally, Torres, Reyes and others would obtain and utilize multiple fraudulent identities to conceal their illegal alien status, facilitate their drug trafficking activities and avoid law enforcement detection.

The investigation was conducted by agents and task force officers of the Northern Ohio Law Enforcement Task Force (NOLETF). The NOLETF is a long standing multi-agency task force comprised of investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Cleveland Division of Police, Cleveland Heights Police Department (CHPD), Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO), Euclid Police Department (EPD), Lake County Narcotics Agency, Regional Transit Authority (RTA) Police Department, Willoughby Hills Police Department and Shaker Heights Police Department (SHPD). The NOLETF is also one of the initial Ohio High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) initiatives. The HIDTA Program supports and helps coordinate numerous Ohio drug task forces in their efforts to eliminate, or reduce drug-trafficking in the State of Ohio.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government's burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.