Manager of Mexican Methamphetamine Trafficking Cartel Sentenced

NORFOLK, Va. – A Mexican national was sentenced today to 12 years in prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine while living in Mexico and acting as a manager for a Sinaloa, Mexico, drug trafficking organization (DTO).

According to court documents, between approximately 2016 and 2018, Victor Hugo Hinojosa-Elizondo, 55, was involved in and a manager of an international DTO responsible for distributing over 40 pounds of highly pure Mexican-made methamphetamine to cities throughout the United States, including Los Angeles, California; Providence, Rhode Island; and Norfolk.

The Sinaloa-based organization is responsible for manufacturing, importing, and distributing large amounts of highly pure methamphetamine using couriers, while running international meth operations in the United States from Mexico. Two conspirators, Hinojosa-Elizondo and Luis Enrique Soto-Ferro, 47, were extradited from Mexico to the United States last year after a lengthy international extradition process.

Soto-Ferro was sentenced in Norfolk last month to 15 years in prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine while living in Mexico and acting as a leader for the organization. The District Court in Norfolk also sentenced two couriers for the organization, Irana Carmago-Lugue, 38, to 10 years in prison, and Jorge Alberto Perez-Miramontes, 41, to 11 years in prison.

Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Ramin Fatehi, Norfolk’s Commonwealth’s Attorney; Jarod Forget, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Washington Division; Damon E. Wood, Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Mark Talbot, Chief of Norfolk Police, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Jamar K. Walker.

The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs worked with the government of Mexico to secure the arrests and extraditions in this case.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (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.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin M. Comstock and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Graham Stolle prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:18-cr-85.