Mexican national sentenced to 12 years in prison for cocaine trafficking following Homeland Security Task Force investigation

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Mexican national was sentenced today to 12 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. He was among 26 fugitives that the United States took into custody from Mexico on Aug. 12, 2025.  The Justice Department Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs coordinated the transfers.

According to court documents, David Fernando Vasquez Bejarano, aka Acelerado, 49, was a Mexico-based source of supply for a drug trafficking organization responsible for importing kilogram quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana, and fentanyl across the southern border into the United States and the repatriation of narcotics proceeds back into Mexico. Large quantities of the narcotics Vasquez Bejarano supplied were imported into the greater Washington, D.C., area by co-conspirators, including by truck and U.S. mail. 

Vasquez Bejarano’s narcotics trafficking generated enormous proceeds. During a six-month period, Vasquez Bejarano supplied co-conspirators with narcotics for which he was paid over $6 million. In total, Vasquez Bejarano and his co-conspirators trafficked over 450 kilograms of cocaine and other narcotics.

The Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Division investigated this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kristin S. Starr and Edgardo J. Rodriguez and prosecuted the case.

This case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Washington, D.C., comprises agents and officers from the FBI; Homeland Security Investigations; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; Drug Enforcement Administration; Diplomatic Security Service; U.S. Marshals Service; U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service; Naval Criminal Investigative Service; Transportation Security Administration Federal Air Marshals Service; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Enforcement and Removal Operations; and Washington Baltimore HIDTA, with the prosecution being led by 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 Nos. 1:22-cr-27.