United States Attorney Richard B. Roper
Northern District of Texas

DALLAS MAN SENTENCED TO NEARLY 18 YEARS
IN FEDERAL PRISON, WITHOUT PAROLE, FOR HIS ROLE AS
LEADER OF DRUG DISTRIBUTION CONSPIRACY

DALLAS ---- Emiliano Martinez, 35, of Dallas, was sentenced today by U.S. Chief District Judge A. Joe Fish to 210 months (nearly 18 years) in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper of the Northern District of Texas. Martinez pled guilty in January to one count of conspiracy to manufacture, distribute, and possess with intent to distribute cocaine base (crack cocaine).

Emiliano Martinez, a/k/a “Cubano,” and his wife, Monica Chavez, 26, were arrested on May 18, 2006, at their residence on North Fitzhugh in Dallas on charges in a federal criminal complaint. Co-defendants Irma Soto, a/k/a “Chapparra,” 44, and Elizabeth Lozano, 37, were arrested shortly thereafter in Dallas on charges outlined in a related federal indictment.

Monica Chavez pled guilty to one count of distribution of cocaine base and aiding and abetting; she was sentenced in April 2007 to 151 months in prison. Martinez was not fluent in English, and Chavez often translated drug deals conducted between her husband and English-speaking customers. Irma Soto pled guilty in July 2006 to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced in February 2007 to 57 months in prison. Defendant Elizabeth Lozano, the manager of the Park Place Apartments, pled guilty in July 2007 to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premise, and is scheduled to be sentenced on November 2, 2007.

Martinez, a gang member known in his drug trade as “Cubano,” became known to the Dallas Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) through community complaints about drug sales in the area of Fitzhugh and Deere Streets in Dallas in 2005 and 2006. In July 2005, the Dallas Police Department investigated three drug houses associated with Martinez, and Martinez was arrested possessing a firearm in one of those houses. In April and May 2006, Martinez and his wife, Monica Chavez sold more than 93 grams of crack cocaine to a federal agent and confidential informant in five undercover purchases outside of their home.

The investigation conducted by the ATF and the Dallas Police Department Gang Unit uncovered evidence that Martinez sold powder and crack cocaine and coordinated the sale of crack

1cocaine through associates in apartments and houses near his residence in east Dallas from the time of his release from six years of state imprisonment in 2004 through his arrest in May 2006. On May 18, 2006, ATF agents executed a federal search and arrest warrant at the Martinez residence on North Fitzhugh. Both front and back doors to the residence were barricaded, but ATF agents eventually entered the premises and arrested both Martinez and Chavez. Agents found crack cocaine, electronic scales, plastic baggies, and a significant amount of money, all items consistent with narcotics sales.

Elizabeth Lozano was the manager of the Park Place Apartments at 2116 North Garrett, near Fitzhugh and Deere Streets in Dallas. During August 2004, she observed a significant amount of foot traffic from Martinez and Soto’s apartments, what she believed indicated narcotics distribution, and reported it to the police. However, in September 2004, Emiliano Martinez brought Lozano an envelope containing $125 and told her that he knew how to take care of people who “don’t do him wrong.” After that, Martinez began paying Lozano $125 a week in cash bribes to ignore the narcotics trafficking occurring in her apartments and to report to the police rival drug dealers at Martinez’s request. A Special Agent with ATF explained at Martinez’s sentencing hearing that the crime rate in and around the Park Place Apartments decreased significantly once Martinez and his co-conspirators were arrested in May 2006.

Defendant Irma Soto, a previously-convicted felon, sold narcotics for Martinez through one of these apartments. Martinez provided Soto at least 10 “dimes” (approximately .1 to .5 grams) of crack cocaine and two “20's” (approximately .5 grams) of powder cocaine daily from the summer 2005 through May 2006 for her own use and for sale in and around the Park Place Apartments in east Dallas. Upon her arrest, Soto had 18 baggies of crack cocaine and a .32 caliber firearm which she stated had been given to her by Martinez for the protection of her drug sales.

U.S. Attorney Roper thanked and praised the excellent investigative work of the ATF’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (“HIDTA”) Task Force and the Dallas Police Department Gang Unit. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan A. Konig.

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