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Press Release

MS-13 Member Sentenced to 10 Years for Drug Trafficking

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of California

FRESNO, Calif. — Claudia Lizaola, 40, of San Bernardino, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill to 10 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

According to court documents, Lizaola was a member of La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), a violent criminal street gang that engages in racketeering activity, including murder, kidnapping, extortion, and drug trafficking. Lizaola pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine to MS-13 members in Mendota.

Co-defendant Brenda Morales pleaded guilty to being an alien in possession of a firearm. Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 13. The remaining 14 co‑defendants are scheduled for trial on April 14. These remaining defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt

The investigation was conducted by the California Department of Justice and California Highway Patrol Special Operations Unit, the Multi-Agency Gang Enforcement Consortium (MAGEC), the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Special Services Unit (SSU). Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ross Pearson, Kathleen Servatius and Kimberly Sanchez are prosecuting this and related cases. Fresno County Senior Deputy District Attorney Dennis Lewis is working with the team and prosecuting related cases in Fresno County Superior Court.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally based strategies to reduce violent crime. To learn more about Project Safe Neighborhoods, go to www.justice.gov/psn.

This case was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). The OCDETF Program was established in 1982 to conduct comprehensive, multi-level attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations. 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. 

Updated January 29, 2020

Topic
Drug Trafficking
Press Release Number: 1:18-cr-207