Two Cleveland Men Indicted For Trying To Send Firearms To Drug Cartel Members In Mexico

Tampa, FL – Acting United States Attorney Sara C. Sweeney announces the  unsealing of an indictment charging Yarquimedes Rodriguez Hilario (32, Cleveland, OH) and Adison Lopez-Ramirez (34, Cleveland, OH) with conspiring to traffic firearms and money laundering. If convicted on all counts, each defendant faces a maximum penalty of 35 years in federal prison. The indictment also notifies the defendants that the United States intends to forfeit assets that are traceable to proceeds of the offense. 

According to the indictment and other court documents filed during this investigation, since 2021, undercover agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), posing as Mexican cartel members, were introduced to Yuendry Rodriguez Hilario because he was a trafficker of firearms that could be smuggled to Mexico. Undercover communications with Yuendry Rodriguez Hilario and others discussed the purchase of AR-15s and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. One of the coconspirators described that he sold AR-15s and AK-47s to El Salvadorans and had cocaine available for distribution. Yuendry Rodriguez Hilario further offered fentanyl to one of the agents to make pills.

Beginning in late-2021, members of the conspiracy sold or arranged the sale of at least 90 rifles and one Mac-10-type machine gun with a silencer to undercover agents in the Middle District of Florida and Cleveland, Ohio. On October 21, 2021, Adison Lopez-Ramirez delivered nine .223/5.56 caliber rifles and one 9mm rifle to undercover ATF agents in St. Petersburg, Florida, in exchange for $16,000. Soon after the sale, federal agents followed Lopez-Ramirez as he deposited $9,000 from the sale into the bank account of Yarquimedes Rodriguez Hilario, the brother of Yuendry Rodriguez Hilario.

In November 2022, an undercover agent told Yuendry Rodriguez Hilario that his associates in Mexico were “battling and losing” and needed to purchase more firearms. On March 2, 2023, Yuendry Rodriguez Hilario arranged to deliver 40 AM-15 multi-caliber firearms to the agents. Saleh Yusuf Saleh, who acquired and assembled the parts to make the firearms, arrived at the meeting with Yuendry Rodriguez Hilario and the agents. After an undercover agent inspected one of the boxes of firearms, both Yuendry Rodriguez Hilario and Saleh were arrested.

In March 2024, Yuendry Rodriguez Hilario was sentenced to 13 years and 4 months’ imprisonment. In November 2024, Saleh Yusuf Saleh previously was sentenced to 5 years and 8 months in federal prison. 

Image 1: Firearms from the October 21, 2021 Sale

 Images 2-3: Firearms from March 10, 2022 Sale

Images 4-5: Firearms from May 26, 2022 Sale

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Strike Force Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations to disrupt and dismantle the most significant drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations.

The specific mission of the OCDETF Panama Express Strike Force is to disrupt and dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations involved in large scale drug trafficking, money laundering, and related activities. The OCDETF Panama Express Strike Force is comprised of agents and officers from the Coast Guard Investigative Service, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). The Cleveland offices of ATF, HSI, DEA, and FBI, with assistance from the Cleveland Police Department and Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office, provided critical support in the apprehension of the defendants. It is being prosecuted by Dan Baeza.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America which streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).