Texas Man Sentenced for Trafficking Cocaine in Central Virginia for Mexican Drug Trafficking Organization

RICHMOND, Va. – A Brownsville, Texas man was sentenced yesterday to 150 months in prison for participating in a conspiracy to possess and distribute nearly 40 kilograms of cocaine.

According to court documents, in and around April 2023, Carlos Alfonso Gonzalez, 31, agreed with a Mexico-based source of supply to transport a load of cocaine from Houston, Texas, to Richmond, Virginia. On or about April 29, 2023, Gonzalez picked up a load of cocaine in Houston and traveled in a commercial semi-tractor trailer truck to Virginia in order to distribute the cocaine to two traffickers connected to a Mexican drug trafficking organization (his co-conspirators). On May 1, 2023, Gonzalez arrived at a truck stop in Disputanta, Virginia to meet with two co-conspirators. At this meeting location, Gonzalez distributed to his co-conspirators three duffel bags containing 39.9 kilograms of cocaine.

After the co-conspirators departed the area with the cocaine, law enforcement conducted a traffic stop on the co-conspirators’ vehicle and recovered 39.9 kilograms of cocaine. Following the cocaine seizure, law enforcement stopped Gonzalez and placed him under arrest. At the time of the offense, Gonzalez was on federal supervised release for a prior federal drug trafficking crime in the Southern District of Texas.

Gonzalez was sentenced to 120 months’ imprisonment for charges of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine and possession with the intent to distribute cocaine. Gonzalez was sentenced to an additional term of 30 months in prison for violating his federal supervised release stemming from his prior conviction.

Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Jason Miyares, Attorney General of Virginia; Jarod Forget, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Division; and Colonel Jeffrey S. Katz, Chesterfield County Chief of Police, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Erik S. Siebert and Shea Gibbons and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Ellen Hubbard prosecuted the 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.

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. 3:23-cr-70.