Three Colombian Nationals Plead Guilty in St. Louis, Admit Cocaine Smuggling

ST. LOUIS – Three Colombian nationals have admitted involvement in a conspiracy to smuggle thousands of kilograms of cocaine into the United States.

Jesus Jhormen Mosquera-Quinto, 41, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Wednesday to one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine having reason to believe it would be unlawfully imported into the United States and one count of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine aboard a vessel.

Mosquera-Quinto admitted being part of a drug trafficking organization in the Turbo region of northwestern Colombia that manufactured cocaine and used unregistered go-fast vessels (GFVs) to transport thousands of kilograms of cocaine into Central America that were ultimately destined for the United States.

Carlos Mario Agresott Salas, 41, and Joan Sebastian Supulveda Mona, 34, each pleaded guilty in December of 2024 to the same charges.

Supulveda Mona coordinated the shipments while Mosquera-Quinto and Agresott Salas handled day-to-day logistics and were present at the departure of GFVs.

At least three shipments were tied to the men. A GFV was intercepted on June 17, 2021, by the Colombian Navy with about 1,256 kilograms of cocaine and four Colombian nationals on board. Agresott Salas and Supulveda Mona then discussed in phone calls the best way to pay the lawyers and the judge so that the captured smugglers would receive house arrest at sentencing.

On Nov. 8, 2021, another GFV was intercepted and seized by the Colombian Navy and Colombian Coast Guard, this time with 195 kilograms of cocaine on board. On March 17, 2022, a third GFV was intercepted by the Colombian Navy and Colombian Coast Guard with 1,606 kilograms of cocaine on board.

Agresott Salas and Supulveda Mona were indicted in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in 2021. Mosquera-Quinto was added in a superseding indictment in 2022. Sepulveda Mona was extradited from Colombia on June 19, 2024.  Mosquera Quinto and Agresott Salas were extradited from Colombia on August 14, 2024. 

Agresott Salas and Supulveda Mona were each sentenced in March to 66 months in prison.

The case is being prosecuted in St. Louis because maritime drug smuggling cases can be brought in any federal court district within the United States.  

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Colombian Navy, the Colombian Coast Guard, Colombian law enforcement and the U.S. Marshals Service investigated the case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section’s Office of Judicial Attaché in Bogotá, Colombia provided significant assistance in securing the arrests and extraditions of all three defendants. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jim Delworth, Samantha Reitz and Erin Granger are prosecuting the case.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.